TopRank Boosts Internal & External Marketing Expertise with Two Key Hires

To continue its path of growth as an industry leading digital marketing agency, TopRank Online Marketing has added two key staff to its team to provide leadership and support in meeting client needs and business growth for the coming year.

Ken Horst has joined the agency as an account manager to assist clients in meeting increasingly critical online marketing goals including content marketing, search engine optimization, and email strategy.

Ken has been involved in Internet marketing since the mid 1990’s, before Google,  when he as doing keyword research, content optimization and pay-per-click for an IT training company. Since that time, he has provided Internet consulting in the areas of strategy, site design, content plans, social media integration and more to both billion dollar companies and small businesses with a hyper local focus.

Dave Folkens will join the agency to serve as director of marketing communications in January 2011. A veteran communicator with an established background in traditional strategies as well as online development, Folkens brings both agency and corporate communications history along with a deep understanding of social media to TopRank.

Dave will be responsible for leading efforts to expand the agency brand and highlight the work of leading TopRank clients along with providing counsel on future growth opportunities for the organization. Prior to this new role, Folkens has worked at Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, Medtronic Inc., Orphan Medical, and the Minnesota AIDS Project providing a wide range of experience across industries.

Lee Odden, TopRank CEO, stated “Thanks to a strong list of creative, forward-thinking clients we have been fortunate to continue to increase our capabilities over the past few years despite a challenging economic environment.  We’re excited to be in a position to add some very strong, experienced staff to assist us with future growth and to serve increasingly savvy digital marketing clients. Ken will add great direct client service to our existing team and Dave’s background in public relations and marketing will be an asset to us as we seek to add new opportunities to build and lead our industry.”

Be sure to watch TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog for contributions from both Dave and Ken on search, social and content marketing topics.