Q. Your firm, which specializes in customized, single-source, Web site design and hosting services, announced the asset acquisition of Labaucher Media. What does that mean for your firm?
A. For ImageWorks, this acquisition means growth, which is great. Our clients will receive a broader and deeper range of products and services including an affordable and rapidly deployable content management system. Transitioning from Laubacher Multimedia, its former clients will have access to ImageWorks’ 24/7 customer service and tech support, a high-end enterprise level content management system, search engine optimization, social media and customized hosting plans housed at a local data center.
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Q. The addition of 100 clients, according to your announcement, makes your firm one of the largest web development firms in eastern Connecticut. Are there a lot of web development firms in eastern Connecticut? In other words, big fish/big pond or big fish/little pond?
A. There are a lot of web developers all over the country from solo practitioners to large firms. But the smaller designers can’t do what we do.The world of web developer options is an ever-expanding pond. Connecticut’s bigger firms are concentrated in its cities – Hartford, New Haven, Stamford.  I would say in Eastern Connecticut, ImageWorks is a big fish in an ever-growing pond, but we consistently expand our reach to clients across the country and beyond.
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Q. How big has ImageWorks become? How many employees do you have? Why do you have regional offices in Boston, New York and Aruba?
A. ImageWorks’ client base includes some worldwide billion dollar corporations as well as local restaurants and various business types and sizes in between. ImageWorks has six core people, two part time employees and two key vendors. Our regional offices in Boston and New York were opened to position us for growth in different markets and provide local expertise to help build relationships. We actually had some contacts who wanted to get involved in web development in Aruba and created a presence there to continue that relationship – and more trips to Aruba are fine with me!
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Q. How does a web development firm like yours stay competitive against what is surely international competition? It’s not a challenge a lot of small Connecticut businesses face.
A. There are a lot of options available to business owners nowadays when it comes to websites. Not only from international competition, but there are also a multitude of choices for the do-it-yourselfers. For example, WordPress allows anyone to create a free blog site with ease. However, with us, the technology is secondary; almost a dime-a-dozen.  Our web solutions are based on marketing objectives. ImageWorks’ customers get exactly what they need as we give an exact solution for the problem at hand.
We have very mature toolset that can do many things that are not available anywhere else. That, combined with our philosophy regarding websites as marketing tools, set us apart. In fact, 50 percent of our calls are from people who already bought something “off the shelf” and are terribly frustrated and unhappy. We create a solution, deliver what is promised and make a client for life.
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Q. According to your website, Image Works began as a cottage industry selling advertising on a local town website quickly evolved into a CT Web design firm. How did your firm make that transition and do you still embrace your roots?
A. We still embrace our roots – our internal philosophy has always been a worldwide presence from a local company. It’s all about listening to the clients. Callers speak to live people when they contact ImageWorks. We also have an amazing client portal for immediate client feedback and have always been very hands-on. The reason we have grown to be what we are today is due to us listening to our client base. We have heeded advice on what clients like and what else they’ve wanted in addition to existing services.
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Q. Time to play prognosticator. What’s the next big trend in Internet marketing?
A. I think a lot of things in Internet marketing have reached their peak (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). The big picture I foresee are economical changes that will force people back to a more local marketing outreach. Importing, traveling and shipping will be much less affordable in the near future causing people to focus on local efforts more than ever. Local internet marketing, such as the push of instant coupons on geolocation sites like FourSquare, Gowalla and custom apps can be used/created, causing local people to act on an instant offer. Along with this, other forms of local and regional marketing techniques is where growth will occur. Internet marketing firms that understand this and can guide their clients accordingly will be of great value.
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