#predicting trends and knowing what customers will actually want to take home with them

[alicenpai]

I love your older Jojo part 3 stickers and would love a print of them!

hi anon, i could definitely do that for you!! I'll post about my inprnt/redbubble store when it's up!

[just6f]

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[torielectra83]

Garak and the Jack Pack

Want to thank

@volixia669

for giving me the idea and motivation; this is the first fic I've posted and finished in quite a while. Also gonna tag

@unicorn-and-bluebells

and

@tirlaeyn

since their DS9-related posts are what helped lead me to this (if there's a DS9-related Discord I should join, let me know); note that I'm not much of a shipper (and I'm ace), so I wasn't quite sure how to approach the Bashir/Garak relationship; I just left it in the background (and the lizard man t-shirt).

“Oh, Doctor. There you are, and I….see you’ve brought company!” As he could see, Dr. Bashir was heading for the Replimat for his typical luncheon with him, only four other people were crowded around him. A skinny man with a mustache, a stocky older man with a timid expression, a rather gregarious-looking woman, and another woman who looked rather distant. “Oh, hello Garak. I’d like to apologize for being a bit late.”

“Oh, don’t worry, given what I’m seeing it’s very much a valid excuse.” Garak had heard about the other genetically-engineered people who’d been sent to DS9 to meet Dr. Bashir, but he’d been busy with orders at his shop; he’d been thinking about hiring someone to help out, actually. “Well, that’s Jack, Patrick, Lauren and Sarina. This is my...friend Garak, he runs a tailoring shop here on the Promenade.” “Oh, hi there, Hi. Uh, I gotta go over to the replicator, I’m starving over here.” Jack promptly excused himself, while Lauren made her way to Garak next. “Well, hello, Mr. Garak.” She promptly began her flirtatious attitude. “If you’re trying to seduce me...it won’t work. I am sorry, but I do not generally do one night stands.” Surprised and somewhat disappointed, Lauren backed away.

Patrick then approached Garak. “Do you make clothes?” “Yes, I do.” Patrick then grinned eagerly. “Good, because the clothes the institute gives us are too...itchy and things like that. Do you have softer clothes?” “Well, I can certainly make some? I believe Dr. Bashir said you need “sensory-friendly” clothing?” Bashir nodded; the term was an old term from pre-warp Earth. “I’ll do it at no charge; anyone who’s a friend of Dr. Bashir is a friend of mine.” He sipped his Tarkalean tea as Jack argued with the replicator over not being able to make something, while Lauren used the other one to replicate a bowl of Vulcan plomeek soup.

“And… Sarina, is it? I’ve noticed you haven’t said anything yet.” Garak simply saw the young woman turn, before holding up a PADD, with words written on it -- “I can’t speak, If you want to have a conversation with me, use this.” She promptly set the PADD down and continued to watch Jack’s tussle with the computer. “Sarina’s unable to speak, I can explain the whole thing later Garak.” Julian felt the need to pre-emptlively apologize for their behavior. “Oh, you don’t need to. I’m seeing people with a lot of potential here.” Bashir nodded. “So do I. And not many others do. That’s why I brought them here. I want to try and help them.”

“They seem to be helping themselves.” As Garak watched, Jack had finally managed to get something from the replicator that agreed with his standards -- a ham sandwich with Bajoran mapa bread. “So, this is the irrefutable Elim Garak, huh?” Jack asked. “Yes, and I see my reputation precedes me.” Garak said politely. “That’s right. Former intelligence agent for the now-defunct Obsidian Order, exiled and now working as a tailor here on DS9.” He said hastily before ripping into his sandwich. Garak raised an eyebrow. “And how did you find that out?” He asked, a tone of interest in his voice. “Oh, you’d be surprised what you can dig up on the extranet. There’s all sorts of unsavory rumors about you, like you causing a Cardassian doctor to break down by staring at them for four hours straight.” He promptly chugged from his cup of targ milk, before continuing. “And that your father was the head of the Obsidian Order, Enabrian Tain, and he got wiped out by the Dominion when the Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar teamed up, yeah, but they didn’t know the second-in-command of the Tal Shiar was actually a Changeling leading them right into a trap!”

“I...think we will have to pick up this conversation sometime later, Doctor.” Garak was getting rather uncomfortable at all this private information being practically shouted in the Promenade. “Oh, and I’ll see what I can do about those new clothes you requested, Patrick.” As Garak walked back to his shop, getting his mind off old events, he began pondering about what to do in the present. My orders are backlogged. I simply need help. As he opened his shop doors to see the current state -- half-finished orders, bolts of fabric all over and supplies in crates he hadn’t unpacked. “I must find someone to help me. I would get Julian but he’s too busy with being in Starfleet.” Garak sighed, and began getting back to working on an order.

Some time later...

Having returned from the Defiant, Dr. Bashir went into Garak’s shop, expecting to see it as it had been for some time -- cluttered and filled with things Garak was working on. He instead found it a hive of activity. Customers were entering and exiting, some waiting for their orders, others were looking at holographic models of new clothes to order. Bashir looked around in confusion. “What the…'' Suddenly, a figure blocked by their holding of several bolts of fabric maneuvered into view. “Look out, everyone!” Bashir knew that voice. “Patrick?!” “Oh, hi, Dr. Bashir.” Patrick didn’t even turn back as he carried the bolts into the back of the shop. “Patrick, how did you get here?” Bashir followed him, and realized the entire “Jack Pack” (as someone, most likely Quark, had nicknamed them) was working there. Patrick set the bolts down for Jack, who proceeded to start measuring what exactly was needed for that order. Lauren was busy inputting data of some kind into a PADD, while Sarina was sewing an order up. “Ah, Doctor, good to see you’ve returned home safe and sound!” Garak greeted him cheerily from behind his desk.

“Garak, what is going on here? How did they…” “Well, Julian. I saw their potential and I needed help. And so far, they have been excelling at everything they’ve been doing. I haven’t been this efficient, ever!” Garak looked positively delighted at this. It was rare to see him like this, and Julian was a noted expert on Garak’s emotions. “But...what about the Institute? And Dr. Loews?” “Well, she needed a vacation, and my offer to give them steady employment was something she couldn’t pass up.”

“Oh, well then. But...how are you so busy now?” Julian wondered. “Well, their brightness led them to not only help clear my backorders, but also introduce whole new product lines based on pre-warp Earth stylings. I will admit I knew little about it, but they have brought in several new kinds of clothing. Like this ‘tee shirt’.” Garak promptly held one up, the front reading “WWCKD?” with a small line underneath reading “What Would Captain Kirk Do?” “They’ve come up with several of these things. Like this one for the USS Voyager.” The shirt had a fictional flyer on the front with a picture of Voyager, underneath a “Missing: Reward” banner as if it were a lost dog. “We’ve also re-created other Earth fashions, from “bell-bottoms” to “zoot suits”. I must admit, they make most current styles of clothing look downright boring!”

“Yeah, Dr. Bashir! Here’s one we made especially for you!” Jack promptly handed him a T-shirt and headed into the front of the shop. Julian simply looked at Garak with an expression of disbelief. “Garak, we caught them trying to pass on classified information to the Dominion, and now, they’re recommending I wear a t-shirt that says ‘If lost, return to lizard man for reward’!” He said angrily, shaking the shirt in his hand for added emphasis.

“Doctor...these people needed another chance. One that nobody else was willing to give them. And another thing...they are still very useful analysts. They can predict trends, root out information and generally think far ahead of the game. To be quite honest, they’re the best analysts I’ve ever seen. “ Garak admitted. “Yeah, where else can you get a nice new pair of pants and information of Dominion troop movements?” Lauren commented.

“So...you’re basically running your own intelligence service out of this shop.” Bashir muttered, running his hand through his hair. “Well, there has to be a third-party intel service somewhere. With the Obsidian Order gone, there’s a market for it; we used to take on clients for analysis as a method for extra revenue. Strictly off the books, of course. So that’s what I’m doing now.” Garak reasoned. “And we aren’t just doing war intelligence either; we’ve got multiple projects for the Ferengi Alliance, the First Federation and the Gorn Hegemony for analyzing things like market trends, population censuses and whatnot.” Patrick nodded. “Yeah, Grand Nagus Zek and Ishka appreciate it! We got in touch with them thanks to the Ferengi maintenance guy, oh, what was his name…”

“Rom, that’s him. Real friendly guy. Came up with the self-replicating mines around the wormhole and keeps the holosuites running, real good guy.” Jack said at his normal speedy pace, before returning to his fabric measuring. Sarina promptly passed a PADD to Bashir, with a message reading “This is the best we’ve been treated in years. We’re working for ourselves, we’re constantly kept active, and we’re being paid 5 strips of latinum an hour.”

“Anyway, I’ll see you later, Doctor. We’ve got a lot to do before closing time today. After that we can meet at Quark’s, perhaps? Jack came up with this astounding holo-program based on another pre-warp Earth cultural thing, a “game show” called...Wipeout, yes. It involved picking the right answers and avoiding the wrong ones, it’s fascinating. But we have work to do and I’m sure you have work in the infirmary.”

Garak promptly ushered Dr. Bashir out of the store and back onto the Promenade. “...what just happened?”

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 40 - Appeal for buzzword of the year.

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru with this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome. Oh, thats noisy! *Adjusting chair*

J: Haha

K: How noisy.

J: I feel like I've been seeing you every day.

K: Yeah, what could that be?

T: Yeah.

J: Yeah, its strange.

K: Yeh, I feel like I saw you yesterday.

J: Thats right.

T: Yeah.

K: Did something happen, I wonder?

J: Yeah, something might have...

K: Haha.

J: Anyhow, I drank too much last night, and I have quite a hangover today.

K: Oh really? Yeh, your face somehow looks a bit swollen.

J: Right?

K: Haha

J: *To Tasai* Have you been drinking? For the end of the year?

T: Not at all.

J: Oh, you havn't? How about you Kaoru?

K: Oh, I have.

J: Have you? Not too much though?

K: No, I've been ok.

Kami: *sneezes*

J: I just heard a sneeze!

K,T: Hahaha.

J: Kami sneezed like, 'Ahhchoo'. Haha, what great timing to sneeze.

K: Ok, so this week, its still a little early, but lets  go with this topic. Joe, could you..?

J: Yes. 'Early predictions for buzzword of the year. The most symbolic word of the year is...?' Well, there have already been 30 nominations released for the buzzword of the year. But, well, there are predictions, and most of the words for 2020 are corona related. At the moment the prediction for #1 is 'social distance', #2 is 'the Three C's', #3 is 'Stay Home', #4 is 'Covid crisis', #6 is 'Abe no mask', #9 is 'Amaebi'..

K: Its 'Amabie'. (*This is the name of a spirit which is believed to ward off plagues*)

J: Ah, Amabie, yes. What did I say?

K: Ama ebi (*sweet shrimp*).

T: Very delicious stuff will come.

J: That sounds odd.

K: haha

J: Uh, #10 is 'State of Emergency'. 8 out of the top 10 are corona related. There are also others such as 'Go To Campaign', 'PCR test', and 'Self-restraint police' etc within the nominations.

K: I see.

J: What do you two think about a buzzword for this year?

T: Was there something..?

J: In terms of this show?

K: Oh, on this show?

J: Yeh, something from this show.

K: Well, there should be something.

J: Haha, yeah.

K: A lot of things were said off the cuff.

T: Yeah, haha.

J: I've a feeling our buzzword of the year might be something that Kami has said, haha.

T: There must be so many things, but..

K: You somehow can't remember, right?

T: Yeah, I can't remember.

J: Yeh, I can't remember either.

T: Its strange.

J: Does this mean the stuff Kami has said has left no impression on me?

K: Haha

J: Even though he talks a lot..

T: Yeah.

K: There must be something..

T: Yeah, there must be.

Kami: I say a lot of good stuff.

J: Good stuff?

Kami: Yeah, I say good stuff.

J: Im sorry Kami, you havn't left much of an impression. 

Kami: I havn't?

J: Sorry.

K: He changes quite a lot doesn't he?

J: Yeah, he has no sense of consistency.

T: Haha, thats true.

J: ???*1

T: There is like '¥1000 p/h' with Kami.

J: '¥1000 p/h'!

T: One of Kami's words.

K: Or 'Night-shift'.

J: Oh, 'Night-shift', right.

