Unpopular Opinion: Digital Won’t Save You
I’ve spent most of my career building websites and digital tools. But the longer I work in strategy, the more I realize: starting with digital is often a mistake. Not because websites or platforms don’t work, but because we treat them as the default, even when the audience, budget, or business model says otherwise.
Digital is seductive. It’s visible, measurable, and easy to justify. But when marketers lead with tactics instead of audience insight and business strategy, they build tools no one uses, spend money they can’t track to ROI, and confuse being busy with being effective.
Here are five common mistakes I see all the time. Some of these are obvious, others less so. But all of them share the same root problem: digital gets treated like a box to check instead of a tool to wield strategically.
Mistake #1: Ignoring the Customer Journey
Too often, marketing efforts zero in on a single touchpoint: a homepage, an ad, a landing page. But that’s missing the context and sequence that actually lead someone to take action. You need the whole story.
I once worked with a client whose website prominently featured a dealer locator tool. But after a few questions, it became clear that brand recognition in their industry was practically nonexistent. Customers weren’t coming to the site cold. Instead, they were arriving because a dealer had already mentioned the brand.
By mapping out the actual customer journey, we realized the site’s role wasn’t to generate leads it was to validate quality. Prospects were looking for trust signals, proof, reassurance. So we restructured the site to focus on credibility, not just conversion. The result was far more aligned with what real users actually needed.
Fix it: Step back and sketch out the entire customer journey. From first exposure to final action. Where do they find you? Where do they fall off? Smooth those transitions. A coherent journey converts better than any isolated piece ever could.
Mistake #2: Launching Without a Long-term Plan
It’s easy to focus on the launch; what it looks like, how it performs, the wow factor. But what about after launch? Who’s maintaining it? What does the content pipeline look like? How intuitive is the CMS for non-technical users?
This comes up a lot for me when I’m building in WordPress. I’ll spend hours refining the front end, testing layout, adjusting responsiveness, and fine-tuning the visuals. Then I realize I haven’t tested how a non-technical user is supposed to edit it. Gutenberg blocks that look perfect on the front end often become confusing or inconsistent in the editor. It’s a blind spot I’ve had to work on, because a great-looking site means little if the people managing it can’t use it easily.
Fix it: Plan for the life of the thing, not just the launch. What content matters? Who’s creating it? How often will it publish? And most overlooked (by me at least) how easy is it to keep the thing running day-to-day? A website shouldn’t be treated like a finished product. It should be built to adapt and serve long-term needs.
Mistake #3: Emphasizing Metrics, Forgetting Experience
We all love dashboards. But click-through rates and ad spend don’t tell you if someone actually enjoyed using your site, or if they’ll ever come back.
Ever been on a website where you have to call to cancel your subscription? Or one where making simple account changes requires multiple steps, hidden menus, or vague buttons? These “dark” patterns are intentional. They’re designed to keep churn low and conversions high, at least on paper. But they frustrate users and slowly erode trust. What looks like growth in a spreadsheet often signals frustration in the real world.
Fix it: Metrics matter, but they’re only half the picture. Use your own site like a customer. Ask real people for feedback. Track where users drop off or hesitate. Tools like Microsoft Clarity (a free user session recording tool I highly recommend) can highlight where the friction lives. A smooth, respectful experience builds trust. That trust is what brings people back.
Mistake #4: Abandoning What Works
There’s this myth that newer = better. In reality, most effective strategies combine old and new.
Too many brands walk away from high-performing channels because they think newer equals better. I’ve seen companies scrap well-performing email programs to chase social media attention, only to watch engagement plummet. Sometimes they chase what’s trendy just because it’s easier to report on, or because a competitor did it first. But just because something feels old doesn’t mean it’s ineffective. If anything, consistency often outperforms novelty.
Fix it: Keep what works. Test new ideas, sure, but don’t kill off proven performers in the process.
Mistake #5: Treating Digital as a Budget Line, Not a Business Driver
In retail, companies invest in their storefronts: they hire architects and designers, stock shelves, schedule staff, and run promotions. You’d never open just a few hours a week or leave last fall’s pricing up. Why? Because the store drives revenue.
Digital should be no different. But too often, businesses treat it like an afterthought. Leads go days without a response. Product info is outdated or locked behind a bloated form. What should be a business driver turns into a credibility gap.
Fix it: Treat digital like the business-critical infrastructure it is. It takes real money and serious strategy to do well. If you want performance, credibility, and growth, invest accordingly. Otherwise, you’re wasting everyone’s time. Not sure how much to invest? Start figuring out things like ROI, CAC and ROAS. They don’t have to be perfect but start somewhere to right size your investment.
Where to Start
If your digital strategy isn’t driving real business outcomes, it’s not working. Digital won’t save you. But strategy, the kind that requires clarity, prioritization, and tradeoffs, absolutely can.
If you’ve made one of these mistakes, you’re not alone. I’ve made most of them myself. But the good news is they’re fixable. Start by slowing down. Audit your last six months of work. How many decisions were guided by actual strategic priorities and how many were driven by habit, urgency, or aesthetics?
