“How much for a logo?”

If I had a dollar for every time I was asked this question, I would never need to work another day in my life.

The truth is… it depends.

What role will this logo serve in your marketing efforts? Are we talking about a simple text-based logo, or do you need a carefully-crafted icon that will be instantly recognized worldwide? In what mediums will your logo be reproduced? Will this logo instantly distinguish you from your competition, or are you simply wanting your company name typeset in something other than Times New Roman?

Asking, “How much for a logo?” is not entirely unlike asking, “How much for a house?”

Well, that depends. Where will this house be built? How many rooms will you need? What are your unique lifestyle needs? Will you be entertaining guests in your new home? Will your new home be built using eco-friendly processes and materials?

Without the answers to these questions — and many more — your architect or designer would simply be “shooting blind.” The truth is, you want your logo — like your home — to uniquely represent you, your personality, how you conduct business, and how you live your life.

So why would you want to entrust something so critical to a junior designer who will likely spend no time with you, asking questions, seeking first to understand your unique needs, goals, or challenges? For $79, how much time can be spent researching your market, ensuring that your logo will effectively distinguish you from your competition, and be instantly recognized by your prospective customers?

Now, don’t get me wrong. Just because a logo is expensive doesn’t mean that it’s effective. In fact, it’s not really about the price point at all. There are logo designers who can do amazing work in a short amount of time. Likewise, not every logo needs to cost a small fortune. If you just need a simple logo or header graphic for use on your blog, you don’t need to invest in a full-blown discovery process with 8-10 variations from which to choose.

But, if you’re looking for a compelling logo that will effectively communicate your brand to the world, you want a designer who will carefully listen to — and understand — your goals, and then deliver a creative, unique design solution that will exceed your expectations. You want a designer who will truly partner with you… not just on the creation of a “killer logo,” but also in the strategic implementation of your newly-designed logo across all your marketing materials, creating a cohesive brand that will serve you for years to come.

I’ve been designing logos for my clients for more than 21 years. In that time, I’ve developed a streamlined — but thorough — process that enables me to understand your needs and create a solution that will accurately represent you to your audience, and grow with you in the future. But what I most enjoy is getting into the “trenches” with my clients, partnering with them for the long-haul, and creating strategic designs that can be leveraged across a wide variety of marketing materials.

I’d love to discuss how we might begin partnering together. Why not get in touch and let me know what you have in mind?

I recently purchased a protective case for my iPhone. After weeks of online research, I had finally settled on the Racing Series iPhone case by Trexta. I instantly fell in love with the embroidered white racing stripes against the matte-black leather, so I ordered the case from a 3rd-party vendor on Amazon.com. It was a little more expensive than other cases I had found, but I have no problem paying a bit more for a well-designed product.

A few days later the case arrived, and I anxiously tore open the package. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that the case I was holding in my hand did not match the one depicted in the photos online. Instead of matte-black leather, the case was a high-gloss, almost patent-leather, and the white stripes were equally glossy.

I might have gotten past the glossy appearance, were it not for the other—more obvious—difference. The leather was adhered to a white plastic shell, and it stops about an eighth-inch shy of the outer edges of the case, creating a white border all the way around.

Many folks may like this look, and perhaps find it consistent with the white stripes of the case. But I felt that it gave the case a very “cheap” look that was not consistent with the trim and polish of the iPhone itself.

Because I had ordered the case from a 3rd-party vendor, and the original packaging had been completely destroyed during opening, I had little hope of securing a refund from the seller. Further, I wasn’t completely sure that this wasn’t a knock-off version of the case I had seen online; there was a clear and obvious difference in quality between the photos online and the actual product I held in my hand.

Just to be sure, I pulled up the photos on the official Trexta site, and sure enough… the case depicted in the photos was quite different than the one I had received. So I sent an email to Trexta’s customer support department.

It was after business hours on a weekend evening, so I was pleasantly surprised when I received a personal response via email almost immediately.

