ICDL Digital Marketing (ICDL) cheat sheet

Digital marketing uses online channels and technologies to reach, convert and retain customers across the customer journey.

Funnel stages are awareness, consideration, conversion and retention; each stage uses different content, metrics and calls to action.

Owned media are channels the brand controls, such as its website and email list; paid media are bought placements; earned media are shares, reviews and press coverage.

Inbound marketing attracts prospects with useful content; outbound marketing pushes messages through ads, email or calls.

A SMART objective is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

A buyer persona is a research-based profile of a target segment covering goals, pain points, behaviour and preferences.

A KPI must link to a business goal; vanity metrics such as likes or page views do not necessarily show business impact.

Customer lifetime value (CLV) estimates total profit from a customer, while customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the cost to gain one customer.

A domain name is the human-readable website address; DNS translates it into the numeric IP address computers use.

HTTPS uses TLS encryption; browsers mark HTTP-only sites as not secure.

Responsive design adapts layout and content to screen size, affecting mobile usability, search visibility and conversion.

A landing page is a standalone page focused on one conversion goal, usually linked from an ad or campaign.

A content management system (CMS) lets authorised users edit pages without coding; an e-commerce platform adds catalogue, cart, checkout and payment.

Clear information architecture and navigation help users find content quickly and reduce unnecessary bouncing.

Website accessibility includes alt text, captions, keyboard navigation and sufficient colour contrast for users with disabilities.

A call to action (CTA) is a button or link stating the next step, such as Buy now, Sign up or Download.

URLs are easier to read and share when short, descriptive, lowercase and hyphen-separated.

SEO improves unpaid search visibility by matching content to search intent and making the site easy for search engines to crawl and index.

On-page SEO covers content, title tags, headings, URLs, internal links and alt text; off-page SEO covers backlinks and online reputation.

Keyword research assesses search volume, competition and intent: informational, navigational, commercial or transactional.

A title tag describes the page and usually includes the main keyword; a meta description can influence click-through but is not a direct ranking factor.

Heading hierarchy uses one H1 per page and H2/H3 subheadings to structure content for users and search engines.

Alt text describes an image for accessibility and image search and is specific rather than keyword-stuffed.

robots.txt tells crawlers which paths not to crawl; an XML sitemap lists important URLs to aid discovery.

Backlinks from relevant, authoritative sites can support rankings; link farms and paid links violate search engine guidelines.

A canonical tag identifies the preferred URL when duplicate or similar content exists.

A business page or profile differs from a personal account by offering analytics, advertising, scheduling and admin roles.

Platform choice depends on audience demographics, content format and business goal, not popularity alone.

Consistent branding uses the same logo, colours, tone and username across profiles to improve recognition.

Profile fields such as name, bio, category and link state what the business offers and include a clear call to action.

Admin roles grant different permissions; least-privilege access and removal of leavers reduce account risk.

Two-factor authentication and strong passwords protect business accounts from takeover.

Linking social profiles to the website and verifying ownership where supported helps confirm account authenticity.

Privacy settings control who can see content and message the page and are reviewed before launch.

A content pillar plan defines three to five recurring themes before regular posting begins.

A content calendar schedules posts by date, channel, format, owner and goal.

Engagement rate = total engagements / reach × 100, or total engagements / followers × 100; the denominator must be stated.

Community management includes replying to comments, moderating abuse and escalating serious issues.

Social listening monitors brand mentions, keywords, competitors and sentiment beyond direct replies.

User-generated content (UGC) is customer-created material that can be curated and reshared with permission.

Scheduling tools publish at planned times but do not replace real-time conversation and moderation.

Crisis response acknowledges quickly, moves detailed discussion to a private channel and avoids deleting criticism unless policy requires it.

A/B testing changes one post variable at a time, such as image or headline, to identify what drives engagement.

Email marketing uses a permission-based list, segmentation by behaviour and clear sender identity plus unsubscribe options.

A lead magnet is free valuable content exchanged for contact details and feeds the top of the funnel.

Promotion types include discount, coupon, bundle, contest, referral and loyalty programme, each with different margin impact.

Segmentation divides an audience by demographics, behaviour or lifecycle stage to increase message relevance.

An A/B test compares two variants with one changed variable, random assignment and a defined conversion metric.

Influencer marketing selects creators whose audience matches the target persona, with paid partnerships disclosed.

Affiliate marketing pays commission per sale or lead tracked by unique links or codes.

Content marketing attracts and retains an audience with useful content rather than direct selling.

A promotional calendar aligns campaigns with seasons, product launches and inventory availability.

CPC = cost / clicks; CPM = (cost / impressions) × 1000; CPA = cost / conversions.

CTR = clicks / impressions × 100; conversion rate = conversions / clicks × 100.

PPC ads charge per click in search or social auctions; bid, ad quality and relevance affect ad rank.

Display ads place banners on third-party sites; retargeting shows ads to previous visitors using cookies or identifiers.

Programmatic buying automates ad inventory purchase, often through real-time bidding.

Search ads target keywords and intent; social ads target demographics, interests and behaviours.

Native advertising matches the platform's content format and is labelled as sponsored or paid.

Budget pacing spreads spend across the campaign period; frequency caps limit how often one user sees an ad.

Landing page relevance to ad copy supports conversion and can improve search ad quality scores.

A metric is a quantitative measure such as users or revenue; a dimension is an attribute such as country, device or channel.

A session is a group of interactions within a time window; a user is a unique person or device identifier; a pageview is a page load.

Bounce rate = single-page sessions / all sessions × 100; high bounce can mean poor relevance or a single-purpose page.

Conversion rate = conversions / sessions or clicks × 100; the numerator and denominator must be defined.

UTM parameters tag campaign URLs: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content and utm_term.

Attribution assigns conversion credit to touchpoints; last-click credits the final interaction and first-click credits the first.

Goals or events track actions such as form submits, downloads and purchases and are configured before campaigns launch.

A dashboard shows metrics tied to objectives and compares them with benchmarks or previous periods.

Data privacy requires collecting only necessary data, anonymising where required and following consent rules for cookies and tracking.