  We develop and discuss an infrared-finite factorization and optimized
renormalization scheme for calculating exclusive processes which enables the
inclusion of transverse degrees of freedom without entailing suppression of
calculated observables, like form factors. This is achieved by employing an
analytic, i.e., infrared stable, effective coupling $\alpha_{s}(Q^{2})$ which
removes the Landau singularity at $Q^{2}=\Lambda_{\rm QCD}^{2}$ by a
power-behaved correction. The ensuing contributions to the cusp anomalous
dimension, related to the Sudakov form factor, and to the quark anomalous
dimension, which controls evolution, lead to enhancement of the hard part of
exclusive amplitudes, calculated in perturbative QCD. The phenomenological
implications of this framework are analyzed by applying it to the pion's
electromagnetic form factor and the pion-photon transition.