“Shawn, I am so sorry to hear about that! We will contact you tomorrow to resolve the issue promptly! Respectfully, Eren Maral”

Sure enough, I received a phone call the next morning from Trexta’s customer relations expert, Cris Monge, who informed me that the photos used in the product descriptions online were, in fact, different from the actual product. But, he said, they’d like to “make things right.”

“I’m holding two other cases in my hand. One is black with blue stripes and the other is black with red stripes. While I know these aren’t exactly what you ordered, they do have the black plastic shell that you prefer. I’d like to send you both of these cases at no charge. Would that help to make things right?”

No need to bother with repackaging and returning the original case. The two new cases were mailed the same day, and a tracking number emailed to me immediately. I just received my two new cases… now three, in total.

As I mentioned before, these aren’t the least expensive cases on the market. In fact, Trexta has now invested nearly $100 into our relationship.

Setting aside my original feelings about the stylistic shortcomings in the design of the original case, my experience with their people has converted me into a happy customer for life (and even an evangelist of sorts, if this review produces the desired result).

Going beyond the call of duty…

One important thing to note here is that Trexta does not sell cases directly to the public. Like many product manufacturers, they only sell to 3rd-party vendors like the one from whom I had purchased my case. Most companies would have been happy to defer me to the reseller, where my complaint would no doubt have been lost in the shuffle, or at most, routed through a series of poorly-informed call center employees who would read from a script and prescribe the usual, “return it and we’ll see what we can do” shuffle.

But in this case (no pun intended), Trexta did the right thing. They gave a shit. I have no idea how many cases Trexta sells, but I was made to feel as though my purchase truly mattered to them. My perception of their brand mattered to them. Most importantly, my satisfaction and happiness mattered to them.

Wine-guy-turned-social-media-guru, Gary Vaynerchuk, refers to this trend as the “Thank You Economy.” It’s an economy built on meaningful, two-way relationships. It’s the result of a cultural shift in how we perceive ourselves in relation to the brands, products, and services we use.

Our expectations have changed completely.

We’re no longer satisfied with merely purchasing a good product at a great price. Rather, we have an expectation of interacting with the people—the real, live, human beings—who make up the companies and brands with whom we choose to do business, no matter how big or small.

In short, “You wanna go where everybody knows your name.”

We all want to feel as though we truly matter. As further proof of this point, recent studies of our purchasing patterns reveal that we’ll even pay a premium for this type of interaction. It is no longer enough to merely compete on price point or ambiguous attributes like “quality” alone; you’ve got to make an effort to truly connect with your customers in a meaningful way.

I consider Trexta one of those companies who truly “get it.” They clearly understand that every single customer interaction is important. And they’ve demonstrated to me that they’re willing to put their money behind that belief. It cost them to send me those two additional cases, but the value of the relationship is worth far more.

Ironically, your participation is the very proof of this process. When you click this link to check out the iPhone cases and other products by Trexta, you’re proving that the extra effort put forth by the folks at Trexta is resulting in a positive return already.

Learning to truly care for our customers—especially those who take the time to voice their complaints to us—can create priceless opportunities to improve our products, processes, and brand. But most importantly… we’ll be building mutually-beneficial relationships that could last a lifetime.

In fact, it is often true that relationships born out of adversity become those that are most meaningful to us in the long-term. Who knows what future impact that complaining client could have on your business and your life? Who’s to say that he or she won’t become your most important customer, or better yet, future business partner, collaborator, or lifelong friend?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

In what ways has your thinking about “customer service” been challenged recently? What changes have you made in your customer relations that could convert “complainers” into “collaborators”?

And, have you checked out the gorgeous iPhone cases and accessories by Trexta?

At TEDGlobal in London, Tim Brown talks about how design got small—and why it’s becoming big again. Design is moving beyond the sculptural object displayed in lifestyle magazines or on pedestals in museums of modern art. It’s returning to its roots, when design thinkers like Isambard Brunel created innovative breakthroughs.

It’s time to begin thinking of design as a process for problem-solving, rather than merely for the creation of products.

