It is springtime. This is the time of year my mother would do her spring cleaning. That meant that everything was wiped down – walls, doors, floors, windows – every corner and square inch of our house was cleaned. Nothing was spared. She inspected it all. If it were smudged, cluttered or dusty, it needed to be cleaned. The same should happen with your marketing.

We are at the beginning of April. That means the first quarter of the year has just ended. I suggest you take a look at how your marketing is working for you at the end of each quarter. I believe marketing strategies work best when you can adjust your plans for the year. No one knows for certain how the marketplace is going to act throughout the year. The end of each quarter is a great time for some evaluation and adjustments.

Just what should you be evaluating? First, let’s see how many people you are engaging on a more passive marketing level. That would take into account your website analytics, social media engagement, etc. How many people are finding you because they seek you out? Take note of what they are looking at in these formats. This will give you the general direction of the marketplace. Second, how have consumers reacted to your active marketing – promotions and advertising where you are seeking out the consumers? This is where some good information from your sales team will help. Are you moving enough good prospects into your sales funnel so that your sales staff have future customers to pursue? That means they have to have enough information to knock the dust off of their curiosity before they encounter your sales staff. Take a look at the graphic above. It shows the steps down the sales funnel. Awareness of your brand is the first step in promoting it. Is your marketing intriguing them to the point that they want to know more and become interested in your brand? Has your marketing engaged them to the point that they are ready to make a decision on a purchase? This sort of marketing moves people from your target market into the vortex of being a prospect, down the sales funnel until they take action, then being a first-time customer, then to a satisfied customer, to a repeat customer and then to a brand-loyal customer. To get a good measurement of where your marketing is working, take a look at where the people you have encountered in the first three months of the year are on that sales funnel. You should be moving them closer to a sale. If they are stuck in this process, maybe you should intensify your marketing to get them to budge. If you are not getting any prospects, maybe you need to rethink your marketing and do something different. Marketing spring cleaning helps you identify these problem areas.

If you can pull away from your daily routine and do some spring cleaning of your marketing strategy, do so. It will help you focus on the effectiveness of your marketing. Cleaning up your marketing will have a much more effective and impactful result in converting prospects into your customers.