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devontroxell · 4 years

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Marketing Calendar 2021: Dates You Shouldn’t Miss This Year

We finally got through 2020 – from now on, It-That-Must-Not-Be-Named – and Q1 is just around the corner. It’s time for you to start scribbling down your New Year’s Resolutions to make sure we start the year off fine. If you’ve found your way here, we’re guessing that’s because “Crush Marketing in 2021” is probably one of yours.

To help with that, we decided to recap all relevant dates for 2021 in one blog post to help you strategize for the year ahead. Read on and find out which dates you should include into your marketing strategy and get our free 2021 Marketing Calendar.

Table of Contents

Why is it important to have a Marketing Calendar for 2021?

Marketing Calendar for 2021

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Download the 2021 Marketing Calendar

Why is it important to have a Marketing Calendar for 2021?

Most people think that the implementation of a marketing strategy is the longest part of the process, when it is actually one of the easier steps at the end of the process.

The real work comes before, when you’re setting goals and establishing priorities.The earlier you start planning through every step of the strategy, the less problems you’ll run into down the line.

This year has shown us that unpredictable circumstances require brands to be able to adapt their communication strategies to engage with their target audience.

In order to do that in the best way possible, let’s make sure you’re preparing your marketing strategy for success:

Preparing your marketing strategy

Before you start, ask yourself these questions:

What do you want to achieve and how can you get there?

What are your USPs? Why should people buy your products or services?

What sales promotions can you offer (special deals, freebies, discounts…)?

What distribution channels are best to achieve your goals?

Keep in mind that a year has so many special dates, holidays, and marketing moments – planning is a must in business and in life!

It is important to decide which promotions (like special deals or key product sales) you want to focus on, and your decision should be based on the goals you established for yourself when you planned your marketing strategy. Focusing on the wrong promotional strategy can easily ruin your KPIs, and nobody wants that!

When thinking about your holiday or special day marketing campaigns, remember to plan out your promotion in different stages:

Before the actual date: Let your customers know about what’s coming ahead of time and how they can benefit.

During the day itself: Make your big sales push via email and leverage any social media buzz.

After the main event: Don’t forget to follow up with those that converted to obtain their feedback on the process or offer additional products or services.

Finding the right marketing channels

Once you have decided what the right marketing strategy is and what kind of sales promotions you’re going to offer, you’ll need to focus on getting your marketing messages to your audience.

For marketing promotions around special dates, like the ones we’ve added on our Marketing Calendar, the best strategy is to go omnichannel. Marketing campaigns around these dates that combine different channels (for example, in-store, online, social media or email marketing) allow you to engage with your audience in a different way and also provide many upselling and cross-selling opportunities.

There is a range of channels for you to leverage, but that doesn’t mean you should try to use them all just to tick those boxes. While something like TikTok might be a bit of a stretch if you’re trying to sell dental implants, there are a few must-haves that will apply to most businesses.

One of those channels is email (yeah, you probably guessed that…). Email continues to be the best marketing channel for ROI, as it allows you to personalize, segment, and optimize your email campaigns with detailed stats. Another big plus is that your marketing messages will stay in your contacts’ inbox for them to use that promo code or find your store’s address when the time comes.

To plan and schedule your email campaigns right on time, let’s have a closer look at 2021 dates to keep in mind.

Marketing Calendar for 2021

January

You already know January is all about New Year’s resolutions, goal setting, and mourning the loss of the bright holiday season.

Start off by wishing your users a Happy New Year, and use this month to offer special deals on products or services that might come in handy when they start working on those New Year’s resolutions.

Other special dates in January include the Chinese New Year and Blue Monday, so think about what you can do to make your users’ days a bit warmer!

Dates you shouldn’t miss in January:

January 1: New Year’s Day

January 8: Winter Sales (European countries)

January 18: Blue Monday

January 28: Data Protection Day

February

The excitement of the new year might be gone, but that doesn’t mean February doesn’t have some special marketing dates in store for you!

In fact, February has two of the biggest marketing moments of the year: Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl.

According to the National Retail Federation , US Valentine’s Day gift-givers spent a record-breaking $27.4 billion in 2020, and consumers were predicted to spend around $17.2 billion on food, decorations and team apparel forSuper Bowl 2020, with each person spending an average of $88.65.

Looking at these figures, February is definitely a month to keep in mind when it comes to creating marketing campaigns.

Other special dates in February include Groundhog Day, always fun on social media, and Mardi Gras.

Dates you shouldn’t miss in February:

February 1: LGBT History Month

February 1: Black History Month (US)

February 7: Super Bowl

February 2: Groundhog Day

February 12: Chinese New Year

February 14: Valentine’s Day

February 16: Mardi Gras

March

March is all about women… and green.

We’re moving away from all the muscle power of the Super Bowl and onto a different kind of power this month: the power of women. March is all about the movement of women’s rights, and International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th.

So use this opportunity to show a bit of your corporate side and share stories from the women in your company and how you support equality in the workplace.

Other special dates in March in our Marketing Calendar 2021 include World Wildlife Day, National Pi Day, Mother’s Day in the UK and a fan-favorite… St. Patrick’s Day!

Dates you shouldn’t miss in March:

March 3: World Wildlife Day

March 8: International Women’s Day

March 14: National Pi Day

March 14: Mother’s Day (UK)

March 17: St. Patrick’s Day

April

With Easter starting in April this year, you can look forward to longer and warmer days for your easter egg hunts!

For some, Easter is all about tradition, be it religious or not. For others, it’s more about the chocolate rabbits and egg hunts. So why not hide an Easter Egg in your marketing campaigns to increase engagement this April?