During a recent conversation with one of my clients, he raised these concerns and asked me if I thought Twitter was just an “overhyped trend” that would soon disappear. “Why is it,” he asked, “that so many businesses have had poor results using Twitter to promote their products or services?”

In my opinion, the majority of these negative articles reveal either poor practices, a gross misunderstanding of the purpose of social media, or both. One may as well write an article about the fundamental flaws of a hammer when used to brush one’s hair. You’re either using the tool incorrectly, or for the wrong purpose!

Twitter Facilitates Meaningful Relationships

In short, Twitter was developed with the simple purpose of building relationships. It is NOT a platform from which to repeatedly broadcast your products or services, announce your latest sale, or drive traffic to your website.

[Please re-read the paragraph above.]

It IS, however, a simple and effective tool to facilitate legitimate, meaningful, two-way communication.

The businesses and individuals who understand this basic premise are experiencing tremendous success in building their brand, reputation, and interaction with their readers. Those who are truly using social media to build relationships with their audience are discovering its incredible (and relatively untapped) power to supercharge their businesses.

Oh, and those same folks rarely, if ever, promote their own products or services outside the context of a conversation. Instead, they ask questions, solicit input from their readers, respond to customer problems in real-time, and share only relevant information — often from other sources outside of their own offerings.

Thankfully, the good folks at Twitter have just released a brand new tool for businesses seeking to make the most of Twitter (and other social media) to connect with their audience. In addition to a “Twitter 101″ primer on the basics, this microsite also includes pages of case studies and best practices for businesses. A brief excerpt follows:

How to measure the value of Twitter

Before you set up measurement tools, focus on the quality of your engagement, and use your gut to check how things are going. How’s the feedback and interaction with your followers? Are you responding to most or your @messages? Are most tweets about you positive? Or if they started out largely negative, are they coming around? Are more people beginning to engage with you and mention your company?

Next, think about quantifying your experience. Although it can be tricky to add up the value of relationships, Twitter does lend itself to measurement in a few ways, especially if you’ve already defined what you hope will be different for your company in three months, six months or a year if you succeed on Twitter. Tactics like these can then help you assess your progress in meeting that goal:

• Keep a tally of questions answered, customer problems resolved and positive exchanges held on Twitter. Do the percentages change over time?
• When you offer deals via Twitter, use a unique coupon code so that you can tell how many people take you up on that Twitter-based promotion. If you have an online presence, you can also set up a landing page for a promotion, to track not only click-throughs but further behavior and conversions.
• Use third-party tools to figure out how much traffic your websites are receiving from Twitter.
• Track click-throughs on any link you post in a tweet. Some URL shortening services let you track click-throughs.

Check out the Twitter 101 for Business microsite for more information, helpful tips and resources, and inspiring case studies…

Visit the Twitter 101 for Business Site

The difference between Marketing, PR, Advertising and Branding

I was shocked to learn that the Red Cross has accrued more than $70 million in debt, caring for victims of the recent Hurricane Gustav. Now completely strapped for cash, they are literally borrowing from everywhere, but have stressed that they will continue to help victims of these disastrous hurricanes, no matter what.

You can donate $5 to American Red Cross disaster relief efforts simply by text messaging the keyword “GIVE” to “2HELP” (24357). Donations will appear on your monthly bill or be debited from your prepaid account balance. Standard text messaging rates apply.

Millions of Houstonians will be grateful for your help during this difficult time!

On Friday, September 12th, we began preparing the house (and yard) for Ike. We setup a shelter in my garage office, since it is the most secure part of our house. Had an air mattress, the kiddos’ sleeping bags, battery-powered lantern and other goodies in there. Outside, I spent an hour tightening up our fence, and then took the reflector from my satellite dish down, since it had the biggest potential to be torn off in high winds.

We spent most of the evening hours in the cul-de-sac, visiting with neighbors who rarely spoke with us otherwise. That was probably the most enjoyable part of the experience.

The kiddos crashed early, and the sound of the portable A/C drowned out the noise outside, which was probably a good thing for them.

