A DNS record is an entry published in a domain's DNS settings that tells other servers how to route or verify mail for that domain. SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and MX are all types of DNS record, each answering a different question about that domain's mail.
Every domain keeps a public settings file other servers can look up: its DNS records. Each record type answers one specific question. An MX record says where incoming mail for the domain should go. An SPF record says which servers are allowed to send mail claiming that domain. A DKIM record holds a public key so a receiver can check a message wasn't altered. A DMARC record tells the receiver what to do when a message fails those checks. Different jobs, same public lookup system.
For anyone setting up a new cold-sending domain, the DNS work isn't a single step. It's several separate records that each need to be entered correctly before a domain sends anything real: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Skip one and mailbox providers treat the domain the way they'd treat a stranger who hasn't bothered to introduce themselves. Most of these live in DNS as TXT records, edited through whatever registrar or DNS host controls the domain, and a change doesn't take effect everywhere instantly. It can take a while to propagate to every resolver checking it.
None of these records overlap in function, which is the part that trips people up. Getting SPF right says nothing about whether DKIM is also right. MX has nothing to do with either of them; it only controls where inbound mail lands, not what's allowed to go out.
Before a new sending domain goes live, every DNS record it needs, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and usually MX, has to be checked individually rather than assumed correct because the domain 'has DNS set up.' A missing or misconfigured single record is enough to make the whole domain look unauthenticated.
People talk about 'setting up DNS' like it's one switch to flip. It's several independent records living in the same place, and getting one right is no guarantee the others are. A domain can have a perfect SPF record and a broken DKIM record at the same time, and it'll still show up as an unauthenticated sender.
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