T: He kinda has a 'Kani kōsen/The Crab Cannery Ship' feel to him. (*A 1929 proletarian novel by Kobayashi Takiji*)

J: Haha, he has a sense of Kobayashi Takiji, right?

T: Yeah, haha.

J: But as for this show, we did mention Hanshin quite a bit.

K: Hmmm, well...

J: Not enough to make it a buzzword of the year?

K: Sometimes.

J: Only sometimes? Does Tokyo Sports have anything, like articles that were a big hit, outside of corona?

T: Well, there was a surprising amount of negative news.

J: Right?

T: Things about all the suffering that took place this year.

J: Wasn't there any really silly Tokyo Sportsy stories that took off?

T: I don't think there was this year.

J: Wasn't there?

T: Because its always been about Tenryu.(*Former Pro-wrestler*)

K: Hahaha.

T: Sorry about that everyone, this new Reiwa era has been...

J: Is Tenryu still active?

T: Haha, no..

K: No, he's not.

T: The viewers might be ??? *2

J: By Tenryu, you mean Tenryu Genichiro, right?

T: Yes.

K: But he does appear on TV quite a bit.

T: For any one who doesn't know what we're taking about, we'll just say he's on tv sometimes.

K: Choshu san too, right? (*Former Pro-wrestler*)

T: Yeah.

J: Ah, Choshu san? Yeah. 

T: We run stories about the secret 'Tenryu metal bat' incident, and stuff.

K: But we want that kind of thing, right?

J: Yeh, everyone expects its to be corona corona corona, but on the other hand if you go with Tenryu..

K: Haha, Tenryu for buzzword of the year??

J: Yeah, haha. Wouldn't it be great if our buzzword for the year was 'Tenryu'?

T: I think it would be for Tokyo Sports...Tenryu, or..'Big boobs' or something like that.

J: Ahh. Well, we need something for this show, The Freedom of Expression. Like, 'Night shift'?

T: Hmm, 'night shift' or..I feel like you've said quite a few puns, Joe.

J: I probably have.

K: But actually, last time...Kami was saying 'small boobs' quite a lot.

J, T: Hahaha

J: He was! The buzzword of the year: Small boobs?

T: There's quite a lot of things 'lacking' about this show too though, isn't there? Haha.

K: Yeh, lacking good taste. It can't be helped.

J: Well, yeh, Kami is vulgar. We can't change that. Isn't there anything you can think of, Kaoru? Anything unforgettable..a symbol of 2020?

K: I feel like there should be.

T: Oh, but there was Hosojimaya too!

J: Hosojimaya, yeh. Carbohydrate + carbohydrate.

K: That was your..

T: Your favourite set meal right?

J: I always end up saying that...Carbs + carbs.

T: Oh, I remember one. When Kaoru was eating ramen at Hosojimaya, he said 'I'm collecting all the onions in one spoon'.

K: Hahaha

J: Collecting all the onions in one spoon?

T: It was that delicious.

J: When you were drinking the soup?

K: Yeah.

T: Yeh, he was like, 'The onions are so good, I can get them all into one spoon!'. That one stands out for me.

J: Haha 'Collecting the onions in one spoon', the buzzword for 2020?

K: But I do sit there eating that for a long time, the onions and stuff.

T: Yeh, you were saying, 'This is so good'.

J: Why is that? You are not remembering being poor as a kid?

K: I just like onions.

J: You like onions?

T: They are delicious.

J: I like them too. I still go to Hosojimaya sometimes.

K: Oh, do you?

J: Yeah.They said they've had a few customers who saw the restaurant on this show. So thank you for that.

K: It'd be nice to go to some other places lIke that. A Chinese restaurant or something.

J: Yeah, it would. I wanna go to Chinese restaurants so much that the buzzword for the show next year will be 'Chinese restaurants'!

T: Haha

K: Im not sure about that just yet...

J: Oh, is that a bit too much? haha. But, I don't know why I said 'Sweet prawn' (amaebi), instead of Amabie. When I shake my head, I can feel the alcohol sploshing around.

K: But when this came out at first, we didn't know anything about it, did we?

T: I still don't really. What is it?

K: Im not that sure..

J: Its like a spirit to protect against infectious disease. I don't know where this came from. Its like a strange looking character. Amabie..

T: But Joe-style is Ama ebi.

K: Was sweet prawn a thing this year? haha.

J: I messed up..

K: Its the first I've heard of it!

T: Haha, yeh.

J: Well, yeh, sweet prawn didn't really come up in our lives during 2020. But don't you wanna come up with something that is unrelated to corona?

T: Yeah.

K: Well, yeh.

J: Kami, do you have any ideas?

Kami: As for me? I kinda want this one to do well...'Ojikun' (*A trend of younger women falling for middle aged men*). Its not in the nominations, is it?

T: Oh, Ojikyun, yeah.

J: What is Ojikyun?

T: There was this tv drama with a bunch of middle aged men, and the younger women thought they were cute. Like they fell for them.

K: Oh, I remember something like that.

T: Yeah, it was a manga too.

J: Ojikyun...that sounds good.

K: *points at Joe* You think you are old enough for Ojikyun?

J: I really want that to happen.

K: Well, that makes us all Ojikyun.

J: Haha, no no, thats totally me.

T: Joe, you are still young!

J: No no, really. Lets go with 'Ojikyun'.

K: You keep saying we should go with everything, haha.

J: Well, you see, the alcohol is affecting me today, it really is.

K: Ok, lets appeal for suggestions...

J: Oh, yeah.

K:...for this show's buzzword of the year.

T: Ah, I see.

K: Lets see which things have left an impression on the viewers.

T: Well, for me its Kaoru collecting all those onions. So, we want to know what other things have stood out to the viewers.

J: Yeah. I liked the hoodie.

T: Oh, the Tokyo Sports hoodie?

J: Yes.

T: Oh, thank you.

J: Tokyo Sports hoodie. Is it a buzzword, or maybe a trending item?

T: Oh, that makes me so happy.

K:  Is it selling?

T: Well, thanks to this show, and Joe modelling it..

J: No no no.

T: Joe, the fashion leader.

J: Im not a fashion leader at all. I only ever wear black.

K: Hahaha

T: Is it Kyary pamyu pamyu or Joe Yokomizu? haha

J: What are you talking about? haha. Okay, I'll go with 'Tokyo Sports Hoodie' for the buzzword.

T: Thank you. ??? *3

J: Haha. Thank you ???

T: Yeah.

J: So, lets ask the viewers for thier suggestions.

K: Yeah, lets.

J: Which was the best word on the show this year, or the most symbolic.

T: Sounds good.

K: So, should we choose the one with the most votes as the winner?

J: I guess thats how it would go.

T: Well, we can't forget about what Kami wants..

K: So, like we can choose one, and if we remember it...We won't just go by which had the most suggestions.

T, J: Yeh, yeh, yeh.

K: And we can give one of the radio stickers as a present to that person.

J: Oh, those stickers! Thats a good idea.

Kami: Um, this might be a bit different from a buzzword, but Dir en grey did that online live show, right?

T, K, J: Yes.

Kami: Not the online live, I mean the streamed setlist chosen by members.

T, K, J: Oh yes

Kami: When the new song 'World of Mercy' was played, everyone said, 'Its Tashiro!'. (*Controvesial former tv star Tashiro Masashi, nicknamed 'Marcy', prosecuted for filming up womens' skirts and drug use. Marcy/マーシー and Mercy/マーシー have the same pronunciation in Japanese.*)

T: Ah, I see, haha.

K: Oh, that. Marcy..

Kami: Yes, Marcy/Mercy, its Tashiro. Could that be a buzzword?

T: I mean, what can we say about that?

J: I guess it is...

K: Well, it is, but if a regular person saw it, they would think of that Marcy (*as opposed to Dir's Mercy).

J: Haha, 'that Marcy'? Should we include 'Tashiro'?

T: I mean, it is a thing amongst the fans.

Kami: Within this show...Tashiro.

T: Online slang is pretty interesting, right?

J: Yeah.

K: Lets just put this Mercy/Marcy talk to one side, shall we? Haha.

J: Really. We ended up talking about this kind of thing before we even realised it.

K: But yeah, Id like to decide on a buzzword for the year for the Freedom of Expression, so please send us your suggestions.

J: Where should they send them to?

K: Er, in the comments for this vid, or on my twitter. I'll write a tweet about this, so people can reply to that. Ok, well, lets finish here this week. Please subscribe. Thank you very much.

*1,2,3 - Either couldn't hear, or couldn't figure out.

[swizzoo]

2020 - The Great Greeting Card Revival

When I started my funny greeting card company, Swizzoo, back in 2018, lots of people said it was a bad idea. “No one sends cards anymore because it so much easier to text / message / email /post on Facebook /Twitter/Snapchat/TikTok etc. etc. etc.” But I loved sending cards and I loved receiving them, and I didn’t want this tradition to die, so I setup Swizzoo anyway. It turned out that my timing couldn’t have been better. After years of slow,gradual decline, the greeting card industry around the world has started to grow again. People are buying more cards today than they have for along time, and the upward trend started long before Covid invaded our planet and forced us to stay at home for Christmas and Birthdays. 2019 – The Revival Part 1 In 2019the US market alone grew by 3%. That doesn’t sound much, but given the market size is 6.5 billion cards, it actually equates to 195,000,000 additional cards. Valentine Day wasa particular highlight with card sales increasing by 10% to a value of just under $1 billion. What is even more gratifying is learningwho is buying the cards. The same people who told me that Facebook and text would destroy the greeting card industry, would also say the card-giving generation …. those who are 50 plus and who still read physical newspapers …are dying out and taking traditional industries like greeting cards, newspapers, books and magazines with them. Well all you naysayers I have some news for you! The greeting card revival is driven, not by the older generation, but by the young, and millennials in particular. And what is more, the reason the young most frequently give as to why they send physical cards is … are you ready for this … sending messages via social media is too impersonal. A physical greeting card says to the recipient, I thought of you before your Birthday, took the time to choose a card just for you, wrote a personal message in the card, bought a stamp and walked to the Post Office to send it. This is so much more meaningful than getting an auto-reminder on Facebook and posting “Happy Birthday John” on their wall! In other words, a physical card provides a way to break through the digital clutter and it says I really do care. 2020 – Part 2 - The Great Greeting Card Boom During 2020 my sales have grown by 250%. A large part of this growth will be down to the fact that many high street card shops have had to close at key times of the year, like in the lead up to Christmas. This has forced more people to buy cards online. Much of this trade will have moved directly to the online stores of the offline shops such as Hallmark, Paperchase and Card Factory. However small designers, like myself, who sell on Etsy, Amazon and Ebay, have also benefitted. It is going to be very interesting when the industry publishes their 2020 figures to see if the industry as a whole has grown, and if it has, by how much. My bet is that it has grown a lot. Covid and lockdown have forced people to revaluate what is really important in their lives and for many people, at the top of their list, is friends and family. Before Covid, we all took it for granted that we could see family and friends whenever we wanted, so seeing them was not a high priority. After all, they were on social media so we all felt we were in touch anyway. However, when you are suddenly told you cannot see family and friends, it is amazing how deep and profound the feeling of loss is. I have felt it, my family and friends have felt and I know from comments from my customers, they have felt it too. This year it has become really important to tell people how much you miss and love them, and greeting cards have become one of the most important ways of conveying this message. This year a greeting card has become so much more than a folded bit of paper it has become the physical manifestation of the bond of friendship.A text or Facebook post is a miserable and inadequate substitute. It’s Funny How Important Humour Is! All the card designers and sellers I have spoken to this year have also said they have noticed a big increase in the sale of funny greeting cards. The British have always been known for turning to humour in the darkest times, and the pandemic has been no exception. Cards that make fun of the virus and lockdown have been particularly popular. Google also reflects this trend with a huge increase in people searching for phrases like ‘funny birthday cards for friends’ and ‘funny Christmas greetings’ card. Beyond 2020 So what will happen to card giving beyond 2020? Well nobody knows for sure but I predict 2021 will slip back from the exceptional increase in 2020, but be higher than 2019. After 2021 I think the industry will stabilise and any increase will be small, but the decline will have been stopped for the foreseeable future. I believe the more reliant we become on social media and digital messaging for our daily communication, the greater the impact will be of receiving a handwritten greeting card through the post. Only time will tell. Long live greeting cards and the smile and joy they deliver! Original Source: https://bit.ly/3ivOI4u

[noona-clock]

Which One? Ji Soo - Part 6

Genre: Coffee Shop!AU

Pairing: Ji Soo x You

Warnings: Use of the word ‘Soccer.’ I know non-Americans hate it, and I apologize. But I am American. What can I say? 🤷‍♀️ Oh, and also mentions of alcohol.

