#cold email campaigns

[leadzennnnnaiiii]

10 Real-Life Examples of Effective Cold Email Campaigns

Cold emailing remains a powerful tool for businesses aiming to generate leads, build relationships, and drive sales. When executed correctly, a cold email campaign can yield impressive results, whether it’s targeting prospects for lead generation, networking, or partnerships. However, with the sheer volume of emails sent daily, crafting a successful cold email that captures attention and elicits a response can be a challenge. In this article, we will explore 10 real-life examples of cold email campaigns that have not only gained attention but also led to meaningful outcomes. These examples will provide valuable insights into what makes a cold email campaign effective and offer actionable strategies that businesses can adopt.

1. AirAsia: "Catch the Flight of Your Dreams"

AirAsia, a low-cost airline, implemented a cold email campaign targeting travelers who had abandoned their flight bookings. The email featured a personalized subject line, reminding recipients of their abandoned cart and encouraging them to complete the booking. AirAsia's email was simple yet effective, offering limited-time discounts and highlighting the urgency with a clear call to action.

What Worked:

Personalization: The email was customized based on the recipient's previous activity on the website.

Urgency: AirAsia leveraged limited-time discounts to encourage quick action.

Clear Call to Action (CTA): The email had a clear and actionable next step—completing the flight booking.

Lesson Learned: Personalized cold emails that tap into previous behavior or engagement tend to perform better, especially when urgency is introduced.

2. Mixpanel: "Book a Free Analytics Consultation"

Mixpanel, a data analytics platform, used a cold email campaign to offer a free consultation for potential customers. The email was personalized with the recipient’s company name and included a specific offer related to the recipient's industry. Mixpanel’s sales team made it clear that they understood the prospect's pain points and were offering tailored solutions to address them.

What Worked:

Segmentation: The email was tailored to the prospect’s industry, making it more relevant.

Value Proposition: The free consultation provided immediate value, offering prospects an opportunity to learn how the platform could improve their analytics.

Personalization: The use of the recipient's company name helped establish rapport.

Lesson Learned: Offering personalized solutions or consultations in a cold email can drive higher engagement by addressing the specific needs of the recipient.

3. Groove: "Hey [Name], Can I Help?"

Groove, a customer service platform, used a straightforward and casual cold email approach that focused on the recipient’s pain points. The email was short, to the point, and used a conversational tone. The CTA was simple: a request for a brief call to discuss how Groove could solve the recipient's specific challenges.

What Worked:

Casual and Friendly Tone: The email didn’t come across as overly sales-driven, which helped it stand out in a crowded inbox.

Clear Value Proposition: The email was clear about what Groove could offer, without overwhelming the recipient.

Call to Action: The CTA was low-pressure, asking for a quick chat rather than a hard sell.

Lesson Learned: Sometimes, the most effective cold emails are those that are simple, personal, and offer something useful without pushing too hard.

4. Shopify: "Grow Your Business with Shopify"

Shopify, an e-commerce platform, targeted small businesses and entrepreneurs with a cold email campaign promoting their services. The email featured a limited-time promotion, a link to a free trial, and a compelling case study showcasing how Shopify helped other businesses grow.

What Worked:

Social Proof: Including a case study helped build credibility by showing how other businesses benefited from the platform.

Free Trial: Offering a risk-free trial allowed recipients to test out the platform without commitment.

Urgency: The limited-time offer created a sense of urgency.

Lesson Learned: Combining social proof with a time-sensitive offer and a risk-free trial can significantly boost the success of a cold email campaign.

5. LinkedIn Sales Navigator: "Let’s Connect!"

LinkedIn Sales Navigator used a cold email campaign that targeted decision-makers in businesses, encouraging them to connect and use the platform to improve their lead-generation efforts. The email was highly personalized, mentioning the recipient’s position and the potential benefits of using LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

What Worked:

Personalization: Mentioning the recipient’s job title and company showed that the email was not a generic blast.

CTA: The email asked for a quick LinkedIn connection, which is an easy ask compared to more formal requests.

Clear Benefit: The email emphasized the value of using LinkedIn for lead generation.

