How many things are on YOUR to-to list??! If you're like me, the list looks like a giant scroll at this point! We rarely have time to get things done for today and for the future, so looking back at anything goes on the very very back burner. Well I'm going to convince you that assessments and analytics need to be moved into a more important position! Without them, you're going to waste your money AND time in the future. Here's why:

Track Your Website Audience

You need to accurately target your social media, online ads, and website to the clients you MOST want to reach. But how can you know that you're doing that if you don't pay attention to those analytics?? Most web hosting sites (Wordpress, Wix, SquareSpace) offer Google Analytics as an add-on. You not only need to make that part of your site, but you also need to LOOK at them regularly! Where is most of your traffic coming from? Where are they located? Are they on a phone or a laptop? ALL of that info will help you update your website so it's working for them and attracting the people you really want to see your work. 

Track Your Social Accounts

This is a big one - how in the world can you know what's really resonating with your followers if you don't look at the analytics that each social channel provides?? You can learn what day and time are best for posting, what type of photos work best, and what hashtags are getting you more followers. You can also better understand if you have the followers you ACTUALLY want. Too often people are fooled by the number of followers, thinking that they're popular and getting a lot of traction. That may be only true if you want to be an influencer. But instead of other designers and your vendor accounts, are you actually talking to potential CLIENTS?? You won't know that unless you take a look at all of your analytics.

Assess Your Projects

At the end of EVERY project, you should have a meeting with your team to assess how the project went. You want to go over every pitfall, challenge, awesome moment, etc. The reason is because you can LEARN from each project. You may want to adjust your processes and systems. You might see that you need to add something to your client agreement or contract. Or you may want to change up how you're communicating with clients. You can ALWAYS learn something from each project and client - but only if you take the time for a good assessment.

Review Your Budget

As we know all too well, things change. So you want to review your budgets - at least quarterly. You may want to take some money out of travel and put it into marketing. Or you may decide that print ads are no longer working (in most cases, they aren't) and that you need to put more money into digital ads. A good and thorough review of your expenses and projected income is a MUST.

I truly DO know that you have a lot on your plate. But this is super-important. To help you, download my FREE Guide for How to Manage Analysis Paralysis. It will get your creativity pumping again so you can deal with all those pesky business issues!

xoxo,

Kathleen