Other special dates in April include Earth Day and April Fools’ Day, so maybe a great excuse to have some fun with your email marketing campaigns?

Dates you shouldn’t miss in April:

April 1: April Fools Day

April 2: Easter Friday

April 4: Easter Sunday

April 5: Easter Monday

April 12: Start of Ramadan

April 22: Earth Day

May

There are a few important dates in May, but is there any more important than Star Wars Day? Whether you’re a fan or not, there’s no denying that this is a BIG date on social media, so make sure you leverage it!

Many countries also celebrate Mother’s Day in May. This is a time for many to show appreciation towards their mother(s) and mother figures.

This day (and of course the other 364 days in the year) is perfect to lavish mothers with lots of love, flowers, and chocolate. So remember to think about moms everywhere when you plan your special offers and promotions.

Other special dates in May in our Marketing Calendar for 2021 include May Day or Labor Day in many countries, and the start of Roland-Garros for tennis lovers.

Dates you shouldn’t miss in May:

May 1: May Day

May 4: Star Wars Day

May 9: Mother’s Day (US)

May 17: Roland-Garros

June

It’s getting warmer and warmer outside, and that means it’s time for summer fun.

For many companies, the summer means a slump in sales. Instead of (online) shopping, events like vacations and other outdoor activities are in people’s minds. So, don’t be surprised if your marketing performance starts to decline rather than grow during the next few weeks.

Does this mean you should interrupt your email marketing campaigns? Absolutely not!

In fact, the summer might be the best time of year to stand out from your competitors and get in touch with your contacts. Make sure you start working on adjusting your email marketing strategy for the next couple of months.

June is also Pride Month and Father’s Day in many countries. This year, it will also be big on the sporting side, with the postponed Euros 2020 adding on to the usual Tour de France.

Dates you shouldn’t miss in June:

June 1: Pride Month

June 11: Euro 2020 Starts

June 20: Father’s Day

June 21: World Music Day

June 27: Tour de France

July

The holiday season is finally here! And even though we warned you to plan ahead in June, you might be finding it quite challenging to keep your users engaged during the summer.

Unfortunately, last year’s Euros 2020 and Summer Olympics couldn’t take place, but 2021 is giving us another possibility to experience both to their fullest. The postponed 2020 Olympics will take place between July 23 and August 8 and everyone will be watching, so take advantage of the hype with some fun sports-themed messaging!

Other special dates in July our marketing calendar 2021 include the Summer Sales period in some European countries, and Emoji Day!

Dates you shouldn’t miss in July:

July 1: Canada Day

July 4: US Independence

July 14: Bastille Day – French National Holiday

July 17: Emoji Day

July 23: Olympics Opening Ceremony

August

August is generally a slow month in many countries. The summer is in full swing, but as the weeks pass, more and more people start coming home from their vacation. So it’s the perfect time to target them with any offers or promotions they might’ve missed.

How do you do this effectively, you ask? Well, with email segmentation, of course!

With email segmentation, you can filter contacts based on their past behavior (for example, anyone that hasn’t opened an email since a certain date) and resend them any special summer offers they might have missed.

Dates you shouldn’t miss in August:

August 6: International Beer Day

August 8: Olympics Closing Ceremony

August 19: World Photography Day

September

September is here and it’s back-to-school season… and not just for kids!

In fact, September sometimes feels like a second January. Some might hate it, some might love it, but we all feel it. New goals, new projects, and new marketing opportunities. Children (and adults!) can’t wait to buy new school bags, pens, pencils and planners for the new school year.

Keep that in mind and plan some marketing campaigns to re-engage your customers after the summer with incentives like special promotions, sweepstakes, and exclusive offers.

And don’t forget to target people who left goods and services in their online cart. ;)

Dates you shouldn’t miss in September:

September 1: Back to School

September 6: Labor Day (US)

September 18: Oktoberfest

September 21: International Day of Peace

October

The scariest month of the year has finally arrived!

Autumn is officially here, and so is Halloween! This means that, offline as well as online, monsters and other creatures could be just around the corner, waiting to scare people.

For marketers, October marks the start of Q4 and the holiday season, a huge period for brands everywhere. With big dates coming up, it is the time to start planning what your holiday strategy will look like, and it is also the moment to let your creative juices flow and start getting festive.

>Dates you shouldn’t miss in October:

October 1: Black History Month (UK)

October: Columbus Day

October 10: World Mental Health Day

October 31: Halloween

November

November is the strongest time of the year for B2C sales, and it’s the official month for buying our holiday gifts. Immediately after Thanksgiving come dates like Black Friday, Black Week, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, so it’s time to kick it into high gear.

In other words: You should definitely have these dates marked in red on your 2021 marketing calendar so you can send special promotions and offers.

We know you won’t forget, but just in case, we’ve already marked them for you on our downloadable Marketing Calendar for 2021.

Dates you shouldn’t miss in November:

November 4: Diwali

November 25: Thanksgiving

November 26: Black Friday

November 27: Small Business Saturday

November 28: Hannukah

November 29: Cyber Monday

December

The best comes last: It’s finally Christmas!

It’s cold outside, the streets are covered with snow, and there’s festive decorations and lights everywhere! While some prefer to go outside, those that stay in might do a lot of online shopping for those last-minute Christmas presents. This is your chance to give Q4 a final push with special holiday campaigns and offers!

But December is not just about selling – it’s also about joining in on the festive atmosphere and thanking your contacts for spending the year with you.

You can get creative and run a little Christmas competition on social media (Best Christmas Tree or Craziest Holiday Decorations) where your customers can win coupons or goodies, or film your team singing Christmas Carols for an original Merry Christmas campaign.

As you can see, it doesn’t get more creative than December to end the year successfully.

