Charleston digital marketing agency acquires 2 firms

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Charleston-based digital marketing agency TargetMarket has acquired both The Modern Connection and Digico Agency digital marketing firms within a week of each other.

TargetMarket, founded in 2010, provides website development, social media management, digital advertising and branding. The Modern Connection is also based in Charleston, and Digico is located on Daniel Island.

“We had both acquisitions on the radar prior to the pandemic,” said Nick Nydegger, founder and CEO of TargetMarket. “In terms of timing, we never saw the pandemic as having a lasting effect on businesses investing in their digital marketing efforts, so it served as a time for us to regroup and position our offerings for what we anticipate will be a very busy 2021.”

Nydegger said that acquisition discussions with Digico began at the end of 2019 and that the TargetMarket team had collaborated with The Modern Connection in the past and had been familiar with the owner’s desire to sell for a couple of years.

“As I started to think about stepping back from the business I spent the last 11 years building, I wanted to find the perfect home for both our clients and our team,” Ashley Thiesen, founder of The Modern Connection, said in a news release. “Having known and respected Nick and the TargetMarket team for years, I couldn’t have found a better fit.”

Thiesen will stay on board as a consultant, as will Digico founders Sean and Ashley Adorno. All employees have been retained, adding about 15 employees from both companies combined to TargetMarket’s staff of 15.

Nydegger said he is looking forward to combining the strengths of The Modern Connection’s social media campaign management and Digico’s video production under one agency to help clients stand out in a competitive market.

“We want to grow not just within Charleston, but throughout the state and throughout the Southeast,” Nydegger said. “We now have the team to be able to do that over the next three years and to be able to get that agency growth beyond just the local.”

TargetMarket will have offices in Summerville and on Daniel Island, plus a satellite office in Raleigh.