Getting your business ready for the new year and first quarter of 2026 is essential to putting your best foot forward. Being prepared means you and your business are ready to anticipate the natural ebbs and flows that are bound to happen throughout the business cycle.

Pre-planning provides a structure informed by the previous year’s successes and challenges. One that allows you to measure and grow, with goals defined, ready for you to make headway in that process.

Take a record of your current attainment

Assess your annual performance for the current year; this will allow you to set goals that are based on real data. This makes achieving your results tangible and also allows for natural growth rather than expecting radical change without delivering.

Taking note of the following metrics will put you in the best position to set the preceding year’s goals:

• Return on investment (ROI) – The overall profit you make allows you to assess whether you’re making revenue from your marketing efforts.

• Conversion rate – The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action compared with your total traffic.

• Bounce rate – The percentage of visitors who leave your site without engaging. A high bounce rate can indicate a poor user experience. Using heatmaps and session recordings helps you understand what’s not working.

• Cost per lead (CPL) – Calculated by dividing the overall cost of the campaign by the number of new leads.

• Customer acquisition cost – Is calculated by dividing the marketing and sales expenses by the number of new customers acquired.

• Click-through rate – Is the number of people clicking on such as an ad or a link. It is compared with the overall impression to give your insight into the effectiveness of your content, assets or copy.

• Engagement rate – The number of people interacting with a piece of content, i.e. liking, commenting, sharing.

Utilise key performance indicators to assess your current attainment, and then forecast realistic and relevant goals for your business.

Perform competitor audits

Taking stock of what other competitors in the market are doing, noting any changes in their strategy, allows you to anticipate and combat competition. Understanding where you perform against your competitors and analysing content gaps and opportunities keeps your business equipped to compete.

Looking at their content, site experience, social footprint, and overall SEO rankings will give you better insight into where to adjust your strategy. The aim isn’t to copy but to identify opportunities and gaps so you can outperform.

SEO, technical and content audits

Checking performance is crucial. It allows you to get an accurate starting point. If your site speed is low, conducting an audit will allow you to identify areas for improvement.

The same principle applies to SEO and content audits: identify what works and what doesn’t. The things that do work should be assessed, identifying what is making it successful, and then utilising that insight to set your business up for success. Equally, analysing poor-performing content, site features allows you to remove or adjust as needed so that it serves your customers.

Set goals by the quarter

Setting goals for each quarter accommodates natural growth and staying agile in a competitive market. Quarterly goals give you the flexibility to adapt and accommodate new campaigns as opportunities arise. Marketing continues to evolve, so working on a smaller scale allows for easier real-time adjustments that flex to the ever-changing needs of a business.

Taking a proactive approach to your year’s marketing strategy allows you to set expectations, iron out the logistics, and utilise a considered approach that is shaped around your business’s short-term and long-term goals.

Before January arrives, outline your campaigns and ensure your business has the capacity to deliver. This removes the guesswork and reduces unnecessary pressure

In one of the biggest shake-ups the SEO world has seen in years, Adobe has announced plans to acquire Semrush for 1.9 billion dollars. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approval.

For marketers, SEOs and digital teams, this is more than just another technology merger. It is a major moment that could reshape how brands approach visibility in search and, increasingly, in AI-driven recommendation systems.

Why this matters

Semrush has long been a major force in the SEO industry. Over the past decade it has grown from a keyword research tool into a full ecosystem for search visibility, content strategy, competitor intelligence and, more recently, GEO (generative engine optimisation), a new category focused on visibility in AI assistants and AI-powered search.

Adobe, meanwhile, sits at the centre of enterprise digital marketing. With tools such as Adobe Analytics, AEM and the newly launched Adobe Brand Concierge, it already influences how many of the world’s biggest companies manage customer experience.

By bringing Semrush into the Adobe universe, the lines between SEO, AI search, content creation and customer experience will become more closely connected.

A sign of where search is heading

The backdrop to this acquisition is clear: search is changing rapidly.

Consumers are no longer turning only to Google. They are increasingly asking AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini for recommendations, information and purchase decisions. Adobe’s own Analytics data shows that traffic from generative AI sources to United States retail sites increased by 1,200 percent year on year in October.

In this new landscape, traditional SEO alone is no longer enough. Brands need to understand how they appear not only in search results but also inside AI-generated answers. This is exactly where Adobe sees Semrush adding value.

What Adobe gains

Adobe is investing heavily in becoming the go-to platform for brand visibility in the AI era. Semrush brings more than ten years of SEO experience, along with rapidly developing GEO capabilities. This gives Adobe a direct route into SEO teams, an area of marketing where it has had limited presence until now.

