I’ve been a contract CMO and marketing executive for some of the biggest e-commerce companies in the world. They are literal household names, such as Brooklinen, New York & Company, Vera Bradley, Good America, Malin+Goetz, The Children’s Place and Lord & Taylor.
These companies didn’t become international brands by accident, and it takes a lot of work to stay there. Nowadays, it’s not enough to be in the window of retail stores or have favorable shelf space at the supermarket. You also have to win online, where the barriers to entry are lower and the entire world is competing.
Fortunately, succeeding at digital marketing going into 2026 isn’t a great mystery. It just takes focus, discipline and emphasis on building your brand from the inside out and having something you’re proud to showcase to the world.
Here are five principles to keep in mind if you want your company to win at digital marketing:
MAINTAIN STRATEGIC FOCUS OVER VOLUME
Many organizations produce extensive lists of priorities: 10, 20, sometimes more. In practice, this dilutes focus and weakens execution. When too many initiatives compete for attention, none of them achieve meaningful traction. Effective marketing leadership requires concentrated ambition. Identify the one or two priorities that will materially move the business forward in the coming year, commit the full weight of the organization to them, and execute with discipline. Impact is created through clarity, not volume.
GROUND DECISIONS IN TRUE INCREMENTAL REVENUE
A surprising number of organizations—easily seven out of ten—evaluate their marketing performance using the wrong metrics. The result is predictable: misguided decisions that erode both efficiency and growth. This isn’t a small issue; it’s systemic.
Every stakeholder in the ecosystem has an agenda. Agencies are often incentivized by increased spend. Marketing platforms such as Meta, Google, and TikTok naturally fight to justify taking a larger share of your budget. Each will present data that appears to validate their case. But none of this guarantees the truth about what is actually driving incremental revenue.
That clarity comes from independent measurement partners whose sole mandate is accuracy, not spend. They are costlier, but the return on that investment is consistently positive because they separate genuine business impact from attribution noise. Even then, not all third-party vendors are created equal. Avoid flashy dashboards and sales theatrics. Prioritize depth of expertise, methodological rigor, and a proven track record of uncovering the real levers of growth. They may not be—and often aren’t—what you think.
APPLY AI WITH INTENTION, NOT IMPULSE
AI appears on every priority list today, and rightly so. But the discipline lies not in adopting AI everywhere, but in identifying where it will create real value. Not every workflow or business function requires AI in 2026, and indiscriminate adoption often leads to complexity without impact.
The more effective approach is to select a small number of high-leverage use cases and pursue them with focus. Treat early exploration as both a learning exercise and an opportunity to unlock internal innovation. When teams are given space, autonomy, and permission to experiment, certain individuals will naturally rise to the challenge. The outcomes often exceed expectations: new creative directions, faster iteration cycles at lower cost, sharper demand planning, or materially improved customer support.
AI is not about replacing human capability; it is about amplifying the areas where your teams can deliver outsized value. Choose deliberately, empower broadly, and let practical results, not hype, guide your path.
LEAD YOUR TEAM WITH PRESENCE AND EMPATHY
The last five years have challenged everyone, between the pandemic, geopolitical disruption, elections, shifting workplace norms and more. As true leaders, we can’t ignore the ripple effects on our teams. And we should not.
Make it a priority to invest in your people. That doesn’t mean formal programs or buzzwords, but through presence, availability and empowerment. Be deliberate in your one-on-ones, carve out open “office hours”, hand over special projects for experimentation and engagement (a good one would be AI), and every now and then do something small but meaningful. Order pizza, host a breakout session or encourage side innovation. Tell them to go home earlier and be present with their family. These gestures build trust and fuel discretionary effort.
Because the data backs it up: median job tenure in the U.S. has dropped from 4.6 years to 3.9 years between 2014 and 2024. When tenure is this compressed, leadership presence becomes an even stronger differentiator. Be the leader your people talk about. And when your team knows you care—not just about the deliverables, but about them—they’ll go the extra mile.
BRAND BUILDING IS NOT A MEDIA TACTIC
In the past several years, I’ve seen more and more leadership teams declare goals like “We need to build our brand” or “This year we’re prioritizing brand.” In practice, this often gets translated into one thing: “Let’s spend more on upper-funnel advertising.”
Let me be clear: this is one of the most persistent misconceptions in modern marketing. An upper-funnel campaign does not build a brand. It never has.
A brand is not the byproduct of a media line item. A brand is the cumulative result of:
- A product that delivers real value
- Clear, resonant messaging grounded in truth
- How customers are treated at every touchpoint—with respect, dignity, and transparency
- How employees are treated internally—because culture eventually becomes customer experience
- Consistency and integrity in what you say and what you do
Media and attention can amplify a brand, but it cannot create one. And yet, far too often, “brand building” becomes code for “spend more money on broad reach ads.” This is a costly mistake, not just financially, but more importantly—strategically.
I’ve stepped into numerous consulting engagements in recent years where I had to unwind exactly this error. Marketing leaders, agencies, and advertising platforms often promise the same narrative: “Invest in these upper-funnel tactics. You won’t see immediate results, but the long-term brand lift will drive significant growth.” However, that long-term lift almost never materializes.
If your marketing efforts cannot demonstrate impact today, even if it’s early, they will not magically produce impact tomorrow. That is simply not how demand, consumer behavior, or modern attribution works.
I’ve watched brands take that leap of faith, only to find themselves months later with elevated costs, no measurable improvement, a weakened financial position, and a leadership team struggling to explain what went wrong. That’s not a good place to be.
These organizations didn’t fail because they “underinvested in brand.” They failed because they didn’t have a brand worth investing in. Follow these five principles to build your brand organically, and watch the rocketship take off.
Daniel Pahl is partner, VP of growth at Chameleon Collective. He has consulted for and served in interim executive roles for brands including Malin+Goetz, The Children’s Place, Lord & Taylor, New York & Company, Good American, Vera Bradley, and About-Face Beauty.