Dates you shouldn’t miss in December:

December 24: Christmas Eve

December 25: Christmas Day

December 26: Boxing Day (UK)

December 31: New Year’s Eve

Download the 2021 Marketing Calendar

We’ve saved the dates you can’t forget and given you all the resources you need to make 2021 your best marketing year yet. Now, it’s up to you to work on your campaigns and increase engagement with your offers, promotions, or competitions.

Download the 2021 Marketing Calendar (Digital Version)

Marketing Calendar 2021: Dates You Shouldn’t Miss This Year published first on https://wabusinessapi.tumblr.com/

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of-invisible-ties · 7 years

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Tips for Tempest Trials in FE: Heroes

I know plenty of my followers play Heroes, and, like myself, are looking forward to participating in the Tempest Trials tomorrow! As a longtime player and strategist in Heroes, I’d like to offer my take on some strategies I’ve used or seen and that I hope that others will be able to employ. If this was helpful, toss me a like or reblog! I wish you all luck in getting as many rewards as possible!

What are Tempest Trials?

For those new to the game, Tempest Trials is the uniform term used to refer to one of the battle modes in Heroes. Four teams of your choosing are pitted against five to seven maps (depending on your difficulty, with seven being the hardest), and must clear them as quickly as possible for points. The units seen in these maps are stronger than usual, and their stats increase as you go. Their HP, in particular, tends to get insanely high.

However, all is not lost!

Bonus units will also get increased stats. And, they’ll raise your score if they’re on your team. Not only that, but here are some strategies you can use to make this easier.

Life Hack: Knowing who the boss is

In each Tempest Trial, regardless of difficulty, there’s a boss who will be faced every time you’re on the last map. These bosses will vary depending on the theme of the Tempest Trial, but early leaks have revealed the boss of this one to be Brave Ike. Because you’ll be facing him no matter what, it’s wise to have a “boss-killer” -- a unit specifically tailored to countering the boss of that trial. Because Ike is an infantry axe unit, red mages, such as Tharja, Celica, and Katarina, can all do a number on him. Bringing red units with high defense or Triangle Adept also works in whittling him down, but mages are your best ploy.

Who to bring with you

Healers and Passive Healers

Seeing as the Tempest Trials are well renowned for being endurance battles, most people are prompted to bring along a healer. This would be fine if healers could do damage, but most can’t without the premium skill of Wrathful Staff. While I myself do use healers on certain teams, I prefer using “passive healers”, too.

Passive healers refer to units who can heal despite not being healers themselves. A famous example of this is the Falchion + Renewal + Reciprocal Aid/Ardent Sacrifice combo. Falchion and Renewal together allows the unit to regain their health rather quickly, and Reciprocal Aid or Ardent Sacrifice allows them to spread this effect to their allies, thus marking them as “passive” or “psuedo” healers.

Note that Renewal + Ardent Sacrifice works just as well, though.

Another variant of this combo is the C skill Breath of Life, combined with the Breath of Life Sacred Seal. At version 3, both of these together allow you to heal all adjacent allies for 14 HP. If Linde with her Aura tome uses this, that’s 19 HP; the performing arts variants of Shigure, Inigo, and Olivia also allow for this healing effect, for 21 HP of healing.

Dancers + good skills to put on them

Dancers are your best friend in these trials. “Dancer” units refer to those with the command skill Sing or Dance, which allows your units to take another turn. Another turn against stat-inflated enemies is huge, and makes the difference between escaping danger, killing an enemy, or getting an extra turn to heal. Dancers combined with a unit who has Reposition or Draw Back work well in tandem with each other, as a dancer can venture into danger, dance a unit, and then be drawn back out with that skill.

A good idea is giving a dancer Wings of Mercy and having them work in tandem with a unit in Desperation or Brash Assault range (aka below 50% of their HP; note that I will elaborate on those skills in a later section). Wings of Mercy allows the dancer to warp to a unit below 50% health, and because those aforementioned 2 skills have that exact health requirement. (Brash Assault 3 can only be activated on 50% hp or lower. Desperation 3 requires you to be below 75% HP, but Desperation 2 requires the 50% threshold, which works just fine for the Wings of Mercy strategy.). If you’re relying on Wings of Mercy with Desperation or Brash Assault, do NOT BRING A HEALER AT ALL. Healing your health will ruin this strategy, so it’s best to go on hyper-offense with this.

Note: the best c-skills to give Dancers are Hone Attack and Hone Speed. Keep this in mind!

Fliers + Guidance + Healing skills

Giving a Flier Renewal + Ardent Sacrifice, along with the Guidance Sacred Seal, is a surprisingly effective strategy for making them both a ferry and passive healer at once. Guidance allows any infantry or armored units within two spaces to access a space adjacent to your flier. This is effective because it draws your units within your flier’s reach to heal them, and it’s a great set-up for a support flier. I highly recommend Elincia for this role, seeing as she comes with Ardent Sacrifice innately, and she has a brave weapon (explained below) and natural access to Death Blow. You can build other fliers with this set-up, though.

Using Guidance with Reposition works just as well, as that allows you to replace units if you so wish. Nowi, with her Grimoire tome, Reposition, and Guidance, is actually quite useful if you managed to pull her from the Halloween banner.

Brave Weapons, as well as the Brash Assault + Desperation combo

For those unaware of how to use the Brash Assault + Desperation combo, consult this video. I mention it here because it works AMAZINGLY in tandem with brave weapons.

Brave weapons refer to weapons that makes its wielder strike twice, which is handy in any situation. While they’re weaker than most weapons, a double attack with any unit with respectable strength will do plenty of damage. Combined with the aforementioned combo, you can get four hits off in one go! And that’s more than enough to deal with units with insane amounts of HP!

