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Athens-based Likno Software is a software development firm which specialises in JavaScript and DHTML menu solutions.
You will find more info about their products and services at Likno’s Web site and at the Likno Software Blog. You may also want to visit the Photo Frame Show Web site.
Aris Filokostas, the company’s founder and CEO, generously shared with us his views and knowledge on various business related topics. His answers are sure to give you great food for thought:
- What has been Likno Software’s biggest achievement so far?
Likno Software’s initial flagship product has been “AllWebMenus,” a niche B2B product that targets web professionals (i.e. web developers, designers, Web site owners, web marketers, companies that manage customers’ Web sites etc.) seeking to enhance their own or their customers’ Web sites with cross-browser menus. More value-added products have also been developed targeting the same market, resulting in a growing customer base of thousands of paid international users from a variety of sectors, such as private, public, government, military, education, etc. Apart from the paid users, many more thousands of users are aware of the brand LIKNO.COM as we advertise on online services (such as Google Adwords), have presence in download sites and exposure in magazines, perform search engine optimization strategies and many other marketing-related actions through our in-house, highly-specialized web marketing team.
- What has been Likno Software’s biggest challenge and how has it been overcome?
Competition in our niche market has been growing as there are no apparent barriers to entry. More teams/companies are offering similar solutions to ours, especially from low-cost countries such as China and Eastern Europe. We believe that we have been overcoming this challenge through persistence in our customer support efforts (pre-sales and after-sales) and focusing in the usability of our products (rather than on features only). The support efforts are very important, as this is a deciding factor on many end users when comparing products with similar features. We also try to lead through new feature ideas (that competitors do not offer) which we make soon available with frequent releases.
- If you could change one thing in the software development industry, what would it be? Why?
Marketing costs. If you compare the early 2000 years with the present, you will see that we are now spending much more money in marketing with lower ROI. Why? One major reason is the high competition on PPC platforms, mainly Google Adwords. Software developers shoot their own foot by trying to overbid each other, thus making the PPC platforms richer, but not necessarily themselves.
We also notice that there is a lot of click fraud in campaigns which goes undetected; that consequently increases the advertising budget significantly, without return. While the PPC platforms claim that they do their “best effort” to reduce click fraud, we do not believe they are doing so, as they also profit from this situation (it is interesting to read the related Wikipedia article on “click fraud”). Unethical software competitors may also be part of this.
Now, why do I feel that this is important for the software development industry?
We are all forced to increase our prices or reduce our quality (less support for example) to compensate for the higher marketing expenditures. This has a negative impact on the end user while software developers do not generate a higher profit (but PPC platforms do). It appears that the major search engines have made us (advertisers) so dependent on their PPC platforms that whenever we try to reduce this marketing expense and focus somewhere else, we eventually get hit from significantly lower sales.
What I am saying is that the same traffic that used to be generated through free or cheaper means (organic search results, search through download sites only, etc.) now is reverted to an expensively paid traffic source due to the way search engines operate, thus reducing our profit margin.
I would therefore recommend that we (competitors of software products) get into a tighter communication and establish a common voice so that the PPC platforms do not operate without control. As an example, our costs have gone up because one day a PPC platform decided that the minimum bid for given keywords should be “20 cents” instead of “5 cents” that was before. The only 4 software competitors on these keywords had no choice than to accept this 4-fold increase on their marketing expense! The same traffic would still come to their Web sites, same sales, but lower profit now.
What if these 4 software competitors had a common voice (through an agency of international software developers for example) and boycotted these keywords all together? Would this PPC platform try to increase our marketing expenses without any valid reasoning again?
- What effect has the economy had on the company?
We have experienced a slight decrease in sales, mainly from USA which accounts for the majority of sales. We have seen customers telling us that their spending budgets are cut this year and while they do want to renew their Update Plans, they cannot. We believe that this year we will have slightly decreasing sales from existing products, but the new products we are releasing will compensate for this.
- What advice do you have for others starting out in the software development industry?