Lesson Learned: A cold email campaign that starts with a simple and non-intrusive request can lead to a strong relationship, especially when it highlights clear benefits.

6. Buzzsumo: "Get a Free Trial of Buzzsumo"

Buzzsumo, a tool that analyzes content performance, used cold emails to offer free trials to businesses interested in improving their content marketing strategy. The email was direct and included a straightforward CTA to start a free trial, backed by compelling statistics about the success businesses could expect with the tool.

What Worked:

Clear Offer: The offer of a free trial was the centerpiece of the email.

Social Proof: Buzzsumo included statistics about successful users to reinforce the effectiveness of the tool.

Compelling CTA: The CTA was simple and clear, directing recipients to sign up for the free trial.

Lesson Learned: Make the value proposition clear and direct, and remove barriers to entry, such as requiring a free trial sign-up.

7. Proposify: "Try Proposify for Free"

Proposify, a proposal software company, used a cold email to target sales teams and decision-makers with an offer to try Proposify for free. The email highlighted how the platform could help speed up the proposal process, save time, and improve proposal quality.

What Worked:

Personalized Subject Line: The subject line was personalized to the recipient’s industry.

Emphasis on Time-Saving: Time is a significant pain point for decision-makers, and the email emphasized how Proposify could save time.

Risk-Free Offer: A free trial removed the commitment barrier, giving prospects a chance to experience the product firsthand.

Lesson Learned: Highlighting a pain point (such as time savings) in a cold email, along with a risk-free offer, can grab the prospect’s attention and encourage them to take action.

8. Drift: "Let’s Chat"

Drift, a conversational marketing platform, uses a highly personalized cold email campaign that encourages recipients to schedule a brief conversation with a member of their sales team. The email is short, with a conversational tone that aligns with Drift’s product, inviting recipients to engage through a simple reply.

What Worked:

Casual and Conversational Tone: Drift’s tone matched the nature of their product, making the email feel authentic.

Easy Engagement: The CTA was simple—just respond to the email to schedule a chat.

Personalization: The email was personalized to reflect the recipient’s company and industry.

Lesson Learned: Matching the tone of your cold email to your product or service can create a more authentic, relatable message, increasing engagement.

9. Uber for Business: "Simplify Your Corporate Travel"

Uber for Business used cold emails to target businesses with a proposal to simplify corporate travel by integrating Uber into their employee travel programs. The email included a clear breakdown of the benefits, such as cost savings, ease of use, and convenience.

What Worked:

Clear Value Proposition: The email communicated the direct benefits of using Uber for Business.

Targeted Messaging: The email was tailored to businesses, making it more relevant to the recipient.

Strong CTA: The CTA offered to schedule a meeting to discuss the solution further.

Lesson Learned: When targeting businesses, make sure your cold email clearly communicates how your product or service solves a specific problem or pain point.

10. Grammarly: "Boost Your Writing with Grammarly"

Grammarly used a cold email campaign targeting business professionals, offering them a free trial of their grammar-checking tool. The email was simple but highlighted how Grammarly could improve writing quality and productivity for busy professionals.

What Worked:

Personalized Subject Line: The subject line addressed the recipient directly, increasing the chances of the email being opened.

Offer and CTA: The email included an easy-to-follow CTA for a free trial.

Clear Benefit: Grammarly clearly communicated how it could benefit the recipient in their professional life.

Lesson Learned: Cold emails should have a clear, specific offer and communicate the benefits upfront, making it easy for recipients to understand what they’ll gain by taking action.

Conclusion

Effective cold email campaigns can significantly boost lead generation and sales when executed with strategy, creativity, and personalization. The key to success lies in crafting emails that are personalized, provide clear value, and encourage easy action. By analyzing the above examples, businesses can implement best practices and create cold email campaigns that resonate with their target audience, driving better engagement and conversion rates.