That’s also why I must stress that Desperation is your friend. I’m serious. If you put Desperation on speedy units, they will be able to have their weapons act as brave weapons so long as they out-speed the target and are below the required HP threshold. For best use out of it, they should have a speed higher than 38. Any speed stat that’s 40 and above warrants consideration for Desperation. Mages work especially well with Desperation, too.

Important: mages are super helpful to bring along, so make sure you spare a slot for them!

Strategies for the bonus units

Brave Lyn and Brave Roy: I lumped them together because they work in tandem with horse emblem. In fact, they’d work wonders on the same team! If you don’t know what horse emblem is, watch this guide on it. My point is, horse emblem is so effective thanks to its myriad of buffs that you can afford to run a healer on that team, because the three other teammates will benefit from the healer’s and each other’s buffs, and that’s more than enough to pick up the slack.

Brave Ike and Dorcas: I put these two in the same category because they both function as infantry axe units who specialize as defenders. They work best during the enemy phase of combat. In tandem with these two, I’d recommend running a dancer and a fragile mage with Desperation, seeing as either Brave Ike or Dorcas will suffice for baiting out enemies and taking hits. To give them maximum benefits, bring along allies who can boost their defense, resistance, and, mainly, attack. It’ll stack well with their stats. Pairing them with healers also works, although it may be unnecessary in Brave Ike’s case, seeing as he comes with Aether.

Brave Lucina: Thanks to the fact that she gives +3 to attack and speed to all units but mages, exploit this. Bringing along a speedy or Desperation unit, dancer or brave weapon user gives you the most leverage out of her buffs. Brave weapon users like the extra speed from her legendary weapon, Drive Speed, and Hone Speed buffs, as that makes it easier for them to attack a unit four times. Dancers like the extra speed to avoid getting doubled if they’re attacked, and speedy units and Desperation users like that extra speed and offense, too. Remember: Mages might not benefit from her legendary weapon, but they still get leverage out of Drive Speed, so it never hurts to bring one along. Bringing a red mage to compensate for Brave Lucina’s axe weakness is optimal.

Mia: Due to being a speedy attacker, I’d recommend tossing her Desperation and not bothering to heal her. You want Mia in the Desperation threshold so she can constantly be doubling units without fear for retaliation. Use the Wings of Mercy strategy I described earlier, and she should be good to go.

Lute: Lute makes an excellent Desperation user if given the Fury + Desperation combp. Thanks to her ability to debuff units, which includes speed for her easier capacity to double, she makes a solid lead for any team, provided that she has dancer support and red units to counter her green weaknesses. Brave Ike, the boss of the trials, will be a threat to her, so bringing along a red unit is a must.

Aaaand that’s all I’ve got. Was this guide helpful? These are the strategies I’ve tried and seen, but I do hope it was of use. Of course, I’m open to additions and suggestions. If anyone else has ideas they’d like to recommend, feel free to let me know!

#ooc #fire emblem heroes #strategy things

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waveridden · 7 years

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fic: you taste blood and call it wine (laurel/nyssa)

Arrow, s3, canon-compliant. Laurel/Nyssa, referenced Sara/Nyssa. 3.5k. (cw: canon-typical violence, canonical character death, referenced alcoholism)

Four times Nyssa saved Laurel, and one time Laurel saved Nyssa.

[read on ao3 || title lyric]

Laurel doesn’t get stabbed - and not just stabbed, but stabbed in the way that makes her wonder about updating her will and maybe writing goodbye letters to her family just in case - until the sixth mugging she stops. It’s stupid, she’s being careless, and she berates herself before anyone else gets the chance to. She doesn’t have much else to do when she’s bleeding out, with nobody coming for her. She didn’t notice that the guy had a knife until it was in her side, and it didn’t start hurting until she punched him straight in the face and he ran off. But now it definitely hurts.

She has a hand clasped over the wound and the cold comfort that she definitely broke the asshole’s nose when she hears someone land in front of her. She has a brief moment to be grateful that someone in Team Arrow got her calls before there are hands on her stomach, pressing hard.

Laurel shouts out before she can help it, and her savior scoffs, and Laurel realizes it’s not Diggle or Roy after all.

“You need to learn to field-dress wounds,” Nyssa says, voice more clipped than usual. “Or at the very least how to fight while wounded.”

“Hey, it’s my first time, cut me a break,” Laurel says. Or, well, slurs, because it’s been a few minutes and she’s more than a little lightheaded. “What are you doing here?”

“I never left Starling, you know that.” Nyssa grabs Laurel’s elbow. “Sit up straight.”

Laurel doesn’t think she can, but she knows Nyssa wouldn’t accept that, so she lets Nyssa pull her upright, both of their hands pressed to her side. “You said it’s a flesh wound?”

“It looks like one, and besides, you’re still alive.”

Laurel snorts before she can help herself. “Is that your metric? Wounds that’ll kill you versus wounds that don’t?”

Nyssa doesn’t look amused. “It’s the most important distinction.”

Laurel mulls that over for a second and decides that there’s something to that, so she lets it go. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I told you why I’m here.”

“Not in Starling, in this alleyway. Are you following me?”

Nyssa looks taken aback. “Of course not.”

“Then you have some good timing,” Laurel says. She can hear footsteps on the rooftop, loud and getting closer, and Nyssa must too, because she looks up. “That’s probably Diggle.”

“Is he following you?”

“I called him. Help me stand.”

Nyssa does, leveraging Laurel to her feet with a look that Laurel can’t parse, isn’t sure she could if she weren’t bleeding out. “You need to learn to check your attackers for weapons,” she says, and that clipped edge is back, something sharper than normal. Laurel’s only been training with her a couple days, not long enough to learn Nyssa in depth, but long enough to know something is different here.