Focus on rapid application development and frequent releases. Do not try to have all features in version 1. Otherwise, you will be developing the product for “ages” without getting any market signals if this makes sense, plus you may lose significant part of the market from competitors already there.
By releasing soon and often you get a “feeling” on the product’s momentum without spending a lot of capital and you also get significant feedback from customers on what features are important to develop or not.
Do not disregard the value of excellent usability and well-formed GUI. If you only focus on features without paying attention to how you deliver them to the end user, you will have a “powerful” product that nobody wants to use; and a competitor with slightly less features but better GUI will get the customers.
Customer support is very important too. Think of every customer issue as an “opportunity” rather than a “problem.” Opportunity to improve the interface, documentation, processes, examples, blog, videos, anything.
Finally, a good product also needs good marketing in order to sell. Do not think that “if you build it they will come.” At least one in your team should have his mind concentrated on how to constantly increase the targeted traffic to your website and how to convert this traffic into paying customers. Find this person if you cannot do it yourself; it is important.
Mr. Filokostas, thank you very much for your thorough answers! Additional thanks to Natasha Giannopoulou for making this interview possible.
This article got me thinking about it: Getting Rid of Comments On Your Real Estate Blog. Just replace “real estate” by any other industry and off you go.
Do you think it could work for you? Do you agree with the blogger’s points? Do you think he got it wrong?
All I’ll say is that it takes a strong personality to do what he suggests. If you follow his example, there will be many blogging/social media specialists and non-specialists screaming at you and even wishing you the worst things (i. e., cheering for your business to fail), so they can prove you wrong. They will expect that you, defeated and humiliated, take your words back and open your blog’s comment form again.
I’ll get back to this subject in a future article about the dark side of web 2.0 fans. Subscribe to Abaminds Entrepeneurs by email or using your favourite feed reader, so you don’t miss this post.
I’d ended the previous part in a cliffhanger, as noted by clever Tara Jacobsen (visit her blog about small business marketing ideas).
I was about to reveal something that made me mad at BrightKit. Then the holidays came and I didn’t update this series again. 
But today I’ll kill your curiosity (finally).
I’m not that forgetful
Do you remember that option to follow BrightKit at Twitter? As I’ve said before, I’d uncheck it every time I saw it. Well, guess what? I took a look at one of my Twitter accounts and noticed I was actually following BrightKit.
At first I got surprised. I wondered if I had forgotten to uncheck the “follow BrightKit” option for that account. These things can happen to any of us. That being the case, I certainly wouldn’t be following BK in any of the other accounts I had added to my BK dashboard. After all, I couldn’t be that forgetful. So I verified my other Twitter profiles.
You must have guessed what I found out, right? And now you know why I got mad at BrightKit.
Talk about a HUGE no-no
I’d already heard of people who were following certain twitterers without having actually agreed to do that. It had happened to a friend of mine right when she opened her Twitter profile. But it had never happened to me until that day.
People, I don’t know about you, but I hate it when I’m forced to subscribe to anything. This is a HUGE no-no for me. Subscriptions should always be optional, never compulsory.
Following someone at Twitter is the same as subscribing to his/her updates. I want to retain the right to decide whether I’ll see your twits on my stream or not. If I decide I won’t be doing it, please configure your site so it will recognise my command. Otherwise, you’ll make me angry. And angry consumers love twitting (and blogging) about their disappointments.
Yes, I did use Twitter to vent my frustration. Fortunately, this was how this story began to move towards a happy ending.
Of course this is another shameless cliffhanger. More coming soon!
A New-York based company, Sensacell was established in 2005. It specialises in a hot and competitive field: interactive technology.
You can learn more about the company’s creations at its official Web site.
Sensacell’s Leo Fernekes kindly agreed to answer questions about business and the technology industry:
- How has the industry changed since Sensacell was founded?
We have seen tremendous growth in the industry. Products like Apple’s iPhone have significantly raised the level of expectation among the general public—architects and designers are now racing to deliver environments and experiences that live up to this new standard for interactive experiences.
- What is the most rewarding aspect of running your business?