Prologue, Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Epilogue  | Words: 3,951

“Go out?” you asked, your own voice sounding foreign to your ears. It was a bit squeakier than normal, but... what about this situation was normal?

Ji Soo, a very handsome coffee shop owner, had just asked you out.

I mean, you’re pretty sure he was asking you out!

And, like... you couldn’t stress enough just how handsome he was.

So... definitely not your average Saturday night.

“Yeah,” Ji Soo assured you with a nod. “Go out. Like... get dinner? Or see a movie?”

Yeah, he was asking you out.

But there was just one thing stopping you from saying ‘yes’ immediately.

“Do you... have time to go out?” 

Ji Soo chuckled softly, his lips tilting into a half-grin. “I, uh -- I asked Joo Hyuk to cover for me tomorrow night. Last Sunday was pretty slow. I guess people don’t want all that caffeine before they have to wake up on Monday morning.”

Oh, wow, that made your heart flutter. He had prepared for this and everything!

You opened your mouth to say that you would love to go out with him tomorrow night, but -- you stopped yourself.

Because there was just one problem.

“I... actually already have plans tomorrow night,” you said, your brow furrowing. “There’s a game at 7, and I have season tickets, so --”

“A game?” Ji Soo asked. He was clearly confused by what you’d just told him. “Season tickets? What kind of game?”

You weren’t surprised by how surprised he sounded. You were kind of a technology geek, so why on Earth would you enjoy sports?

“Soccer,” you explained with a tiny smile. “The Tigers. I have season tickets. My dad passed down his love of the game to me, and one of the first things I bought with my first real paycheck was a season pass.”

The expression on Ji Soo’s face was still one of confusion, but now there was some amusement mixed in there. “Huh,” he nodded. “Soccer. I had no idea.”

For a split second, you felt bad because you had to turn him down... but then you suddenly had an idea. You gasped slightly, your eyebrows shooting halfway up your forehead.

“Do you want to come with me?” you asked excitedly. “I can see if the seat next to me is open.”

Ji Soo also raised his eyebrows, and you thought maybe he would decline, but the grin tugging at his lips gave you hope. “Yeah? Yeah, of course, I would love to come. That sounds awesome, actually.”

Your heart fluttered for probably the ten thousandth time tonight, and you had to bite your lip to keep from smiling like the biggest goofball.

“It starts at 7,” you told him, clutching your laptop to your chest. “Should I pick you up here at 6? We can get food at the stadium.”

Ji Soo slid his hands into his pockets, and even though you couldn’t be absolutely sure, you had an inkling that the expression on his face was just as hopeful and giddy as yours.

“That sounds good,” he nodded. “I’ll be waiting outside right at 6. I know how you like to be on time.”

Oh, boy. First, he had prepared ahead of time to go on a date with you. And now he was promising to be on time because he knew that’s what you like?

The date wasn’t for another 21 hours, but you were already labeling it The Best Date Ever.

“Yes, I do,” you agreed with a soft laugh. “You’re right.”

“You should probably get used to saying that, by the way,” he said casually, taking one hand out of his pocket and reaching out to open your car door for you.

“Saying what?”

“You just said I was right,” he clarified. “You should get used to saying that because I’m right 99.9% of the time.”

You shot him a look which clearly said ‘Oh, yeah, right.’

“It’s true!” he argued, his eyebrows raised earnestly. “You’ll see, it really is true.”

You turned and ducked into your car, setting your laptop on the passenger seat and your bag down on the floor. “Okay, whatever you say,” you sighed, biting back a playful smirk.

“Drive safely,” he said as he leaned slightly against your open door. “Let me know when you get home?”

“I live less than ten minutes away,” you reminded him, chuckling softly but also awkwardly. It had just been such a long time since anyone besides Jane had made a request like that.

“Yeah... but still. Let me know.”

“I will,” you assured him with a nod. And just before you got into your car, you added a quiet, “See you tomorrow.”

Once you were fully and safely seated behind the wheel, Ji Soo gently closed your door and stepped back to allow you to reverse out of the parking spot. He stayed there as you drove away, lifting up one hand in a wave as you pulled out of the lot.

Oh, boy.

Oh, boy, oh, boy.

A date.

Tomorrow.

With Ji Soo.

Obviously, the first thing you did after you got home -- besides texting Ji Soo about your safe arrival, of course -- was call Jane.

You had barely gotten a whole sentence out before her high-pitched squeals filled the air. And your ear canal. You literally had to pull your phone away to protect your eardrum.

“I TOLD YOU!” she cried. “Didn’t I tell you?!”

“Yes, you told me,” you sighed, remembering just the other day when Ji Soo said ‘I told you so’ about your car troubles.

...Okay, now that you thought about it, Ji Soo and Jane were almost eerily similar. They both loved to tease you, they both were quick to point out when they were right, they were both incredibly kind and sweet, they both made you laugh, and... they both made you feel good about yourself.

When they weren’t embarrassing you, of course.

No wonder Jane had been able to predict the course of events between you and Ji Soo. They were practically the same person!

“And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed,” you told her as you held back a huge, goofy grin.

“Gotta get some beauty rest before the big day tomorrow,” Jane squealed. “Not that you need it, but it’s always a plus to use a little less concealer. Night!”

“Good night, Jane,” you murmured affectionately before hanging up the phone.

After you got ready for bed, you settled in under the covers and got out your phone to look for Ji Soo’s ticket for the game tomorrow. Even if you couldn’t find one right next to you, you could trade yours out and find two together easily enough.

Just as you pulled up the ticket app, though, you got an Instagram notification.

TheMugShop (The Mug Coffee) is now following you.

Ooooooh.

You hastily pressed the banner alert, and your phone switched over to the Instagram app, heading straight to TheMugShop’s profile. First things first, you clicked ‘Follow back’ right away. They only had three followers so far (most likely Ji Soo, Joo Hyuk, and now you), but you were sure that would change fairly quickly.

Their bio read:

        The Mug, your favorite locally-owned coffee shop. ☕️         7a - 9p

        all photos taken by @yourusername 

And, to your surprise, there was already a picture posted. It was the picture you and Ji Soo had edited together tonight, one of a green tea latte since it was your beverage of choice (and because the green color was just so pretty) so you quickly clicked on it.

The caption made you both roll your eyes and laugh out loud.

“🍵❤️we like you a latte ❤️🍵come visit from 7-9 and try our green tea latte, a customer favorite”

You would bet five bucks Ji Soo had come up with that. You’d have to remember to ask him tomorrow.

Here’s a question for you:

Why are dates always in the evening?

Most of the time, people are nervous to go on a date. Especially a first date.

So, why would you subject yourself to going through almost the whole day waiting to meet up? Why would you spend hours and hours in anxiety? Why didn’t people just say ‘Hey, let’s meet for breakfast’?

Maybe you would start a new trend. Morning dates!

Except it was too late now. You’d bought a ticket for Ji Soo for the game tonight, and you couldn’t very well change the kickoff time.

If tonight went well, you would bring it up for a second date. Although, you weren’t sure when a second date would happen. Ji Soo worked at the coffee shop every single day from 7-9 -- or at least, for now. They couldn’t afford to pay you to take pictures for them, so surely they couldn’t afford to pay a part-time employee.

To be honest, though... you didn’t care. You were more than happy to just go to the shop, have a drink, and see Ji Soo, even if just for a few minutes at a time. 

But you were getting a little ahead of yourself.

You would see how tonight went and then start worrying about the future.

Somehow -- some way -- you managed to get through the better part of the day without freaking out. You cleaned up the rest of your place since you’d cleaned up your kitchen yesterday, and that alone successfully distracted you for most of the morning and afternoon.

Plus, you kept busy keeping up with the Tigers on Instagram, watching videos of them getting ready to play and getting hyped for the game.

By 5:45 that evening, you were all set and ready to go, donning your team jersey with your favorite player’s name and number on the back, as usual.

You were semi-fine -- meaning not extremely nervous -- until you turned into The Mug’s parking lot and saw Ji Soo waiting by the entrance for you.

Oh, god.

When you pulled up to the front, Ji Soo lifted a hand and grinned at you. He opened the passenger door once you stopped and slid into the seat.

“Hey,” he greeted, sounding far less nervous than you felt at the moment.

“Hello,” you replied. Since you were behind the wheel, you had an excuse not to look over at him. You’d basically seen him as he’d stood outside the shop, and you could tell he looked extra good tonight. You weren’t sure how that was possible, but... apparently, it was.

“How are you?” he asked as he reached back to grab his seat belt.

“I’m excited for the game,” you told him. You decided to leave off the fact you were nervous for the date.

“You’re not nervous for the date?” he asked. You didn’t even need to look over at him to know he was smirking.

Of course. Of course, he knew what you were thinking. He was your best friend in male form!

You felt your cheeks warming as a shy smile tugged at your lips, and you shook your head slightly in disbelief. “Well, yes,” you admitted. “But it’ll be fun.”

“Yeah? I’ve never been to a game before, so I’m curious.”

“Wait, really? You’ve never been to a game?”

“Nope.”

“Like any soccer game?”

“Any soccer game,” he confirmed with a chuckle. “Joo Hyuk has, but apparently, it takes a pretty girl to convince me.”

Awesome. Not even five minutes into the date, and you were already blushing wildly.

“They’re really fun,” you assured him, trying to hide a shy grin. “I mean, I think they’re really fun. Obviously. Hopefully, you’ll have a good time.”

“Oh, yeah. I think I will. I had a good time when we were editing a picture, so I definitely think I’ll have a good time tonight. As long as you’re there.”

Okay, you couldn’t hide your shy grin any longer, and you could feel Ji Soo’s eyes on you.

Judging by the car ride alone, you were in trouble tonight. If Ji Soo kept saying things like that, you were pretty sure your lips would get stuck in this little smile for the rest of your life.

“Have you always blushed so easily?” Ji Soo asked, reaching over and poking your cheek gently.

“Yes,” you chuckled. You shrugged your shoulder to try and push his arm away, but it was more of an instinctive reaction than anything.

“It’s cute,” he murmured. “Like, just on your own, you’re beautiful. But when you blush it’s just so cute.”

“Oh my gosh, can we not talk about me anymore?” you asked with just the slightest whine in your voice. But you still had that smile on your lips; honestly, you were for real on your way to smiling permanently. All because of him!

Ji Soo obliged, though, and he (somehow) managed not to make you blush the rest of the way to the stadium. He asked about the rules of the game, and that kept you talking for the whole ride.

By the time you parked, walked to the stadium, went through security, scanned your tickets, bought some pizza and beer, and found your seats, the team was out practicing on the field.

Ji Soo asked who all of the players were, so you pointed out each one, telling him what their name was and which position they played.

“Who’s on your jersey?” he asked with half a mouthful of pizza.

“Ah,” you muttered, feeling your cheeks blush for the first time in almost half an hour. “Number 16, Martinez.”

Ji Soo’s eyes searched the field, and they narrowed slightly when he found the number 16 jersey.

Of course, you liked Martinez because he was a good player...

But... you would be lying if you said he wasn’t the best-looking guy on the team.

Ji Soo turned his narrowed gaze over to you, and your eyes widened innocently.

“What?” you asked.

“I’m onto you,” he murmured, sounding utterly serious (which you knew meant he was teasing).

“What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

You shook your head, still keeping up the innocent act as you ate your pizza.

Ji Soo simply smirked at you, and you had to look away because it wasn’t possible to eat properly if you weren’t breathing.

Once you had both finished your pizza, the game was just about to start. You took a quick gulp of beer as the team came back out onto the field in their uniforms. You stood from your seat and clapped, cupping your hands around your mouth and cheering along with the crowd.

Ji Soo stood up, and you were reminded just how tall he was. Most of the time, either one or both of you were sitting, so it was easy to forget that he not only had the face of a model but the body of a model, too. Tall, slim, but you could tell he was also muscular.

As the national anthem played, Ji Soo leaned over and casually rested his elbow on your shoulder.

And, if you can believe it, it made your heart flutter.

So, literally, everything this guy did had some sort of effect on you, I guess. Even if he was just resting his elbow on your shoulder.

Plus, he smelled really good. He always seemed to smell good, even though he worked pretty much all day, every day.

