Matt Russell

Co-Founder

Matt Russell co-founded Integrity Marketing Services in 2018 and serves as Creative Director. He oversees every creative decision the agency makes, from brand strategy and website design to the development of proprietary tools like April AI. If something leaves this agency with the Integrity name on it, Matt has touched it.

Background

Why He Started This Agency

Integrity started when Matt's co-founders, Drew Bauer and Zach Freimark, were in construction and kept getting burned by marketing agencies. High costs, poor results, no accountability. Matt started working with them, delivered strong results, and together they saw a gap in the market: service-based businesses needed an agency that actually performed.

They built Integrity around a simple idea: do the work, show the results, and skip the nonsense. No hiding behind technical jargon. No locking clients into contracts they do not understand. Just clear communication and measurable outcomes.

That founding principle still drives every decision at the agency today, more than 100 five-star reviews later.

"We started this agency because we were tired of watching business owners get burned by agencies that were better at selling marketing than doing marketing. Every decision we make comes back to one question: would I pay for this if it were my money?"

Matt Russell

Co-Founder

What He Does Day-to-Day

As Creative Director, Matt sets the creative standard for the entire team. That means he is involved in the strategy, look, and feel of every project that moves through the agency.

Reviewing website designs before they go to development

Working with the SEO and content teams to make sure creative decisions support search performance

Building and refining the agency's proprietary tools, including April AI

Meeting with the team to solve problems and push projects forward

Developing new service offerings based on what clients actually need

Matt originally managed all Google Ads accounts himself. When Brock Olsen joined the team, it freed Matt to focus on what moves the agency forward: strategy, innovation, and building the proprietary systems that give clients an edge most agencies cannot match.

Building Proprietary Systems

Matt drives the development of Integrity's proprietary tools. He and Dylan Axelson built April AI together, combining Matt's systems thinking with Dylan's SEO frameworks.

April AI is not a chatbot or a gimmick. It is an internal tool that helps the team work faster and smarter. It processes data, identifies patterns, and supports decision-making across SEO, content, and paid media.

His Approach

Matt believes creative work should serve a purpose. A website should not just look good. It should convert. A brand should not just feel polished. It should communicate trust.

Every creative decision is measured against a simple question: does this help the client win? If the answer is no, it gets reworked. The work is about the client's business, not the designer's portfolio.

How Clients Experience His Work

Most clients will not work with Matt directly on a daily basis. But they will feel his influence in everything the agency delivers.

The websites are clean and conversion-focused because Matt set the design standards. The reports are clear and jargon-free because Matt insisted on transparency from day one. When clients say Integrity feels different, a lot of that comes from the creative culture Matt has built.

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