Watching it grow; it’s wonderful to develop a new technology and have it be enthusiastically embraced by the marketplace.
- What is least glamorous part of running your company?
Dealing with the nitty-gritty aspects of manufacturing.
- Where do you see Sensacell three years from now?
Our plans involve opening a factory and headquarters in Thailand to increase our economic efficiency and better serve the Asian and European markets.
- Which steps are taken to set Sensacell apart from its competition?
Sensacell has utilized extensive market and design research in the development of our products and business strategy. The field of interactive technology is young but rapidly gaining momentum. We have designed our technology to be highly flexible so that it can be applied to many different applications—many of which are being developed as I write this.
Our key concept is to be Design Agnostic—our products are designed to seamlessly integrate with architectural surface materials, so designers have free reign to create environments and experiences that are never limited by the look and feel of the core technology itself.
Leo, thank you for the interview!
Leila Khalil is the founder of Be Inspired PR. This Los Angeles based agency specialises in public relations for the wedding industry, assisting small business owners in their promotional efforts.
In addition to Be Inspired’s Web site, Leila also keeps a blog (a very good one by the way): Inspired By This. You can meet her at Twitter too.
She kindly agreed to answer questions about business schools, the effect of the current crisis over the wedding industry and other topics, as you’ll see below:
- You are a business school graduate from Santa Clara University. This brings up an inevitable question: do what they teach in business schools have anything to do with what actually happens in the business world?
Graduating as a Marketing major from Santa Clara University has undoubtedly given me the tools that I needed to succeed in both my career and everyday life! Whilst courses in ‘Wedding PR 101’ weren’t offered to me, my business school education gave me the foundation and entrepreneurial spirit to go out and conquer the business world. Unarguably no single course or degree can ever wholly prepare you for the real world, yet I attribute much of my leadership, knowledge, and drive to the education I received at Santa Clara.
- How has the wedding industry been affected by the current state of the economy (if at all)?
The wedding industry has without a doubt been impacted by our current economic state. Although many high end luxury weddings are still being booked, the impact is evident in that what was once a $150k budget is now comparably $60k or $75k. Oftentimes I see couples who traditionally had much larger budgets trimming down their expenses to save money; hiring less full service wedding planners and vendors for example. With clients capping their budgets and vendors seeing a decrease in revenue, the trickledown effect is in full force!
Oddly enough, while the economy has impacted my business negativity in some areas, it’s increased my business in other less traditional forms. For example; using advertising placements in wedding publications is an expense that clients have been cutting back on to save money. Yet in response to this, wedding magazines have consulted me to help them find ways to keep the funding from loyal supporters. As an attempt to maintain their business they’ve outsourced ‘Be Inspired PR’ to find innovative ways to provide added value to their advertisers.
- How do seasonal events impact your PR business?
To be honest, seasonal events rarely impact my business, as there is always a service to be offered for new or existing clients. Whether its revamping the foundation of their brand or pitching their venture to existing wedding media outlets—there is never a lack of work to be done.
- Your company has a national presence. Do your procedures vary on a regional level? Or are they always the same across the different US regions?
Every region is most certainly unique and different, that’s the beauty of the US, and one of the aspects of my business that I find most invigorating and challenging! Trends in the luxury wedding industry vary from coast to coast most dramatically; changes in budgets, styles, traditions, and trends in market being most poignantly indicative of this. In order to accommodate these changes, I take into account the local media outlets as well as investigating every wedding market region. This allows me to prepare a comprehensive custom PR strategy that fits their individual needs.
- What were the most rewarding words you’ve heard from a client?
A longtime client of mine has recently had some fabulous media placement and television success through my company, and just a few weeks ago, she shared these kind words with me:
“Thanks for all of your hard work… You have changed my life and the course of my business beyond my wildest expectations! My deepest, sincerest gratitude!” —S.L
Additionally a new potential client, who I spoke with today, validated my purpose in creating this business by saying:
“How is that you understand and can anticipate my needs and goals so quickly. You are exactly what my company has been missing and I am so grateful that I found you.” —J.B
Hearing such feedback is what consistently motivates me!
