The digital marketing space is complex, multifaceted, nuanced, and constantly evolving. Digital marketing professionals are continually adapting to new trends, new technologies, and shifting client needs, making the development of effective campaigns feel like an arms race. Learning to balance those needs with the goal of creating an impact in a cluttered digital ecosystem is part and parcel of being a successful digital marketer.
As a digital marketer, entrepreneur, and business executive, David Shteif knows well how to deliver strategically impactful results in uncertain or volatile markets. Since beginning his professional journey in 1999, he’s built and led multiple companies, including taking one public. Today, he’s the CEO of several distinct organizations, including Direct Legal Marketing, Coverage Hub Marketing, and Magic Foo Foo Dust. His penchant for referral-driven business models prioritizing long-term relationships has led to his companies becoming trusted partners to firms and clients nationwide.
“What drives me today isn’t just building businesses; it’s creating impact,” Shteif says. “I share the knowledge I’ve gained over decades with my team. Watching them apply strategies I introduce – and seeing the results speak louder than words – is what keeps me motivated.”
From Advertising to Digital Media
David Shteif didn’t plan for a career in digital marketing, but when the chance to leap came, he didn’t hesitate. The transition point came in 1997, during the early booms of the Internet, when he co-owned a traditional advertising agency whose clients were showing a clear interest in websites and digital campaigns. His business partner wanted nothing to do with it; Shteif knew that ignoring digital would be a catastrophic mistake. Their differences unresolvable, he laid down his ultimatum: He buys her out, or she buys him out. She bought him out and set him free to pursue the new digital age.
“Not long after, I met the CEO of a digital media company,” Shteif recalls. “I told him my story and pitched him a deal: teach me everything you know, and pay me 20% of whatever I make. Within five months, I’d earned six figures. That was the moment I knew it was time to take my show on the road. I launched my first digital media company – and I’ve never looked back.”
His enthusiasm and expertise won him many early victories, but it also came with the inevitable mistakes and lessons learned that come with any burgeoning industry. In David Shteif’s case, the key lesson was learning to slow down and strategize, focusing on how each decision will ultimately serve the client or customer first. His lessons from those early years can be concentrated into a straightforward principle: “always give before you expect to receive.”
“For me, it’s not just about generating volume – it’s about creating real impact,” Shteif explains. “We’ve helped firms scale by focusing on high-intent, signed retainers, not generic leads. By aligning with their goals, respecting their brand, and making sure they receive the right cases, we’ve been able to strengthen not only their businesses but also their ability to serve clients who need them most.”
Leading With Integrity
By focusing on what he can deliver to clients before worrying about what he’ll ever get in return, David Shteif embodies his goals and core professional values every day. His early entrepreneurial experiences directly inform his guiding values and the way he builds long-lasting relationships, which are the hallmark of his businesses. Shteif operates in accordance with three core values: integrity, alignment, and impact.
The first is as straightforward and intuitive as it can get. As someone who utilizes referral-first business models, maintaining a reputation for reliability and results is absolutely critical for building those mutually beneficial long-term relationships. Integrity is absolutely crucial, whether that means properly following through on promises and obligations or knowing when a commitment is beyond the company’s capabilities.
“Integrity means we only make commitments we can deliver on,” Shteif says. “In this business, reputation is everything – you either earn trust or lose it, and there’s no in-between.”
To work with alignment in mind is to eschew a transactional approach to business relationships. The work Shteif does through companies like Direct Legal Marketing isn’t just about generating leads or any other single metric; it’s about building lasting partnerships where the company’s goals are tied directly to those of the client firm. To this end, the company focuses on signed retainers, commercial cases, and campaigns that represent and uplift the client firm’s brand from start to finish. Everybody wins if the client does, and that builds trust.
“Every law firm we work with today has come to us through word of mouth,” says Shteif. “That speaks volumes about the trust we’ve earned and the results we deliver.”
Finally, Shteif is always concerned with impact. Every job is an opportunity for him to share what he’s learned over the decades with his team. Thus, every job is an opportunity for him to see his squad evolve, adapt, and produce results that exceed expectations. The same is true of their client firms; vanity metrics aren’t worth chasing, but lasting growth and meaningful experiences are.
Defining Decades of Success
David Shteif has been a successful entrepreneur for years, with numerous companies, and after so long, a question begs asking: what does success look like for someone who has accomplished so much already? For Shteif, the answer has changed over time. If requested early in his career, the usual metrics would be his answer: revenue, growth, hitting key milestones, and so on. Today, the story is a little different.
“Today I define success by the quality of the impact I make,” he says. “If our partners win and their clients are better served, that’s success. On a personal level, success is about freedom and fulfillment. It’s being able to spend time with my family, travel, and enjoy experiences without feeling chained to the business. So for me, success is really about alignment. When the work I do fuels growth for others, while also giving me the ability to live fully outside of work, that’s when I know I’ve achieved it.”
That’s not to say that certain milestones and achievements aren’t worthy of pride or celebration. David Shteif has made a career out of proving that businesses can be built entirely on referrals in an industry where most companies chase transactions. But doing so across multiple companies is demanding, and finding the path through that stress toward the rewarding innovation on the other side has been a constant journey. For Shteif, family and travel have been grounding constants that have kept him from burning out on the road to success.
“At the end of the day, innovation doesn’t come from burning out – it comes from having the clarity to see opportunities differently,” he says. “Creating that space, even in the middle of the chaos, is what allows me to keep pushing forward.”