There are over 15,000 marketing tools on the market, plus a growing number of AI copilots and agents jockeying for a place in your tech stack. On average, a marketing team will include 12-20 of them in their stack. That’s a lot of logins, dashboards, and data sources that all need to be in sync.

The problem isn’t usually having the wrong tools; it’s the gaps between them. 

When systems don’t share data, marketers miss opportunities they don’t always see. But you don’t need to completely overhaul your stack to improve results. Often, it’s the overlooked connections between the tools you already have that make the biggest difference. In this article, we’re going to look at where these gaps might be in your stack and where integrations could make the biggest difference. 

Goal 1: Driving revenue and sales from marketing

Timely, relevant marketing campaigns can deliver up to 7x ROI, but only when systems share data in real time.

An abandoned browse email needs website behavior to know which pages were viewed. Personalized product recommendations rely on order data. Every campaign becomes more relevant when your marketing platforms understand what drives your customers. 

Check for these commonly missed connections

If driving more revenue is your priority, start by checking these foundations:

• Is your ecommerce platform or CRM connected to your marketing automation platform?
• Are you set up to track website browsing behavior?
• Is full order detail syncing, product, category, and value, not just a purchase flag?
• Do returns and refunds sync with the customer profile?

If those are in place, dig a little deeper. This is often where marketers discover the connections that make campaigns more responsive.

• How often is data being synced: real-time, hourly, or daily?
• Can you trigger a send off a single browse or cart action?
• Can you segment by product-level data, not just total spend or order count?
• Can you attribute revenue back to the specific campaign or send that drove it?

The connections that matter most

To make campaigns respond in the moment customers act, these systems should be sharing data:

• Your CRM or customer database
• Your ecommerce platform, booking system, or wherever transactions happen
• Your marketing automation platform
• Any tool tracking on-site or app behavior

Goal 2: Increasing customer retention and loyalty

On average, 80% of future revenue comes from 20% of your existing customers, so giving them a reason to come back is essential. And with 53% of consumers saying loyalty programs influence which brands they shop with, rewarding customers at the right time matters more than ever.

But when loyalty data sits outside your marketing platform, rewards, reminders, and review requests often run on fixed schedules rather than responding to real customer behavior. 

Check for these commonly missed connections

If customer retention is your goal, look for ways loyalty data isn’t automatically feeding into your marketing.

• Is your loyalty program integrated with your marketing platform, or is the data exported manually?
• Do reviews feed back into customer profiles, or sit in a separate dashboard?
• Can something like a lapsing tier or changing point balance trigger a send on its own?

If the basics are covered, look at how your data is being used.

• Can you segment by loyalty tier alongside behavior, not just points balance?
• Are win-back campaigns based on each customer’s buying habits, or does everyone receive the same 60-day email?
• Can a five-star review trigger a different journey than a two-star review?

The connections that matter most

To create loyalty campaigns that inspire repeat business, these systems should work together: 

• Your loyalty or retention platform
• Your review or ratings platform
• Your CRM or customer database
• Your marketing automation platform

Add-on loyalty tools are a great place to start, but every automated reward, review request, or win-back campaign depends on data moving between systems. Dotdigital Loyalty is built into Dotdigital Marketing, so loyalty data can trigger campaigns as soon as a customer’s points balance, tier, or activity changes, without waiting for another system to sync.

Goal 3: Improving brand awareness

Building brand awareness isn’t about showing up once; it’s about showing up consistently wherever customers discover you.

Customers might click an ad, visit your website, hear about you from an influencer, walk into a store, and finally subscribe to your emails. Every interaction builds on the last, but only if your systems share data. When they don’t, every channel starts from scratch.

Check for these commonly missed connections

These are some of the most overlooked areas when marketers are trying to grow awareness and acquisition.

• Do your retargeting ads use data from your marketing platform, so shoppers see the products they recently viewed?
• Does influencer and referral activity feed back into your marketing platform, so you can automatically reward advocates and measure their impact?
• Does your POS system sync in-store purchases to the same customer profile?
• Do your marketing channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp, and web) share customer data so every interaction feels like one conversation instead of four disconnected ones?

The connections that matter most

To create a joined-up brand experience, these systems should work together:

• Your ad or retargeting platform
• Your influencer or referral platform
• Your POS system, if you sell in person
• Your marketing channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp, and website)

Goal 4: Making use of data and analytics for decision-making

Most teams aren’t short on data; they’re short on a fast way to turn data insights into a decision. Connecting your stack closes that gap. Insights and trends are easier to see, and reporting stops being a task that takes all day.

Check for these commonly missed connections

Start by looking at how data moves through your business today.

• Is data flowing automatically, or is someone manually exporting and uploading?
• If it is syncing, how often, in real time, hourly, or daily? 

Then look for gaps that could be slowing down decision-making.

• Do you use an LLM? Is it connected to your marketing data, or are you exporting reports and uploading them every time you have a question?
• Do you use analytics tools? Do they sync with data from other teams, such as sales or customer service, or only with marketing data?
• When a customer contacts support, does that interaction feed back into the same profile your marketing decisions are based on?

The connections that matter most

To build a complete picture of your customers and your marketing performance, these systems should share data:

• CDP
• Data warehouse
• Marketing automation platform
• CRM
• Analytics tools
• Customer service platform
• Ecommerce store
• Booking system
• Loyalty platform

Getting these sources to talk to each other is what turns nine separate systems into one clear picture. Knowing how customers are responding to your marketing and what’s moving your numbers lets you make faster, data-backed decisions about your next campaign.

Bring it all together

Disconnected stacks rarely cause dramatic marketing fails. Instead, they create hundreds of missed opportunities because campaigns don’t trigger when you need them, and decisions are made on an incomplete picture of your customer. 

But you don’t need to rebuild your entire stack or get your hands on more tools to start seeing better results. Focus on the business goal you’re trying to achieve. Whether that’s growing revenue, improving retention, building awareness, or making faster decisions, look for the missing connections between your tools that might be holding you back. 

Once you’ve fixed the gaps that matter most, your stack starts to grow with your ambitions, not ahead of them.

A content calendar helps you plan, organize, and track your content efforts so that you can deliver the right content to your customers at the right time. 

This guide will cover the benefits of using a content marketing calendar and provide a step-by-step process for creating one. Whether you’re an experienced marketer or just starting your content journey, this resource will give you the knowledge to enhance your content strategy.

What is a content calendar?

A content calendar, also known as an editorial calendar, is a strategic planning tool that you can use to schedule and organize your content creation and distribution across various channels. 

Your content calendar serves as a central hub, bringing together the likes of your:

• Social media calendar 
• Blog calendar
• Email marketing schedule

It offers a complete overview of your content strategy, enabling you to synchronize and coordinate various marketing activities across multiple platforms and channels.

Why are content calendars important?

When it comes to improving marketing results, having a solid plan makes all the difference and a content calendar can be your roadmap to success (literally). Let’s take a look at the key benefits of switching to calendarized content, and how it can transform your marketing efforts.

Improved organization

Creating content at the last minute can be chaotic. Planning your content in the form of a calendar helps you avoid stress and last minute rushes. It also allows you to think about all the content you’ll be producing across the month, quarter, or even year in a joined up and connected way. This allows you to create content journeys, rather than ad-hoc one of pieces, which immediately improves searchability and the customer experience. You’ll also have a clear view of what needs to be done and when, allowing for a smoother workflow and the ability to approach each piece of content with intention and purpose.

Increased consistency

Consistency goes hand in hand with engagement. When you stick to a regular publishing schedule your audience knows when to expect new content from you, which keeps them coming back for more. Whether it’s weekly blog posts or daily email updates, a consistent rhythm builds trust and loyalty among your audience.

Better collaboration

A content marketing calendar can also help with cross-team collaboration. When everyone has access to the same calendar, it becomes much easier to align your content strategy. Team members can see what others are working on, share ideas, and coordinate efforts without stepping on each other’s toes. This transparency leads to more cohesive content that reflects your brand’s voice and goals.

Enhanced efficiency

A well-planned content marketing calendar doesn’t just help with organization; it also boosts efficiency. By mapping out your content in advance, you can optimize your resources and avoid wasting time on last-minute tasks. So you can focus on creating high-quality content rather than scrambling to meet deadlines.

Improved SEO

Let’s not forget about the search engines. By strategically planning your content around relevant keywords and topics, you can enhance your SEO efforts. A content calendar allows you to think ahead about how each piece will fit into your overall SEO strategy, helping improve your website’s visibility over time. With thoughtful planning, you’ll not only engage your audience but also attract new visitors through organic search.

How to create a content marketing calendar

Creating a content calendar simply requires a clear process. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating an effective calendar.

1. Define your goals

Before getting stuck into the details of your calendar, first clarify your marketing goals. Are you aiming to:

• Increase brand awareness?
• Generate leads?
• Boost engagement? 

Having clear objectives will help you shape your content strategy.

2. Identify your target audience

Next, define your target audience. Who is your content intended for? Understanding audience preferences, challenges, and interests will enable you to customize your content to effectively meet their needs.

3. Conduct keyword research

Keyword research helps you identify the search terms that your target audience is using. This information can be used to optimize your content for search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract more organic traffic. This is particularly valuable for blog posts and paid advertising campaigns.

4. Create your content calendar template

Selecting the ideal content calendar tool depends on your team’s size, workflow, and specific needs but you don’t need to overcomplicate it. Many marketers start with simple spreadsheets like Google Sheets or Excel, which are easy to customize and share across teams. If you need more advanced features, consider digital platforms that let you schedule, track, and collaborate in real time.

Or, if you’d like a ready-to-use template and examples of tools that work for different teams, our content marketing plan can help too.

5. Brainstorm content ideas

With your goals, audience, and schedule in place, it’s time to brainstorm content ideas. Gather your team for a brainstorming session or use tools like Google Trends and AnswerThePublic to identify trending topics in your industry.

Consider creating a mix of evergreen content (topics that remain relevant over time) and timely pieces (content related to current events or trends). This variety will keep your audience engaged throughout the year.

6. Determine your content types and channels

Next, decide on the types of content you want to create. Some content types you may want to include are:

• SMS messages
• Email newsletters
• Blog posts
• Videos
• Infographics
• Ebooks
• Webinars
• Social media posts
• Case studies

Also, think about where you’ll distribute this content. Different channels may require different types of content. For example, social channels like Instagram and LinkedIn are more visual than longer form channels like blogs and emails. By outlining both your content types and channels upfront, you can ensure a balanced approach.

7. Map out your content

Now comes the fun part; populating your calendar! Start filling in specific content pieces based on your brainstorming session. Include:

• Publication dates: When will each piece go live?
• Content types: What format will it take?
• Titles or topics: What will you write about?

This is also a good time to assign responsibilities—who will write it? Who will edit it?

8. Establish a posting schedule

How often do you want to publish new content? Setting a posting schedule supports consistency. Consider factors like:

• Your team’s capacity
• Audience preferences (e.g., do they prefer daily updates or weekly deep dives?)
• Industry standards (how often do competitors post?)

Once you have a frequency in mind (e.g., three blog posts per week or two emails a week) you can start mapping out when each piece will go live.

9. Include key details

For each piece of content in your calendar, include essential details such as:

• Target keywords: What keywords are you aiming to rank for?
• Content or email brief: A short outline or description of what the piece will cover.
• Calls-to-action: What action do you want readers to take after engaging with the content?
• Visual assets needed: Will you need images or graphics? Note those down.

These details will help streamline the creation process and ensure everyone knows what’s expected.

10. Build in flexibility

While having a plan is great, it’s equally important to remain adaptable. Leave some open slots in your calendar for timely or reactive content, this way you can jump on trends or address current events as they arise without disrupting your entire schedule.

11. Review and adjust regularly

A content marketing calendar isn’t set in stone; it should evolve as your business needs change. Schedule regular reviews, monthly or quarterly, to assess what’s working and what isn’t. Look at performance data to see which types of content resonate most with your audience and adjust accordingly.

Plan your year with our marketing calendars

Make executing your content strategy even easier with our region-specific marketing calendars.

Choose your edition:

• UK

• USA & Canada

• Australia & New Zealand

• Southeast Asia & Japan

Some common mistakes to avoid

Even the best marketing calendars can hit some bumps. Here are some of the most common pitfalls and how to avoid them:

Skipping audience research:

A content calendar is only as effective as your understanding of your audience. Make sure every piece of content aligns with what your audience cares about.

Overloading your schedule:

More isn’t always better. Don’t cram in every idea at once. Focus on quality and consistency rather than quantity.

Ignoring key dates and events:

Seasonal campaigns, product launches, or industry events can make or break engagement. Missing these opportunities can leave your calendar feeling flat.

Not reviewing performance regularly

Your calendar should evolve with your results. Check what’s working, what’s not, and adjust your plan accordingly.

Neglecting cross-channel coordination:

If your email, social, and blog teams aren’t aligned, your messaging can feel disjointed. Keep everyone in the loop to maximize impact.

Forgetting to plan for flexibility:

Marketing never goes exactly to plan. Leave room for spontaneous campaigns, trending topics, or last-minute updates.

Taking the time to avoid these mistakes can make your content marketing calendar a powerful tool, rather than just a to-do list.

How to use a content calendar to improveyour email marketing strategy

A content calendar can significantly enhance your email marketing strategy by helping you plan, execute, and optimize your campaigns more effectively. Here’s how you can use your content calendar to boost your email marketing efforts:

Plan email campaigns in advance

Utilize your content calendar to schedule regular newsletters, promotional emails, and drip campaigns well in advance. This forward-thinking approach ensures a steady flow of communication with your audience and allows you to align your email content with other marketing initiatives.

Maintain consistent communication

With a content calendar, you can establish and maintain a regular cadence for your email communications. This consistency helps build anticipation among your subscribers and keeps your brand top-of-mind.

Segment your audience

Plan different email streams for various subscriber segments within your calendar. This allows you to tailor content to specific interests, behaviors, or stages in the customer journey, increasing the relevance and effectiveness of your emails.

Optimize send times

Make use of your calendar to test different sending times and days. You can utilize Dotdigital’s send-time optimization to determine the ideal time to send, based on your contacts’ past click behavior. It will then schedule individual sends at this time to maximize engagement.

Balance content types

Your content calendar helps you maintain a healthy mix of email content. Plan to mix promotional emails with value-added content like tips, industry news, and exclusive insights. This variety keeps your audience engaged and positions your brand as a valuable resource.

Incorporate seasonal themes

Map out emails around holidays, industry events, or seasonal trends relevant to your audience. Your content calendar allows you to plan these timely campaigns well in advance, ensuring you don’t miss important opportunities to connect with your subscribers.

Schedule A/B tests

Plan regular A/B tests for subject lines, email content, and calls-to-action. You can improve your email performance over time by scheduling these tests in your content calendar.

Coordinate with other marketing efforts

Use your calendar to align your email content with your overall marketing strategy. This ensures that your email messages complement and reinforce content shared across other channels, creating a more cohesive brand experience.

Quick tip

Remember to integrate your email marketing strategy into your content calendar. This will help you create a more strategic, data-driven approach to engaging your audience through email. Planning and coordinating at this level will improve key email marketing metrics, such as higher open rates, improved click-through rates, and ultimately, better conversion rates for your email campaigns.

How Dotdigital enhances your marketing strategy

Here’s how Dotdigital helps you distribute your content across key channels:

Email marketing 

Dotdigital’s email marketing tools allow you to execute your email content strategy seamlessly. You can schedule and automate email campaigns aligned with your content calendar, ensuring timely delivery of newsletters, product updates, and promotional content to your subscribers’ inboxes.

SMS messaging

Extend your reach beyond email with Dotdigital’s SMS capabilities. Integrate SMS messaging into your content calendar to deliver time-sensitive updates, exclusive offers, or reminders directly to your audience’s mobile devices, enhancing engagement and immediacy.

Web personalization

Leverage Dotdigital’s web personalization features to dynamically adjust your website content based on visitor behavior and preferences. This allows you to display tailored content, product recommendations, and offers that align with your overall content strategy, creating a cohesive experience across channels.

Social retargeting

Amplify your content’s impact through Dotdigital’s social retargeting capabilities. Synchronize your social media advertising efforts with your content calendar and retarget website visitors or email subscribers with relevant content on social platforms. 

Cross-channel automation

Dotdigital’s automation features enable you to schedule content across multiple channels. This automation ensures your content reaches your audience at the right time, as planned in your content calendar.

Create your content calendar today

Creating and maintaining a marketing content calendar is a powerful way to streamline your content marketing efforts and achieve better results. Following the steps and strategies outlined in this guide, you can develop a content calendar that keeps your team organized, your content consistent, and your marketing goals on track.

Remember that your content calendar should be a living document, evolving as your business grows and your audience’s needs change. Regularly review and refine your approach to ensure that your content calendar remains an effective tool for driving your marketing success.

With a well-planned content calendar, you’ll be better equipped to create high-quality, strategic content that resonates with your audience and supports your business objectives. So start planning, stay consistent, and watch your content marketing efforts flourish.

Here’s our marketing calendars to help you plan your campaigns

Take the guesswork out of your content planning. Download our region-specific marketing calendars to map out your campaigns month by month:

• UK

• USA & Canada

• Australia & New Zealand

• Southeast Asia & Japan

A/B testing

A/B testing is when you compare two versions of something, like an email, ad, or landing page, to see which one performs better. 

For example, you send version A to one group and version B to another, then track which gets more clicks, conversions, or engagement. 

It’s a simple way to learn what works best for your audience. You might test subject lines, images, layouts, or calls to action. The goal here is to make data-backed decisions that improve results over time. 

A/B testing takes the guesswork out of marketing. It’s a smart way to improve performance without reworking your whole strategy. Start small, test one element at a time, and build from what you learn. The more you test, the more confident you’ll be in what works.

Learn more 

Abandoned cart

An abandoned cart happens when someone adds items to their online shopping basket but leaves without buying. It’s common in ecommerce and often means something interrupted the purchase. This could be anything such as:

• The price
• Delivery options
• A distraction of some kind

You can recover these lost sales with follow-up emails, reminders, or incentives like discounts. But it’s important to remember that cart abandonment isn’t a failure; it’s an opportunity. With the right message at the right time, you can bring people back and complete the sale. Tracking abandoned carts helps you understand customer behavior and improve your checkout experience.

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Acquisition marketing

Acquisition marketing is all about attracting new customers. It’s the first step in growing your audience and building relationships. You’ll use channels like:

• Paid ads
• SEO
• Social media
• Email

The goal is to turn strangers into leads and leads into customers. It’s about connecting with the right people. When your message lands, people take action. A strong acquisition strategy sets the foundation for long-term growth, especially when paired with retention and engagement.

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Analytics

Analytics is how you track and understand what’s happening in your marketing. It’s all about using data to make smarter decisions. You’ll look at things like:

• Clicks
• Conversions
• Traffic
• Engagement

With the right insights, you can tweak your campaigns, improve performance, and prove ROI (return on investment). Basically, analytics helps you move from guesswork to strategy. Whether you’re reviewing email open rates or website traffic, it gives you the full picture.

The goal? To learn, adapt, and grow. When you know your numbers, you can confidently take your next step.

Learn more 

API (application programming interface)

An API is a tool that helps different software systems talk to each other. You’ll use it to connect platforms like your CRM, analytics, or email marketing tools. It’s what makes your tech stack work together smoothly. Instead of manually moving data between systems, APIs do it for you fast and reliably.

For example, you might use an API to sync customer data from your website to your email platform, so you can send personalized messages. APIs are essential for automation, integration, and scaling your marketing.

So, you don’t need to be a developer to benefit from them; just know they’re working behind the scenes to keep everything connected.

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Attribution

Attribution helps you figure out which marketing touchpoints led to a conversion. It’s how you know what’s driving results. Did someone click an ad, read a blog, then sign up? Attribution tracks that journey. You’ll come across models like:

• First-touch (what started the journey)
• Last-touch (what sealed the deal)
• and multi-touch (everything in between)

It’s useful for understanding how your channels work together. With good attribution, you can invest in what’s working and fix what’s not. When you know what’s influencing decisions, you can build smarter campaigns.

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B

Bounce rate

Bounce rate shows how many people visit a page and leave without doing anything. No clicks, no scrolls, no signups; just a quick exit. It’s a signal that something might be off. Maybe the page didn’t load fast enough, or the content didn’t match their expectations.

A high bounce rate can mean your message isn’t landing. But don’t panic, it’s also a chance to improve. You can test new layouts, clearer CTAs, or better targeting. Bounce rate helps you spot friction and fix it. Typically, the lower the bounce, the more engaged your audience is.

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Brand indicators for message identification (BIMI)

BIMI is an email specification that lets your brand’s logo appear next to authenticated emails in your recipients’ inboxes. It’s a way to make your messages instantly recognizable and build trust every time someone sees your email.

By adopting BIMI, brands get more control over their visual identity while helping recipients quickly verify legitimate messages. Major email providers, including Gmail, Yahoo, and Apple Mail, support BIMI, showing how important brand visibility and email security have become. 

To use BIMI, brands need:

• A logo in SVG Portable and Secure format
• A DMARC policy set to enforcement (“quarantine” or “reject”)
• A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) for some providers
• Consistent sending reputation and proper email authentication

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Buyer persona

A buyer persona is a made-up profile of your ideal customer, built from real data and research. It helps you understand:

• Who you’re talking to
• What their goals are
• Their challenges
• and their preferences

You might create personas like “CX champion Chloe” or “Data-driven Dan” to guide your messaging. When you know your audience, you can tailor your content, campaigns, and product positioning.

Personas keep your marketing focused and relevant. They’re not just for creative teams but they’re also useful across sales, support, and strategy. The better you know your personas, the better you connect with real people.

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C

Call to action (CTA)

A CTA is a prompt that tells someone what to do next like “Download the guide” or “Book a demo.” It’s the bridge between interest and action. Every email, ad, or landing page should ideally have one.

A strong CTA is clear, direct, and easy to follow. It helps guide your audience and boosts conversions. You can test different phrases, placements, and designs to see what works best. Without a CTA, your message can lose momentum. With one, you guide people toward the next step.

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CDP (customer data platform)

A customer data platform (CDP) is a system that collects, stores, and unifies customer data from multiple sources. It gives you a single, real-time view of each person across channels like email, web, mobile, and more. With a CDP, you can:

• Segment audiences
• Personalize experiences
• and automate campaigns with confidence

It’s built for marketers, not developers, so you can act on data without needing IT support. CDPs help you understand your customers better and deliver more relevant messaging. They’re key to scaling personalized marketing and improving ROI.

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Conversion/conversion rate

A conversion is when someone takes the action you want like:

• Signing up
• Booking a demo
• Making a purchase

Conversion rate shows how many people actually do it, compared to how many saw your message. It’s one of the most important metrics in marketing. A high conversion rate means your content, targeting, and timing are spot on.

A low one? Time to test and tweak. You can improve it with better CTAs, clearer messaging, or more relevant offers. Tracking conversions helps you measure success and optimize for growth.

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Conversion rate optimization (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of improving your website, landing pages, or campaigns to get more people to take action, like buying or signing up.

CRO helps you get more value from your existing traffic. With better conversion rates, you can grow faster without increasing ad spend.

To improve CRO, you might:

• Test different headlines, images, or calls to action
• Optimize page load speed and mobile experience
• Track behaviour with analytics tools

Learn more

Cost per acquisition (CPA)

Cost per acquisition (CPA) is the amount you spend to get someone to complete a specific action, like making a purchase or signing up.

CPA helps you measure campaign efficiency and profitability. By tracking CPA, you can focus on marketing channels that deliver the best results.

To calculate CPA, you need:

• Total spend for the campaign
• Number of completed actions (acquisitions)
• A formula: CPA = spend ÷ acquisitions

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Cost per lead (CPL)

Cost per lead (CPL) is the amount you spend to capture a new lead, like someone signing up for a newsletter or downloading a guide.

Understanding CPL helps you compare campaigns and optimize lead generation. The lower the CPL, the more cost-effective your marketing is.

To calculate CPL, you need:

• Total marketing spend for the campaign
• Number of leads generated
• A formula: CPL = spend ÷ leads

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Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)

Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is the price you pay for 1,000 views of an ad.

CPM helps you budget for awareness campaigns and understand the cost of reaching a large audience. It’s commonly used in display, social, and video advertising.

To calculate CPM, you need:

• Total campaign spend
• Number of impressions (in thousands)
• A formula: CPM = spend ÷ (impressions ÷ 1,000)

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Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the total amount you spend to win a new customer. It includes things like marketing, advertising, and sales efforts.

Tracking CAC helps you understand how efficient your campaigns are and whether your marketing spend is delivering value. Keeping CAC under control lets you invest smarter and scale more sustainably.

To measure CAC, you need:

• Total marketing and sales spend over a period
• Number of customers acquired in that period
• A formula: CAC = total spend ÷ new customers

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Customer lifetime value (CLV/ LTV)

Customer lifetime value (CLV or LTV) is the total revenue you can expect from a customer over the entire time they do business with you.

Knowing CLV helps you understand how much to invest in acquiring and retaining customers. When you focus on high-value customers, you can make smarter marketing and sales decisions.

To calculate CLV, you need:

• Average purchase value
• Purchase frequency over time
• Average customer lifespan
• A formula: CLV = average purchase × frequency × lifespan

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Customer relationship management (CRM)

A CRM is a system that stores customer data and tracks interactions. It’s your central hub for managing relationships. You’ll use it to:

• Personalize messages
• Segment audiences
• and automate campaigns

A good CRM helps you understand your customers; what they’ve done, what they need, and how to reach them. Yes, it’s a database but it’s also a great tool for helping to build loyalty. Whether you’re sending emails or following up on leads, your CRM keeps everything organized. The better your data, the better your marketing.

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Cross-channel marketing

Cross-channel marketing means reaching your audience across multiple platforms in a connected way. These platforms include:

• Email
• SMS
• Social
• Web
• and more

It’s about creating a seamless experience, no matter where someone interacts with your brand. You’re not just repeating the same message everywhere; you’re tailoring it to each channel while keeping the journey consistent. This approach boosts engagement and builds trust. When your channels work together, your marketing feels smarter, more personal, and more effective.

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Customer journey

The customer journey is the full experience someone has with your brand; from first discovery to long-term loyalty. It’s made up of stages like:

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Decision
• Retention

Mapping this journey helps you understand what people need at each step. You can tailor your content, offers, and messaging to guide them forward. It’s not always a straight line though; people might jump around or come back later. But when you know the journey, you can create smoother, more meaningful experiences. The goal is to turn interest into action, and action into advocacy.

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Customer engagement

Customer engagement is how people interact with your brand, such as:

• Opening emails
• Clicking links
• Using your app
• Chatting with support

It shows how connected they feel. High engagement typically means your content is landing and your experience is resonating.

Low engagement? Time to rethink your approach. You can boost it with personalized messages, helpful content, and timely follow-ups.

Engagement is essentially about building relationships. When customers feel seen and valued, they stick around.

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Customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is when people keep coming back to your brand. Not just because of what you sell, but how you make them feel. It’s built through great experiences, consistent value, and personal connections.

Loyal customers tend to buy more, refer others, and stick around longer. You can nurture loyalty with rewards, exclusive content, and thoughtful follow-ups.

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D

Data integrations

Data integrations connect different systems so they can share information. For marketers, this means syncing tools like your CRM, ecommerce platform, and analytics software. When your data flows freely, you get a clearer picture of your audience and can act faster.

Integrations save time, reduce errors, and unlock automation. You don’t need to manually export lists or copy data between platforms. Instead, everything works together, helping you deliver better experiences and make smarter decisions.

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Digital marketing

Digital marketing is any marketing you do online. It includes strategies like:

• Email
• Social media
• SEO
• Paid ads
• and more 

You use it to reach people where they spend their time, whether that’s on their phones, laptops, and/or tablets. It’s measurable, flexible, and scalable. You can track clicks, conversions, and engagement in real time, then tweak your strategy to improve results. 

Digital marketing helps you connect with the right people, at the right time, with the right message. It’s essential for modern brands.

E

Ecommerce marketing

Ecommerce marketing is how you promote and sell products online. It includes everything from SEO and paid ads to email campaigns and social media. You’ll focus on things like:

• Driving traffic to your store
• Converting visitors into buyers
• Customer loyalty and retention

Personalization, product recommendations, and abandoned cart recovery are key tactics here. The goal is to create a smooth, engaging shopping experience that turns interest into sales, and sales into loyalty.

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EDM (electronic direct mail)

EDM marketing is a type of email marketing focused on sending promotional messages directly to your audience. It’s often used for product launches, sales, or event invites.

Unlike regular newsletters, EDMs are usually one-off campaigns with a clear goal and strong call to action. You’ll design them to grab attention and drive clicks.

With good targeting and timing, EDMs can deliver quick wins and boost engagement. They’re a direct way to reach people and get results.

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Email deliverability

Email deliverability is the measure of how often your emails reach inboxes rather than spam folders. It’s influenced by things like:

• Sender reputation
• List quality
• Engagement rates
• Message content

Internet service providers (ISPs) use these signals to decide whether your emails are safe and relevant. A healthy sender reputation and engaged audience both help ensure your messages make it through.

Monitoring deliverability is essential for understanding how many people actually see your campaigns and spotting issues early because even the best content can’t perform if it never lands in the inbox.

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Email marketing

Email marketing is sending targeted messages to your audience’s inbox. It’s one of the most direct and effective ways to connect. You’ll use it for things like:

• Newsletters
• Promotions
• Updates
• Transactional messages.

The key is relevance; send the right message to the right person at the right time. You can segment your audience, personalize content, and automate journeys. Email marketing helps you build trust, drive action, and stay top of mind. Done well and it’s a powerful tool for growth.

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F

First Party Data

First-party data is information you collect directly from your audience through the likes of:

• Signups
• Purchases
• Surveys
• Website behavior

It’s the most reliable and valuable type of data because it comes straight from your customers. You own it, control it, and can use it to personalize experiences. With privacy rules tightening, first-party data is more important than ever. It helps you build trust, stay compliant, and deliver relevant marketing without relying on third-party sources.

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G

Geotargeting

Geotargeting is when you tailor your marketing based on someone’s location. You might show different ads, send local offers, or adjust messaging depending on where someone is. It’s particularly useful for:

• Events
• Store promotions
• Region-specific campaigns

Geotargeting helps you stay relevant and timely. When your content matches someone’s context, it feels more personal and more likely to drive action.

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Global benchmark report

The Global benchmark report is Dotdigital’s flagship industry study that analyzes tens of billions of email, SMS, and automation campaigns from brands across the world. 

Inside the report, you’ll see how your results compare to others in your industry and market. Covering over 40 industries across APAC, the Americas, and EMEA, the Global benchmark report will help you understand how you’re doing.

You get hard data on metrics so you can benchmark your results against industry averages and spot where you perform above or below the norm. These metrics include: 

• List growth
• Click‑through rates
• Subscriber churn
• Engagement

More than just numbers, the report also highlights trends and best practices so you can get actionable insights. It helps you understand which channels, tactics, and automation workflows are working well right now and where your next opportunity is hiding.

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H

Hitting the mark

Hitting the mark is Dotdigital’s original flagship marketing report and our longest-running annual study of marketing campaigns and tactics. Each year, we analyze the strategies of 100 global brands, looking at everything from email design, content, and automation to data collection, personalization, and cross‑channel marketing. 

The report gives you real‑world insight into what top‑performing brands are doing right (and where many are falling short). Inside you’ll find:

• Campaign inspiration from top-performing brands around the world
• Best practices and trends in email marketing, website experience, personalization, and data usage 
• Expert commentary, actionable tips, and strategic ideas you can use to improve your own campaigns 

If you want to get an exclusive look at the email design and tactics being used by marketers across APAC, the Americas, and EMEA, then Hitting the mark is your go‑to guide.

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Human-to-human marketing (H2H)

Human-to-human (H2H) marketing is an approach that treats every marketing interaction as a conversation between two people, rather than a transaction between a business and a target segment. Instead of asking “how do we message this audience,” it asks “how would we talk to this person?”

In practice, that means marketing built on empathy, plain language, honesty, and genuine two-way communication. You’re still meeting a customer’s needs, but you’re doing it in a way that shows there are real people behind your brand, and that those people can be trusted. It’s the model that responsible marketing is built on, which is relationships with customers and prospects based on long-term trust and respect.

Hyper personalization marketing

Hyper-personalization goes beyond using someone’s name in an email. It’s about tailoring content, offers, and experiences based on real-time data and behavior. You might recommend products based on browsing history or send messages triggered by specific actions.

It makes your marketing feel one-to-one, even at scale. When people get content that’s truly relevant, they’re more likely to engage and convert.

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I

Impressions

An impression is counted every time your ad, email snippet, or piece of content appears on someone’s screen. It shows visibility, not engagement.

For example, if an ad is shown 500 times, that’s 500 impressions even if no one clicks.

Impressions are often used to measure brand awareness campaigns, where the goal is to be seen rather than drive immediate action. Tracking them helps marketers understand potential reach and compare how content performs across different channels.

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K

KPIs (key performance indicators)

A KPI is a metric that shows how well you’re doing against a goal. It could be anything like:

• Email open rates
• Traffic
• Demo bookings
• Revenue growth

KPIs help you track progress, spot trends, and make informed decisions. Choose KPIs that match your strategy, and review them regularly. When you measure what matters, you can improve what matters.

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L

Landing page

A landing page is a dedicated page designed to capture leads or drive a specific action, usually found on websites but can also be found linked from an email or ad. Landing pages focus on one message or offer, helping guide visitors toward conversion.

Key features of a landing page:

• Clear headline and value proposition
• Relevant content related to the email or ad
• Call to action (form, download, purchase)
• Minimal distractions to keep focus on the goal

Lead nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with prospects and guiding them through the buying journey. It helps move leads closer to conversion by providing relevant content and engagement at the right time.

Common lead nurturing tactics:

• Automated email sequences
• Personalized content based on behavior
• Educational resources like guides or webinars
• Timely follow-up emails

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Lead scoring

Lead scoring is a way to rank potential customers based on how likely they are to convert. You assign points for certain actions like:

• Visiting your website
• Opening emails
• Downloading a guide
• For details such as role, location, or company size

The higher the score, the more interested or ready that person might be to buy. Lower scores can show who needs more nurturing. Lead scoring helps marketing and sales teams focus their time where it matters most and align on when a lead is ready for follow-up.

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Lifecycle marketing

Lifecycle marketing is about engaging customers at every stage, from first touch to loyal advocate. You’ll tailor your messaging based on where someone is in their journey. That might mean welcome emails, nurture campaigns, or re-engagement offers.

The goal is to build lasting relationships, not just one-time sales. Lifecycle marketing helps you stay relevant, increase retention, and grow customer value over time.

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List churn

List churn is the rate at which subscribers leave your email list, either by unsubscribing or becoming inactive. Monitoring list churn helps marketers maintain healthy engagement and adjust strategies to retain subscribers.

Ways to reduce list churn:

• Send relevant, targeted content
• Segment your audience effectively
• Re-engage inactive subscribers
• Respect unsubscribes and preferences

List growth

List growth is the process of increasing your email subscriber base over time. Growing your list with engaged contacts helps expand reach, drive conversions, and maintain a healthy sender reputation.

Best practices for list growth:

• Use sign-up forms on websites and landing pages
• Offer incentives like guides or discounts
• Promote subscriptions via social media
• help compliance with opt-in regulations

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Liquid script

Liquid script is a coding language used to create dynamic content in emails or web pages. It allows marketers to personalize content based on subscriber data, such as showing different images, text, or offers.

Common uses of Liquid script:

• Personalizing product recommendations
• Displaying region-specific offers
• Customizing content blocks by subscriber segment
• Conditional messaging based on behavior

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M

Marketing analytics

Marketing analytics is the process of collecting and interpreting data from your marketing activities to understand performance and make informed decisions. It looks at metrics across channels to show what’s working and what needs improvement, such as:

• Email open rates
• Website traffic
• Social engagement 

By spotting patterns and trends, marketing analytics helps you optimize campaigns, allocate budget effectively, and forecast results. It answers questions such as: 

• Which campaigns drive conversions? 
• Where are customers dropping off? 
• How can messaging or targeting be improved? 

Used well, marketing analytics turns raw data into actionable insight, helping you improve ROI, strengthen customer engagement, and make marketing decisions with confidence.

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Marketing automation

Marketing automation lets you set up campaigns that run on their own triggered by behavior, timing, or data. You can send emails, update segments, or score leads without manual effort.

It saves time and boosts efficiency. But it’s not just about doing more with less; it’s about doing better. Automation helps you deliver the right message at the right time, every time. It’s a must-have for scaling personalized marketing.

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Marketing channels

Marketing channels are the different ways you reach your audience. Think email, SMS, social media, paid ads, and your website. Each channel has its own strengths:

• Email is great for personalization
• Social builds community
• Paid ads drive quick traffic

You don’t need to be everywhere, but you do need to be where your audience is. The key is choosing the right mix and making sure your message fits the channel. When your channels work together, your marketing feels seamless and more effective.

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Marketing mix (7ps)

The marketing mix is a framework for planning and executing marketing strategy, covering:

• Product
• Price
• Promotion
• Place
• People
• Packaging
• Process

It helps marketers ensure campaigns are coordinated and aligned with business goals. Each element focuses on a key aspect of marketing like:

• Delivering the right product at the right price
• Promoting it effectively
• Reaching the right audience
• Supporting it with the right people and processes
• Presenting it well

Using the marketing mix ensures decisions are strategic rather than ad hoc, improving customer experience, brand consistency, and campaign effectiveness, especially when launching new products or entering new markets.

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Marketing qualified lead (MQL)

A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is a lead that shows interest and fits your ideal customer profile.

MQLs help your sales team focus on the most promising prospects. Nurturing MQLs effectively can lead to higher conversion rates and better ROI.

To identify MQLs, you might look for:

• Email sign-ups, downloads, or webinar attendance
• Engagement with marketing campaigns
• Fit with your target customer criteria

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MMS messaging

MMS messaging stands for Multimedia Messaging Service. It’s a mobile messaging format that lets you send rich media, not just plain text. Where SMS focuses on short written updates, MMS gives you space to use:

• Images
• GIFs
• Short videos
• Audio clips
• Longer text

Marketers tend to use MMS when they want to capture attention quickly or bring a story to life. You can show a product instead of describing it, share a quick demo, or send creative promotions that stand out in a crowded inbox. MMS is also useful during seasonal campaigns when visuals help reinforce emotion and drive action.

When used with clear purpose and strong visuals, MMS can lift engagement and help you deliver mobile experiences that feel more memorable and impactful.

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Mobile marketing

Mobile marketing is how you connect with people on their phones and tablets. It includes SMS, push notifications, mobile-friendly emails, and ads designed for small screens.

With most people browsing and buying on mobile, it’s essential to optimize your content for quick, easy interactions. You’ll want fast-loading pages, clear CTAs, and messages that feel personal.

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N

Narrowcasting marketing

Narrowcasting is the opposite of broadcasting. Instead of sending one message to everyone, you target a specific group with tailored content. It’s about relevance over reach. 

You might narrowcast by location, behavior, or interests. This approach helps you connect more deeply with your audience and drive better results. When people feel like your message is just for them, they’re more likely to engage.

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Net promoter score (NPS)

Net promoter score (NPS) measures how likely your customers are to recommend your brand to others.

NPS helps you gauge customer satisfaction and loyalty. A higher NPS indicates happy customers who are more likely to become advocates and drive referrals.

To measure NPS, you need:

• A survey asking: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?”
• A scale of 0–10 to classify promoters, passives, and detractors
• A formula: NPS = % of promoters − % of detractors

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Nonprofit marketing

Nonprofit marketing is about promoting causes, not products. You’re raising awareness, driving donations, and inspiring action. The focus is on storytelling, impact, and building trust.

You’ll use channels like email, social media, and events to connect with supporters. Every message should show why your mission matters and how people can help.

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O

Omnichannel marketing

Omnichannel marketing means creating a connected experience across all your channels, such as email, SMS, social, web, and more. Your audience can move between platforms and still get a consistent message. When someone clicks an ad, visits your site, and gets a follow-up email, it should all feel like part of the same journey.

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Open rate

Open rate is the percentage of recipients who open an email. It’s calculated by dividing the number of opens by the number of emails delivered, then multiplying by 100.

Strong open rates suggest your subject line, sender name, and timing are working. Lower ones can point to issues with targeting, spam filtering, or lack of interest.

Testing different subject lines, segments, and send times can help lift open rates and keep audiences engaged from the very first glance.

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P

Personalization

Personalization is tailoring your marketing to each person. It’s about sending the right message at the right time, based on behavior, preferences, or data. You might recommend products, adjust content, or trigger messages based on actions.

Personalization makes your marketing feel relevant and human. When people feel understood, they’re more likely to engage and convert.

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Popovers

A popover is a small message box that appears over a webpage to catch a visitor’s attention. It might promote a sign-up, highlight an offer, or encourage a specific action.

Popovers can be triggered by behavior like:

• Scrolling
• Time spent on a page
• Moving to close the tab

The best ones are clear, relevant, and easy to dismiss. Poorly timed or intrusive popovers, on the other hand, risk annoying visitors.

Used thoughtfully, they can nudge people toward the next step without interrupting their experience.

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Product recommendations

Product recommendations suggest items based on what someone’s viewed, bought, or liked. You’ll see them in emails, on websites, or in apps. They help people discover things they might need and boost your sales.

The smarter your recommendations, the more helpful they feel. You can use data like:

• Browsing history
• Purchase behavior
• Similar customer profiles.

It’s a simple way to personalize the experience and drive repeat purchases.

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Q

Qualified leads

Qualified leads are people who are likely to become customers. They’ve shown interest, fit your target audience, and meet certain criteria like a job role, budget, or intent. 

You’ll often score leads based on behavior (like clicking a demo link) or profile data. The goal is to focus your efforts on the right people. When you know who’s ready to buy, you can tailor your messaging and speed up the sales process.

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R

Rich communication services (RCS)

RCS lets you send messages that go way beyond plain text. It works over data networks, so you can deliver richer, more interactive experiences right inside a customer’s default messaging app. The result feels closer to an app-like conversation than a traditional text.

With RCS, you can share things like:

• High quality images and videos
• Animated GIFs and audio clips
• Interactive carousels
• Suggested replies and quick action buttons like “add to calendar” or “view order”
• Location sharing and map views
• File transfers

These features help you create messages that are more dynamic and useful, all while keeping the journey simple for the customer. RCS also supports Verified Sender profiles, which gives people confidence that the message really came from your brand. And with built-in encryption, you can offer a secure experience that builds trust while keeping conversations smooth and engaging.

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Responsible marketing

Responsible marketing means putting people first. It’s about being ethical, inclusive, and transparent in everything you do. You respect privacy, avoid manipulation, and make sure your content is accessible.

It’s good practice that builds trust. Responsible marketing also means considering the impact of your campaigns on society and the environment. When you lead with integrity, your brand stands out for the right reasons.

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Retargeting

Retargeting is when you show ads to people who’ve already interacted with your brand like visiting your site or clicking an email. It’s a way to stay top of mind and bring people back.

You can remind them of products they viewed, offer a discount, or nudge them to complete a purchase. Retargeting works because it’s relevant; you’re reaching people who already know you. It helps boost conversions and reduce drop-off.

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Retention

Retention is about keeping your existing customers engaged and coming back. It’s easier (and cheaper) than constantly chasing new ones. You’ll improve retention with great experiences, personalized outreach, and timely follow-ups. Think:

• Loyalty programs
• Re-engagement emails
• Helpful content

When customers feel valued, they stick around. Retention is a sign of trust and a driver of long-term growth. Track it over time, learn what works, and keep building those relationships.

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Return on ad spend (ROAS)

ROAS shows how much revenue you earn for every dollar spent on advertising. It helps you see which campaigns are profitable.

By tracking ROAS, you can prioritise campaigns that generate revenue and pause or optimize underperforming ones. A higher ROAS means your ads are delivering more value.

To calculate ROAS, you need:

• Revenue generated from a specific ad campaign
• Total cost of that campaign
• A formula: ROAS = revenue ÷ ad spend

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RFM (recency, frequency, monetary)

RFM is a way to group customers based on three key behaviors:

• Recency – how recently they bought
• Frequency – how often they buy
• Monetary – how much they spend

These scores help marketers spot their most valuable and loyal customers, as well as those who might be slipping away. For example, someone who bought last week, orders regularly, and spends a lot would rank highly.

RFM analysis helps tailor campaigns, rewarding top customers, re-engaging lapsed ones, and nurturing those in between.

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ROI (return on investment)

Return on investment (ROI) measures how much value you get from your marketing compared to what you spend. It’s a simple formula: revenue minus cost, divided by cost.

A positive ROI means your campaigns are paying off. You’ll track it across channels to see what’s working. ROI helps you make smarter decisions, justify budgets, and optimize performance.

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S

Sales qualified lead (SQL)

A sales qualified lead (SQL) is a lead that’s ready for direct follow-up by your sales team.

