About Us

From Dorm Rooms to Boardrooms – and Growing a digital marketing team

The Anchor Wave Story

Mike Schmidt started Anchor Wave in his college dorm room at The University of Arizona in 2003. He was coding websites and having client meetings in that cramped space. Even with the lack of a professional setting, his dedication and passion struck a chord with the businesses he was working for. As he grew the business, he understood the pressure and burdens of small business owners more and more. Clients were no longer clients, but partnerships in business. Mike was passionate about seeing his partners grow their businesses, and as those businesses grew, Anchor Wave did as well.

Anchor Wave has grown a team of more than 25 team members, all with a spirit of entrepreneurship and a tie to local business. Many grew up in a family-run business, or they started a business on their own. Lilly Darling, Anchor Wave’s CEO, ran her own design agency for more than two decades before she filled the shoes that Mike left. (He is now teaching other agencies how to be successful using our proven methods!) We love to see that spark of innovation and passion from our team. We also know they understand that starting and running a business is no easy path, and they are dedicated to helping small to medium sized businesses gain their voice and get their message out to their community.

In 2020, when we saw almost all of our partners shift their way of doing business, we went remote. What we saw is more intention when it came to culture, communication, and planning. Things we took for granted or simply dismissed while we were in the office were crucial for performance now. And with those intentional changes, we realized our communication and systems were even better than before! We were able to grow our team and clients nationally. While we still enjoy meeting our clients at their place of business and brainstorming together, we are still mostly remote, allowing us to serve small businesses everywhere.

OUR DIGITAL MARKETING TEAM IS READY TO HELP YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS WIN! ​

It’s our mission.

Our clients are more than numbers. They are real businesses built by real people trying to make an impact in the communities they serve. That’s why we see our clients as partners, and our digital marketing team remains constantly invested in their success. Through a variety of digital marketing tools, we help our partners get where they want to go, so they can achieve the goals they’ve laid out for their businesses. Our goal is to make an impact on communities nationwide by helping their local businesses thrive.

We get invested in your business and your life. We dedicate our work to seeing you succeed in both.

Our team is an extension of yours.

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We extend our impact through philanthropic service.

We take community impact seriously

We have a digital marketing team full of passionate people who love to serve their community. Anchor Wave supports their volunteer time by allowing a service day each quarter to increase the positive impact. We also give back through charitable contributions and discounted marketing services for non-profit organizations in our community. Organizations we support include:

Get to Know Our Digital Marketing Team​​

Awesome Humans… and Smart Too!

Our close-knit team is what makes our digital marketing strategies work. Get to know some of our talented team members below to see where our strength comes from.

The full team of employees in the office at Anchor Wave
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