For enterprise marketers already using Adobe tools, this could eventually create a seamless way to understand:

• how their brand appears on traditional search engines
• how it is surfaced in AI-generated answers
• how content performs across different channels
• where visibility gaps exist

In simple terms, Adobe wants to be the single source of truth for brand presence across the entire digital landscape.

How the SEO industry could change

This acquisition is likely to trigger wider shifts across SEO and martech.

1. SEO will become more closely aligned with AI – As GEO becomes a formal discipline, tools will need to measure and optimise brand presence inside AI-generated answers as well as traditional search results.

2. Enterprise SEO will become mainstream – Adobe’s influence will push SEO further into senior marketing conversations, presenting visibility as a key part of customer experience.

3. More consolidation is likely – Competitors may feel pressure to seek partnerships or acquisitions of their own in order to keep pace.

4. Content, search and analytics will move closer together – Traditional silos between SEO, content teams and customer experience platforms are likely to become less distinct.

The bottom line

This is not simply Adobe buying another tool. It is a clear sign that:

• SEO is evolving
• AI-driven search is becoming unavoidable
• Brand visibility will become the next major battleground for marketers

For SEOs and digital teams, the acquisition sets the stage for a future where search visibility, AI behaviour and customer experience are all connected within the same ecosystem. The speed of this shift will depend on how Adobe integrates Semrush although one thing is certain: the SEO industry has entered a new era.

Multi-Modal Content is the concept of creating one overarching piece of content that can be repackaged into multiple different forms to reach different audiences. This differs from a multi-channel approach to content marketing, which consists of just reusing the same piece of content in the same format across multiple platforms.

Examples of the Multi-Model Approach

At Intelligency, we believe in the value of using a multi-model approach towards client content as audiences differ from platform to platform based on demographic, attention span and different types of content they want to consume. A piece of video content for a client can be posted on the website, YouTube and in an email campaign. However, it can also be clipped up in the form of a YouTube short and Instagram Reel. This means we can target younger audiences with shorter attention spans on platforms more relevant to them.

Benefits of the Multi-Model Approach

Using a multi-model approach is more time-consuming, and some marketers may be wondering if it’s a sensible approach to spend extra time repurposing content for different platforms when they can reuse existing content. I will lay out some of the benefits of the multi-model approach and why I believe it is a worthwhile time investment.

• Less Content Creation – While it’s true that repurposing content does take more time than just simply reusing content, take into account the fact that the lifespan of the content after it’s been repurposed has been dramatically increased. This, therefore, means that you don’t have to spend as much time making different content from scratch and coming up with new ideas as often, which frees up more time to focus on other areas.
• Reaching Different Audiences – As mentioned previously, different platforms attract different audience demographics with different attention states. Posting the same content in its original form across multiple platforms might seem like a good idea; however, the audience on each platform (while there is obviously some overlap) is different and consumes content in different ways. Someone who typically watches podcasts on YouTube and someone who prefers short-form content, such as TikTok and would never listen to a podcast because they believe it’s “too long” have wildly different attention spans and approaches to what good content is. However, creating long-form content for a podcast-style video and then repurposing it into short, digestible TikTok clips allows us to catch both types of users as opposed to the one we were initially targeting.
• SEO Benefits – Google still dominates the search market (Even with the rise of ChatGPT and even though Google is still largely focused on written content, the different types of content that appear on the SERP now are more than ever before. From standard written content to AI Overviews, Videos and Images. Making sure your content comes in different forms, such as having video content and imagery to support your content in its written form, can help you target the SERP from different angles and give you an improved chance of appearing higher on the SERP and improve SEO results by extension.

How to start your Multi-Modal Approach

If you want to undertake a multi-model approach in the future when looking at your content strategy, one of the ways to do this is by auditing your existing content. Some of the content you already have posted on your site or different platforms may have potential to be repurposed into different formats that boost engagement. Go through your content systematically and look for any gems that could work in your favour. Once all existing content has been audited, you can make sure to focus on creating specific content that can be repurposed when coming

What is and when is black Friday?

Black Friday happens each year on the Friday following Thanksgiving. Aptly named by Philadelphia police in the sixties for the chaos that ensued as city dwellers and tourists took to the streets, causing carnage and chaos, they shopped to their hearts’ content.

This year it falls on the 28^th of November.

Black Friday has since evolved, with businesses and brands capitalising on the notoriety of the event. It’s become of commercial importance as a holiday; it signifies the start of Christmas shopping, which ultimately is the time when retailers see a significant increase in profit.