After the last note of the anthem rang through the stadium, you gulped down your anxiety and leaned just a little bit closer toward your date.

“You smell really good,” you told him, raising your voice over the din of the crowd.

Ji Soo simply smirked before reaching out and wrapping his arms around you, pulling you into a hug.

You were so tempted to just bury your face in his chest, but he had already let go before you could give in to the urge.

Thankfully, the referee blew the starting whistle so you could turn your attention to the game instead of how good Ji Soo smelled. Or how amazing just that one, quick hug had felt.

“Okay, you have to tell me what’s going on,” he said, his voice suddenly close to your ear.

You nodded and began your commentary, making sure to stay close to him so you didn’t bother the people around you. You told him what was going on, you answered any question he had, and you also still managed to react to the game as you usually did.

The first time the ref made a somewhat questionable call, your brow furrowed deeply and you yelled out your disagreement.

“OH, COME ON, REF!” you cried. “THAT WAS A FOUL! ARE YOU BLIND?!”

Now, obviously, you weren’t the only one who was yelling at the ref. But the way Ji Soo was looking at you right now, you might as well have been.

When you glanced over at him, a bit of a guilty smile appeared on your lips. “What?” you asked, chuckling.

“I had no idea you had this side to you,” he laughed. “You just seem so... sweet.”

“I am!” you countered.

“You just asked the referee if he was blind,” Ji Soo pointed out. “That’s not sweet.”

“Well! It was a clear foul!”

You went back to watching the game, but you felt Ji Soo lean in close, placing his lips right by your ear.

“Don’t worry,” he told you. “I like it.”

You simply pressed your lips together, your cheeks blazing.

Since the two of you had opted to buy food before the game, you decided to stay in your seats during halftime while almost everyone else in the stadium left.

“How do you like it so far?” you asked, reaching down to pick up your beer and down the last of it.

“Honestly, it’s a lot more fun than I thought,” Ji Soo admitted. “I don’t know why I always thought soccer was boring, but it’s really not.”

“No, not at all!”

“Joo Hyuk is going to be so pissed,” he chuckled.

“You’ll have to go to a game with him to make up for it,” you grinned, nudging him gently with your arm.

“As long as you come, too.”

“What?” you laughed. “Why do I have to come?”

“Because you’re the best commentator. I feel like I know all about soccer already! ...And because you are ridiculously cute when you’re yelling at the players.”

“Be quiet,” you muttered through your smile.

“It’s true!”

You shook your head, rolling your eyes in amusement.

Before Ji Soo could say anything else, Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” started blaring through the stadium speakers.

“Ooh, Kiss Cam!” you cried, tapping Ji Soo’s arm and pointing up to the jumbo screen hanging from the ceiling. “I love the Kiss Cam.”

“You do?” Ji Soo asked, sounding surprised.

You turned to look at him, nodding -- but then you froze.

Oh... god.

What if... what if the two of you were put up on the screen?

Oh, no no no no no.

Ji Soo would love it, surely, but...

It would be so embarrassing!

The cameramen had no way of knowing this, but it was just your first date! You had only hugged, and it had only lasted less than a second!

Your heart started hammering as couples came and went on the screen, and you could sincerely say you’d never been so nervous watching the Kiss Cam. Every time a new couple showed up, you held your breath, letting it out gently when you realized it wasn’t you and Ji Soo.

When an older couple finished kissing, the Kiss Cam logo came up and the announcer asked the crowd to give all of the couples a round of applause.

Oh, thank god. You had survived.

“Aw, man,” Ji Soo lamented, shaking his head. “I was hoping we would be on it.”

Of course, he would hope that.

Instead of letting him know you were not disappointed in the least, you simply reached over and patted his arm. “I’m sorry,” you said. “Maybe next time.”

“Next time?” he asked, eyebrows raised. “You think there’s going to be a next time?”

You stared at him, blinking, your mouth slightly agape.

Uh...

Ji Soo smirked and lifted his arm, moving to rest it around your shoulders. “There better be a next time,” he smirked.

You couldn’t help but let out yet another sigh of relief.

And then... you settled down in your seat, leaning into him and tilting your head to rest it against his shoulder.

When the game was over (a satisfying 2-0 win for the Tigers, thank goodness), you and Ji Soo shuffled out of the stadium with the rest of the crowd. You headed up the stairs ahead of him, and as the people filed out with you, you felt Ji Soo’s fingers grasp yours.

Thankfully, he couldn’t see your face, but you would be surprised if he didn’t know you were blushing right now.

When you got to the top of stairs, instead of letting go of his hand, you linked your fingers through his more firmly. Ji Soo squeezed your hand as he walked beside you, and you shot him a shy grin.

Eventually, you made it out to the parking lot, and once the two of you were settled into your car, Ji Soo told you to drop him back off at the coffee shop.

“Joo Hyuk is still there, so I figure I should help him clean up some.”

“Can you please apologize to him for me?” you asked as you threw your car into reverse and began to back out of your spot. “I feel bad that he had to work by himself.”

“So, you feel bad for going out with me?” Ji Soo teased.

“No!” you chuckled.

“Don’t worry,” he assured you, reaching over and resting his hand on your thigh briefly. “We’re talking about hiring a part-timer. Hopefully. If business keeps up, we should be able to. And we can pay you for the pictures.”

“No, Ji Soo, I already told you that you don’t need to pay me. The free drinks are more than enough.”

“See? That’s why I thought you were sweet,” Ji Soo pointed out. “But then you started yelling at that ref. Now I’m afraid to ever get on your bad side.”

You simply laughed, shaking your head as you began the drive back to The Mug.

When you arrived at the shop, you pulled up as close to the door as you could since there were no other cars in the lot. You put the car in park and, a bit nervously, you turned toward Ji Soo.

“Thank you for coming,” you said softly. “I’m glad you had a good time.”

“No, thank you for inviting me. I never thought our first date would be a sports game, but that’s one of the things I like about you.”

“...What do you mean?” you asked shyly.

“You’re full of surprises,” Ji soo told you with just the slightest of smirks.

For probably the millionth time tonight, you blushed.

And you wondered if there would ever be a time you didn’t blush around Ji Soo.

“Hey, so...” he continued. “I don’t really want our first kiss to be in the parking lot, but... if you wouldn’t mind...”

Well, the blushing certainly wasn’t going to be letting up anytime soon, was it?

He was asking you if you wouldn’t mind kissing him?

Really?

You didn’t let yourself think too much about it because you probably would have talked yourself out of saying ‘yes.’

And... you wanted to say ‘yes.’

So, you nodded quickly.

Part 7

[captainwarmwelcome]

Lazily Using Less Plastic

I have always been the type of person who wants to change the world in any little way I can. Recognizing this, I also realize that not everyone lives in this mindset. I would like to make absolutely clear that you aren’t a better or worse person if one of your top motivations are to leave the world better than you found it; everyone is driven by different things in their life and I think that is wonderful and realistic. Some people are just out here trying to live their lives with dreams to own a house, have a family, and come home from a 9-5 job every day to laugh at memes and spend time with loved ones. Everyone’s dream holds just as much meaning, no matter if it is as big as the world or as small as an individual and their Netflix account. 

However, I would like to live my life and make a change. I first got pulled into the ideas of plastic being really annoying in the environment in high school, when my family started recycling. We jumped on the trend as everyone else and I felt like it was absolutely wonderful. I thought that it was a for sure way and pretty much the only way my family could help support the environment, along with not being a shitty person and littering. I didn’t feel the need to do anything else. I never felt it would be much better to do much else, and anything else was too hard anyway. We were doing our part and that was it. 

Later in college, as college often does, I became more of an activist. I learned just how much shit I put into the bin that probably contaminated the whole container that could no longer be recycled. Then I learned a further shocking fact; most of what we put into the recycling doesn’t even actually get recycled. I always thought it was amazing when they moved it to a single bin system; the customer doesn’t have to divide plastic from cardboard, etc. I didn’t think about it until now though, how that impacted the recycling industry. What really makes the industry profitable? With garbage, you can throw it all together and bury it. With recycling you need to make sure it’s cleaned, sorted, and then properly manufactured into a copy of itself. It seems like a ton of work. Turns out the recycling industry is severely struggling, especially since China has recently stopped taking in our trash and recycling for processing. I wouldn’t take our trash either.

I eventually started a whole project at my university to educate other college students on plastic and how it impacts the world around us. I also handed out reusable straws and reusable bags at tabling events. I wanted to get people thinking and maybe create more people changing their lifestyles because they thought what I said made sense. What I ran into the most were people who were already educated and actively changing their lifestyles. They loved having conversations about their passions for the environment and what annoyed them about “people who didn’t help the environment”. I’m not going to lie, I really loved talking to people with similar points of view as me, and I even learned some new fun facts myself. However, those weren’t the people that I was out there for. 

From this, I can make two possible conclusions: 

1. Most of the people at my university are super woke and love reusable straws and the environment

2. My booth not only attracted “environmentally friendly” people, but more importantly deterred those who weren’t about environmental advocacy and think the cardboard straw trend “sucks”. (See what I did there?)

Which conclusion would you bet on?

The 2nd outcome is much more likely, otherwise we’d have strawless universities by now. 

I honestly don’t blame them. You go to booths for the free stuff, and if you know you are never going to remember to bring your own bag to the grocery store, or actually wash a reusable straw after every time you use it, it’s just not the booth for you. 

I think this example speaks a lot to the other “booths” of the world giving their spiel on plastic and recycling. One day I’d love to try making a space where conversation is more open, diverse, and motivates people who don’t care a lot about environmental advocacy to talk about it. It’s always more fun when you can’t predict where the conversation will go. 

So basically after all of these experiences, I’ve finally found my way to help the environment, even when I’m lazy with my lifestyle. First of all, I know myself very well. I will only remember to bring a reusable grocery bag to the store 25% of the time, and I wont remember to take it into the store with me most of the times I actually bring it. So instead, I just don’t get a plastic bag at checkout when I don’t need one. This is especially effective when you’re going to the gas station or the Pharmacy for some quick M&Ms and a soda. If you’re only getting two items at the store, you really don’t need a bag. So just tell the cashier that you don’t want one. It’s one of the most effective ways I’ve saved using plastic.

I also know I am WAY too lazy to use a reusable straw because I never want to clean it and I never have it with me when I need it. So I just don’t use a straw at all. I realize this isn’t something everyone is comfortable with, and that’s fine, but if you can do it, I highly encourage it. You can be super lazy. For example, if I go to McDonalds and I’m taking it home to eat I just ask for no straw. Even when going out to restaurants I do this. I know some people prefer the straws because they think drinking from glasses is unsanitary. I can totally get this, but in my opinion, if my glass may be unsanitary, there are similar chances my plate and silverware is also unsanitary. So I just let it go. 

So my message I will leave you with is this:

Most of us use more plastic than we need to, and it has bad consequences. Most of us are also incredibly lazy. But maybe you can find a way to be lazy and still use less plastic.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, late June - early July 2019

Welcome to my latest summary of recent news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & ecommerce! This covers articles I came across from June 21 to July 13, although some may be older than that.

I may not be able to do the next update until early August, given the upcoming Etsy search changes and my schedule, but I will continue to tweet big news, & may do a short post or two here. 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

On July 9, Etsy announced it would be giving “priority placement” in US searches to items that have no additional shipping cost starting July 30th. Obviously we don’t know how this will really work until we see it in action, but the outcry has been predictable. I summarize the facts in my blog post here. There is also an admin Q&A thread, a survey, and plenty of news coverage:

Etsy's Free Shipping Push Sounds Like a Marketing Gimmick (Motley Fool, through Yahoo)

Etsy faces backlash over attempt to push free shipping (Engadget) “And while a large business can take advantage of economies of scale to lower the shipping cost, that's not usually true for an individual crafter who may only sell a modest number of items.”

Etsy sellers aren’t happy with the platform pushing them to offer free shipping (The Verge) “Implementing flat shipping fees in prices can pose a challenge to international sellers who ship worldwide. Cambridge-based artist Katie Fuller, whose run her Etsy shop since 2015, says including the cost of shipping in her products would put her at a disadvantage. “If I [raise my prices], then I’ll be making my prices uncompetitive for customers elsewhere. Most of my customers are in the UK; it wouldn’t make sense for me to do it so it sounds like I can wave goodbye to my American sales.” 