[bidetspray]

Tips to Produce Top-Notch Cold Email Campaigns In 2024

In 2024, mastering the art of cold email campaigns remains essential for businesses seeking to expand their reach and drive meaningful engagement. To ensure your efforts stand out in an increasingly competitive digital landscape, consider these top-notch tips:

[sendcrux]

Boost Your Outreach with the Best Cold Email Automation Tool in the USA

In today’s competitive business landscape, effective communication is key to building relationships and driving sales. One powerful method for achieving this is through cold email automation. By leveraging advanced tools, businesses can streamline their outreach efforts, save time, and improve response rates.

Why Cold Email Automation?

Cold email automation is essential for scaling outreach efforts. Instead of manually sending emails to prospects, automation tools handle this task efficiently, allowing you to focus on crafting compelling messages and targeting the right audience. This not only boosts productivity but also ensures that your emails reach a wider audience.

Choosing the Best Cold Email Automation Tool

When selecting a cold email automation tool in the USA, consider the following features:

User-Friendly Interface: The tool should be easy to use, with a clear dashboard and intuitive features.

Customization Options: Look for tools that allow you to personalize your emails, which is crucial for engagement.

Analytics and Reporting: Comprehensive analytics help you track open rates, click-through rates, and responses, enabling you to refine your strategy.

Integration Capabilities: Ensure the tool can integrate with your existing CRM and other marketing platforms.

Best SMTP for Cold Email

To maximize the effectiveness of your cold email campaigns, it’s crucial to use the best SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) for cold email. A reliable SMTP service ensures your emails are delivered promptly and securely, reducing the risk of your messages ending up in spam folders. This enhances deliverability and ensures your outreach efforts are not wasted.

Benefits of Using an Email Marketing Platform

An email marketing platform that includes cold email automation and the best SMTP for cold email provides several benefits:

Efficiency: Automate repetitive tasks and manage large-scale email campaigns with ease.

Personalization: Tailor your messages to individual recipients, increasing the likelihood of engagement.

Scalability: Handle a growing list of contacts without compromising on quality or performance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, boosting your outreach with the best cold email automation tool in the USA is a smart strategy for any business looking to expand its reach and drive sales. By leveraging the right tools, including a reliable SMTP service and a comprehensive email marketing platform, you can enhance your email campaigns and achieve better results. Start automating your cold emails today and watch your outreach efforts soar.

Visit: www.sendcrux.com

[myfandomrealitea]

Just a reminder that:

Joey Batey has actively combated scenes, information, plots, details and lore being cut from the show by including it in his songs.

Joey Batey has been the lead songwriter and composer for all of Jaskier's music since the start of the show. That's three whole seasons worth of music so far. That's six years of writing and producing music.

Joey Batey has embodied Jaskier as bisexual since day one, and actively admitted to having to write over 7,000 words across multiple emails (excluding phone calls and in-person meetings) to fight against the choices the writers and runners were proposing for the 'reveal' scene(s) and future scenes.

Joey was one of the first people during the video interviews to praise Henry after the DeuxMoi smear campaign and has displayed nothing but respectful support for him amidst the chaos. He also did his best to imply that Henry hadn't been fired, despite the active rumors otherwise and the blanket ban on addressing actual details.

Joey filmed the Rience torture scene for over twelve consecutive hours despite being in pain and feeling nauseated and experiencing significant mental distress and being in freezing cold temperatures, outside, in the middle of winter.

Has, without fail, always supported his female co-stars and had nothing but good things to say about them. Has never sexualised them once or behaved inappropriately, and always ensures they get equal press coverage when doing group or duo events.

Read the books, played the games and asked Henry to help him prepare for and portray Jaskier as an accurate representation of Dandelion and Dandelion's personality and characteristics despite the show's shoddy writing.

[qqueenofhades]

I think the Aaron Sorkin fic people are writing about the convention to be extremely silly. It's going to be Biden. And if Biden's health takes a downturn and he feels the need to step down its going tk be Harris. This fantasy where we skip over her to whip up two random white guys(or like maaaybe Witmer) and somehow cruise to victory instead of fragmenting the party months before the election is simply not going to happen.