I got up pretty much every hour throughout the storm to look out the front and back windows, and to shoot some video. Finally around 4am, the storm reached its peak at our house, and the wind was pretty fierce. We lost power around that time.

I was able to access the nearest WeatherBug via my iPhone, which was really handy for monitoring wind. Our sustained winds were around 50mph, with gusts as high as 89mph.

At one point, I heard a strange sound, and since the wind was not too bad (in between gusts), I put on a rain jacket and ventured outside to take a look around. The back yard was littered with branches, but otherwise okay. When I went to the front, however, I discovered that my neighbor’s small live oak tree had been blown over on top of my car!

There was no way I could move the tree by myself, and I figured that if I left my car where it was, the winds would eventually scratch it to hell. I decided to grab my keys and back it out; even if it got scratched in the process, it was bound to be better than what the wind would do. I backed it out and decided to wait until morning to see what damage, if any, had been done to the car.

The next morning, the wind was still gusting and obviously, it was raining. We were able to manually light the natural gas stove to boil water and fix hot oatmeal and coffee. As the weather continued to lighten, I made another tour of the outside of the house.

We’re surrounded by two-story houses, and that probably ended up being a good thing for us. Our neighbors had lost numerous shingles, and there were tons of branches of various sizes strewn across the yard. I found one of my gutters in my side yard, but otherwise, our house had no damage whatsoever.

Best of all, my car had no scratches at all! My front right bumper had been popped out, but I can easily fix that. A tree fell on my car, and it was virtually undamaged. How about that???

We spent most of Saturday listening to the battery-powered radio and trying to keep the kiddos entertained. We limited our trips to the refrigerator, but had plenty of food and water to keep fed for days, if needed. In the evening, we fired up the charcoal grill and enjoyed pork chops and sausage.

The kiddos were a bit scared of the dark, but we enjoyed a candle-lit dinner and moved our “camp” to the living room for the night.

Sunday, we spent most of the day cleaning up the debris from our yard and visiting with our neighbors. At one point, we climbed into my car to recharge our iPhone batteries via my portable power converter. Cell phone network availability was horrible, and even text messages were slow to send and arrive, often coming in bursts of 5-6 messages at a time. AT&T’s 3G network was completely unavailable, and the EDGE network was down more than it was up. Voice calls were nothing but an exercise in futility.

Sometime during the late afternoon, we suddenly heard hoots and cheers from all around the neighborhood as the electricity came back on. I am not kidding when I tell you this, but the sun actually began to shine at the exact same moment!

But perhaps the best line — and a comment on our culture — came from one of our neighbors who called out, “See you all next year!” as he and his wife returned to their house.

We all rushed back into our houses, and cranked on the A/C, happy to be returning to normal. We turned on the TV for our first look at the pictures and were shocked at the extent of the damage in Galveston.

However, the power went down repeatedly, and after only about three hours, it finally went down again for good. Fortunately, the Houston area received a cool front, which was a welcome relief from the hot, humid and sticky air.

That night, we set up camp in our master bedroom, with the kiddos in sleeping bags all around us. With windows open, we slept fairly well for the first time in three nights.

The next day following breakfast, we went to the park to enjoy the cool air and let the kiddos burn off some of their cabin fever. The weather was so beautiful, it was easy to forget that we had all just come through a hurricane!

When we returned to our house after a couple of hours, we were delighted to discover that our power had been restored — this time for good.

All total, we were without power for nearly 60 hours. We went through the milk and other perishables. But we had plenty of water and could have continued to cook on the natural gas stove for a few more days, if needed.

Today, I’m back at work, since apparently, our bills aren’t going to give us an extension due to the hurricane.    But it is nice to be returning to normal, and our attention is turned toward the hundreds of thousands of other Houstonians who will not have power or basic supplies for some time to come.

Time to be our best selves!

Turns out, there was a mismatch of VPI/VCI cards on either end of my line. There was a 768 kbps card on one end, but a 512 kbps on the other end. The mismatch should have simply resulted in lower upload speeds altogether, but apparently they also use slightly different protocols, which resulted in abnormally high packet loss.

