Digital marketing: Expert insights to level up your online biz

Whether you’re an emerging startup or a seasoned brand, optimizing your digital presence can significantly impact customer acquisition, retention and revenue. We spoke with Theodore “Teddy” Russell, PhD, Senior Insights Analyst at Target about the core principles businesses should adopt to thrive online. Here are the five digital marketing practices he says every brand – big or small – should implement. 

• Understand the fundamentals of site structure and design: Before you even start optimizing your content for conversion (e.g. sales), you need to start with foundational elements like site architecture, search listings and landing page clarity. Russell says user-centered design should be your anchor: “Think about how your customers will move through your site,” notes Teddy. “It’s not how you want them to move, but how they naturally behave.” 

He also stresses the importance of visual hierarchy, which helps users intuitively know where to focus and mobile responsiveness. That’s an all‑important factor, especially with mobile commerce now dominating traffic across nearly every retail category. (Real talk: How often do you view a website on a desktop or tablet? Nough said.) 

“It’s also good to remember when designing your site is that on average, attention spans for customers are a few seconds,” says Teddy. With that in mind, he recommends building a one-page site. “Everything you want users to see should live on your main page because that’s where you’re going to get the biggest percentage of your traffic. You can of course have other pages that you re-direct to, but the most important messaging should live on your main page.” 

• Know your customer – deeply. Teddy is a self-described data guy, so when he talks about understanding your customer, he’s talking about real insights – not surface-level demographics. With that in mind, he stresses the importance of knowing the following: You have to know how your customers shop. Are they coming in from mobile web, an app, social or paid search? Their entry point gives you clues about intent – and that’s marketing gold. 

With that in mind, Teddy outlines three key focus areas as founders dig in all things customer insights: 

1. Customer acquisition: Which channels are performing and why?
2. Customer context: What mood or mindset are people in when they land on your site?
3. Customer journey: It’s not always linear, Teddy notes. “Mapping touchpoints gives you opportunities to personalize and guide your customer.“

Invest in smart, purposeful product content. “Your product content is the heart of your digital experience,” says Teddy. “It’s the moment where intent meets decision.” 

This means implementing rich visuals, helpful messaging and a focus on educating the customer. “Validate product benefits not just through copy, but through things like customer reviews, ingredient callouts and videos.” And remember, the best product or service content is often shot with a smartphone camera in short form – don’t put the pressure on yourself to produce something more akin to a television commercial.  

For smaller businesses, Teddy recommends starting with operating principles: 

• Simplicity: “Don’t overwhelm your customer,” he says. One clear benefit is more powerful than five vague ones.”

• Contextual relevance: Align content with how people discover you. 

• Interactivity: Features like comparison tools or dynamic images create confidence and reduce friction. 

• Let key performance indicators (KPIs) guide you – not confuse you. With digital marketing, it’s easy to get distracted by the wrong metrics. You want to focus on KPIs that tie directly to business goals. 

Among the metrics Teddy recommends prioritizing are: 

• User engagement: Are people actively exploring or bouncing off?

• Task success rate: Can they complete what they came to do? 

• Error rate: Technical glitches can quietly kill your conversion rates. 

Teddy also calls out AOV (average order value) and channel performance as especially helpful for identifying growth opportunities. 

• Treat Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a strategic partner, not a trend. “AI isn’t on its way – it’s officially arrived,” Teddy says. That means, now is the time to get up to speed on how it can be of value to your business, he notes. “The founders who are experimenting now will be the ones leading in two years.” 

AI is already being used to streamline logistics, automate content creation, says Teddy, and can be truly valuable in enhancing customer service through things like chatbots and personalization. Additional key uses cases for AI include: 

• Predictive analytics to forecast demand and tailor product suggestions. 

• Generative AI for scalable content creation.  

• Automation in backend workflows that saves time and reduces error.  

And if leveraging AI sounds intimidating, start with just one-use case or tool at a time. Some ideas: try a note-taking or audio transcribing app (like Otter), chatbots like Chat GPT or Gemini and search engines like Perplexity. No matter your brand’s size, your digital presence is your storefront. Investing in the right strategies — from customer insight to site design to AI — sets the foundation for meaningful growth. 

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