Critical Issues

There can be many factors contributing to your eroding market share. Technology. Price. Performance. You have probably explored many of them. But did you consider that you have a design problem? Companies that do not understand the strategic importance of design can overlook design as a contributing factor to their success and lack thereof. There may be shifts in design trends that are affecting customer’s perceptions and causing your products and brand to lose relevance.

You need a fresh perspective on your market and your product offering that can offer actionable insights to turn things around and increase your relevance. And you need to ensure design consistency at every customer touchpoint.

How Level 4 can help: Audits / Trend Seminar / Creative Direction

Having trouble getting noticed in the marketplace? Is a new brand stealing your customers?

Your brand attributes may still be relevant, but your presentation may be sending a dated message. Too many companies focus on advertising and copywriting to revitalize a brand without considering the design of the product from the ground up and the design of every touchpoint that goes with it.

We will create a comprehensive strategy that supports your current positioning or creates a new position and ensures your brand is highly differentiated and highly relevant to new and existing customers

How Level 4 can help: Audits / Visual Positioning / Visual Brand Identity

Your well is running dry. Or maybe you never really developed a good process for coming up with new ideas. Or you were able to pick the low hanging product idea fruit to begin with and now it’s harder to generate new ideas. Whatever the reason, the situation is the same, where are your next great ideas going to come from?

Applying a design-based perspective to this problem can highlight new product ideas and even uncover new, uncontested market opportunities.

How Level 4 can help: Ideal Workshop / Opportunity Framing

You thought you had the next big thing. You thought your new product would disrupt your market and catapult you to the top in market share. You know that there are barriers to adoption of any new technology. But did you know that design can help?

By ensuring a compelling user experience and creating emotional desire for the product, effective use of design can help you drive adoption of your new technology.

How Level 4 can help: Audits / Creative Direction / Design

When you look at your products on paper, the combination of price, performance and features seems like it can’t lose. You thought sales were guaranteed. Alas, it hasn’t worked out that way. But why?

You were probably unaware of the impact the design of the product would have on sales. You focused on the feature set and forgot that your customers buy the product that they see and experience, not the feature set they read about.

For every product there is a design that will maximize sales. But you didn’t know how to create it or how to choose it from the options you were offered by your designers. You need to get up to speed on design trends, understand your visual positioning as it relates to your brand and start making better design decisions.

How Level 4 can help: Audits / Trend Seminar / Creative Direction

How do you take on the eight hundred pound gorilla of your market?

You look to innovate in areas that they haven’t thought of. Maybe it’s design. Maybe it’s usability. Maybe it’s the entire product experience. You need to think in new and different ways in order to change the playing field. You need to apply a design-based perspective to the problem.

How Level 4 can help: Audits / Workshops / Innovation

Most companies leave it to individual marketing managers to oversee design efforts. Or you may have design directors oversee their particular areas of expertise such as graphics and industrial design. This results in a fragmented and ad-hoc approach that does nothing to help you build brand.

How Level 4 can help: Creative Direction / Audits

First, congratulations on your success and kudos for being proactive about ensuring it continues. It’s all too easy to rest on your laurels and wait for the competition to keep up.

Top performers are always one or two steps ahead of the pack. If your success has been due to a competitive advantage related to technology, performance or quality, now is the time to create a Design Advantage. Your competition won’t stop trying to catch up and pass you. Adding design to your competitive advantage now will drive continued profitable growth.

How Level 4 can help: Audits / Brand Positioning / Creative Direction

So, you’re feeling under appreciated and under utilized. You know you have a lot to offer your company, but they keep rejecting your best ideas and relegate you to a supporting role. Maybe you’re tired of Marketing making all of the decisions and having all the influence.

You need to understand the strategic context of your work and learn to articulate your value proposition in a meaningful way. That means understanding more about business in general and the business of your company. By learning the critical issues for your business, you will be able to link design and strategy to create appropriate design solutions that positively impact your organization.

How Level 4 can help: Audits / Seminars / Coaching

You recognize the need to gain a deeper understanding of the context of your group’s work. But where do you turn for help? You don’t want to work with a someone who understands business, yet is unfamiliar with design and the design process. You want someone who has a foot firmly planted in both camps. Greg Hinzmann has both an MBA and a track record of producing award-winning designs. He knows the relevant information you need and how what you do relates to your company’s success.

You might even end up knowing more than those guys in marketing when we’re done.

How Level 4 can help: Seminars / Coaching

You’re not alone. Very few, if any, companies actually apply metrics to their design effort. Most don’t even know where to start. The good news is that your company already tracks a variety of metrics. It’s just that no one realizes there is a design component to them. So when things look good, design is seldom praised, and when things go poorly, design is not seen as a potential solution.

First you need to understand the strategic drivers of your business. Next, you need to see the connections between design and those numbers. Then you can consistently track, measure and manage design for maximum impact.

How Level 4 can help: Design Metrics