Here’s what I’ve learned through this ordeal:

1. Once you get past the first level of “script readers”, the level two support folks at AT&T are quite knowledgeable, attentive and friendly.
2. Contrary to the rumor mill, AT&T does NOT throttle upload speeds.
3. If you’re experiencing slow upload speeds and have eliminated line trouble, ask about your VPI/VCI card.

Now, I have no idea how the problem occurred in the first place, since I was getting great upload speeds up until two weeks ago. Apparently, somebody swapped in the incorrect card at some point. But, I’m back to my happy uploading self, and ready to get back to work. I’m sure my clients will be happy as well!

The AT&T repairman just left, after nearly 2 hours of further troubleshooting. He said he’s never encountered an issue like this. Not reassuring.

He replaced the modem, the card at the hub, and completely changed the line from the box at the front of the subdivision to the hub. Same speed results after each change: 5,100 Mbps download, still less than 100 kbps upload.

He has now kicked this issue up to the “LightSpeed guys”, who handle connection issues from there to the main central hub.

I’m becoming more convinced that this is a case of “bandwidth throttling” and nothing to do with cabling. I also find it interesting that no one else in the neighborhood is reporting a similar problem. Guess I’m the only one in the neighborhood who UPLOADS files. Hmmm.

I decided to blog about the drama I’ve been experiencing with my newly-installed AT&T DSL, mainly so that I could have a record of my current situation. In my experience, things that begin as minor technical annoyances can escalate over time to the point where you find yourself asking, “How did I get here?”

So let me begin at the beginning. I was an early adopter of cable internet, one of the first in our neighborhood to have it installed, in fact. In those days, Time Warner was king in Houston, and we were all very happy. I enjoyed better-than-advertised download speeds, and uploading files was at least somewhat faster than the alternatives.

As a web designer and graphic designer, I upload files constantly. Whether I am sending a print-ready PDF to a printer, or uploading PHP files and graphics to my web server, my work depends on decent upload speeds.

Fast forward to last year. Comcast took over all of Time Warner’s Houston assets, and things got ugly very quickly. Their tech support was an absolute joke, and after months of unresolved service issues and being treated like an incompetent idiot, I reluctantly decided to switch to AT&T DSL.

For the first two months, things went very well. The download speeds were not quite as fast as the Roadrunner service, averaging only 5,100 Mbps. But the upload speeds were WONDERFUL… 600-700 kbps, nearly double what I was getting on the the “new and improved” Comcast network.

Then about 10 days ago, I noticed that it was taking longer for my files to upload. Uploading a 1 MB file now took 3-5 minutes, which is an eternity in web design hours. A quick speed check revealed the following:

Repeated speed tests, using several different services confirmed the slow upload speeds. The plan I am on with AT&T promises 6Mbps download and 768kbs upload. We’re nowhere close to that!

My Mac is set to backup nightly to an offsite disk, part of my .Mac service. That backup has failed the last four nights, timing out somewhere during the process.

This morning, I have spent a total of three hours on the phone with four different tech support personnel. We have “power-cycled” everything in the house repeatedly. I think they even had me turn the microwave off and on again. We’ve tried every trouble-shooting technique in their “script”.

The modem configuration page reveals 6,016 kbps downstream and 800 kbps upstream, although “real-world” speed tests tell a much different story.

Currently, I have a 50-ft. phone cable plugged directly into my phone box outside, and connected directly to the modem. Took one of my three computers—a different computer than the one on which I first experienced the problem—and plugged it directly into the modem. Exactly the same speed results.

So we’ve got another tech guy coming out tomorrow. I’ll post the update.

With a fresh 2-year commitment to this product, I’m really hoping to get this resolved. I can’t afford to spend hours of billable time waiting for uploads to complete.

Ayone else had a similar experience? Is AT&T practicing bandwidth throttling, akin to what got Comcast in hot water a few months ago? I don’t use P2P services, and almost all of my file transfers are conducted via FTP, with the exception of the aforementioned Apple .Mac sync services. Am I being “throttled?”

More tomorrow.