ICDL Digital Marketing (ICDL) cheat sheet

Digital marketing is the promotion of products, services, or brands through digital channels such as search engines, websites, social media, email, and mobile apps.

Inbound marketing attracts prospects with content, SEO, and social media; outbound marketing pushes messages through paid ads, cold email, and direct outreach.

The marketing funnel commonly has four stages: awareness, consideration, conversion, and retention or loyalty.

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional profile of an ideal customer built from demographic, behavioral, and psychographic research.

Owned media are channels the brand controls (website, blog); earned media are organic mentions and word-of-mouth; paid media are purchased placements.

SMART objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Customer lifetime value (CLV) = average purchase value × purchase frequency × customer lifespan.

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) = total acquisition spend ÷ number of new customers acquired.

A KPI is a metric explicitly tied to a strategic objective; not every metric is a KPI.

A domain name is the human-readable site address (e.g., example.com); DNS translates it into the numeric IP address of the hosting server.

Common top-level domains include .com, .org, .net, and country-code TLDs such as .uk or .de.

HTTP status codes: 200 = success, 301 = permanent redirect, 404 = not found, 500 = server error.

Responsive design adapts layout to screen size using flexible grids, fluid images, and media queries; mobile-first design begins with the smallest screen.

An SSL/TLS certificate enables HTTPS and encrypts traffic; browsers display a padlock for secure connections.

On-page SEO essentials: a unique title tag, a meta description, one H1 heading, and descriptive alt text on images.

URLs should be short, lowercase, hyphenated, and descriptive of the page content.

A CMS (content management system) lets non-technical users create and edit website content without coding.

A landing page is a standalone page with one conversion goal, distinct from the general homepage.

An XML sitemap lists pages for search engine crawlers; robots.txt instructs crawlers which areas to avoid.

A business profile provides analytics, scheduling tools, contact buttons, and advertising access that a personal profile does not.

Core profile elements: handle, display name, profile image or logo, cover image, bio, and website link.

Brand consistency requires the same handle, logo, color palette, and tone across every platform.

Platform selection should follow audience demographics - e.g., LinkedIn for B2B professionals, Instagram for visual consumer brands.

Handles should be unique, short, free of special characters, and available across the platforms the brand uses.

Enable two-factor authentication on all admin accounts to reduce risk from stolen credentials.

Assign admin roles on a least-privilege basis: owner, admin, editor, and analyst have different permissions.

Business page setup typically requires choosing a category, adding contact details, and completing platform verification.

Linking accounts or verifying the domain enables cross-posting, pixel installation, and fuller analytics.

A content calendar plans each post by date, platform, format, topic, and owner to keep publishing consistent.

Engagement rate = (likes + comments + shares) ÷ reach (or followers) × 100.

Social listening monitors brand mentions, competitor names, and keywords to gauge sentiment and surface conversations.

Community management sets a response-time service level for comments and direct messages.

User-generated content can be reshared only with the creator's permission and proper credit.

Crisis response sequence: acknowledge quickly, respond factually, escalate internally, and avoid deleting criticism without justification.

A/B testing compares post variants (image, copy, publish time) to identify which performs better.

A social media policy defines acceptable employee behavior, brand voice, and escalation routes.

Posting frequency should match platform norms and available resources rather than a single universal rule.

In PPC advertising the advertiser pays per click; ad rank typically depends on bid amount and quality score.

CPC = total cost ÷ clicks; CPM = total cost ÷ impressions × 1,000; CPA = total cost ÷ acquisitions.

CTR = clicks ÷ impressions × 100.

Quality Score components: expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.

Search ads capture existing demand; display ads are better suited to building awareness.

Retargeting shows ads to previous site visitors or audience lists to re-engage users who did not convert.

Permission-based email marketing requires a clear unsubscribe option and compliance with rules such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM.

Message match between ad copy and landing page content improves conversion rate.

Budget types include daily and lifetime; bid strategies include manual CPC, target CPA, and maximize conversions.

Analytics platforms such as Google Analytics 4 and Matomo track users, sessions, events, and conversions.

A session is a group of interactions within a time window; it ends after inactivity or at a maximum duration.

Bounce rate is the percentage of sessions with no interaction beyond the first page.

Conversion rate = conversions ÷ sessions (or users) × 100.

Default traffic source categories: direct, organic search, paid search, referral, social, and email.

UTM parameters - utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term - tag URLs so campaigns are attributed correctly.

Goals or events measure specific actions such as form submissions, purchases, and downloads.

Attribution models (last-click, first-click, linear, data-driven) assign conversion credit to touchpoints differently.

Privacy compliance requires cookie consent, IP anonymization where applicable, and configured data-retention settings.