Should my business run a black Friday campaign?

Considering whether a business should run a black Friday campaign can be difficult, but there are several strategic, operational and financial factors to think through before creating a Black Friday campaign, which include:

• Product/ inventory reality: Can it be discounted? Do you have enough stock? Is your business logistically capable of selling something on a large scale if it’s needed?
• Your business model: If you sell B2C, then this is less of a concern, but if you’re a small business with a B2B model, then you may find that it’s less suited.
• Being technically prepared: Is your website built to accommodate high levels of traffic? Have you checked that the checkout process is smooth and efficient for the customer? Making sure the process is as easy as possible for the customer increases the chances of driving conversion.
• Competitive landscape: Are your competitors holding campaigns? Do you need to keep up with the competition and remain visible within your industry?
• Audience fit: Will your audience be motivated by a promotion? Have they previously responded to promotions?
• Luxury brands risk devaluing their positioning
• B2B companies often see less demand for tactical promotions
• High-trust or relationship-based services may not benefit from aggressive price cuts
• Customer experience: Customers on the receiving end of a poorly functioning site, bad deals, and confused messaging are likely to have a poor experience.
• Strategic alternatives: Some businesses benefit from taking a step back and capitalising on different holidays/occasions. Holiday campaigns face the risk of over-saturation to begin with, so taking a step back and focusing on Christmas or the January sales can be an effective way to

When should my Black Friday campaign start?

Picking the right time to launch your Black Friday campaigns is almost as essential as the messaging and assets. If timed correctly, a campaign can capture the curiosity and attention of existing and potential customers.

Begin the soft launch of your campaigns in late September or early October. This can be done simply, with an email hinting at what’s to come. Create intrigue for existing customers with things like early access to products or exclusive early-bird discounts. 

Mid-October is when we recommend ramping up the messaging on exclusivity and deals. It’s the perfect time to capture your warm audience and create some buzz around the event.

As November rolls around, this is the point of intensity where leads are being nurtured with follow-up emails. It’s a great time to commence a countdown for your sales, again reiterating the limited time left until Black Friday and the exclusive shot-time deals available to customers.  

Even after the Black Friday sales are over, give those who have abandoned cart a last chance to snag a deal on the product they want.

The campaign period usually spans around two months, but for some companies it may be as little as a week.

How to design an effective Black Friday marketing campaign?

Emotion, entertainment and relatability are all feelings that drive conversion, whether that’s engagement through a click or a lead that becomes a conversion.  Creating a campaign that resonates with the audience is a tactful way to put your brand in the minds of viewers.

A great campaign provokes thought at minimum, and a reaction (i.e. a sale) at most. Think about how you can connect with your audience, whether that’s creating a sense of urgency through ‘last chance’ messaging or using UGC in your campaign to create a sense of relatability from a customer perspective.

Should I create landing pages especially for Black Friday?

If you’ve made the decision to run a campaign, then we absolutely recommend creating a tailored landing page. This allows you to home in on the types of content and visual assets that are more likely to drive conversion.

Striking a balance between urgency and building trust is key for these pages. You want the customer to feel like they can build trust and rely on your company’s honesty.

Using urgency design like countdown banners, is a great way to remind the customer of the time limitations, encouraging them to buy the product before their time runs out. Providing a deadline makes it super clear how long your deal will last, giving the customer an explicit reason to purchase the product. 

Make sure the content is benefit-led. Keeping your offering clear and driven is essential; the customer doesn’t necessarily care about the minor details of the product as much as the details of how it’s going to benefit them.

Addressing the customer’s problem without them having to infer how your product/ service helps them slashes the decision-making time for the customer.

How should I measure performance for Black Friday?

There are a number of metrics and measurement techniques that allow you to assess the success of your Black Friday:

• Total revenue generated – This is ideal, especially if you have the metrics from the previous year. It will allow you to measure growth YoY, as well as being able to better forecast the following years.
• Conversion rate – Your conversion rate will either validate the UX of your landing pages, or it will signal an issue. This, coupled with heatmaps, can be an incredible piece of insight for people to see.
• Average order value – Knowing the average order value will allow you to see whether Black Friday sales measure up to the day-to-day performance of the business.
• Return on ad spend and cost per acquisition– Understand the profitability of your campaigns with ROAS. It is a direct way to see how effective your campaign is at generating leads. Cost per acquisition allows you to understand the cost to acquire your leads, which is especially useful for future budget allocation.
• Return rates – A spike in returns can sharply reduce margins — especially in apparel, electronics or beauty.
• Track return rate vs. typical periods.
• Website traffic and session quality – Track:
• Users
• Sessions
• Bounce rate
• Time on site
• Pages per session

These numbers reveal whether the campaign attracted the right traffic and whether your messaging matched expectations.

