No matter how big or small your project is, there are a number of things to think about to make sure you bring your project in on budget. Here’s our guide to help you deliver a high quality project in the most cost-efficient way.
1. Set SMART objectives
When it comes to setting the objectives for your project, following the SMART structure will make sure a clear aim has been set for the project. In turn, this will help to save time, resources and costs as you work on your project. SMART objectives should be:
Specific – pinning down the specific aims of the project will set a clear outline of what you’re trying to achieve. This will also help to keep you focused on the purpose of the project and stop you from going off-track.
Measurable – making sure your aims are measurable will help you to track both the progress and success of the project. Without a measurable aspect, the value of the project won’t be as obvious as there’ll be nothing to compare it to.
Attainable – setting an objective that is actually achievable is essential for motivation and for budgeting properly. If you’re not sure whether the objective can be attained, you could end up spending much more time on the project, meaning a higher cost for resources.
Realistic – if the time frame and aims of a project are not realistic, this could result in the project taking longer than expected or needing to use more resource in order to meet the deadline, and both of these can increase the staff costs. Be sure to account for everything when you set the budget, and allow some contingency time when you set the time frame to give yourself some leeway.
Time-bound – every project needs a deadline. Without a deadline, there isn’t really an incentive to get the project finished, so make sure a reasonable time boundary marks a clear end of the project. With the budget in mind, a clear deadline and a realistic time frame will mean that the staff resource costs are budgeted for accurately.
2. Plan ahead
Making a plan before you start a project is really important to help you gauge the amount of work involved and let you set a realistic time scale. Mapping out the key stages of the project can be really helpful in structuring it, and can also be great for keeping you and your team motivated.
Try and think about the following:
– Staff resource – how many people will be in the team and who will be responsible for which task? Deciding this early on will allow a reasonable budget to be set for staff costs, as well as giving each person in the team a sense of purpose.
– Milestones – mapping out the key milestones breaks the project down into sizeable chunks. This is really helpful if you’re working on a large project, as it gives you a set of smaller tasks and makes the overall job less overwhelming.
– Regular reviews – planning for regular status checks will help to keep the project on track and give an opportunity for the team to talk about any problems they’re having or anything that’s going well.
3. Get the best deal on your images
Whatever you’re working on, when it comes to images you need to make sure you use high quality photos to make your project look as professional as possible. Here are our top tips to help you get the best deal on your image purchases so you don’t spend more than you need to:
– Buy in bulk to receive a discount
Credits packages can be helpful if you know how many images you’re going to buy. You have to make an up-front payment for credits and they do have an expiry date, so it’s best to only buy these if you know you’re going to use all of the credits up.
If you prefer to buy individually priced images, buying more than one image at once can save you money. It may not be openly advertised on the image library you’re using, but you can always contact the customer service team of the stock library before you buy to see if a discount can be applied to your purchase.
– Only pay for the usage you need
Most of the time, images are priced based on how they’re going to be used. So, if you’re only going to use the image in a presentation, make sure you only pay for that usage. 17³Ô¹ÏÔÚÏß have put together some popular pricing packages to make it easier for people to pick the license and usage they need, but if you’re not sure what to buy, give our customer service team a call and they’ll be happy to help.
– Look for promo codes
Who doesn’t love a promo code? Be sure to check for offers before you buy to make sure you’re getting the best deal. Check out the 17³Ô¹ÏÔÚÏß offers page for our latest discount code!
Check out these other great blogs:
How to get the most from your image purchase
Finding the newest images on 17³Ô¹ÏÔÚÏß