“You could always patrol with me and watch my back,” Laurel offers, leaning back against the wall.

Nyssa scoffs. “I said I would train you, and I believe I’ve learned what to teach you next.”

Laurel manages a smile. “You’re going to leave,” she says, because the footsteps are at the roof above them.

“Your friends have made it clear that I’m not welcome,” Nyssa says. She’s already slipping back into the shadows, slipping away. “Keep pressure on the wound.”

“I’m trying,” Laurel says, but she can feel the absence of Nyssa’s hand on her, almost as strongly as the hand itself.

“I expect to see you tomorrow,” Nyssa says, and that edge is gone to her voice, and Laurel is grateful for it. “The flesh wound isn’t an excuse.”

Laurel waves it off and lurches forward as someone lands in front of her. “Of course it’s not.”

“Of course what’s not what?” Diggle says, and she can almost feel him do a double take. “Laurel, what the hell-”

“Can we do the yelling when I’m not bleeding?” Laurel says, because the vigilantism lectures got old twenty seconds into the first one, and she’s not exactly up for another one now of all times.

Diggle blessedly drops it and goes to pick her up. “We need to get you a panic button or a comm or something,” he mutters, probably more to himself than Laurel.

“You still came when I needed you,” Laurel answers, and decides not to add that Nyssa got there first.

It takes two weeks to convince Nyssa to go out for coffee with her, after asking every time they finished training. Laurel isn’t sure what changes, but she says “Coffee?” and Nyssa pauses in her stretching and sighs, and Laurel knows that she’s won.

They go to a local hole in the wall, one that she hasn’t been to before. Nyssa looks guarded the whole time but she orders something iced with almost as much caffeine as Laurel does, and they sit down at a table near the back.

“Nanda Parbat isn’t close to civilization,” Laurel says - guesses, really - to make conversation.

Nyssa’s eyes narrow. “You’re asking if I’ve had coffee?”

“If you’ve been in a coffee shop,” Laurel amends. “It doesn’t seem like the Himalayas are a Starbucks hotspot.”

“You would be surprised how far Starbucks reaches,” Nyssa murmurs.

Laurel feels her jaw drop. “You’re kidding.”

“I am.” Nyssa takes a sip of her drink. Laurel gets the distinct impression that she’s being laughed at.

“It’s a reasonable question,” Laurel protests on principle. “Does the League send its agents to cities often? Do you ever get to, you know, hang out?”

“We don’t have that luxury often,” Nyssa says. There’s a blankness to it that Laurel has only heard a couple times before. It means it’s time to back off.

“Then League life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” Laurel says. “You had to miss out on good old-fashioned American chain restaurants, and nobody wants that.”

“I think everyone,” Nyssa starts, and then her shoulders go taut. “Laur-”

There are gunshots before she can finish, three of them. Laurel jumps up and spins around to see someone standing, shaking, gun pointed at the floor near her feet. “Laurel Lance,” he says, with the kind of vitriol that most people reserve for mass murderers and lawyers. “You bitch.”

“Put the gun down,” Laurel says, surprised by her own steel. “I don’t know you, but-”

“You don’t know me?” the guy practically shrieks. The gun is wavering so much that it’s almost pointed at Nyssa, not that Nyssa would be fazed by it. “You ruined my life by prosecuting my brother, you stupid-”

“She said put the gun down,” Nyssa says, voice soft.

“You’re gonna stop me?” the guy says. There are, by Laurel’s count, four employees and half a dozen other customers. All civilians. All innocent. “You don’t know her, you don’t know what she did!”

There’s the sound of plastic rubbing against plastic. When Laurel turns, Nyssa is holding the straw to her drink, idly twirling it. “I could kill you with this,” she says, “half a dozen ways.”

“I’d listen to her,” Laurel says. “She’s not bluffing.”

The guy points the gun back at her. “All the coffee shops you could’ve gone to, you came to this one, it’s- it’s a sign, that you were here, that I’m supposed to kill you-”

Nyssa is on her feet in one smooth motion. The guy swings the gun towards her and Nyssa swats it away, sending it to Laurel’s feet. “You’ve made a mistake,” she says, and hits him, twice, three times. He yells out. There are sirens in the distance.

“Nyssa,” Laurel says. “Police.”

“I can speak with the police,” Nyssa says, from where she has the guy pinned against the counter.

“No, I mean save him for the police.”

Nyssa glances at the guy and back at Laurel. “You really don’t recognize him?”

“Being a lawyer means a lot of people want to kill you,” Laurel says, with all the dryness she can manage. “Most of them just don’t have the balls to try in broad daylight.”

“You bitch,” the guy spits out, “you absolute bitch-”

Nyssa slams his head into the counter. “We should train for longer tomorrow,” she says. “Your reaction time isn’t what it should be.”

“What should it be?”

“Better,” Nyssa says, as the door swings open. Laurel doesn’t recognize the officer that runs in, but she recognizes the way Nyssa grimaces. “Speaking of a better response time, this one is better than most.”

Laurel barks out a laugh at the look on the officer’s face. “He just happened to be in the neighborhood,” she guesses, and judging by the look on his face she’s right. “Nyssa, don’t worry, it’s fine.”

Nyssa steels her jaw. “We’re working on your reaction time tomorrow,” she says again, more clipped now, and all Laurel can do is nod.

There’s a bottle of wine on Laurel’s kitchen counter.

She’s never been one for the slippery slope argument, but she knows that’s how this works. All it takes is one drink. She fell once, she can fall again, she should’ve thrown it out because it’s there, waiting for her. It’s Riesling, not her favorite, but it’s wine, and it’s been a year since she had a drink. And that’s dangerous.