Look, I'm just saying, I got an email from the Biden campaign this morning where they seemed pretty darn happy with the actual (i.e. not-bloviating media) results of the debate: $38 million raised in 4 days ($30 million from individual small-dollar donors), 10K new volunteers in a week, 3x surge in campaign volunteers for battleground states, essentially no change or even a modest boost in the polls. So I think at this point, we can cautiously conclude the following things:

The debate looked bad for Biden, perhaps, but doesn't seem to have hurt him nearly as much the incredibly bad-faith BIDEN NEEDS TO STEP DOWN NOW takes being pumped out by the NYT and its other compatriots would suggest. Especially when these same media outlets have been gleefully sabotaging Biden at every turn for years already and whose fake-sanctimonious hand-wringing "for the good of the nation" pieces honestly should get them dropped into Superhell for Bad Journalists;

Biden went to Raleigh NC right after the debate and gave a fiery rally speech that was very well received. Now, I don't know why we didn't have that Biden at the debate, but it was the same night and there clearly was not any "cOgnItiVe dEcLinE" happening there (also Biden has a stutter and has for literally his entire life, and had a cold on debate night, so it was just an unfortunate confluence of factors)

There are very few actually undecided voters in this election (once again: HOW???) and those who tuned into the debate were largely already convinced of which candidate they were voting for and this didn't do much to change their minds. Just like, you know, pretty much every other debate in the history of presidential elections.

Ordinary voters, and not mainstream media outlets with BIDEN IZ BAD goggles clamped over their eyes, were able to see Trump's insane Gish gallops, lies, and full-blown dementia; this isn't going to get any better for him when he's already lost 20%-25% of GOP voters in every state primary and still is going to be sentenced in his criminal trial;

The D.C. political elite screaming about how Biden should step down (FOUR MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION) and leave the Democrats to start from scratch with some Star Chamber-selected candidate with no money and no incumbency record and no organization apparatus and a divided party are either fucking weapons grade morons or working secretly for Trump, because that IS in fact the best way to lose the election;

Such speculation seems to fall chiefly on Gavin Newsom, who (to his credit) has shut down any and all suggestion that he should try to step in and take the place of an incumbent who has won every state primary with 90% or more, because he's remotely sane and understands that this year is too important to fuck around with;

I've somehow never seen any suggestion that Biden should step aside for the duly elected (brown, female) Vice President, because everyone seems to think some Young Miraculous White Guy is coming and/or should step in;

All this while SCOTUS is clearly so confident of Trump getting back in that it's willing to grant him Absolute God King status pre- and post-emptively;

Yes, Biden needs to up his game before the next debate (though that's on Fox News iirc, blargh), but I think it's far enough post-debate that we can say it was bad but did not sink him, and if anything, reinforced the fact to many ordinary, non-brainwormed voters that Biden is old (which has been the number one chief theme of news coverage for four years and is no surprise to anyone) but is a decent and principled man doing a good job, while Trump is an absolute gibbering insane orange shitmonger fascist. I don't think he did himself any favors in that regard.

....anyway. The point is, do not be fucking insane people, Biden is not going to step down and frankly shouldn't, don't read the NYT (as noted, they've openly admitted to sabotaging him for personal ego reasons so I don't know why the hell anyone would listen to what they have to say about him), this is still an eminently winnable election, and let's go get those motherfucking fascists. I want Trump in jail and all of SCOTUS and the MAGAGOP fucking crying over it because they fucking suck. Let's go.

[gaza-giving-tree]

The Gaza Giving Tree: A Lifeline of Hope in the Making

This holiday season, I’m working on an initiative to make a real, tangible difference for families suffering in Gaza. The Gaza Giving Tree is currently in its planning stages, and I need your help to bring this vision to life! Together, we can bring hope and survival to those who need it most!

What is the Gaza Giving Tree?

This project will connect compassionate donors directly with verified individuals and families in Gaza who need it most. Each ornament on our virtual tree will represent a real person or family in need, linking donors directly to their campaigns. The money won't go through us—100% of donations will go directly to the people in need.