Etsy Will Start Pushing Sellers To Include Free Shipping (Fortune)

Why Is Free Shipping So Important to Etsy? (Inc.) “... 75 percent of consumers today now expect their delivery to be free even when orders are less than $50 according to a survey published by the National Retail Federation earlier this year. That number has increased from 68 percent last year.”  

As marketplaces compete with Amazon on shipping, sellers are shouldering the burden (Digiday UK) “Like Etsy will soon do, eBay said it does prioritize items that ship for free in its search results and offers sellers pricing tools to help them better figure out how to factor in shipping costs.”

Etsy Stock Is Getting a Lift as It Jumps on the Free-Shipping Bandwagon (Barron’s) “Etsy stock rose 4.3% to $66.78 Tuesday afternoon as the S&P 500 was about flat. ... Roughly 70% of items sold on Etsy in the U.S. weren’t available for free domestic shipping in the first quarter, according to Etsy; it wants that number closer to zero.”

Remember, Etsy started boosting items that ship free to Canada in Canadian searches in January, but they never announced it, or gave us tips, or tools, etc.  We won’t know if the US version will work exactly the same way as the Canadian until the former is released; a short test in the US in late May-early June generally took the first three rows of search for free shipping items, even if they weren’t all that relevant. 

ETSY NEWS

Just in case you didn’t receive an email, Etsy is making changes to their policies. They include the fact that all new listings will be set to auto renew as of July 25 (but you can change them to manual), and info about their advertising tools. Keep an eye on the latter - I think they might be releasing something new soon.

Etsy will be releasing upgrades to the sales tool in August, including the ability to offer sales in specific countries only. Hidden in that post is also a promise to increase international advertising & promotion: “We’ll also continue to invest in the success of our international markets. In the coming months, you’ll see increased marketing efforts across many channels, all aimed at bringing more buyers from your country to Etsy.” (I suspect this is related to the free shipping announcement which came a few days later; they want to reassure non-US sellers that they won’t lose too many sales.)

Etsy released new attributes and sub-categories again, including in Accessories, and Bags & Purses. 

Shops in vacation mode are now showing up in search, as of July 10. The number of shops found in a shop search nearly doubled, to over 2.8 million, but only about half of them have active listings. No word on whether or not this is a permanent change; for many years, shops with no active listings have not been searchable on Etsy. 

Etsy is working on personalizing search by using image recognition identifying 42 different styles, and the engineers involved are presenting a paper [pdf] on this topic at a technical conference. They are about to start testing this, so expect to see more personalized results soon. I need to do a short post on this topic alone, but right now I need do some more research before that will be possible. I found this interesting, though: “Since sellers don’t reliably convey a product’s style in their descriptions, scanning text alone produced results that were “okay but not great,” says Fisher.” Quit being unreliable describers, folks! 😁

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

A common question: how long does it take to get to page 1 of Google search? Answer: it depends, plus it might not even be worthwhile if the search doesn’t convert. The article explains why. 

How to fix the 5 biggest SEO mistakes website owners make.

Writing a title for Google search is very important, and many people do it wrong. Here’s how to do it correctly. 

Long-tail keywords: definition, why & how. And even more on why you definitely should aim for very low-volume keywords. (I do a lot of this.)

Somewhat advanced content: how Google's neural matching works, and how to optimize for it. “Based on the information Google has given us about neural matching over the past nine months, it appears to be most active when users have a problem they don’t know how to describe... To capture these opportunities, you need to know what problems your target audiences are facing. You also need to pinpoint what information is going to solve their problem, help them accomplish tasks and make decisions.”

Link building doesn’t require a lot of technical skill, but it does involve marketing skill. Or some public relations (PR) skill. [video & transcript] Remember, some types of links are definitely better than others. (If you don’t know what link building is, read this.)

Advanced content for people who code their own sites: Google says you won’t be able to use “noindex” in robots.txt as of September. (Bing never recognized it.)

How to game Google to make negative results disappear. I don’t expect anyone here will be paying for these services, but it is useful to see what you are up against when you are trying to get your own website to rank. More of us may also be up against AI-generated spam in Google rankings sooner rather than later. Someone is always trying to game Google. 

Was there a Google algorithm update around June 19th? Maybe. The big update at the beginning of June hit the Daily Mail hard, and the so-called “diversity update” apparently didn’t change much.

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

The best time to post on social media depends on the platform, your target market, and what you are posting.

Sell health products? Beware of the changes to Facebook’s algorithm, which are designed to limit views on fake health claims. 

Facebook outage gave insight into how their machine learning process describes your photos. “... a lot of internet users don’t realize the amount of information that is now routinely extracted from photographs”. 

Facebook will be reformatting their Business Page layout, & removing some sections, so make sure you check this out & move any content you want to keep by August 1. 

What works best on Instagram has been changing; here’s what you need to keep up with. Brand engagement rates on the platform have been dropping this year, likely due to the increased competition. Get some of that traffic back with 8 SEO tips for Instagram. 

Want people to watch more of your YouTube videos? (Pro tip - that’s part of the search algorithm, so you should.) Here’s 3 things you can do to get people to stick around longer. 

LinkedIn has some good marketing tools, including ad tools & analytics. They’ve also recently changed their algorithm to show you more things you might be interested in, as opposed to just the things that go viral site-wide, among other changes. 

Twitter ends tweet geotagging, supposedly due to low use. 

A judge in Hawaii ruled that repinning a photo on Pinterest can infringe copyright. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Retailers are spending less on YouTube ads overall, possibly due to the US struggles for brick & mortar stores, as other sectors are actually spending a bit more than the previous year.

Amazon’s share of the online ad market is expected to increase to 8% by 2023, compared to 3% now.

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

For tracking activity on your Facebook page, set up Facebook Analytics & Facebook Attribution.

Advanced content: new coding tools in the Google Search Console. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

Amazon’s Prime Day is actually 2 days this year - July 15 & 16. Apparently it is now the official start of back to school shopping for many people.

Beware of Alexa if you care about privacy & data retention: Amazon admits that Alexa data is kept “indefinitely”. “...for Alexa requests that involve a transaction, like ordering a pizza or hailing a rideshare, Amazon and the skill's developers can keep a record of that transaction. That means that there's a record of nearly every purchase you make on Amazon's Alexa, which can be considered personal information.” (Google Home is not necessarily better - they are letting subcontractors listen to your random conversations, not just your instructions to the device. “According to the whistleblower, the recordings presented to them are meant to be carefully annotated, with notes included about the speakers presumed identity and age.”)

Walmart’s ecommerce division may lose as much as $1 billion this year. Their brick & mortar business is still doing fine, however. 

You can now “try on” Gucci sneakers through its app. Expect to see more of this happening fairly quickly, which is something that people who sell clothing, accessories & jewellery should be watching closely. 

A. C. Moore is launching a new handmade marketplace, which you can sync to your Etsy & Zibbet listings. So it looks like that was their reason for investing in Zibbet a few years back. It’s not yet clear that they’ve put the work in to make this successful, but we’ll have to wait to see how it looks once it is launched, and how much they advertise it. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Dark patterns: how websites manipulate people into buying things they weren’t shopping for. [NY Times article - paywall after your limit of free monthly articles.] “... researchers developed software that automatically scanned more than 10,000 sites and found that more than 1,200 of them used techniques that the authors identified as dark patterns” including outright lies. 

Call-to-action phrases [infographic] that can help your pages convert. These work on web pages, emails, social media etc. My favourites are in the “lower-risk” section; I don’t think enough articles focus on this aspect of conversions. 

Wedding gift buying may be changing as traditional wedding registries drop in popularity. Apparently lots of people want cash to pay for their own expenses & trips now. 

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour)

Great list of marketing definitions you will find helpful if you do much industry reading & research. (Pretty sure I posted this before, but it has been updated.)

Chrome is becoming more & more like spyware; the author suggests using other browsers. 

The Wayback Machine now compares current web pages to their previous versions. “One of the best uses of this feature I can think of is to track changes in privacy policies.”

How not to design a payment app: make it easy for anyone to change the password. 

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON INDIGO’S MAIN VOCAL NO SIWOO...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: N/A CURRENT AGE: 24 DEBUT AGE: 19 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 16 COMPANY: MSG ETC: this member was known for the influx of attention they gained after REGroup.

IDOL IMAGE

siwoo originally debuted with a younger brother type image - goofy but sweet, wholesome but a charming nuisance to the older members of the group. he was comfortable with the role and played it well, but it was too conventional and he tended to be overlooked as a member. after his popularity grew from regroup, however, siwoo has shifted into an older brother type of concept - dependable, admirable, ruffling hair and teasing everyone. he was teased both by fellow contestants on the survival show and by his group members about his “angelic” image, developed after he garnered praise for his patience and willingness to help.

of course, he’s hardly angelic behind the scenes. siwoo is proud and refuses to acknowledge his own mistakes. he doesn’t always recognize limits like when a joke has come too far or when he’s pushing someone too hard, which not only creates tension but also damages his now-carefully-curated image. he’s easily affected by the trend - if things are going well, he rides that high, but he’s easily defeated once the tide turns. it’s true that he’s generous and helpful and a true team player - he believes that a group can only be successful if every member trusts and relies on one another. however, he’s very attached to the idea of indigo as a unit. this developed primarily during their slump, when siwoo began to fear disbandment, but his clinginess worsened once the group began rebuilding and reaching new heights. the boys, himself included, now take on more individual schedules, and he’s afraid of one of them achieving enough success in a field that they’ll leave the rest behind, dooming the others to flopping like before. part of him knows that teamwork also means supporting one another in all your endeavours, not just in those related to actual group work, and siwoo does support his members - he just doesn’t want them to succeed individual at the cost of indigo.

IDOL HISTORY

the no family filled their home with music.

the notes of chopin twinkled out of the radio while their father cooked, carly simon’s voice underscored family game night, uhm junghwa blasted out of the car as soon as the key turned in the ignition. every birthday dinner ended with a trip to the local noraebang. family gatherings were incomplete without someone sitting down at the piano while others shouted out requests and sang along at the top of their lungs. it was rare for there to be a quiet moment at home.

it shouldn’t have been surprising, then, when their middle son came home from school one day and declared that he was going to put his heart and soul into pursuing a career in music. you’d think that he was being set up for this future, that it was inevitable, all things considered, for him to want to make a life out of this.

the no family loved music. it was a hobby, an escape. it was also an unstable, dangerous, exploitative career path. the industry was corrupt, cruel, extremely difficult to break into, extremely difficult to stay in. it wasn’t the right place for someone soft, sweet, and warmhearted like their son. careers should be pursued in fields that will never be deemed luxurious or unnecessary - like the family plumbing business. the world will always need plumbers. will they need musicians?

siwoo thought they did. plumbing was a respectable profession - he was never ashamed of what his family did for a living - but fixing rusty pipes and renovating washrooms never seemed as exciting to him as the rush of standing onstage, delivering music that gave people strength and allowed him to express himself beyond what words alone could explain.

his older sister, who went the practical route by studying accounting in order to become the family business’s bookkeeper, had been giving him piano lessons since he was a kid. for siwoo it had always been his three hours a week of respite. he confided in her about his wish to pursue music, confessing that it was the only thing he could imagine himself doing, even if their family didn’t understand it. she told him that she understood, and that she had a friend who was a trainee at an entertainment group - maybe they could get together and he could find out more about what the industry is really like. they met at a coffee shop on the trainee’s day off, siwoo filling a three hour conversation with probing questions about trainee life. the industry was hard, the trainee acknowledged, and the vast majority of trainees never reached debut. but if you loved music that much, wouldn’t you regret not even trying?

siwoo signed up for auditions at every company he could find, scheduling them months in advance to give him time to prepare. he could play piano, and he had a naturally clear singing voice that earned him compliments from untrained listeners, but he worried about whether that would be enough for entertainment companies that looked for visuals, charisma, and charm on top of talent. he signed up for dance lessons at his local community centre, nothing fancy or impressive but enough to give him a sense of rhythm and make him more comfortable with moving his body. he spent time every night practicing his singing and his piano, his concerned parents listening as the music bled through the walls. finally he auditioned, and auditioned, and auditioned. he failed many, but passed a couple, and ultimately chose to begin training at msg entertainment.