Final Thoughts

Black Friday continues to be one of the biggest commercial moments of the year, but success isn’t about simply slashing prices or joining the noise. The businesses that truly win are the ones that prepare early, understand their audience, and execute campaigns with intention and clarity. Whether you choose to participate fully, take a lighter-touch approach, or sit it out in favour of more strategic seasonal opportunities, the goal remains the same: deliver value in a way that strengthens your brand, not dilutes it.

With thoughtful planning, strong creativity, and the right performance metrics in place, Black Friday can be more than a promotional event; it can be a catalyst for long-term customer relationships and meaningful revenue growth. So take the time to evaluate your fit, refine your messaging, and build an experience your customers will remember for the right reasons.

One of the most crucial aspects of any SEO strategy is backlink generation. Backlinks are links from other sites to your own, which can be gained by acquiring links from authoritative sites. This is beneficial for SEO as sites that Google sees as authoritative lend your site some of their credibility and trustworthiness. In this article, we will discuss different strategies for acquiring backlinks to help grow your business.

Broken Backlink Fixes

When running a backlink audit on your site, it will highlight key issues for you, such as broken backlinks. Site managers may have accidentally put in the wrong URL or a URL that has since changed when linking to your site. Reaching out to these sites in order to fix the broken link and restore equity is a good idea, as not only does it boost your SEO potential, but no one wants broken links on their site, so you are actually also doing them a favour in return.

Create Linkable Content

One of the easiest and most natural ways that users can generate backlinks is by creating content that generates natural interest. Some types of content that are good for generating links include:

• Research and Data Studies
• In-Depth Guides
• Infographics

When people are crafting content, there are certain materials, such as infographics and data studies, that users don’t always create for themselves due to time constraints. Creating this type of content yourself makes it infinitely linkable and can improve your backlink profile.

Promote Content

Creating great content is obviously important for visibility, and using organic methods such as SEO is great, but expanding reach through other methods can also improve potential for backlink generation, further expanding SEO potential in the future.

Backlink Gap Analysis

SEO websites such as SERanking and SEMRush have backlink gap analysis features. This feature allows its users to track the links that their competitors are gaining and see any potential gaps. If your competitors are gaining links from reputable sources that you are not, creating a piece of content or running a campaign and reaching out to these sources to gain a link is a valuable strategy. (As you already know, they are willing to share links within your industry.)

Using a combined approach of all the aforementioned tactics will help to grow your backlink profile over time. While no one can say how much one link can add value to your site, making sure your backlink profile is much larger than it was before will certainly help Google see you in a different light as a more credible business in your industry.

Did you know that winning or even being shortlisted for awards can strengthen your SEO and overall digital presence? Awards don’t just celebrate your success — they’re also powerful marketing tools that can improve your website’s visibility, build brand trust, and attract new customers.

How can an award benefit your business?

There are many benefits to applying to industry awards, especially for businesses which are looking to establish their name and build trust with their audience. Some of the benefits include:

• Building your authority

If you’ve received your award from a reputable organisation, it’s beneficial for demonstrating your authority and expertise over a specific topic or sector. It lends credibility to a business to win a prestigious award.

• Signals you’re trustworthy

Viewers who see your business has been accredited with an award are more likely to have trust that you’re an authentic and reliable business.

Pro Tip: Include an “Awards & Recognition” section on your homepage or About page to visually showcase your achievements.

• Demonstrates you’re active in your business industry

Applying and attending to industry-relevant events like awards ceremonies shows your business is active within the sectors it’s in.

• Getting backlinks

Backlinks remain one of the strongest SEO ranking factors. When you win an award, your business name and website are often featured on:

• The award organiser’s site
• Industry news publications
• Partner or sponsor pages
• Local business directories

Each of these mentions can provide high-quality backlinks that improve your domain authority and organic search rankings.

• PR opportunity

When you are shortlisted or win an award, it’s a great opportunity to publicise your success. It’s a great piece of content to share with your audience, and even better for those discovering your brand to see.

• Promote team morale and brand advocacy

Whilst it’s not a direct contributor to your SEO efforts, happier and motivated teams often are more productive, creating high-quality content that ultimately does benefit their SEO strategy.

Why Awards Matter for SEO

In a competitive online environment, trust and authority are everything. Awards serve as a third-party endorsement — a signal to both search engines and users that your brand is reputable, high-quality, and actively contributing to its industry. Let’s explore how awards can benefit your online performance and search rankings.

Final Thoughts

Winning or even being nominated for an award can do more than boost your reputation; it can strengthen your SEO, expand your reach, and enhance your credibility online. By taking advantage of award opportunities, you’re not only celebrating your success but also setting your business up for long-term digital growth

Brand Christmas ad campaigns often tap into the sentimentality, atmosphere, and general shared sense of spirit to hook viewers. When comparing everyday advertising to the techniques used in seasonal advertising, there’s a stark contrast. So, we have to ask, is this an effective way to find leads and drive conversions?

Do Christmas campaigns drive conversions?

For most brands, yes, Christmas campaigns can prove to be effective for driving conversion, with a reported 3.2% YoY in December, up from 1.9% for UK retail sales.

However, spending for the public is shifting as the cost-of-living crisis impacts household incomes. When compounded with increasing product prices, consumers aren’t necessarily able to continue to bridge the gap.

What is so effective about a Christmas ad campaign?

Christmas campaigns benefit brands for several reasons:

1. It raises brand awareness

During the festive period, brands have the opportunity to innovate. When the campaign is executed masterfully, driving a specific message and is timed just right, undiscovered audiences are more likely to be reached.

A great example of a standout brand at Christmas for their campaigns is John Lewis, which year after year provides iconic visuals on top of warm gestures, heartfelt campaign messaging. As such, they’ve become notorious in their ability to capture audiences’ attention and evoke curiosity. This is evidenced by their 42% majority in polls for “most anticipated Christmas advert.”

• The ability to boost sales and return on investment

Whilst success comes differently for many businesses over Christmas, those that leverage their marketing campaigns often see a spike during the holiday period. This can be especially said for supermarket brands that find a way to promote products and produce during the festive season.

Whilst it can take a while to achieve a majority market share, for some brands like Christmas chocolatiers, this has long been the point of contention. With products like Roses, Cadbury’s Heroes and Celebrations going neck and neck for the majority hold in the sector, Christmas confectionery.

• Resonating with the audience

A campaign done right creates an emotional connection for the viewer, whether that’s them relating to the content, or feeling inspired or joyed by it. This emotional connection reinforces the positive rapport audiences develop towards brands.

Ultimately, what makes a brand is how it is perceived and interpreted by audiences to establish a positive reputation. The experience needs to be memorable.

• Increased reach

Campaigns work as a form of PR for brands, representing how the business operates and reacts during this period. Again, thinking about sentiment and the general conversation that garners, it really helps to propel these brands and their campaigns, so they end up reaching a whole new audience.

Should brands create Christmas campaigns this year?

The final quarter of the year brings the opportunity to capitalise on buyer intent, where they aren’t just considering purchases for themselves, but for their friends and family too.

This allows brands to cast the net on prospective customers, often yielding better results as people or in the mindset of being converted. Brands are able to position their products to a whole new demographic, for the gift giver.

Understanding the various types of ‘gift givers’ and the type of gift giver that would use your product or service as the gift allows you to directly tap into an audience that you typically wouldn’t appeal to. We often see this with brands like Harry’s, a grooming company for men. Every year, they find a way onto the screens of people beyond their typical audience, which again shows an awareness of the types of new customers they can appeal to during the festive period.  

While Christmas campaigns aren’t a guaranteed route to conversions, the data and trends show that the potential is undeniable. When executed with creativity, emotional intelligence, and a genuine understanding of audience sentiment, festive marketing has the power to do more than just drive sales; it builds long-term brand affinity.

As competition increases and consumer spending habits shift, brands that can authentically connect with audiences will continue to stand out. The key isn’t simply joining the festive noise, but finding a message that resonates, inspires, and reminds customers why they choose your brand, not just at Christmas, but all year round.

At Intelligency, we work with a wide range of dental practices and groups across the UK, helping them grow their online presence, attract new patients, and build lasting relationships. Through this work, one of the most valuable tools we’ve seen practices adopt is a Customer Relationship Management system (CRM).

A CRM can transform how a dental practice manages enquiries, communications, and marketing activity. It helps teams work more efficiently, ensures no patient enquiry is ever missed, and provides the insight needed to improve conversion and retention rates.

What is a CRM?

A CRM is a central system that holds information about all your patients and prospects. It records every interaction they have with your practice, from the moment they make an enquiry to treatment and aftercare.

Instead of relying on spreadsheets or memory, a CRM gives your team a single, joined-up view of every patient journey. It shows who they are, how they found you, what treatments they are interested in, and when they were last contacted.

For dental practices, this means smoother communication, fewer missed opportunities, and stronger relationships with patients.

What does a CRM actually do?

Modern CRMs can do far more than just store contact details. The best systems can:

• Automate repetitive tasks such as follow-up emails, review requests, and recall reminders
• Segment your audience based on treatment interests, demographics, or patient status
• Track every lead and enquiry from your website, social media, or ads
• Integrate with your website, booking system, and email tools so everything stays in sync
• Provide performance reporting so you can see exactly which campaigns drive bookings

Why dental practices benefit from CRMs

Dental marketing is built on trust and personal connection. Patients need reassurance and consistency in how they are communicated with, and a CRM makes it easier to deliver that across your team.

Key benefits include:

• Improved patient retention through automated recalls and aftercare follow-ups
• Greater lead conversion by tracking every new enquiry from first click to booked appointment
• Better marketing visibility by connecting campaigns to real patient outcomes
• Enhanced personalisation so patients receive content that is relevant to them
• Simplified GDPR compliance with secure and auditable data storage

Practical ways dental practices can use a CRM

1. Email automation for enquiries and follow-ups

A CRM can automatically send emails to patients at key stages. For example, a new enquiry receives an instant thank-you message with your price guide and next steps, while a consultation booking triggers a reminder 24 hours before the appointment. After treatment, the patient might receive an aftercare guide and a polite request for feedback.

This creates a consistent, professional experience without the need for manual work, and helps to keep patients engaged between touchpoints.

2. Patient segmentation for targeted campaigns

With a CRM, you can group patients by useful categories such as treatment interest, demographics, or patient status. Once segmented, you can send more relevant and personalised messages.

For example, send a whitening offer to patients who completed Invisalign six months ago, hygiene reminders to those who have not visited for a year, or implant information to those who previously enquired about dentures.

Segmentation allows you to talk to each patient about what matters most to them, rather than sending the same message to everyone.

3. Reactivation campaigns for lapsed patients

Most dental practices have a pool of patients who have not booked an appointment in over a year. A CRM can identify these patients and re-engage them automatically.

For instance, anyone who has not booked since their last check-up 18 months ago can receive a friendly “We miss you” message followed by a recall reminder. You can even follow up a week later with a hygiene or whitening incentive to encourage their return.

These small automations often reactivate a surprising number of dormant patients without additional advertising costs.

4. Review and reputation management

After treatment, your CRM can automatically send a message asking patients to share feedback or leave a Google review.

For example:

“Thank you for choosing Wimpole Street Dental Clinic. We hope you’re delighted with your new smile. We’d love to hear your feedback. Your review helps others find us and supports our team.”

This kind of automation builds a steady flow of positive reviews that boost your online visibility and credibility.

5. Cross-promotion of related treatments

CRMs make it easy to promote related treatments in a relevant and timely way.

For example, a patient who has completed implant treatment could receive information about hygiene maintenance plans. Invisalign patients might be invited to book a whitening consultation, and long-term patients could receive seasonal cosmetic promotions such as whitening before summer or Christmas.

These communications feel helpful rather than sales-driven and can increase lifetime patient value.

6. Tracking lead sources and campaign performance

Every enquiry from your website, Google Ads, or social channels can be logged automatically in your CRM. Over time, this creates a clear picture of which marketing channels and campaigns are performing best.

For instance, you might find that 40% of Invisalign enquiries come from Meta ads, while Google Ads leads convert at a higher rate. With this data, you can focus your marketing budget on the channels that genuinely deliver new patients.

Popular CRM options for dental practices

There is a wide range of CRM platforms available, from simple systems suitable for small practices to enterprise-level tools for multi-site groups. Here are some of the most popular options and what they typically cost.

HubSpot CRM

• Best for: Private clinics that want to combine marketing automation and lead tracking
• Features: Visual pipelines, automated workflows, built-in email marketing, and website lead forms
• Cost: Free version available, paid plans with automation start around £45 to £70 per month per user
• Why dentists like it: Easy to set up, integrates well with booking systems and enquiry forms, and offers excellent reporting

Pipedrive

• Best for: Independent or smaller practices focused on lead tracking and follow-ups
• Features: Visual pipelines, reminders, email integration, and workflow automation
• Cost: From £15 to £60 per month per user, depending on plan
• Why dentists like it: Simple interface, fast to train staff, and ideal for managing new patient enquiries through to bookings

Zoho CRM

• Best for: Practices seeking good functionality at a modest cost
• Features: Lead tracking, automation, reporting, and optional add-ons for email, social, and finance
• Cost: Around £12 to £45 per month per user, depending on plan
• Why dentists like it: Affordable, scalable, and integrates easily with common marketing tools

Salesforce Health Cloud

• Best for: Multi-location or group practices needing a robust healthcare-grade system
• Features: Advanced data management, custom workflows, analytics, and strict data compliance
• Cost: Starts from around £120 per user per month and increases with customisation
• Why dentists like it: Ideal for larger groups that need detailed reporting and control over patient data

Monday.com CRM or Notion CRM templates

• Best for: Smaller or startup practices that want a visual, flexible solution
• Features: Custom boards for enquiries, appointments, and simple automation tools
• Cost: Around £8 to £15 per user per month
• Why dentists like it: Low cost, simple to use, and easy to tailor to specific workflows

Getting started and making it work

If you are new to CRMs, start small and focus on outcomes that matter most, such as increasing enquiries, improving follow-ups, or reducing admin time. Begin by mapping the patient journey from first enquiry to treatment and aftercare, then identify the communications that could be automated.

Choose a CRM that fits naturally with your existing systems, such as your website or booking software, and start with one or two workflows, like new enquiry follow-ups or recall reminders. As your team becomes comfortable, you can expand to include patient segmentation, automated reviews, and campaign tracking.

The key is to see a CRM not as another piece of software, but as the backbone of your marketing and communication strategy. It helps you bring all your patient data, touchpoints, and insights together in one place, creating a more consistent and personal experience for every patient. For dental practices, that means better relationships, higher retention, and smarter marketing decisions that drive sustainable growth.

The objective for B2C and B2B marketing is quite similar in the sense that it looks to engage and evoke a response. It’s the approach and strategy that tend to diverge from each other, as the audiences differ drastically.

Business-to-Business Content Marketing

Business-to-business content marketing looks at how it can push a product or service for an entire business/ team of employees, rather than a singular audience member. This requires an entirely different strategy than B2C content marketing, as it’s looking at long-term objectives like building trust, a reputation, and ultimately working towards a return on investment.

• Build rapport, trust and a reputation with content for this audience
• Context-driven content that appeals to a broader audience
• Data-led decision-making means it’s a longer sales funnel, and as such, content should serve to support but not be the driving factor in converting

Business to Client Content Marketing

Business-to-client content marketing is the typical style of marketing we encounter, from newsletters from your favourite brands to the ads we see as we scroll aimlessly on social channels.

• Customers are emotionally driven by products; it’s much more about the individual experience than anything else
• Behaviour and interest-driven
• A shorter sales cycle, which looks to inspire momentary responses like impulse buying
• An overall softer and simpler way to approach the audience, as it looks to create a sense of relatability or intrigue, which then encourages engagement

The Key Differences between B2C and B2B Content Marketing

There are some major differences in how content marketing is done when comparing B2B and B2C practices. The main things content marketing boils down to:

The Audience – The audiences differ so much, and the ways they discover and explore content to reach the end goal (a service or item). Content marketing tends to drive conversions much faster for B2C than its B2B counterpart, which often requires a slower, more thought-out approach to investing in a product or service.

This means the journey taken and the way they interact during that journey will be entirely different. While a B2C customer may become invested, feel a connection to a brand, a business (B2B) would make decisions that are informed by their existing strategy, budget and so on, which is what makes it a lengthier process to convert.

The Type and Tone of Content –

Business-to-business content often adopts a no frills, factual, professional format, cutting through any fluff and getting straight to the important details. Whilst this doesn’t always apply to B2B, it’s fairly typical to still see this matter-of-fact way of producing content.

B2C businesses can take more creative liberties with the styles of content, the message used for content, and the tone that it’s communicating. The tone is often much softer, relatable and approachable for a customer. It’s meant to connect with the audience on a deeper level than that of a B2B piece of content.

Content Formats and Destinations

Another difference in how content is marketed to these different audiences is via the format of content and the destination at which it is posted. You’ll find B2B companies posting in places that are widely seen as professional, including LinkedIn and paywalled websites.

Final Thoughts

While B2B and B2C content marketing share the same core goal—to engage audiences and inspire action—the paths they take to get there are worlds apart. B2B thrives on logic, trust, and long-term relationship building, while B2C speaks to emotion, immediacy, and personal connection. Understanding these nuances allows brands to tailor their content strategy with precision—meeting their audience exactly where they are and driving meaningful results that last.

2025 has already brought so many ad campaigns that are impossible to forget, with campaign efforts shifting and making a greater impact across social channels. We continue to see this evolution as Autumn rolls into full effect.

The latest Ads to capture our attention, along with the rest of the internet, include McDonald’s World Menu Heist, All Heroes, No Zeros by Cadbury, and A Spicy but Not Too Spicy Plumber delivered by Doritos.

Latest Updates Affecting Ad Campaigns 📢

Interestingly, in the UK, we’ve seen legislation pass to ban the promotion of junk foods, which will see junk food ad campaigns no longer being shown until after the 9 pm watershed. And social channels are completely banned. The Government is cracking down on child obesity, and as a result, is forcing marketers of these products to come up with new ways to grip the audience.

Regulation may force brands to ditch the product marketing and instead, focus on brand, society and culture to promote products. This could be especially troubling for emerging brands that haven’t yet established their brand name, where promoting their product that’s considered junk food is no longer allowed.

How we think brands will overcome this issue around promoting junk food…

• Influencer campaigns: Collaborating across social channels may be the only way for unhealthy products to be promoted across social media. This loophole would ensure products are still being seen and shared, without the implications of going against legislation.
• Offscreen promotion: Response-based campaigns may become the new thing. Where actors in campaigns use their reactions to sell a product, using the clever hack of keeping the products off-screen.
• Mascot-based product promotion: Think of all the iconic archived brand mascots that will potentially soon make a return to represent the beloved banned items, from the iconic Tony the Tiger from Frosties to the Milky Bar kid. We wouldn’t be surprised to see brands tap into this nostalgia factor to help promote products that are no longer allowed on screen.
• More creative campaigns: This will likely force brands to think outside the box, looking for new innovative ways to represent themselves without being impacted by legislation.

Autumn’s Top 3 Campaigns for 2025

All Heroes, No Zeros

McDonald’s latest campaign, devised by VCCP, is simply genius, playing on the product name, position and brand to deliver the next best campaign. Running with the concept that all Cadbury’s heroes are top tier, and to show that they’re being likened to some of the most iconic figures from Queen.

We see the likes of Freddie Mercury being compared to a crunchy, whilst drummer and backing vocalist, Roger Taylor, equating to the Dinky Decker. The analogy within the campaign is so clever, as it signifies the ‘hits’ that Cadbury’s have created, being just as brilliant as some of the stars referenced.

The creative director of VCCP, Simon Connor, noted about the campaign, “The best things in life really are All Heroes, No zeros, just like Cadbury Heroes.”

A Spicy but Not Too Spicy Plumber

Doritos have stolen the show with their latest product launch, the golden sriracha Dorito. The campaign, spearheaded by Walton Goggins, focuses on a playfully provocative narrative where the Doritos spur on the ‘spice’ and innuendo of the plumber’s role.

Mixing a sultry seventies aesthetic with implied sexual undertones to playfully push the idea of the product being spicy, but not too spicy, as Walton Goggins’ character states. We’ve seen this actor/ influencer and brand collaborations come together quite often over the last couple of years, and it again signals that Doritos have its finger on the pulse.

Tapping into the cultural zeitgeist of Walton Goggins and using his fame and recognisable face to create a campaign that resonates in the minds of viewers.

McDonald’s World Menu Heist

The McDonald’s World Menu Heist campaign has been a really clever way to introduce worldwide products to the UK market, creating a feeling of exclusivity and excitement with the messaging.

The ad cleverly starts with the camera looming over the golden arches, looking onto an empty car park, with a big truck pulling up with masked robbers. The exposition totally sets the tone for the rest of the clips, alluding to top menu items from around the globe being heisted for the UK menu.

The campaign spanned across socials, using Close Friends on Instagram to enlist McDonald’s fans, to assist with the heist. With the fans being engaged in an entirely new way, following the campaign as developments unfurled.

As Autumn 2025 unfolds, one thing’s clear — creativity in advertising is thriving under pressure. With tighter regulations and evolving audience expectations, brands are being pushed to rethink the rules, tapping into nostalgia, storytelling, and cultural relevance like never before. Campaigns such as McDonald’s World Menu Heist, Cadbury’s All Heroes, No Zeros, and Doritos’ A Spicy but Not Too Spicy Plumber prove that innovation always finds a way to shine through.

The next few months will be fascinating to watch — especially as brands balance compliance with creativity to keep audiences hooked. If these campaigns are anything to go by, Autumn 2025 might just mark the start of a new golden era for imaginative advertising.