Inspiring Conversations with Alex Schupp of Crowd Digital Marketing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Schupp.

Hi Alex, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started my career after graduating from the University of Missouri with a journalism degree. This was in 2012, when the journalism landscape was rapidly changing from physical and analog to digital. My degree allowed me to explore the burgeoning industry of digital storytelling.

After graduation, I moved to Boulder, Colorado where I worked for Crispin Porter + Bogusky. It was an incredible opportunity to work with some of the most creative, boundary-pushing bright minds in the advertising industry. My skills in digital journalism, storytelling, and new media put me in a great place to ride the wave of what was quickly developing as a crucial part of any brand’s storytelling: social media.

I worked in the social media advertising field for several years – representing brands large and small. Some of my favorite brands to work with included Craft Macaroni & Cheese, Domino’s Pizza, Susan G. Komen Colorado, but as I continued to follow my own career journey, I found it more rewarding to work with smaller brands, as it allowed me to make a larger impact on their company trajectory with my day-to-day work.

In 2017, I founded my own company, Crowd Digital Marketing, with the goal of working with growing businesses and brands to tell their stories. Since I have really grown my roots in Colorado, I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing local organizations to curate digital experiences that tell their story, and engage with the communities that are most important to them.

I’m passionate in a handful of areas – food, nature and the great outdoors, snow sports, psychedelics, and nonprofit causes. I’ve been able to leverage my interest in these areas to grow relationships with businesses and business owners that have the same interests and values as I do.

My company has grown in size and function since 2017 – what was once a small social media startup, is now a larger company with a larger voice and team. We specialize in helping our clients tell their stories in a way that helps them grow and engage their communities.

I have had the chance to influence digital marketing and branding for a handful of amazing restaurants in and around Denver – places like Temaki Den, Kakigori Ken, Swanky’s, Con Safos, Rino Country Club, Jaguar Room and many more. One of our clients, Temaki Den, recently was for the third time awarded a Michelin recommendation from the prestigious Michelin Guide. Our website, which includes a menu updated daily, is a key part of their dining experience, and I am proud to have helped create such a simple, intuitive, and elegant solution for their patrons.

As a Coloradan and someone passionate about nature, the environment, and Colorado’s natural lands, I’m overjoyed to be able to support Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, Conservation Lands Foundation and Lincoln Hills Cares with web design and digital marketing services that protect our natural landscape. As politicians and big corporations attack this amazing American resource, I am happy to stand with people protecting and being active stewards of these lands.

Ever since I was a young boy, I have always loved extreme sports – especially snow sports. My company works with The Powder Alliance, Hovland Snowskates, and Hovland Snowskates Japan to engage with skiers, snowboarders, snow-skaters and get more people out to enjoy a lifestyle that brings me joy.

Psychedelics have been a part of my life since long before they were legal and mainstream. Their ability to shift mindsets, perspectives, and values is extremely powerful, and I’ve personally benefitted from the safe use of entheogenic plants and substances. My company Crowd Digital Marketing has been a proud exhibitor at PsyCon, Psychedelic Science, and the Colorado Psychedelic Cup. We work with companies like Mycelium Myndset, Anywhere Clinic, Bodhi Academy and Enlightened Life Temple to help people safely explore their minds and consciousness. Our marketing efforts have helped medical professionals get the Department of Regulatory Agencies-approved training they need to legally facilitate psychedelic therapy, connected people with medicines that help them introspect and grow, and given non-traditional spiritualists a safe space to delve into their own consciousness and create an enlightened life in their time on Earth.

I believe in leaving the world a better place than you came into it. That is why my work with nonprofit organizations is so important to me. In addition to serving on the board of an amazing 501c3 nonprofit, Veterans to Farmers, my company supports over 80 nonprofit organizations across the country with web design, digital marketing, and social media support. In a time when politics has our country so divided, I’m proud to be making a difference every day in the communities my nonprofits serve.

Being a business owner has its own unique set of challenges, but I feel rewarded every day with the amazing businesses and organizations I get to support, collaborate with, and grow.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Owning a business is always challenging in some way or another.

The last couple years has seen a lot of economic ups and downs. As inflation continues to rise and companies try to slim down operations, marketing is often one of the first cuts they make.

Our company delivers good work that helps businesses and organizations grow, so when this does happen, we batten down the hatches and weather the storm. Sometimes setbacks can be stressful and discouraging, but I am very proud of the work we do and our client relationships, and ultimately owning a business has been more rewarding that disappointing.

Last year was a particularly tough time for my business. Though financially we were doing great, I had brought in a few reseller companies that just didn’t value good work and positive client relationships in the way that I do. After thinking long and hard about the value of good partners – and good clients – I parted ways with these resellers and went back to doing sales the old fashioned way. It cut into my bottom line, but I am much happier being able to directly set the terms of client relationships without having a “monkey in the middle.”

My company acquired 2 other digital marketing firms – one in 2022, and one in 2024. Both of these acquisitions brought in their own sets of challenges – building new client relationships, adopting different workflows and packages, and establishing trust from clients whose contacts had just been “bought out.” But by doing good work, and getting good results, we have been able to win over our new clients and create relationships built on trust in our team and the work we are doing.

As you know, we’re big fans of Crowd Digital Marketing. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Crowd Digital Marketing specializes in digital marketing for growing brands. Based in Denver, Colorado, most of our clients are in the state of Colorado.

However, we are a virtual team, and do great work for companies all over the world.

We are a small company with talent, knowledge and experience. What this means for our clients, is that we are able to be flexible and nimble where other larger companies may have rigidity. We do good work, we do it quickly, and we are quick to pivot when that will benefit our clients.

Crowd Digital Marketing specializes in building websites that accomplish a few main goals: telling your story, performing well on Google and other Search Engines (SEO), being accessible to people who consume content differently than you and I, and being responsive for any device type or size that browses your website.

We also use a handful of digital marketing and advertising technologies to help promote the brands we work with.

At the end of the day – just having a great website isn’t enough. You need to get the right visitors to find it. We excel in creating websites that attract the right communities, and motivate them to engage and take action.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
Having lived in the midwest, the East Coast, and in Colorado, the #1 thing I like about our city is the people. Denver is full of smart, interesting, collaborative people. I love the unique interests and wide array of activities that keep our community vibrant and bright. People here are open to conversation and to collaboration in a way I have not found in other places.

The thing I like least about Denver is our public transit. I believe Denver (and Colorado overall) has such an incredible opportunity to connect our communities, improve our economy, reduce traffic, and increase accessibility if we were to invest in public transit. One example of a recent improvement in this area is the Denver to Winter Park ski train. I took this train back and forth for 10 ski days last year, and it was fast, efficient, affordable, and 100% beats fighting the I-70 traffic.

If we were to develop a better public transit system not just in Denver, but to the mountain communities, it would transform our state – making outdoor activities more accessible to our fellow residents, bolstering our economy that largely benefits from tourism, reducing traffic buildups and accidents, and allowing us to compete internationally with other ski towns and communities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.denvercrowd.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denvercrowd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DenverCrowd/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/denver-crowd/