She cleans her apartment twice, steering clear of the kitchen. She runs three miles. She calls her damn mom just for something to do. The wine is still there.

She’s approaching hour seven of staring at the damn bottle when there’s a knock on her door. “It’s open,” she calls, almost absently.

“That’s foolish,” Nyssa says. “In this city?”

“I got distracted and forgot to lock it,” Laurel admits. “I’ve got a couple things on my mind.”

“Anything you’d care to-” Nyssa stops short, a few paces behind her. “Laurel.”

“It was a gift,” Laurel says, not looking away. “Old college friend. There was a card, something about it being my dead sister’s birthday. Apparently she never got the memo that Sara wasn’t dead.”

“Or that you don’t drink,�� Nyssa says, voice clipped in a way that Laurel has figured out means she’s worried.

“I’m not going to drink it,” Laurel says. “But it’s still here.”

“You could throw it away.”

“It seems thoughtless.”

“You could give it away.”

“But then it would be gone.” Laurel sighs and turns to Nyssa who’s looking her inscrutably, head tilted in something like sympathy. “I know, it’s stupid, I’m not going to drink it and I should get rid of it-”

“-but getting rid of it means closing a door,” Nyssa says. “And closing the door is more difficult than simply refusing to enter an open doorway.”

Laurel blinks. “Yeah,” she says, winded. “That’s it.”

“Then I’ll stand in the doorway and stop you,” Nyssa says. Laurel watches her go to the counter and pluck the bottle of wine, examining the label. “I prefer red, but I could use a gift.”

“It’s yours,” Laurel says, and a knot eases in her chest. “Thank you.”

“I came because it’s Sara’s birthday,” Nyssa says. “And I didn’t want to be alone. Although I understand if you do.”

Laurel thinks about it. She already called her mother, and she knows her dad wouldn’t pick up the phone. The odds that anyone on Team Arrow takes the night off are pretty low, and as much as she loves Lyla she doesn’t know that she could stomach seeing a baby named after her sister. And she has no reason to be alone tonight.

“Did you want to go out?” She gets to her feet. “Or stay in? Have you gotten to enjoy the time-honored tradition of getting takeout and watching shitty reruns yet?”

Nyssa smiles, barely, genuinely. “I haven’t,” she says. “Should I take the bottle away?”

Laurel closes her eyes. “Yeah,” she says. “Do you want Chinese, pizza, Italian…”

Nyssa pauses before she says, timidly, “Did Sara have a favorite?”

Laurel forgets, sometimes, about Nyssa and Sara. Or, no, not quite forgets, but doesn’t think about what exactly it means. But she knows that her Sara and Nyssa’s Sara aren’t quite the same. Laurel’s Sara isn’t a murderer. She supposes Nyssa’s Sara doesn’t eat much takeout.

“She liked Indian food,” Laurel says after a minute, looking back at Nyssa. She looks more uncertain than Laurel has ever seen her. “Especially curry.”

“Then we should order curry,” Nyssa says. “And- cake? A birthday cake?”

“We can get a birthday cake,” Laurel agrees. “Chocolate, but with white frosting.”

“Because she thought chocolate on chocolate was too much,” Nyssa murmurs, and Laurel’s chest clenches. They had the same Sara after all.

“I’ll see if I can call someone for a cake,” Laurel says.

“And I’ll take the bottle outside,” Nyssa says. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Thank you,” Laurel says. It feels like it’s being punched out of her. She doesn’t know why.

Nyssa’s smile widens. Her eyes are softer than Laurel has ever seen. “Of course,” she says, and leaves, and Laurel goes into her kitchen for the first time all day. There are takeout menus in a cupboard, somewhere that she was afraid to go earlier, but she can get them now. With Nyssa, there’s no reason to be afraid.

Laurel avoids getting stabbed and shot for a while longer, because that’s what people are supposed to do. Nyssa trains her and doesn’t come with her when she patrols, and Laurel gets better at fighting. And that should be it.

And then Laurel wakes up in the basement of Verdant with a splitting headache and no real idea how she got there.

“What,” she says, a little groggily, and Thea leaps to her feet. Just watching her hurts Laurel’s head, so she closes her eyes.

“Nonono, Laurel, hey-” there’s a hand on her shoulder, breath just close enough to her face that she can feel it. “You have to keep your eyes open, okay?”

Laurel takes a deep breath and drags her eyes open. Thea’s hovering over her, looking scared. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure,” Thea admits. “Nyssa brought you here and then left, and Dig went after her, but he said if you wake up I can’t let you fall back asleep.”

“Concussion,” Laurel guesses. Her head is pounding.

“Probably,” Thea agrees. “Do you remember anything?”

Laurel thinks back. “Drug dealers,” she says slowly. “More than I expected, but I was holding my own, and one of them-” she blinks a few times. “I think he took a swing at my head.”

“Was Nyssa with you?”

“No,” Laurel says. “She doesn’t come out with me.”

“You’re sure?” Thea frowns. “She seemed pretty worried.”

Laurel forces herself to focus. She remembers the pavement, shouting, people running, Nyssa’s voice begging her to open her eyes. “She might’ve followed me.”

“Is that a thing she does?”

“Sometimes,” Laurel admits. Nyssa’s voice, trying to get her to stay awake. Nyssa’s lips, hot and dry against her forehead, against her own lips-- “Where did you say Nyssa went?”

“I’m not sure. I think she said she was going back.” Thea frowns. “I know she’ll be okay, but are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” Laurel says. Her head hurts, and she has to be remembering wrong, and Nyssa couldn’t have kissed her. “Can you dim the lights? It’s too bright in here.”