training was, predictably, hard. he had to work hard into the night, keep a diet, and continue going to school. he was far from home, and his parents were still unhappy with his decision - they sent him a meager allowance, and he called them regularly, but their tone was always cold, always distant, and probably would be until he relented and came home. but siwoo, proud as ever, refused. as exhausting as it was, training was the first thing he’d ever really been good at. he thrived under pressure, loved proving others wrong, relished every opportunity he had to improve his singing. he worked best when he had a goal in his sights, and he had lots as a trainee: the biggest one being debuting, of course, but smaller ones to help him get there too, like getting the top score on the next trainee evaluation or successfully singing a piece in a higher key. he was motivated and he pushed himself until he was placed in the lineup to debut and finally, in spite of it all, proved himself.

or so he had thought. indigo hit the ground running, earning praise and attention from all sides with their debut release. it was too early for his parents to be fully convinced of their son’s success, but his sister told him that they had put up his posters in the office and had bought their debut ep and were trying to convince every customer, neighbour, family member, and friend to do the same. siwoo thought that if indigo had a few more successful releases, his parents would finally admit to him that he made a good decision in pursuing this path, and their relationship could finally mend. but their first comeback got significantly less hype, and the third even less. indigo was shaping up to be more or less a failure for msg, not quite becoming entirely irrelevant but certainly not living up to their initial burst of popularity. siwoo’s pride disintegrated. what his parents had feared had come true: their son couldn’t make it in music.

he was young at debut and didn’t have an image that stood out much - he was a younger brother character, cute and sweet, straddling the line between irritating and endearing. msg didn’t have much for him to do when indigo slumped, so he went on the few shows he was invited to and otherwise didn’t do much of anything. he struggled when there were no discernible goals ahead of him - they had missed the window to win rookie of the year awards, they were not nearly popular enough to hope to get their music show win on any of their few comebacks. siwoo isolated himself, spending as little time in the dorm or the company building as possible, doing little more than the bare minimum when indigo prepared for an event or a performance here and there. the motivation that made him such a great worker as a trainee evaporated in the face of indigo’s decline

regroup changed everything. the way the company told the members that they were going on a show for failed idols made it sound like a last resort, but siwoo saw it as a new chance. it was essentially like training again - competing with a large group for limited spots, undergoing evaluations and exhausting schedules, and, most importantly, meeting goals. he regained the motivation he had lost, and viewers took note of how hardworking he was. he got to sing ballads than indigo’s dance tracks let him and got some attention for the extent of his talent that had previously gone under the public’s radar. he had a positive, easygoing attitude, and made friends easily with the other contestants. his popularity skyrocketed after an episode where he was grouped with a team of dancers on a vocals challenge and stayed up late every night leading up to their performance to help each member with their singing, leading that team to winning the challenge. he became known for having a heart of gold, being sweet, outgoing, patient, and helpful. he climbed the ranks of the show from borderline irrelevant to twelfth place, missing the final lineup by fewer spots than anyone had originally anticipated.

indigo blew up afterwards, and siwoo blew up with it. msg decided to all but scrap the group’s original dance-heavy sound and focused instead on showing off the boys’ vocal talents, and as main vocal, siwoo had some of the most attention-grabbing adlibs and lines in their songs. but even more than for his voice, he had become popular for his personality, and msg capitalized on this by throwing him into variety. siwoo was friendly, bright, and not easily embarrassed - he dove right into whatever humiliating situation the show called for without hesitation. he got good press after an indigo appearance on i can see your voice and got invited back to be on the panel several times since, and he was praised for his charming anecdotes on his frequent appearances in happy together episodes. he’s succeeded, as both a musician and a public figure, and most importantly, he’s proved himself to his family. they still aren’t happy about what he’s doing, but they can hardly argue with him now. everything is going more or less perfectly, but siwoo is starting to worry: if indigo continues on this upward trend and achieves even more heights, siwoo is, frankly, going to run out of goals. he’s thrilled with their success, and there are still some milestones both the group and he himself have not yet reached, but he’s afraid of running dry and plummeting into a debilitating slump again.

[wallacefrandsen4-blog]

5 Reasons Why Functional Tape is the Solution to Ethical Practice Growth

Functional tape you know, the crazy colored tape that became an overnight phenomenon in the healthcare industry. There is a reason why this associated with tape is loved by patients of all makes. From athletes to desk-letes, patients love functional strapping. There are multiple explanations why patients love the using of Functional Tape, and why so many doctors have joined the trend and provide it as a treatment option in their offices. In fact, there are five main reasons why the utilization of Functional Tape will help increase your practice! Functional Tape, when applied correctly and in alignment with the unique Expert Position of the practice can grow your Profit per Z. In this case, the Profit per X is the amount collected per medical client. Adding an additional modality that works and suitable for the clinical objectives that you try to achieve, a ethical practice growth strategy. Be congruent using you are trying to achieve with your patients. Once we started utilizing Functional Tape for a special purpose at the American Posture Institute, in our case for Posture Habit Re-education, it changed everything. Why? Because we got a clear clinical objective when using the tape and knew exactly when to employ a it and utilizing patients to put it on for. Thats the difference. The application of Functional Tape actually is NOT about having the coolest colors and craziest patterns its about knowing what your clinical objective is, deciding what type of application of Functional Tape will an individual meet that objective, and then deciding at what tension to apply the tape. Expert application is specific. When moment has come specific, it helps. When it gets results your patients are content. When your patients are happy they keep coming in and continue to touch on their friends and families to your practice! Its that convenient. 5 Reasons Why Functional Tape will Grow Your Practice 1) Small Investment, High Return When you understand how and if to take advantage of the tape, it's an extremely beneficial tool which could easily be added to your practice. Functional Taping is not one of individuals things you learn then need to buy a lots of new equipment to put into service. Its just the opposite. The materials needed as well as the time necessary for the doctor to apply the Tape is marginal! To try Functional Tape in your office, bang for your buck a nice pair of scissors and a couple of rolls of tape! You will get these tools for when compared with $50! 2) Immediate Results for Patients who have Tried managed before! Functional Taping really is really a win-win accessory for your practice, because your patients could therapeutic, performance, and structural correction benefits based upon their unique case presentations. According to research (Detsky, 2011), very high priorities for patients are to achieve relief from symptoms in regular basis. Functional Tape provides immediate results. The same tape has lots of functions dependent on the level of tension that is applied to the tape along with the skin upon application. By understanding what clinical objective you need to achieve with every patient, you can provide specific, patient-centered comes! Even to the patients who have tried just about anything before! 3) Practice Growth Formula Lets training session the equation that provides exponential practice growth for use in your patients. Put together we want practice growth, this may be the ultimate goal as practitioners. For our practices to grow, we have two options To increase new patient visits, and even to increase retention. The option that costs a lot less cash is to improve retention because costs a good deal less with references to financial commitment and time spent- sustain an old patient versus getting new ones. Statistically speaking, the price acquiring a new customer costs five to ten times over what retaining a pre-existing one. The that, but repeat customers spend, on average, 67% more. In order to improve retention our nation get predictable, objective clinical results the patients store time. When utilized correctly, Functional Tape does except! 4) Great Advertisement and Safe Referral Lets face it, once your patients walk out the door wearing neon colored tape, it draws attention and is a great conversation round! Without doubt, the patients family member will find out the tape and be curious why it was applied you will also it exercises. You can arm your patients utilizing knowledge to earn a safe referral by keeping them patient education information all-around Functional Tape that they are able to take home with him. Now, they have a way of answering concerns that their friends and family have, and can safely refer them to your office to check Functional Tape and postural corrective care is a behavior which will all of them. 5) Increased Patient Compliance To recover results individuals who can lead reliable, effective correction scheduling details. That the patient actually does. Patient Compliance, for most of you, is the magic formula holding your patients back from having the correction results we know they can handle. Functional Tape is a pretty simple therapy for your patient. They just wear it, and receive therapeutic or performance pluses! Plus, it helps them train their bodies to sustain the proper postural position through conscious posture habit re-education. Functional tapes are acrylic tape, not latex, meaning that there has never been skin irritation so patients are almost certainly going to leave it connected towards the skin, and can work 24/7. The 100% cotton fibers allow for evaporation and quicker dehydrating. This allows Functional tape to be worn in the shower or pool without having to be reapplied. Functional tape can be relevant to virtually any muscle or joint in the body, in fact it is recommended for usage for 3-4 days after 1st application. Patients in our office also report wearing the tape before it came off for to a max of 7-day periods of time. Plus, they can perform a bunch of their normal activities with the tape . If patients are non-compliant to other aspects of their complete postural correction treatment plan, Posture Taping makes therapy utilize that very simple for individual to be compliant in order to really.

[therewillbesparkles]

end of day trading strategy

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We Predict These Kitchen Trends Will Be Everywhere in 2021@|what is new in kitchen design@|https://ift.tt/3h75BTp

DANA GALLAGHER

While the all-white kitchen will probably never go out of style, there are lots of new design trends for 2021 that will make you equally happy. Think: natural elements with some pops of color as well as a visit to the dark side with colors you might never expect. We know, we know. You’ve already carefully chosen every appliance, picked out each piece of hardware, and planned your kitchen design to a T, but there are ways to dip your toes into the world of color without messing up your rustic farmhouse kitchen aesthetic. On the color front, why not try painting your ceiling a fun color, like Haint Blue? How about hauling in some colorful appliances?

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Join the Country Club today and enjoy exclusive access to home tours, seasonal craft projects, recipes and, more!

If you’ve been wanting to layer in more natural elements, try “sustainable” and “eco-friendly” items. These are words that are popping up more and more, with many companies offering green solutions for cabinets and shelving. You can also think about bringing in handmade tiles in materials like terra-cotta and cement—a great solution for adding a little more soul to your space, regardless of whether or not you opt to completely switch over to a farmhouse style vibe.

When it comes to countertops, quartz is quickly becoming an affordable and low maintenance alternative to our beloved marble. There are even new trends for accessorizing your countertops, like vintage plate racks made to display your grandmother’s china. Hardware and metal finishes continue to push the envelope—think brass, nickel, and matte black. Removable wallpaper companies are making it even easier to experiment with pattern on walls and backsplashes. Consider 2021 as the year of the kitchen!

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Kitchens with Curves

You’ve probably seen it trending in furniture design and we love how it is translated into this beautiful designed by Tiffany Leigh Design. Head over to her blog to read more about this space. It is packed with fun ideas!

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Integrated Range Hood

Designer Stefani Stein created a seamless look in this kitchen where the range blends right in to the subway tile walls.

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Colorful Kitchen Islands

Try painting your kitchen island a striking color like Alison Giese Interiors did on this project. We love how it stands out and contrasts the other white cabinets.

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Bright Colored Cabinets

Because we all need a little more sunshine in our lives after 2020, am I right?! Pair them with a fun backsplash, and you will smile every time you walk into your happy kitchen!

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Modern Black

As suggested by Semihandmade, “If you’re going for a trendy look, start with black cabinets and really commit to the modern approach by nixing those upper cabinets in favor of sleek natural wood open shelving.” Just like Yellow Brick Home did with this space, using cabinet doors by Semihandmade.

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New Rustic

We know the rustic look has been around for a long time now, but if you pair it with a pop of fresh paint like Designer Hadley Wiggins-Marin did here, you can really and modernize redefine that rustic look.

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Terra Cotta Tiles

When you think of terra cotta you probably have warm and earthy thoughts of potted plants and garden shops. Pair that material with soapstone countertops and classic brass hardware, and you have a unique yet traditional and beautiful kitchen. We love everything happening in this space, especially those terra cotta floors!

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Marble Kitchen Countertops

Carrara marble like that shown here will always be in style, but if you’re a red wine drinker, quartz could be a much better fit for you and your kitchen. While it looks like a natural stone, engineered quartz is more affordable and less prone to stains.

SHOP WHITE SHELVES

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Kitchen Larders

Originally a room in the home used for storing and preserving foods (think: the refrigerator before the refrigerator was invented), the kitchen larder has transformed into a stand-alone cupboard or pantry. They can be large enough to house the majority of your dry goods but small enough to keep things organized while taking up a minimal amount of valuable space. Forget a walk-in and sub in counter-top cabinet or add doors to enclose pre-existing shelving.

SHOP PANTRY STORAGE

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Handmade Kitchen Tiles

Bring texture and nuance to your kitchen walls with handmade tiles. The possibilities are vast—try terra-cotta or cement in colors that range the rainbow—although we lean toward more neutral hues.

SHOP LIGHTING FIXTURES

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The 5th Wall (The Kitchen Ceiling)

Don’t forget about your kitchen ceiling! Add a fun hit of color, wallpaper, or wood paneling to add dramatic flair to your space.