SQLs are further along the buying journey than marketing qualified lead (MQLs). Prioritising SQLs ensures your sales efforts are focused on leads most likely to become customers.

To qualify SQLs, you might check for:

• A direct request for a demo or quote
• Clear budget or decision-making authority
• Alignment with your product or service offering

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Segment

A segment is a group of contacts who share something in common, such as location, interests, or purchase history. Segmentation helps you send content that’s more relevant and engaging.

Segments can be dynamic (contacts automatically move in or out based on rules you set) or static (a fixed list that stays the same).

By targeting messages to the right people, you make your marketing feel more personal and boost results in the process.

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Segmentation

Segmentation is splitting your audience into smaller groups based on things like behavior, location, or preferences. It helps you send more relevant messages. Instead of one-size-fits-all, you tailor your content to each group. That means:

• Better engagement
• Stronger relationships
• Higher conversions

You might segment by purchase history, email activity, or job role. The more you know about your audience, the more you can personalize.

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SMS marketing

SMS marketing is sending short, targeted messages straight to someone’s phone. It’s fast, direct, and personal. You can use it for promotions, reminders, updates, or alerts.

Because people check their phones constantly, SMS has high open rates and quick response times. Keep messages clear, timely, and relevant. SMS works best when it’s part of a wider strategy and not just a one-off blast.

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Sender reputation

Sender reputation is a score used by email service providers to judge how trustworthy your emails are. A strong reputation makes it more likely your messages will reach inboxes; a weak one can push them to spam.

The score is based on factors like:

• Bounce rates
• Spam complaints
• Engagement
• Consistency in sending patterns

Sending to clean, opted-in lists and keeping your content relevant helps maintain a healthy reputation.

Good sender reputation is key to getting your emails seen by the people who actually want them.

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Social media marketing

Social media marketing is using platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and X to connect with your audience. You’ll share content, run ads, and engage in conversations to build brand awareness and drive traffic. Of course posting content is a big part of it but it’s also about listening, responding, and creating value.

You can target specific groups, track performance, and test different formats. Social media helps you stay visible, build trust, and grow your community. When done well, it turns followers into fans, and fans into customers.

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Suppression list

A suppression list is a record of contacts you’ve chosen not to email. It protects your sender reputation and helps you stay compliant with privacy laws.

People end up on suppression lists for reasons like:

• Unsubscribing
• Marking messages as spam
• Hard bounces (when an email can’t be delivered)

Suppressing them means you won’t accidentally send to someone who doesn’t want to hear from you – helping build trust and keeping your data clean.

Think of it as a safety net for both your brand and your audience.

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T

Text marketing

Text marketing is sending promotional or transactional messages via SMS. It’s quick, direct, and personal. You can use it for flash sales, reminders, updates, or alerts. Because people check their phones constantly, text messages have high open rates and fast response times. Keep your messages short, clear, and timely.

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Transactional messaging

Transactional messages are triggered by a customer’s action like a purchase confirmation, password reset, or shipping update. They’re expected, useful, and often opened quickly.

While they’re not promotional, they’re still a chance to reinforce your brand and build trust. You can personalize them, add helpful links, or suggest next steps. These messages keep your customer informed and your experience smooth.

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U

User engagement

User engagement is how actively people interact with your brand like clicking, commenting, buying, or sharing. It shows how connected they feel. High engagement typically means your content is landing and your experience is resonating.

Low engagement? Time to rethink your approach. You can boost it with personalized messages, helpful content, and timely follow-ups to ensure your continuing to build relationships with your audience.

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V

Video marketing

Video marketing is using video content to promote your brand, product, or message. It’s engaging, easy to consume, and great for storytelling. You can use it for product demos, customer testimonials, tutorials, or social content.

Video helps you explain complex ideas, build trust, and boost conversions. It works across channels, from email to social to your website. When done well, it’s one of the most powerful tools in your marketing kit.

W

Website personalization

Website personalization means tailoring your site’s content based on who’s visiting. You might show different messages, products, or offers depending on someone’s location, behavior, or profile.

It helps you create a more relevant experience; one that feels like it’s built just for them. Personalisation boosts engagement, reduces bounce rates, and increases conversions. It’s a smart way to turn data into action.

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Welcome journey

A welcome journey is a series of automated messages sent to new subscribers or customers after they sign up or make their first purchase. It’s your chance to make a great first impression.

These messages often start with a friendly thank-you, followed by helpful tips, product recommendations, or special offers. The goal is to build trust, set expectations, and encourage engagement early on.

A strong welcome journey helps new customers feel valued and lays the foundation for long-term loyalty.

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WhatsApp marketing

WhatsApp marketing is using the messaging app to connect with your audience. You can send updates, answer questions, or share offers all in a channel people use daily. It’s personal, fast, and interactive.

You’ll need permission to message people, but once you have it, you can build strong relationships. WhatsApp works well for customer service, transactional messages, and conversational marketing.

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Artificial Intelligence

Dotdigital’s AI-powered marketing assistant is built on Microsoft Azure’s OpenAI service. It helps you work smarter by making tasks like content creation, subject line suggestions, and channel optimization faster and easier.

With AI, you can;

• Draft and refine copy
• Adapt emails for SMS
• Check grammar
• Get insights on customer behavior all in one place

Designed for marketers who want to save time and deliver more relevant campaigns, Dotdigital’s AI fits seamlessly into your existing workflow. It’s about helping you focus on the creative and strategic side of marketing while routine tasks run in the background.

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Z

Zapier integrations

Zapier integrations let you connect Dotdigital with thousands of other apps and platforms without writing a single line of code. By creating “Zaps,” you can automate workflows between tools you already use, such as CRMs, ecommerce platforms, and productivity apps.

For example, you could:

• Automatically add new ecommerce customers to your Dotdigital email list
• Trigger SMS campaigns when a form is submitted
• Update contacts across systems in real time

These integrations save time, reduce errors, and make it easier to deliver personalized, timely marketing across multiple channels. They’re ideal for marketers who want to streamline processes, increase efficiency, and ensure data flows smoothly between systems.

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1. Personalized experiences

Today’s audience expects a personalized experience, and brands that fail to deliver will be left behind. This isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a fundamental expectation driving purchasing decisions. The projected impact is significant: personalized content is forecast to boost ecommerce sales by a staggering 40% by 2028. This underscores the crucial role of personalization in driving revenue growth.

Personalization at scale means using data, machine learning, and sophisticated targeting to create content that resonates with each individual on a personal level. It’s about understanding your audience’s needs, preferences, and behaviors, and then tailoring your content to meet those specific demands. This goes beyond simply inserting a name into an email; it’s about creating dynamic, interactive experiences that feel custom-made.

Here’s how personalization is improving customer experiences: 

Product recommendations

Imagine product suggestions so relevant they feel like they were hand-picked just for you. AI-powered systems analyze a wealth of data, including browsing history, purchase patterns, real-time interactions, and even contextual information like current trends, weather in the customer’s location, and social media activity, to provide incredibly precise product recommendations.

For instance, a clothing retailer might recommend items not only based on your previous purchases but also by considering current fashion trends, the weather in your area, and even products you’ve shown interest in on social media.

Dynamic content experiences

Websites and apps are becoming increasingly adaptive, responding in real-time to each visitor’s unique profile. The content, layout, and even calls to action change dynamically based on user demographics, previous interactions, and the current context. A returning customer might see personalized promotions and product suggestions, while a first-time visitor is presented with content aimed at educating them and establishing trust.

Personalized email marketing

Email campaigns have evolved beyond simple segmentation. Dotdigital’s Winston AI can analyze large amounts of data to create highly personalized email content, including subject lines, body text, and special offers. This approach maximizes open rates and click-through rates. Imagine receiving an email triggered by a specific action you took on a website, offering a discount on a product you were considering.

