Turn it up. That’s the philosophy of Derek Schmidt, CEO of digital marketing agency DesignLoud.

The company has more than 80 clients, consisting of local businesses and large national brands, primarily in the home services, healthcare, professional services and retail industries.

“The name reflects our belief that good design should make noise,” Schmidt said. “Small businesses get drowned out by bigger competitors with bigger budgets, and we wanted a name that signaled we were going to fix that.”

Don’t fear bold images, all-caps headlines and robust scrolling. Subtle gets forgotten. In fact, what Schmidt hopes to give every business is an unforgettable image – one that’s as big as a theme park, yet demonstrating care and attention in every detail.

“We decided early on that what we were really selling wasn’t marketing,” he said. “It was an experience. There’s a story about a Disney security guard who stops a little girl in the park and asks if she’s a Disney princess. Nobody put that in his job description. But that little girl will remember that moment for the rest of her life. That’s what we set out to build.”

The search engine optimization game has changed. It’s no longer good enough just to rank. Artificial intelligence seeks to draw from, and feature, only websites with the most authoritative content and the richest user experiences.

Staying ahead of the curve has resulted in the digital marketing design company evolving into a growth systems company as well, he said.

“The experience is the foundation, but what makes it repeatable is 15 years of systems and processes built underneath it,” Schmidt said. “We’ve always been early to spot and incorporate emerging trends. We were building AI-powered workflows and automation into our delivery model before most agencies knew what to do with the technology.”

Schmidt said he started DesignLoud to solve a consumer problem that still persists within his field.

“Small businesses were being ignored, ghosted and nickel-and-dimed by the agencies they trusted,” he said. “They’d reach out and wait three days to hear back, if they heard back at all. We made response time a brand promise from day one.”

DesignLoud customers receive a response to inquiries within four business hours, he said, with clear, meaningful, data-driven feedback.

For one local health care practice looking to rebrand, DesignLoud helped the provider increase organic website traffic by 180%, boost patient inquiries by 70% and reduce cost-per-lead by 50%, Schmidt said.

“Their marketing strategy wasn’t keeping pace with their growth goals,” he said. “We built a full-channel approach covering SEO, Google Ads, social media, email and streaming TV advertising.”

Having served more than 300 clients over time, DesignLoud is still looking to grow its client base and add new categories.

“The long-term vision is to be recognized as the agency that figured out how to scale the quality and attention of a boutique shop without losing what made it work,” Schmidt said. “We’re in the amplification business, and we’re just getting started.”