NEW BRIGHTON, MINN. (Oct. 20, 2008) – Risdall Marketing Group announces the merger of several divisions to provide enhanced online marketing services. The new division, Risdall Online Marketing Group (ROMG) encompasses search, email marketing, online advertising, analytics and social media into one group of services. Jennifer Risdall will serve as CEO.

“Even with the current state of the economy, online marketing and social media is growing exponentially,” said Jennifer Risdall, CEO of ROMG. “By integrating our online marketing services, we have an even greater ability to maximize online visibility results for our clients.”

An expert in maximizing client visibility on the Internet through organic search, paid search and other online strategies, the agency has been at the forefront of new media for more than a dozen years. Risdall is recognized as the largest Web developer in Minnesota and provides online marketing components for more than 40 clients.

Risdall has promoted within to create the invincible ROMG team. The nine-person team includes:

• Jennifer Risdall, CEO
• Josh Dahmes, president of ROMG
• Jared Roy, president (RIG), partner to ROMG
• Chris Peterson, director of online marketing
• Dean Gannon, online marketing manager
• Kristen Bothwell, assistant to the president/project manager
• Kareem Ahmed, interactive marketing specialist
• Cydney Wuerffel, online visibility specialist
• Jason Douglas, online marketing specialist

Jennifer Risdall joins as CEO of ROMG. An expert in helping clients maximize their visibility on the Internet through organic search, paid search and other strategies, Jennifer has been keeping up with the leading edge of new media and bringing its advantages to clients since joining Risdall in 1996. In addition to starting the agency’s search marketing practice, she has supervised accounts in the high-tech, telecom, and non-profit areas.

Josh Dahmes joins as president of ROMG. Josh joined Risdall in November 2005 as vice president/director of online marketing. Josh’s experience with online marketing enables him to offer RMG’s clients a wide variety of skills and capabilities including, extensive search marketing optimization (organic and sponsored), online media buying, affiliate marketing, web analytics and a focus on ROI/ROAS/Performance.

Jared Roy joined Risdall as president of Risdall Integration Group in February 2008. Jared focuses on leveraging the strengths of Risdall Marketing Group’s 13 divisions to develop solutions for clients that harness the power of integrated marketing. His experience and knowledge of Risdall’s divisions will greatly benefit ROMG. Jared holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from the University of Colorado.

Chris Peterson joins ROMG as online marketing manager. Chris brings a broad range of marketing expertise with a focus on SEO and SEM and plays a key role in helping our clients maximize their presence on the Internet. Before joining the team at Risdall Advertising Agency Interactive in 2007, he assisted Google engineers with the interface for Google Checkout at the Google Plex.

Dean Gannon joins ROMG as search marketing manager. Gannon brings technology experience including development, manufacturing, managing, analyzing and reconfiguring all things Web related for marketing. While Gannon specializes in development and implementation, he is also well versed in online international business strategy and business plans and strategy for clients.

Kristen Bothwell joins ROMG as an assistant to the president and project manager. Bothwell joined Risdall in April 2008 as an account executive. Previously, Bothwell conducted media relations for the World Series of Poker, planned events at the Minnesota Journalism Center and produced media materials at Jean Freidl Communications. She was also a part of the RMG student-run agency, Fusion Marketing.

Kareem Ahmed joins ROMG as an interactive marketing specialist. Kareem will work closely with other RMG divisions to facilitate the crossover of social media into other traditional media pieces for clients. He graduated in May with a B.A. degree in professional strategic communications from the University of Minnesota.

Cydney Wuerffel joins ROMG as an online visibility specialist. Prior to joining RMG, Wuerffel was an account intern at A/B Group One Advertising and has a diverse background in public relations, advertising and online marketing. She graduated in May with a B.A. degree in professional strategic communications from the University of Minnesota and started her career at Risdall in July of 2008.

Jason Douglas joins ROMG as online marketing specialist. In his former position as search marketing assistant, Douglas proved very quickly that his online marketing skills were a huge asset to Risdall’s online marketing team. He has a B.S. degree in marketing from St. Cloud State University where he was president of the student chapter’s American Marketing Association.

ROMG’s Online Strategies Yield Results for McKinley Group
One client that has benefited from RMG’s online expertise is McKinley Group, a corporate executive recruiter in the Twin Cities. RMG began working with McKinley Group after its new Web site launched. McKinley Group faced a lack of tangible results from its new Web presence. RMG employed an aggressive search engine optimization strategy, including keyword content flow, site architecture changes, a pay-per-click program, and Web site Analytics. Results from RMG’s online marketing strategy showed a 95 percent jump in Web site traffic.

About Risdall Marketing Group
Founded in 1972, Risdall Marketing Group has annual capitalized billings of $162 million and over 60 employees in 2007. Headquartered in New Brighton, Minn., Risdall is heralded as one of the oldest and most successful agencies in the Twin Cities market and is recognized nationally for its leading-edge interactive marketing capabilities. The full-service agency embraces an integrated approach offering marketing, advertising, public relations, promotion and collateral development, traditional and interactive media, research and fundraising capabilities. According to the 2008 Twin Cities Business: Annual Business Information Guide, RMG is ranked as the largest Web developer, fifth largest PR agency and the seventh largest advertising agency in Minnesota. For more information, visit www.risdall.com

Editor’s Note: For an in-depth case study on McKinley Group, Inc., or other RMG clients utilizing integration of online marketing services, please visit www.risdall.com or contact Lisa Kunkel at 651.286.6761, or

Lisa Kunkel
Risdall McKinney Public Relations
651.286.6761

Jennifer Risdall
Risdall Online Marketing Group
651.286.6707

John Risdall
Risdall Marketing Group
651.286.6702