I found this interesting leaf impression on a recent evening walk to a local coffee shop.

I happened to return a couple days later and it was gone.  I found myself disappointed because I had been rather moved by the original discovery.  But, I took away a simple inspiration.  The power of impression, even in the smallest things we do, is crucial to how we are perceived. So never miss an opportunity to positively affect the outcome of a situation no matter how trivial.  If you’re lucky, the impressions nurtured will become indelible.

Free and Freemium go-to-market strategies are here to stay because anyone can do it and it a great way to establish a community of enthusiastic users. And if you are really savvy, you create a network effect such as eBay, Craigslist and Monster.com achieved in their respective spaces.

Freemium can come at a cost though. Customer expectations are set by the industry as a whole, not just your company. If users are used to free, it is hard to shift them to a different mindset. This is particularly true because incentives to keep the community are often very weak in these models and there are competitors at each turn waiting to introduce an innovative feature that your community can’t live without.

Aaron Leevie, the CEO and co-founder of Box.net, recently stated that he loses more deals in a sales cycle to his own company than he does to competitors because people don’t see why they should start paying. My interpretation of that statement is that you have to go to market with a clear value proposition that is supported by a business model that can achieve solvency. What’s the ROI? Watch out for companies that defer the profitability discussion until later because they just might not figure it out.

The other day, I had two products malfunction that I can’t live without – my electric shaver and my iPhone.

I first called customer support for my high-end, three-year-old shaver. The first time I attempted to go through the phone directory, it gave me some recorded information and hung up on me. Agitated with myself for not hitting the traditional 8 or 0 buttons to be immediately connected to a live human being, I was not to be fooled the second time. The customer service representative I spoke with may as well have been a recorded voice; she was reading a script and couldn’t deviate from it even when I had already given her the information in a previous response. It turned into an interrogation, as she wanted to know the serial number and proof of purchase to make sure they did not sign up for fixing a product that was out of warranty. So what would it take to fix the razor? After all was said and done, she made it clear I would have to deal with the problem myself. It turns out it will take about 2 weeks to simply replace the battery, and it will cost about 40% of the original purchase price – yikes and no thanks!

I then had to take my iPhone to the Apple Store. Nervous after my experience with the shaver, I sheepishly walked up to one the many representatives available at the door. I told him that the microphone on my hands-free set was no longer picking up my voice. He said he’d take it back and replace the jack if it had failed. He quickly grabbed it from me and was off to the backroom. I feared he was going to put in a nominal part and charge me big service bucks for every second he held the phone. Minutes later, he returned, handing me a perfectly working iPhone. All he found was a small amount of pocket lint blocking the contact between the hands-free set and the jack. As I was ready to fill out whatever forms he needed, he walked away. I called back to him, asking what was next. He said, “That’s it.” After my miserable first experience with the electric shaver, a tear of joy welled in my eyes and a feeling of guilt emerged – did I really deserve this level of service?

Upon reflection, I decided that I won’t buy another electric shaver – razor blades will work just fine. Of course my feelings regarding the Apple brand are positive, and I wouldn’t hesitate to make another purchase in the future because I can trust any company that will deal with my pocket lint. As a consumer, I feel empowered by the ability to make these types of choices. I’m always surprised when a company worries more about the short-term impact of a defective good to their bottom line than they do about the lifetime value of a satisfied and loyal customer.

I’m currently reading “Ogilvy on Advertising” and came across a point that cannot be forgotten when developing a marketing strategy.

After spending time in London, a partner at Ogilvy described British advertising at the time by saying, “There seems to be a realization in England that maybe, just maybe, the product being sold is not the most important thing in the consumer’s mind. The decision as to which dishwashing liquid to buy, which beer to drink or which toaster to purchase, is not a life and death decision. Realizing this, the British are able to present their product to the consumer in perspective…..In short, they have a sense of proportion.”

As we come to understand the target audience members’ purchase behaviors, online and offline media habits, demographics and other variables, we have to remember that each person is a complex individual. Fostering a longstanding, profitable relationship with a member of the target audience means being able to relate (hence the word relationship) to them. Demographic characteristics will change as they get older and heavier or when they lose their job. Online behavior can change the day the customer buys a new computer or makes their first online purchase. The day a consumer has their first kid, purchase priorities will almost certainly change.

Going back to the quote above, the products we are marketing are rarely the end-all-be-all in consumers’ lives. Keep in mind the words perspective, proportion and context when creating a marketing approach. Developing a strategy to manage customer relationships should consider more than just the phase in the customer lifecycle. Realize that each prospect, new customer or loyal customer is also an individual who is changing every single day. Our ability to relate to them on a deeper level requires understanding the other events in their lives. How we respond to their ever-changing circumstances will ultimately influence whether we succeed in relationship building.

One of the mantras we champion at LEVEL Studios is “Innovation and Balance”. Nowhere is that statement more central than in the collaboration between our Creative and Technology disciplines. Our clients expect – no, demand – leading-edge design married with solid, scalable technology. Although seemingly simple on the surface, this aim is actually more complex than it appears.

Kayaking is a great analogy of the push and pull between Creative and Technology. When kayaking, you generally want the boat to move forward (“Innovation”), but to do so effectively you must alternate paddling on each side of the boat (“Balance”). Failure to paddle in an evenhanded way causes the boat to turn in unwanted directions at best, or move in circles at worst.

The collaboration of Creative and Technology in digital initiatives is much the same. Too much concentration on the aesthetic without the right technical infrastructure (or vice-versa, too much focus on the technical and losing sight of the creative, visual side) can cause your initiative to fall flat and result in the inability to reach your intended objectives.

In general, the two disciplines start from two very different places and view the world from widely differing perspectives. They are based on two different approaches to thinking: creative vs. analytical. Creative thinking is expansive and generates new ideas. Analytical thinking is selective as well as systematic and is about making choices. Obviously, with one discipline expanding and evangelizing the realm of possibilities and the other trying to narrow down the choices, there is usually an opportunity for conflict.

At LEVEL, we may have seen these types of situations from time to time . Often times the friction is a small bump in the road, and other times…maybe not so small. The common thread that allows us to come to a resolution or avoid the problem altogether is communication. Communication with our clients, within our teams and across the discipline divide is crucial to providing that balanced approach to innovation that culminates in the delivery of successful initiatives. And sometimes a hug.