Leila, thank you for your answers!
John Sternal, a seasoned PR specialist, wrote an e-book that will certainly be of interest to many of you: the PR Toolkit, a public relations guide for small businesses.
At his Web site UnderstandingMarketing.com you will find several articles about marketing and PR .
In this interview, John talks about the importance of PR for a business, the role played by the Internet and PR mistakes that a small business owner must avoid.
- Why did you write this e-book?
A couple of things inspired me to write the e-book.
First, there are millions of small businesses out there that simply don’t (and may never) have the budget to hire a PR or marketing firm to get their name out there. We’re talking a good $5,000 a month to hire a good PR firm. In this economy especially, small business isn’t writing that check. That being said, I’m a very large believer in small business since my father owned one and my wife currently is starting one. Small business deserves to have a level playing field.
Second, we’ve seen six-plus million people join the unemployment ranks since January 2008. A good majority of these people are going to be the ones to pull us out of this recession since they’ll be starting up their own small business with new goods and services (especially since corporate America won’t be hiring them back any time soon). So I wanted the e-book to help these start-ups as well. For $29.99 you can get basically many of the same results that a PR firm will get for you because it shows you how to get more media exposure.
- How did you condense your nearly 20 years of professional experience in the e-book’s 30 pages?
Well, naturally there are still some secrets I wasn’t able to fit into this edition. And I’ll be planning more toolkits in the future that focus on specific areas of PR and promotions. But it’s amazing how much PR you truly can get for your business just by focusing on the fundamentals—with a few really good secrets sprinkled in as well.
I could have easily had this e-book span 100 pages, but I didn’t want any fluff in this e-book. I can’t stand it when I read a book that says it will show you how to do something, and all it does is talk in circles chapter after chapter. I wanted to get down to business and make it an easy read so that any small business can put it down after 30-45 minutes and be ready to do some really great PR.
- What’s the actual importance of PR for a small business?
PR accomplishes several things. It gets people talking about you, which ultimately increases your sales, revenues and profits. It keeps customers interested so that you can sustain that level of increased profits. It makes you look like a bigger company, especially if The New York Times is talking about you, for example. And it establishes much-needed credibility since other people are talking about how great you are instead of you talking about how great you are. When you take all of this, combined with the fact that you can get it for $29.99 instead of the thousands you’d have to spend on a PR firm or placing an advertisement, it makes great business sense.
- From a PR standpoint, what’s the worst mistake a small business owner can make?
The worst thing a small business owner can do is either not give PR a chance or give up too easily. I want every small business owner to know that they are capable of doing great PR, but that doesn’t mean it comes easy or that it happens over night. You have to work at PR just like you have to work at a marriage because there are many similarities.
PR is about building trust and solid relationships with the media, and that just doesn’t happen over night. Plus, there is an element of sales involved, since you’re basically selling a story idea to a reporter. Plus, since you can’t really control the timing of a story, you have to have patience with reporters. But persistence is as big a part of this game as skill is, and this e-book talks about how to be persistent in all the right ways. Yes, there is a difference between good persistence and bad persistence.
- Which role does the Internet play in a small business’ overall PR strategy?
Like in many other facets of business, the Internet is playing a much larger role today in PR. But that’s a good thing because it’s bringing more opportunity to more people.
From free press release publishing Web sites to reporter resources like HelpAReporterOut.com, the Internet is enabling everyone to be their own PR person. What’s more, social media sites like Facebook.com and Twitter.com are going to change the world of PR and journalism forever. I promise you this. Every small business owner MUST be getting familiar with these Web sites because it’s less the future and more the now.
- How would you feel if you found out that a reader got so excited over the ebook’s content, that he/she decided to start a career in the PR industry?
I’d like to think it wouldn’t surprise me. I wrote this e-book with all the passion I have for PR. If it inspires someone to actually pursue a career in PR then that means that passion came through in those 30 pages. I’d be honored to have that person as a colleague for life.
John, thank you for your answers!