SHOP BLACK WALL PAINT

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Reclaimed Wood Kitchen Cabinetry

If you’re installing custom cabinets, opt for a rough-hewn, reclaimed wood. And good news if you’re going pre-fab, companies such as IKEA are moving to more natural, eco-friendly materials for their kitchen cabinets. From bamboo to even recycled plastic bottles, cabinet companies are taking this revival of reduce and reuse very seriously.

SHOP KITCHEN STOOLS

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Kitchen Wallpaper

While wallpaper has become less scary to the general population over the last five years or so, folks are still reluctant to hang it in the kitchen. If you’re scared about the permanency of wallpaper, try something less, well, permanent. There are plenty of peel-and-stick papers in trendy designs that are incredibly easy to install and remove. Hot tip: Opt for a graphic design that mimics the look of tile.

SHOP PEEL AND STICK WALLPAPER

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Kitchen Plate Racks

Vintage plate racks are coming back in a big way in 2021. Whether displayed on countertops or mounted on walls, they add a ton of soul to a space and give you an actual place to store and display your dishware instead of hiding it away in a hutch or cupboard.

SHOP BLUE GINGHAM NAPKINS

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Mix-and-Match Kitchen Metals

The year 2021 is not about being matchy-matchy—and that goes double for your heavy metals. Choose a nice nickel for your knobs and then go with a cool brass or matte white for your faucet. Choose a whole different metal for your lighting fixtures.

SHOP KITCHEN RUGS

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Hidden Kitchen Appliances

Not a fan of stainless steel facades? Try adding fronts to your appliances that mimic your cabinetry. Refrigerators and dishwashers disappear when clad to match their cabinet cohorts. Even your massive oven hood can get in on the action.

SHOP KITCHEN STOOLS

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Open Shelving

Open shelves allow you to showcase your beautiful kitchenwares among other heirlooms and antiques. The ability to see through your storage also means everything is easy to find. Just don’t forget to clean your items often since they will be open to the elements that might be floating through your kitchen. It’s also helpful to keep every day items on the lowest, most accessible shelf.

SHOP SHELVING

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Standout Sinks

You don’t have to go nuts to achieve an on-trend kitchen. While an apron-front sink in a farmhouse kitchen isn’t exactly unexpected, a farmhouse sink in soapstone with brass hardware is a showstopper—especially when it’s set against white walls, wood cabinets, and stainless steel countertops.

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SHOP BRASS HARDWARE

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Natural Wood Tones in the Kitchen

While we’re still seeing stained and painted woods, we’re also seeing it in its natural state. Try adding a kitchen island—or just the topper—in a pretty, grainy wood. Brown wooden shelves that feel original to the house are another way to test the waters with wood. It will bring a warmth to any kitchen space, especially those trending bright white ones!

SHOP SWIVEL STOOLS

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Tons of Texture

For those who fear color, focus on mixing up the finishes. Designer Cathy Chapman chose white beadboard on the ceiling and shiplap for the walls. She used unlacquered brass strap hinges and latches on the cabinets, black marble on the island countertop, and tons of warm woods on the floors, backsplash, and remaining countertops.

SHOP SHIPLAP

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Swoon-Worthy Ceilings

When you want to maintain neutrality but still have some fun in the kitchen, shoot for the stars—or in this case, the ceiling. Here, the Madcap Cottage team chose to paint the ceiling a Southern porch-inspired blue (Blue Ground by Farrow & Ball) and added an elaborate antique lantern.

SHOP BLUE PAINT

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Hints of Color

You don’t have to scrap an all-white kitchen to stay on trend. Dip your toe in the color pool instead, whether you store colorful pottery in glass-front cabinets, bring in colorful furniture, or paint a large piece like this kitchen island in Tropical Moss by Dunn-Edwards Paints.

SHOP YELLOW PAINT

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Open Kitchen and Living Areas

Maximize living space by making the family room and kitchen one large room. A mix of lighting helps differentiate the areas, while a uniform wall color keeps everything cohesive.

SHOP LIGHTING FIXTURES

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Pretty Pantries

Gone are the days of having a dark little pantry to house dry goods hidden away from prying eyes. Today’s kitchens boast roomy pantries with shelving aplenty for your cereals and collectibles. Proud of your organizational skills and want to show off? Finish the pantry space with a screened porch door painted in an eye-catching color, like this bright green hue.

SHOP GREEN PAINT

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Range of Colors

Appliance makers like Lacanche, Big Chill, and Smeg offer up a host of practical pieces in a number of colors and finishes, which will definitely liven up your range.

SHOP SMEG APPLIANCES

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Butcher Block Countertops

In this Massachusetts beach house, a savvy couple replaced linoleum with warm wood for a durable upgrade. Butcher block is virtually maintenance-free—it just needs an occasional coating of mineral oil—and the natural material is the perfect neutral to break up the sterility of an all-white palette.

SHOP MINERAL OIL

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source https://livingcorner.com.au/we-predict-these-kitchen-trends-will-be-everywhere-in-2021what-is-new-in-kitchen-designhttps-hips-hearstapps-com-hmg-prod-s3-amazonaws-com-images-sustainablekitchen-1570570383-jpgcrop1-00/

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Direct Mail Campaign Real Estate

I’ve personally used Yellow Letters Complete for over 7 years since I began my wholesale real estate business, and one thing I have learned is that THEY ARE THE ABSOLUTE BEST IN THE GAME! Their unique approach to using handwritten verbiage on my direct mail is unmatched and I’ve tried may services before that failed horribly. Real estate postcards & mortgage direct mail marketing. Real Estate Postcards that actually work. Get more listings, sales and referrals with Sendsations postcard campaigns. Real Estate Mailers. Direct mail campaigns give you the opportunity to put your real estate investment business directly in front of the clients — of your choosing. This increased control, combined with affordability, makes direct mail one of the greatest tools that a real estate investor can have at his or her disposal.

Key Takeaways:

How do real estate investors target and capture motivated seller leads?

One of the most underrated marketing practices in real estate investing is utilizing a real estate direct mail campaign. This simple yet effective marketing method continues to be one of the most powerful and proven marketing tools in the real estate investment industry, as it enables investors to not only generate motivated seller leads but convert them into new customers. If for nothing else, this approach to lead generation will cultivate a new-found interest in your business, helping to launch the starting stages of a steady pipeline of motivated sellers in real estate.

For investors looking to build the perfect direct mail campaign, the following provides an in-depth look into direct mail marketing, how it works, and the benefits associated with generating motivated seller leads:

Why Use Direct Mail Marketing?

Several of the best real estate marketers utilize direct mail marketing to find new leads while effectively growing their business. A real estate direct mail marketing campaign will allow you to:

Make direct connections to local potential leads.

Create a tangible resource prospects can hold on and refer back to.

Deploy drip campaigns through automated tools that will cultivate leads over time.

4 Motivated Seller Leads To Target

The first step as an investors is to identify and appeal to motivated sellers. To do so, a direct mail campaign should be considered. Simply put, a direct mail campaign is a marketing effort that employs promotionally printed pieces of mail, including postcards, newsletters, sales letters, and other marketing material, to target a particular audience. The key to a direct mail campaign is having the right mailing list, as nearly 40 percent of your success hinges on whom you target. To close deals fast, investors should focus their efforts on four types of motivated sellers in real estate: homeowners with delinquent taxes, those going through a personal crisis or need to relocate, and out-of-state landlords. The following highlights several types of targeted lists to choose from:

Expired Listings

Pre-Foreclosure Property Owners

Out-Of-State Landlords

Probates & Inherited Properties

1. Expired Listings

One of the best ways to find motivated seller leads in real estate is through expired listings. This typically takes place when a listed property fails to sell and the listing agreement between a seller and agent officially ends, producing a highly advantageous situation for investors. At the very least, expired listings represent motivated sellers who not only want to sell their home and can’t, but homeowners skeptical of real estate agents.

To locate a current list of expired listings, investors will need to gain access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which may require an agent’s assistance. When targeting motivated seller leads via expired listings, investors should be selective of the properties they wish to take action on. By doing so, real estate investors will cultivate a list of quality properties with the ability to sell fast.

2. Pre-Foreclosure Property Owners

Another motivated seller for investors to target are pre-foreclosure property owners. Generally speaking, these homeowners are between 30 to 90 days late on their mortgage payments and on the cusp of going into foreclosure. As an investor, you want to reach these people before that occurs. Once a property goes into foreclosure, it becomes much more difficult to close a deal.

To target these types of motivated seller leads, investors need to contact title companies in their area and to receive a pre-foreclosure list. However, the one drawback is that pre-foreclosure lists are often out-of-date, requiring investors to do their due diligence to ensure their mailing list is current.

“The key is to make sure you are getting the list as close to the date of the lis pendens or notice of default filing,” says Than Merrill. “So always check the date of the filing against the date you actually receive it.”

3. Out-Of-State Landlords

While your journey to real estate gold has just begun, many veteran landlords are burned out and ready to get out. In most cases, these are out-of-state landlords with less of an emotional attachment to their property due to a combination of factors such as distance or hardship. Whatever the reason may be, these motivated sellers represent a great opportunity to find a great deal. There are several places to gain access to out-of-state landlord lists, but investors should begin their search by contacting their local tax assessor’s website or office.

4. Probates And Inherited Properties

Another lucrative opportunity to obtain motivated seller leads is through probates and inherited properties. This legal process consists of transferring the legal title of a deceased person’s property to the intended heirs — and more often than not, it’s followed by the sale of the property.

Investors can access probate records by visiting their local probate court office, commonly referred to in some states as the circuit court, surrogate’s court, or the orphans’ court. It’s important to note that an estate is generally probated in the county where the deceased person lived at the time of their death. Although this approach may seem more time consuming than others, these types of motivated sellers can lead to not only great deals but less competition.

Direct Mail Campaign Real Estate Template

“There are very few areas where this list can be bought from a list broker. This means you will have very little competition when you market to a probate list,” says Merrill.

Direct Mail Campaign For Real Estate

Finding the right audience to target is the first step in real estate lead generation, as well as commencing your direct mail campaign. The next step is to begin crafting it.

Direct Mail For Real Estate Investors: What To Consider

The secret ingredient to finding and capturing motivated seller leads in real estate, as well as brand awareness, is consistency. Because there are a million ways to market in real estate investing, investors need to research and decide on an approach and commit to it. Too many times, real estate investors start hot with all the enthusiasm in the world until they hit a few snags and eventually call it quits. Remember to plan your work and work your real estate direct mail marketing plan. Although it won’t come easy, it will ultimately pay off in the long-term.

Direct Mail Campaign Real Estate

When crafting the perfect direct mail campaign, there are four elements every investor needs to consider:

Budget: How much are you willing to spend?

Marketing: Who is your ideal customer, and how will you go about marketing to them?

Testing: How are you monitoring and refining your approach?

Tracking Results: What systems do you have in place to track and measure your direct mail responses?

These four elements will not only dictate how you go about building your direct mail campaign, but greatly influence the responses you receive. The next step in developing a direct mail campaign is to determine the type of material you’ll use, as well as the type of message, and the following types of direct mail have proven to appeal to motivated sellers:

Direct Mail Campaign Real Estate Business

Top 9 Tips For Sending Real Estate Direct Mail

The good news about real estate direct mail is that it is not considered a heavily competitive market place. The bad news is that a large portion of recipients will end up throwing real estate direct mail away before even reading it. A glaring fact about direct mail is that the recipient will automatically assume you are trying to profit from them. In this case, real estate direct mail marketing has to get your point across clearly and concisely. In turn, you will have a higher chance of the recipient reading and even responding to your offer. The main goal of real estate direct mail marketing is to target the right recipients at the right time with the perfect message. Here are 9 useful tips to give you the highest chances of achieving this:

Target The Perfect Audience: If you do not find the perfect audience for your message, consequently, no one will listen. Take a moment and decide just who your target audience is. Are you reaching out to prospective buyers or sellers? Are you targeting high-income or low-income housing? And finally, is your main goal to receive leads, or are you simply trying to build awareness for your services?

Once you have all this information, you will be able to target your perfect audience. Remember that every audience has its own problems they are trying to solve, and the best way to get a response is to let them know outright that you are the one who can solve it.

