Page 28 - BusinessWest January 24, 2022

Neighborhood Connections
Cider House Media Makes the Community Its Business
By Elizabeth Sears
There is a marquee sign on Northampton Street in Easthampton that has become quite the local sensation. This old-fash-
ioned sign has caught the attention of many in the Hampshire County community with its constantly revolving inspirational quotes. It belongs to Cider House Media, a market- ing company owned by Lennie and Elizabeth Appelquist, who launched their firm after moving to Easthampton from Los Angeles.
“In 2013, my wife and I ended up moving back here, she grew up here in Easthampton,” Lennie said. His original background was in the film industry, but his hobby in website design ended up developing into its own company. “We still had a lot of clients we were carrying with us, so that’s what we did. We started Cider House here officially.”
Cider House Media provides a wide gamut of marketing services, ranging from branding, website building, and search-engine optimiza- tion all the way down to smaller jobs like fixing a website’s e-mail form. No matter how large or small the task, he said, the company focuses on delivering outcomes for whatever needs clients might have.
“At our core, what we really like to do is work with small businesses that matter to their com- munities, that may not have the resources to do
all of the marketing, or the technical expertise to do the website and handle the marketing ... but also can’t necessarily afford a really large, big-city firm to take care of all those,” Appelquist said.
The majority of Cider House Media’s clients are local businesses in the Western Mass. region. Its focus has been websites for small businesses that touch their local markets, Appelquist said.
to the demands of internet-based consumers. Shortened attention spans paired with the mas- sive shift to remote work brought on by the pan- demic has amplified the need for businesses to have fast and efficient websites, Appelquist said.
“We were just having a debate this morning about website loading times,” he told Business- West. “The pandemic shed a light on a lot of
“At our core, what we really like to do is work with small businesses that matter to their communities, that may not have the resources to do all of the marketing, or the technical expertise to do the website and handle the marketing ... but also can’t necessarily afford a really large, big-city firm to take care of all those.”
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28 JANUARY 24, 2022
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY
BusinessWest
“Our founding belief, our belief that drives
us, is that local businesses and small businesses in our towns, not just here in Western Mass. but everywhere, really are the economic drivers of our communities,” he explained. “They’re also a kind of life’s blood. They are what make our com- munities really awesome, the small businesses, and we just really like to work with them.”
A strong online presence has become a grow- ing need for small businesses as they acclimate
things, and people really expect a lot out of what they get delivered online, so what they’re looking for trend-wise is a website that loads really quick- ly. They also want a website that delivers clear information right up front without them having to think too much or dig too deep.”
He explained how savvy consumers not only crave deliverability, but also require accurate information. Cider House Media helps clients take control of their online presence, which