“Of course.” Thea grabs Laurel’s hand and squeezes before going to change the lights, and Laurel stares up at the ceiling.

(Nyssa doesn’t come back, and the next time Laurel sees her she’s so smooth, so unaffected that Laurel is sure she wasn’t imagining the kiss. It’s too polished for Nyssa, the Nyssa she knows. But she doesn’t say anything, and neither does Nyssa, and that means the matter is closed.)

+1.

Nyssa al Ghul is the only person Laurel has ever met who likes strawberry ice cream - actually likes it, the way most people like chocolate or mint chocolate chip. It’s the most confounding thing Laurel has encountered about her, somehow more baffling than the whole “international assassin” thing. At least Laurel has seen other international assassins.

“I don’t know why this is such a surprise,” Nyssa says, and Laurel is sure that she’s being laughed at. “Surely some people like strawberry ice cream.”

“But it’s not their favorite! People get strawberry milkshakes, not ice cream.”

“I don’t see why that’s a significant difference.”

“You don’t drink ice cream,” Laurel says. They’re sitting by the window of an ice cream shop - one that Tommy used to take Laurel to, not that she’s going to mention that. Nyssa looks more like a regular person than Laurel is used to, and it’s a nice change. Laurel likes this Nyssa.

“But that hardly makes a difference,” Nyssa argues.

“It makes all the difference in the world.”

Nyssa shakes her head, a tiny smile at the edge of her lips. “You are utterly baffling,” she says, and a building down the block explodes. Nyssa jerks back, and Laurel whirls around. There’s smoke in the distance.

“I don’t think we have time to finish our ice cream,” Laurel says.

Nyssa lifts an eyebrow. “We?”

“You follow me on patrol,” Laurel says. “I’ve got you figured out. You might as well come openly.”

“We don’t need to patrol,” Nyssa points out. “We can be… two concerned citizens. With ice cream.”

“You really don’t want to let your ice cream go,” Laurel mutters, but she gets to her feet. “Let’s see what it is now.”

Nyssa actually takes her ice cream with her as they go down the block, still dressed in civvies. Laurel feels a little naked without Sara’s jacket, and she’d wonder if Nyssa does too, but she knows better. Nyssa has at least two knives on her right now. She’s good to go.

“I can’t imagine explosions are the most common around here,” Nyssa says between bites of ice cream.

“Not in the financial district,” Laurel says. The building is smoldering, but there don’t seem to be people streaming out of it. That’s either a very good sign or a very bad one. “Should we check for survivors?”

“It looks abandoned,” Nyssa says, and Laurel glances at her. “We shouldn’t need to-”

It’s dumb luck, total dumb luck, that Laurel sees the red light on the wall of the building beside Nyssa. She doesn’t have the chance to think about it before she jumps on top of Nyssa, pushing her to the ground. Nyssa doesn’t make a sound, not even when the bullet hits where her head just was.

“Why would there be a sniper?” Laurel gasps, rolling off Nyssa. There are people running away now, and screaming, and she knows that Team Arrow will be a part of the situation in a matter of minutes.

“A sniper would cause chaos, incite a panic.” Nyssa looks at Laurel incredulously. “You just saved my life.”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Laurel mutters, looking over at Nyssa. They’re still on the ground, and they should get up, run either towards the danger or away, but she can’t look away from Nyssa. “I had a good teacher.”

“I didn’t think it possible for you to notice what I couldn’t.” Nyssa shakes her head, and she’s smiling, the most openly that Laurel has seen her smile. It’s breathtaking. “You continue to defy what I expect of you, Laurel.”

And there are a thousand things Laurel could say to that, smart and sweet and clever things, but what she says instead is, “I’m not Sara.”

Nyssa pulls back, face shuttering off. “I’m well aware-”

“No, wait, I need to try that again.” Laurel takes a deep breath. “I’m not my sister, but I know you kissed me last week after the concussion, and I want to make sure that’s not why.”

“Of course you’re not Sara,” Nyssa says, voice tight. “You’re not replacing her, either. Is it so hard to believe-”

“No,” Laurel says, because it’s not. “I just wanted to be sure before I did this.” She pushes herself up onto one side, just enough that she can lean over Nyssa. “Tell me to stop if you want me to.”

“As if I couldn’t stop you,” Nyssa breathes, and she doesn’t flinch as Laurel kisses her. One of her hands twines in Laurel’s hair, pulls her down further, and Laurel leans into it, settling one hand on Nyssa’s hip.

Nyssa pulls away moments later. “We’re lying on the street,” she says, “and you owe me new ice cream.”

“I owe you new ice cream?” Laurel repeats in disbelief. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your life and your ice cream, and besides, don’t you think dinner would be a better first date?”

Nyssa pauses. “Would you like to go on a date?”

“Would you like to go on a date?”

“I would like to kiss you somewhere that isn’t lying on the street in front of a burning building,” Nyssa says, with a tone of finality.

Laurel grins. “I think we can manage that.”

#lauryssa #laurel x nyssa #arrow #arrow fic #waveridden.fic #i wrote this on a plane in one sitting i am powerful goddammit

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unixcommerce · 5 years

Text

What Small Businesses can Learn from Airlines about Using Social Media for Online Presence

The challenge with the aviation industry is that the mainstream audience is not aware of the existence of uncommon niches. For example, the private and business aviation market. However, they seem to know about commercial airlines. But on the other side, it might seem that private or charter aviation kind of sells on its own. Still the competition is growing and kicking. Don’t forget that many capable individuals and corporate businesses might not even know that such a service is even an option.