Interactive content

Interactive tools like quizzes, polls, and assessments gather valuable insights into user preferences, enabling the creation of even more personalized experiences. A financial services company, for example, could offer a personalized retirement planning tool that takes into account a user’s age, income, risk tolerance, and financial goals.

Chatbots and AI assistants

These tools provide personalized customer support and guidance, answering questions and offering tailored recommendations based on individual needs. Imagine a chatbot on a travel website helping you plan a trip, offering personalized recommendations for flights, hotels, and activities based on your budget and interests.

The key to a successful personalization strategy is the responsible use of data. Our recent Hitting the Mark report found that only 40% of brands have a preference center, which represents a significant missed opportunity. 

A strong personalization strategy relies heavily on a well-designed preference center. Preference centers help users specify their preferences across various areas, including their favorite communication channel, desired messaging frequency, and specific interests.

2. The rise in employee-generated content (EGC)

Let’s be honest, we all know user-generated content (UGC) is a big deal. People trust authenticity, and a huge 79% of us say that UGC sways our buying decisions. Customers want to see real experiences from real people, not just polished ads.

But this year, we’re taking things a step further with employee-generated content (EGC). Think about it: instead of just your customers sharing their experiences, you can use your own team as storytellers and content creators. That’s a powerful way to connect with your audience on a whole new level.

And guess what? The stats back it up. A massive 93% of marketers believe UGC (including EGC) is more trustworthy than anything a brand creates itself. In a world that’s hungry for authenticity, EGC makes your brand feel human, relatable, and real.

Take a look at brands like Refy, Sheerluxe, and Mejuri. The brands are nailing EGC by using platforms like TikTok to showcase a more spontaneous and authentic side. From office outfit checks to “get to know the team” videos, the brands are offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the people who make the magic happen. Often, the content has nothing to do with the actual product, and that’s the point. It’s about building genuine connections and showing the human side of the brand.

Now, if you’re in the B2B space, LinkedIn is the place for EGC to shine. It’s not just about posting job openings or sharing company news anymore. With over 800 million users (and growing), LinkedIn offers a massive audience of professionals hungry for authentic insights. Think about it: your employees are experts in their fields.

Encourage them to share their perspectives on industry trends, discuss challenges and solutions, or even offer quick tips and tricks related to your product or service. For example, a sales team member could share a short video on how they use your software to solve a common client problem. This type of authentic, helpful content builds credibility, strengthens your brand’s reputation, and positions your employees as thought leaders.

Bottom line? EGC isn’t just a trend; it’s a must-have. People want to hear from the people behind the brand. And who better to share those authentic stories than your own team? By giving your employees a platform to share their unique perspectives and experiences, you’re tapping into a goldmine of engaging, trustworthy content that truly resonates.

3. Combining human and AI-generated content

Let’s face it: content creation can be challenging. However, what if you could boost your content production by combining the best of both worlds? This is becoming a reality with the rise of AI-powered content creation. AI tools can produce content up to ten times faster than humans, helping you save valuable time. 42% of businesses are already using AI to cut costs. Imagine what you could achieve with that extra time and budget.

An impressive 69% of marketers are already using AI to help them create content, and an even more impressive 72% report seeing better results. This isn’t just about saving time; it’s about creating higher-performing content that resonates with your audience.

By using AI, you can focus on crafting high-quality content that provides value to customers while also meeting Google’s E-E-A-T quality rating criteria. This helps improve search rankings and increases the chances of appearing in essential AI-generated summaries.

The future of content creation isn’t about choosing between humans or AI; it’s about using the capabilities of both. AI can take care of the heavy lifting by providing a foundation of high-quality, on-brand content at scale. 

Then, you can add a creative touch: emotion, insight, and the unique perspectives that only humans can provide. This collaboration results in captivating content that leaves a lasting impression on your audience. It’s not a competition between humans and AI; it’s a partnership that creates content greater than the sum of its parts.

4. The importance of video content

An impressive 92% of internet users watch videos online every week. This isn’t just a statistic; it’s a transformation in how we consume content. People are no longer just scrolling; they are actively watching, engaging, and connecting through video on a massive scale.

What’s even more striking is that 84% of marketers believe video content is essential to their marketing strategies. Why is that? Because video has a unique ability to tell stories, evoke emotions, and forge genuine connections with audiences in ways that text and images cannot.

The financial benefits are significant as well. Brands incorporating video content experience almost 50% more growth. It’s evident that video content not only enhances engagement, but also significantly improves conversion rates.

But it’s not just about the numbers. Video is the key to cutting through the noise and building deep connections with your audience. Whether through short-form social media videos, immersive virtual experiences, or captivating long-form storytelling, video presents limitless opportunities for creativity and engagement.

Consider platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. These are not merely social media channels; they are storytelling platforms where brands can showcase authenticity, creativity, and truly connect with their audience. A 30-second video can achieve what a thousand-word blog post cannot: it can create an immediate, emotional connection.

Looking to the future, 44% of marketers are incorporating AI into their content production. This powerful combination promises to revolutionize content creation by increasing both efficiency and creative potential, paving the way for personalized and highly engaging video experiences.

Video content embodies authenticity, creativity, and human connection. It’s less about hard-selling and more about crafting resonant, inspiring stories that captivate and genuinely engage your audience.

5. Sustainable and ethical content

Today’s shoppers are not just buying products; they’re investing in values. As environmental and social consciousness grows, your content must reflect a genuine commitment to sustainability and ethical practices. 

It’s no longer enough to simply say you care; you must demonstrate it through your actions and your content. Whether it’s showcasing your brand’s eco-friendly initiatives, amplifying the stories of your diverse team, or advocating for important social causes, your content must authentically reflect a dedication to making a positive impact.

Customers are increasingly demanding transparency and ethical behavior from the brands they support. 66% of shoppers are now looking for eco-friendly brands. This powerful trend is driving brands to create content that goes beyond mere marketing and truly highlights their sustainability efforts and ethical practices. It’s about building trust and demonstrating accountability.

Here’s how to effectively integrate sustainability and ethical considerations into your content strategy:

Show, don’t just tell

Instead of simply stating your commitment to sustainability, showcase concrete examples of your initiatives. Share stories about your eco-friendly manufacturing processes, highlight your use of recycled materials, or detail your efforts to reduce your carbon footprint. Visual content, like videos and infographics, can be particularly impactful in showing your commitment.

Amplify diverse voices

Highlight the stories of your diverse team members. Share their perspectives, experiences, and contributions to your company. This not only demonstrates your commitment to diversity and inclusion but also humanizes your brand and makes it more relatable.

Support relevant causes

Advocate for causes that align with your brand values and resonate with your target audience. Partner with non-profit organizations, participate in community initiatives, and create content that raises awareness about important social and environmental issues. However, ensure that your support is genuine and not just a marketing ploy. Consumers can easily spot “greenwashing” or performative activism.

Be transparent and authentic

Transparency is key to building trust. Be open and honest about your sustainability challenges and the steps you’re taking to address them. Admit when you’re not perfect and be transparent about your supply chain and manufacturing processes. Authenticity is paramount.

Engage in meaningful conversations

Don’t just broadcast your message; engage in conversations with your audience. Ask for feedback, answer questions, and address concerns about your sustainability and ethical practices. This two-way communication builds stronger relationships with your audience.

Refine your content strategy for a successful 2025

As we look to the rest of 2025, it’s clear that the content marketing landscape is evolving at a rapid pace, becoming more dynamic and sophisticated. The five trends we’ve discussed highlight a significant shift in how brands create and distribute content. By keeping up with these trends and adapting your strategies, you can stay ahead of the curve, connect more deeply with your audience, and drive meaningful engagement.