Here’s Where You Come In:

I’m currently:

1. Seeking Individuals and Families with Verified Campaigns: Do you know of families impacted by the conflict who need urgent assistance? Send me their verified campaigns or fundraisers, and I will feature them on a virtual ornament on our tree. (I'm hoping to have the tree up online within the week, either on Tumblr or on an actual website.) I'm going to start combing through lists of already vetted campaigns and making ornaments that way, but I still want people to submit all the verified campaigns they can find!! Let's make sure NO ONE is overlooked if we can help it!!

2. Looking for Volunteers: Are you creative, organized, or simply passionate about making a difference? Join me to help with designing ornaments, spreading the word, or organizing outreach!!

Why This Matters

The need in Gaza is urgent:

Astronomical Inflation: Families are struggling to afford basic necessities like bread and water.

Freezing Winter Temperatures: Displaced families face the cold without proper shelter or clothing.

Desperate Escapes: Many are raising money to leave the region in search of safety.

This project aims to shine a light of hope in the darkness and show that compassion knows no borders.

How to Get Involved

If you’d like to help or know of a family in need, please contact me:

My main Tumblr: @gardenofinkandstarlight

Email: gazagivingtree@yahoo.com

I know it's a bit last second, but we can make The Gaza Giving Tree a reality and turn this season into one of giving and hope for those who need it most!!

[m-o-l-b-n]

Save my family from the horrors of war in Gaza Peace be upon you,

my name is Omar, a father of three children (Basma, Nisma, and Mohammed). I used to live in Gaza, living a simple life full of love and peace. Every morning I would go to work, and in the afternoon I would return home to spend some time with my children.

But on the morning of October 7, we woke up to what seemed like the end of the world. The sounds of tank shells, the roar of planes, shelling and destruction filled the air. Since that day, the journey of displacement began, moving from one place to another, escaping war, shelling and death. This cost me my home and my work.

We now live in a tent that provides no protection from the heat of the day, the cold of the night or insects. What is worse, we are constantly threatened by tank shells and missiles that follow us wherever we go, fearing for our lives. - Every night, the specter of death haunts me in my dreams and when I am awake, as I am unable to provide them with enough food due to the high prices of everything, even drinking water.

Last night, my daughter Nesma and I had a heartbreaking conversation: - Me: Why are you crying Nesma?

- Nesma: I have lost hope, I am exhausted, I just want to die.

- Me: Why do you wish for death?

- Nesma: The war has gone on too long, I can no longer be patient or endure... This is the situation of my children. We have lost hope, and now they wish for death because of the unbearable war. There is no longer any possibility of living in Gaza, and we must leave to escape the war and death. But the cost of leaving is high. There is an Egyptian company called "Hala" that coordinates the exit through its territory, and charges $6,000 per person. You can confirm this by contacting the company via email: info@hala-travel.com. In addition, there are fees and crossing tickets worth $300 per person, and transportation costs $200.

For this reason, I launched this campaign to save my children and wife from the war.

Please help and support us in this difficult ordeal

@thatsonehellofabird

@a-shade-of-blue

@ramshackledtrickster

@c-u-c-koo-4-40k

@galactic-mermaid

@belalayad

@falastin-iw

@reaaf95

@hillesmahmoud

@hanin24albrqouni

@roaa-44 

@ranakhalaf-1989]

@mostafaayman2

@lgbtq-refugees

@ashleymilesphil

@tareqayyad2

@tareqayyad2

@samiraayman5

@karemanpaleatine

@abeerayman6

@kroampaleagime

@abualwanfamily

@iamsara20

@leengazaps

@hananmahmoudo

@yasminfamilysblog

@maher994

@motherboard

@danaqudaihgaza

@samiraaymaan

@nasserakar5

@hala-dawoud

@hananfamily7

@ameera2abeer

@hazemhamada055

[vilecrocodile]

if ur dont live in the US its hard to explain the sheer amount of election spam you get every season. especially in a swing state lmfao. literally every day 5-6 fucking flyers in the mailbox, random numbers cold-calling you, text messages, people on the street asking you if you voted, relentless emails, not to mention the social media ads, campaign commercials, the glut is literally endless, and theyre always asking for 5 dollars. some of the richest most powerful ppl in the world holding their hand out like broke bitches. they get your email phone number and address from your voting registration and if you block/cancel one source theres two more the next day. please we need 5 dollars. its literally fucking endless. and youre annoyed bc people being actively starved and bombed and shot at are sending you tumblr messages. so that they can afford basic necessities. its astounding. donate to the gfms, especially the unvetted ones, cause if youve given money to a presidential campaign then youve already been scammed

[galdra-studios]

Hi everyone!