Perfect Timing: Try to get the most information about real estate seasonal trends. Success in direct mail is tied to the predictable trends of real estate. Typically, November through the middle of February are the slowest months for real estate direct mail marketing. A huge uptick tends to happen between March and June. Understanding when recipients will most likely need your services is crucial in determining when to start your real estate direct mail marketing campaign.

Determining Frequency: One of the hardest things to determine in a real estate direct mail campaign is the frequency of sending. You must find the perfect balance to avoid the recipients being overwhelmed, but you also do not want to send mail so infrequently that you miss an opportunity. A good rule of thumb is to send direct mail once a month. You can then continue by experimenting with different frequencies depending on your desired target and trends. For example, higher frequencies can be sent during the busiest months, while lower frequencies can be spread throughout the holiday season.

Hooking Your Audience: Remember you have to get your message across quickly and clearly. The ultimate goal of designing your direct mail is to catch the attention of your audience. Remember to tailor your message to your specific target as a message to broad or vague usually ends up in the trash at first glance. For example, open with bold text declaring what exactly is you are offering. Use phrases such as “We Buy Houses” or “Sell Your Property With Maximum Exposure!” Make sure you present your message in an easy to read font, with eye-catching pictures and your full contact information.

Perfect Formatting: Remember not crowd your direct mail message with too much information. Think of it like a postcard – aesthetically pleasing and easy to read. Only include what services you offer, who you are, how to contact you easily, and a concise call-to-action if possible. Present your phone number, website, and email address; then, your direct mail message will be complete.

Informational Backside: According to USPS, the average time someone spends reading mail is about half an hour. Once your message is clear to your recipient, a good strategy is to create an information backside that will intrigue them. This can be an event list of the cities happenings in the coming months, more information on the real estate market, or perhaps other services you can provide. This may help your direct mail be taken more seriously as you come across as someone who can provide them with a wealth of information.

Present An Honest Message: A common mistake made in a real estate direct mail campaign is a dishonest message. Promises you can’t keep included in your message can only hurt your reputation and business in the long run. Be honest with your services and the state of the market. Try to avoid hooks like “Your House Will Be The Talk Of The Town!” or “Urgent Message: You Must Sell Now!” These qualify as dishonest as their house will not be the thing on everyone’s minds, and selling your services is not an urgent matter. While these types of messages can catch the attention of your target, they will quickly realize that your dishonesty is only a marketing ploy and dispose of your mail.

Remain Consistent: Marketing anything requires you to be consistent. The time it takes for one to see an advertisement then pull the trigger on a purchase can be between weeks to even months. In the case of real estate, this is all too true. Remain consistent with your marketing efforts. Determine perfect timing for your market and stick to it. Ultimately, your goal is to always be in your target audience’s mind, so when they do need to solve a problem, they know who to contact.

Follow Up: Finally, once you do get contacted, remember to follow up quickly. Nothing is worse than needing someone, and they are not there to help you until weeks on end. A good first impression is to be prompt when a customer first presents their need for you. In turn, you will be realized as someone they will be able to trust. If you take too long, your customers will most likely lose interest and find another person to work with.

Real Estate Direct Mail Examples

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular direct mail campaign strategies helping today’s investors:

Short Letters: As the name would describe, short letters are used primarily to stimulate interest in potential sellers. These concise letters, generally comprised of no more than a paragraph, are straightforward and to the point to get the seller to call. When first starting out, short letters are a quick way to get your real estate investment business off the ground.

Long Letters: This approach is used to not only notify sellers of your pending interest but spell out the many benefits of working with you can provide. For investors, the goal is to inform motivated sellers and enlighten them of how you may be of service to them.

Yellow Letters: Unlike the above mentioned, a yellow letter is essentially a handwritten note on yellow lined paper. These real estate yellow letters are very effective because it gives sellers the impression you took the time to sit down and personally write the homeowner.

Postcards: Along with being much cheaper, postcards are ideal for targeting motivated sellers in real estate because getting them to read your message is much easier. Rather than forcing them to decide whether to open or not, a postcard spells it out immediately. When using postcards, investors should consider adding a personalized aspect to them, such as hand-writing your message or using eye-catching stamps.

Summary

Real estate direct mail can offer you several new leads that will effectively grow your business. Your success rate using a real estate direct mail campaign will depend on a combination of your mailing list, your approach, and your message. A compelling message to generate motivated seller leads should be captivating, as well as empathetic. Done right, the combination will unleash a flood of motivated seller leads in your direction.

Direct Mail Marketing Real Estate Template

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Essential B2C marketing implementations

Essential B2C marketing implementations. Technology and regulatory changes will require preparation. We asked marketing experts how they plan to tackle the next 12 months—here are the 18 topics they zeroed in on.

All the best ways to market your business in the next 12 months

The following list provides insights into many strategies you’ve already heard of, including SEO, customer retention, ecommerce, and video and influencer marketing. It also includes new strategies related to cookie-less advertising and privacy changes, as well as new approaches to help you cater to the new COVID-weary and social change-conscious consumer. No matter the strategy, the idea is the same: to market personally and value your customers, but also efficiently so you can save time, scale up, and keep running your day-to-day.

Optimise for Google’s next update

With Google’s Page Experience Update – May 2021, new metrics called Core Web Vitals—which will measure site load time, interactivity and content stability—will start to impact overall search rankings.

Prepare for the end of third-party cookies

2021 will also be the year marketers prepare for two big changes to come: the end of third-party cookies and new privacy regulations in California.

“We have to get comfortable with privacy-first data collection practices. That means focusing on list-building and developing one-to-one relationships with customers,” said Harry Maugans, CEO of consumer privacy service Privacy Bee. “Make sure that your campaigns help you build your first-party data so you rely less on Other People’s Data.”

The death of third-party cookies will change how digital ads are targeted and tracked, but Dave Toby, director of digital marketing agency Pathfinder Alliance, said there’s still “considerable confusion about how campaigns will be affected.”

Foster first-party relationships

Having direct relationships with customers will be even more important as the online landscape becomes even more cluttered with brands trying to reach digital consumers. But it will also be important because one-to-one relationships mean brands can personalise content for better experiences.

Houman Akhavan, CMO of CarParts.com, said a first-party data strategy yielded “incredible results” in 2020, including “record conversions.”

“A critical part of this first-party data strategy has been using the correct customer data platform technology—one that is scalable to process millions of records of customer insights, including real-time signals that must be acted upon immediately before they go stale,” he said. “Thus far, leveraging our customer data platform has allowed us to generate over a quarter billion personalised one-to-one messages. We’ve seen our click-through rates increase by as much as 400% and our email revenue has doubled.”

Focus on customer retention

And for brands struggling to recover from the events of 2020, focusing on existing customers may be wise.

“In an uncertain economy, most brands—especially niche retailers— should focus on existing customers,” said Jonathan Frey, CMO of electric bike retailer Urban Bikes Direct.

For his part, Jim Pendergast, SVP of commercial financing platform AltLine, expects to see B2C brands emphasise mobile marketing for customer retention.

Start selling on social

Another burgeoning trend with potentially far-reaching implications is social commerce. In 2020, Facebook launched Shops for both Facebook and Instagram, allowing users to shop directly on the platforms.

Bruce Biegel, senior managing partner of management consultancy Winterberry Group, expects to see more focus on social commerce in 2021, along with new marketplaces, to shorten the customer journey from search to conversion.

Product Personalisation

The email weapon isn’t so secret. It’s common knowledge that email marketing is a powerful customer acquisition tool. First of all, the foot-in-the-door technique applies. Second, you have permission to push marketing messaging to an entire list of people.

There are two main ways to use email marketing in the customer acquisition process: following up and increasing retention.

Capturing an email is an easy way to reach out to a potential customer down the road. Say, when you have a discount or a special offer to follow up with. As long as you don’t abuse the list (leading to unsubscribers), you literally have a list of people who are somewhat interested in your product and are open to being contacted again.

Email also is a great way to improve your customer retention. The most valuable customer is the one you don’t lose. Keeping customers is just as important as acquiring new customers. Reach out to let them know about any outstanding notifications, recent updates, etc. Reignite their interest in your product via email. Remind them of what’s going on, of what they’re missing out on, etc.

Personalised product selection solutions, using predictive analytics technologies like SwiftERM, identify consumer’s future behaviour ranking every SKU by greatest likelihood of that individual consumer to purchase from all the SKUs listed, in order of greatest propensity. It presents them to that individual at exactly the right moment, thereby maximising that individual’s customer lifetime value CLV potential. (i.e. Likelihood to Purchase, Discount Affinity, Likelihood to Churn etc).

Grow communities

In addition to demonstrating they are trustworthy, brands should foster communities of loyal customers now.

“The notion of community building isn’t novel, but brands need to understand that loyalty is coming back and brands that know what it is their customers want, as well as how to engage them through transparency and humility, is what will become the difference maker,” said SEO consultant Itamar Blauer.

Olga Petrik, CMO of Gmail CRM firm NetHunt CRM, agreed brands should invest more in loyalty and retention now.

Optimise for voice search

We’ve seen voice search in previous year-end predictions. However, this may be the year it really takes off as consumers used their voice-enabled devices more while they were at home during the pandemic.

Lean into local SEO

Speaking of which, local SEO is another marketing strategy to make a repeat appearance on this list. This time, it’s because brands can update their Google Business Profiles via their Google My Business Accounts to include pandemic-friendly details like online appointments and curbside pickup and delivery, said Sarah Blocksidge, marketing manager at digital marketing agency Sixth City Marketing.

Go casual in social videos

The trend toward social video will undoubtedly continue in throughout the decade.

Mark Hayes, head of marketing at video-based advice platform Kintell, noted TikTok has over 500 million users and is available in more than 150 global markets. It has also spurred copycats like Instagram’s Reels, which launched in August 2020. (Twitter’s Fleets, which came out in November 2020, offers similar 24-hour-only video capabilities.)

Go Live

An extension of this video trend is live streams, which will also remain popular.

Reuben Yonatan, CEO of VOIP guide site GetVOIP, noted a sharp uptick in brands going live during the pandemic to interact with consumers in real time.

Tap into micro-influencers

2020 was a good year for micro-influencers like Nathan Apodaca, the viral cranberry-juice-drinking TikTok star, and Tony Piloseno, another TikTok user with wildly popular paint-mixing videos who was fired by Sherwin Williams—and then hired by Florida Paints. With TikTok showing no signs of slowing down, the power of influencers—big and small—is expected to continue.

Use retailer media networks

Retailers like Amazon were among the few to actually benefit from changes spurred by the pandemic.

In recent history, Amazon has also diversified its advertising portfolio, adding units like Sponsored Video Ads, Sponsored Display Ads and OTT ads.

“With these additions, Amazon has become a fully enclosed ecosystem, supporting the whole marketing funnel from product discovery to purchase,” said Natalia Wulfe, CMO of digital marketing agency Effective Spend. “Advertisers can use OTT and Sponsored Display to build awareness, video ads to educate and engage visitors and traditional sponsored product ads to drive transactions.”

Combined, these developments mean advertisers can enjoy better reach and performance on Amazon than ever before, Wulfe added.

Establish brand partnerships

2020 brought us successful brand collaborations like McDonald’s and Travis Scott, Adidas and Allbirds and Adidas and Lego, which means more brand collaborations are likely on the horizon.

Unexpected partnerships between corporate brands capture media attention, generate social buzz and allow for cross-marketing to customer bases—without celebrity endorsement fees, all of which plays well in an era of hard-to-capture consumer attention and tightened budgets.

But brands that, say, don’t have the resources to hire a Travis Scott can instead team up with brands that offer complementary products or services. That’s what thermal imaging brand ThermoGears did when it was looking to bring new visitors to its website.

Get into augmented reality

Also expect to see more augmented reality (AR) executions. This will allow brands to show consumers what objects will look in their homes, like Ikea’s AR catalog, or how clothes or accessories look on their bodies, like Warby Parker’s virtual try-on app.

The pandemic encouraged marketers to think uniquely for ways to connect with consumers who always stay inside their homes,” said Stephen Light, CMO of mattress retailer Nolah Mattress. “The solution was AR marketing, which helped the target market get a feel of owning the product even without seeing it personally.

The biggest misconception about AR ads is they’re expensive, but they’re actually more budget-friendly than traditional channels.

Automate what you can

Another tactic to help decrease budget and increase efficiencies is marketing automation. Sharon van Donkelaar, CMO at LinkedIn marketing automation company Expandi, said automation helps free up employees from “many boring and routine business tasks.” This includes Automated Bidding in Google Ads.

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