In such a situation, it is essential to create an online presence through social media by dedicatedly promoting the aviation industry. It’s important to recognize any shifts and adapting to them accordingly. In simpler terms, work your best to keep up with the whimsical trends of social media. This is irrespective of the nature of business.

When a brand or a business breaks the barrier of traditional marketing and advertising to opt for social media, in an indirect way, they’re doing a lot more than attracting new customers. Being active on social media makes businesses appear humane and friendly. Create a voice for the brand to make people feel as if they’re interacting with a person. In turn, it lets businesses talk with their followers and build a loyal community.

The most vital benefit of social media is that it is a cost-effective part of your aviation marketing strategies. And companies could invest little to no amount and still be successful at the game.

Aviation Marketing Strategies

Here’s what your small business can learn from the airline business about using social media for online presence:

1. Importance Of Social Listening

There’s more to social media marketing than creating an image and posting it with a compelling copy. This is where the concept of social media listening comes in. That’s according to Sprout Social. Social listening is tracking online conversations of niche audiences and analyzing their words, phrases and style of interaction. And then leverage them to create content for your target audience.

Of course for effective implementation, companies will need to put effort and resources into tracking and discovering what’s happening on all their social media platforms.

Regina Luttrell, associate professor of PR and social media at Eastern Michigan University & author of the book Social Media: How to Engage, Share, and Connect said that for successful social media execution it is vital that businesses in this age know who is retweeting something, who is sharing an image, who is commenting and who is direct messaging.

2. Turning Social Media To a Money Minting Machine

How cool it would be if all your social media campaigns are creating broader conversations and letting users tap into your social media’s messaging? But how to turn this engagement into them doing business with your brand and eventually you get a return of your investment.

From a social media perspective, a customer is far more important than the initial spent your business made. To calculate the ROI, a lot of factors need to be accounted for, like future purchases and the influence of the individual on social media. Particularly in the travel business, developing customer loyalty and effective social media strategy goes a long way.

On her website, Lutrell recommends companies follow an 80-20 model for their social media. The 80 accounts for posts and content that is useful and add value to a follower’s life, while the remaining 20 could be promotional content required for self-flexing of the brand.

3. Providing Real-Time Updates

With an increasing amount of natural calamities causing a disturbance in different geographics, last-minute delays, cancellations, unexpected layovers, and timing changes are bound to happen.

In such cases, it is extremely vital that airline companies provide their customers with timely updates and information regarding the expected weather conditions. Such information lets passengers make proactive decisions and stay prepared.

For example, informing passengers on the rains at the destination might help them as they could carry any necessary accessories like umbrellas or raincoats beforehand.

Twitter, by far has proven to be essential for airline businesses to provide such updates, and in most cases, companies prefer using separate accounts for tweeting last-minute updates.

4. Curating Social Media Validation

Airlines need to be careful not just about what they’re posting, but also what other people are saying about their brand on social media. One bad tweet or a Facebook post about the airline brand could drastically ruin their business while one positive comment could generate ripples of inbound bookings and inquiries.

The transparency on social media could immediately expose the knotholes of a business. Alternatively, business could use these user-generated reviews and feedbacks to improve their services in operations and customer experience.

5. Pushing Cheaper Travel Fares

This is exactly like malls and textile shops distributing brochures regarding clearance sales. Many airlines push out cheap flight and family vacation deals at the last moment. This is done through social media platforms. On the other hand, private jet travel services provide an option to book empty leg flights. These flights are basically returning flights already paid by the customers who took them to reach their destination, and fares of empty leg flights are relatively cheap. Paramount Business Jets is one such service provider and they frequently update such information on their social media platforms.

There are many individuals and travel agencies. And they deliberately wait and refresh their Twitter feed to get hands-on. These deals enable them to fly cheap.

Conclusion

Social Media for the airline industry is indeed exciting. And every company seems to know what they’re doing. Most importantly, it is crucial for brands to understand the value of social media engagement. Think about the value for customers and potential customers.

This is somewhere between improving customer service and building a loyal user base. Social media has become a huge benefit to the airline industry. It make airlines seem more approachable. And it shows no signs of an unforeseen layover stop anytime soon.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “What Small Businesses can Learn from Airlines about Using Social Media for Online Presence” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post What Small Businesses can Learn from Airlines about Using Social Media for Online Presence appeared first on Unix Commerce.

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#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes

unixcommerce · 5 years

Text

What Small Businesses can Learn from Airlines about Using Social Media for Online Presence

The most vital benefit of social media is that it is a cost-effective part of your aviation marketing strategies. And companies could invest little to no amount and still be successful at the game.

Aviation Marketing Strategies

Here’s what your small business can learn from the airline business about using social media for online presence:

1. Importance Of Social Listening

Of course for effective implementation, companies will need to put effort and resources into tracking and discovering what’s happening on all their social media platforms.

2. Turning Social Media To a Money Minting Machine

3. Providing Real-Time Updates

With an increasing amount of natural calamities causing a disturbance in different geographics, last-minute delays, cancellations, unexpected layovers, and timing changes are bound to happen.

For example, informing passengers on the rains at the destination might help them as they could carry any necessary accessories like umbrellas or raincoats beforehand.

Twitter, by far has proven to be essential for airline businesses to provide such updates, and in most cases, companies prefer using separate accounts for tweeting last-minute updates.

4. Curating Social Media Validation

5. Pushing Cheaper Travel Fares

There are many individuals and travel agencies. And they deliberately wait and refresh their Twitter feed to get hands-on. These deals enable them to fly cheap.

Conclusion

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “What Small Businesses can Learn from Airlines about Using Social Media for Online Presence” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post What Small Businesses can Learn from Airlines about Using Social Media for Online Presence appeared first on Unix Commerce.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/339Ehe3 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes