Web-design company buys marketing firm

Zipline Communications Inc., a Spokane Web-development concern that does business as Zipline Interactive, says it has acquired a web-hosting and e-mail-marketing company here called Rewire Applications.

Zipline Vice President Ryan Stemkoski says the acquisition, completed last month, will enable the company to use email-based marketing strategies developed by ReWire in conjunction with technologies Zipline already has in place.

Zipline is located at 154 S. Madison and employs 10 full-time employees, he says.

The majority of its business is focused on what's called content-managed web-sites, Stemkoski says. That technology allows Zipline's customers to log in and make changes to a site once it's up and running, eliminating the time and expense required if the site designer had to make each tweak to words or photos. Such systems are becoming increasingly popular in the Web-design industry, Stemkoski says.

The e-mail marketing strategies developed by ReWire allow a user to send email-based newsletters and track whether the messages have been opened and read, and how long the recipients spent reading them, he says.

While ReWire's technology is in many ways similar to that offered by Constant Contact and other e-mail marketing companies, Stemkoski says the amount of analytical data that can he gathered through ReWire's technology is greater. He says the application created by ReWire also can be integrated directly with Zipline's content managed websites, so the user also can host their e-mail content online and track it there as well.

"We're going to use ReWire's technology to enhance the technologies we already have in place so customers can tie in the e-mail marketing directly with the website," Stemkoski says.

He says ReWire's two former owners and sole employees sold their venture to Zipline because they wanted to focus on other careers. Stemkoski declined to disclose the terms of the transaction.

Zipline's current clients include Craven's Coffee, Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park, and the Idaho Ski Areas Association, among others, he says.

Zipline also offers print and billboard advertising design, as well as designing mobile-based websites, which Stemkoski says the company also has integrated into its content-management system.