Summer is here and after a slow previous month due to some pesky colds, this month has lots of exciting news we’d like to share. So grab some ice cream and let's get started!^^

We are incredibly thrilled to be part of Humble Bundle’s annual LGBTQ bundle! It’s such an impressive lineup of games, and the money will be donated to the Trevor Project, who does amazing work supporting struggling LGBTQ youth. The bundle is live TODAY, so check it out here!

Next up in exciting news… Our demo is ready for the Kickstarter! It’s been a ton of hard work, but after much bug fixing and adjusting graphics, it’s now fully playable. It’s a really great feeling when you see all the separate parts of development coming together like this, and we’re so stoked to finally show you what Arcadia Fallen II will be all about. Which brings us to the matter of the Kickstarter release date!

Mark your calendars and get ready for the launch of the Arcadia Fallen II Kickstarter! There’ll be merch, there’ll be a demo, and we´re even bringing back the Community Stretch Goals! 

We hope it’ll be a great time for everyone!

Click here to sign up for the Kickstarter pre-launch to get an email when the campaign goes live!

This month Puk is the model for our header image, and they are accompanied by some jazzy tunes you’ll also be able to hear in the Kickstarter demo! Enjoy~

Thank you so much for following our journey! And we’ll see you in just a few days for the Kickstarter campaign! ^^ 

Cheers!

- The Galdra Team

[graciegoeskrazy]

on this night, in this light

george + charli + xcx!r

warnings: nightmares, panic attacks, emotional distress, past trauma, parental absence, I think that's it? honestly not that graphic but it defiantly talks about it.

a/n: HEY FRIENDS. this idea has been in my brain for far too long. and I KNOW a lot of y'all were wanting some more George x xcx!r so here it is. I;ve been writing a lot more for charli? I swear a lot of the knew xcx!r fics are like charli AND George? I don't hate it tho. It's def still madly George dw dw. hope y'all enjoy <3

It was an abnormally normal night for George and Charli. For the first time in months—perhaps even over a year—there were no meetings, concerts, fittings, sessions, or even a peep from their email or texts that were business-related. They had shut everything off, putting aside their careers for the day, to focus solely on you.

Between more songs or DH2, and even the entirety of the Brat campaign, it had been no secret that time spent with all three of you together had been slim. Especially in the past few months with the launch of the Sweat Tour. Today, your Mom and George had vowed that since they had a day off, they would dedicate it entirely to you.

Even with a million things going on for both of them, you had been nothing but patient and kind. Sure, you missed them more than the waking world when they were away, but you understood that they were literally living their dream, and you didn’t want to get in the way of that. Not that they would say you were. In fact, they would probably say you’d been the most supportive during the process.

The day was mainly filled with watching movies, the three of you curled up in their bed, making up for the lost time. They cherished every moment, knowing how rare such days were. They laughed and talked through the films, with your mom occasionally stealing glances at George, a silent agreement passing between them. They were happy and content, basking in the simple pleasure of finally being a family.

Later, as the evening wound down, they sent you to bed. You couldn’t remember the last time you had both of them put you to bed, but Charli swore that you wouldn’t want them to do it forever, so she savored every moment.

Nightmares had been frequent when you were younger. When they were really bad, there were nights when you would wake up screaming or even in a cold sweat. George had heard of how bad they were but had never experienced them firsthand. There would be nights when he had passed by your room or when you were up in the kitchen, and he would ask what was wrong. You would say “bad dream” or something to that extent. Charli had said it was a result of your father and your fear of him coming back. From there, it would escalate into other dreams - darker ones. But as you grew, you grew out of them. That was until recently.

It was an ordinary night, and the house was wrapped in silence when George heard something that jolted him from sleep. At first, he couldn’t make out the noise. It was a distant murmur, something that didn't quite penetrate his half-asleep state. But then, the scream, clear and unmistakable. It was you. George was instantly awake, nudging Charli beside him.

“Charli,” he said, his voice a tense whisper. His hand on her shoulder was enough to make her stir but not fully awake. When the second scream broke through, he nudged her again, this time more urgently. “Charli!”

The house, which had been so still just a moment before, was now filled with a cascade of screams. The two of them sprang out of bed, their hearts racing as they raced toward your room. The darkness of the house seemed to engulf them, causing George to turn on the nightstand lamp as he entered your room, casting a warm, soothing light.

You were screaming in your bed, tears streaming down your cheeks. Your cries were raw, filled with fear and desperation. George sat down next to you, while your Mom took the other side of the bed, her face etched with concern.

“Shhh. Wake up, baby. Wake up,” George said softly, his voice trembling with worry. You wouldn’t budge, still trapped in the nightmare.

George gently held your head, afraid you would hurt yourself against the headboard if you continued to thrash. Charli grasped your hand, brushing the stray hairs from your face in a soothing gesture. “Y/n, wake up, my love.”

After a moment, your tears subsided just for a second, and you shot up in bed. Your eyes were wide, and the feeling of two people beside you, yet not knowing who they were, scared you even more. It was Charli’s calming voice that finally pierced through your fear. “Shhh, it’s okay, it’s okay. It’s just us.” Your eyes met theirs, still filled with fear. Charli continued to speak softly. “You’re okay now.”

Despite her words, you continued to cry. Your breathing was fast and uneven, and soon enough, Charli and George saw a sight they recognized all too well.

George reached out, grabbing your hands as you tried to pull away. “Breathe, Y/n.”

You shook your head vigorously. “I can’t—”

“Yes, you can. Breathe with me.” He led you through the breathing exercise you had practiced together during previous panic attacks. “In through your nose, out through your mouth.”

After a while your panic subsided, and you were left with your tears and sniffles. “A nightmare?” George asked gently.

You nodded frantically, tears still streaking down your face. “Yeah.”

“Do you want to tell us what happened?” Charli asked, her voice soothing.

You thought for a second, then continued, your voice quiet, yet loud enough for them to hear it. “It was really dark,” you said, your voice trembling. “I don’t know where I was. But I found a house, and I went inside. And he was there…”

“Who was there, baby?” Charli asked, his voice a low murmur.

“Him.” The fear in your voice was palpable. “He grabbed me. Once I started yelling, I could hear both of your voices. It was so clear! It felt so real!”

“Shh. I know, I know,” Charli said softly, rubbing your back.

“He wanted to hurt me,” you continued, your voice breaking. “I kept yelling, and your voices kept yelling for me, but you guys never came.”

“It was only a dream, my love,” George said, his voice gentle but firm. “Only a dream.”

“We’re right here with you right now,” Your mom said. “He is so far away from here, and we are so protected that he would hurt himself if he even tried to get to you.”

“You’re safe here,” George added. “You’re safe with us.”

The room was quiet for a moment as you sat back against the headboard, in between your Mom and stepfather.

A thought then crossed Charli’s mind. “How long has this been happening?”

You didn’t respond immediately. Your eyes looked anywhere but at your mom, and you bowed your head, embarrassment creeping in. “Y/n Daniel…” Charli’s voice was gentle but insistent.

“...About two months?” you mumbled, your voice barely audible.

“The whole time we’ve been gone!?” Charli’s voice was filled with concern and disbelief.

“It got better!” you insisted. “On the nights when you both were here, it wouldn’t happen! It just… did tonight, I guess.”

“You should’ve told us, baby,” Charli said, gently caressing the sides of your face, her voice softening with concern.

“I didn’t want to bother you both,” you said, your voice breaking.

“How many times do we have to tell you?” George said, his tone tender yet firm. “You’re not bothering us! It’s literally our job to be here for you.”

“Still, I didn’t want you guys to worry about me,” you said, wiping away a tear.

“Oh, my love,” Charli said, her voice breaking slightly. “That’s all we ever do. There’s not a second that goes by where you are not on my mind. Doesn’t matter where I am. I could be on the other side of the world, performing on a huge stage, and I start wondering, ‘Did Y/n do her homework tonight? Did she eat dinner? Did Mum make sure to feed her?’”

The comment brought a small smile to your face, which was a win in their book.

“If something like this happens again,” George said gently, “you tell us. If nothing like this happens, still, you tell us. If you have a mundane detail about your day, still, you tell us.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” Charli added. “Understand?”

“I’m sorry I woke you guys up,” you said, your voice filled with regret.

“There’s no need to apologize, my love,” George said, squeezing your hands. “Plus, you only woke me up, not your mother. You know how much of a heavy sleeper she is.”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t snore so loudly, I would be able to get up a little sooner to help my child, huh?” Charli said, her voice playful.

“I don’t snore,” George said.

“Yes, you do,” You said with a smirk.

“Excuse me?” George said, raising an eyebrow.

“I can hear it through the walls,” You said, your tone light.

George shook his head. “I’ll have you know that I am perfectly quiet.”

“Oh, please,” Charli said, her smile widening. “I’ve heard you through the walls. And it’s not exactly a whisper.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at their playful banter. It was a welcome distraction from the fear that had gripped you only moments before.

As the laughter died down, Charli brushed a stray hair from your face. “We love you, Y/n. Always remember that. No matter what, we’re here for you.”

George nodded in agreement, pulling you into a comforting embrace. “We’re not going anywhere. Not tonight, not ever.”

With their reassuring presence surrounding you, the fear and anxiety of the nightmare slowly ebbed away. You snuggled closer to them, feeling safe and loved.

They stayed with you on that bed until your breathing evened out. Even then they didn’t want to leave. Especially Charli - George could see that look in her eyes.

“She’ll be alright.” he said, reassuring her.

She took a deep sigh, “Of course she will,” She grabbed his hand. “She has us.”

[mariacallous]

On May 16, the gaming and entertainment news site Dexerto tweeted an image from the forthcoming game Assassin’s Creed Shadows featuring one of its protagonists, the Black samurai Yasuke, in a fighting pose. Across scores of replies, some voiced optimism, others fatigue with Assassin’s Creed’s now 14-game-long run, and a very vocal few expressed frustration and anger that a Black person was at the center of the narrative.

“Gonna pass on the DEI games,” wrote one blue-check X user, referencing the acronym for diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Why Wokeism?” asked another. Comments full of racist and sexist language filled the thread.

A more articulate undercurrent of these reactionaries, across many online forums, had a more specific set of complaints. Some alleged the race of the real Yasuke was never known, others that he wasn’t a samurai but a retainer, and another claimed he was never in combat.

These were all fairly elaborate conclusions to draw about a guy from 1581 who’s been depicted as a samurai in Japanese media many times, including in the 2017 video game Nioh and Samurai Warriors 5 in 2021, as well as his own animated series on Netflix.

They also may have been the last bit of armchair history we got on Yasuke if the conversation hadn’t been sustained by a set of accounts looking to build yet another front in the online culture war, fueling what some have been calling Gamergate 2.0. Whereas the Gamergate of 2014 focused on trying to drown out feminist voices, and the voices of women of color, in gaming culture, this second incarnation seems focused on pushing back against diversity in games of all kinds. Yasuke just stepped in their path.

The resurgence of the Gamergate moniker came earlier this year in reaction to the work of Sweet Baby. Staff at the small consultancy received a wave of harassment this spring stemming from misinformation and conspiracy theories claiming the company was a BlackRock-backed outfit trying to force diversity into games. (It’s not affiliated with BlackRock and merely advises on characters and storylines.) As the controversy around Assassin’s Creed Shadows intensified, several posts mentioned Sweet Baby, even though company CEO Kim Belair says the firm didn’t work on the game.

“I think it just comes with the post-Gamergate (late-Gamergate?) territory,” Belair wrote in an email to WIRED. “To a certain kind of person, largely trolls, we're synonymous with their idea of ‘wokeness in games’ or a vague idea of ‘DEI,’ but it's ultimately reflective of the overall misinformation that fuels this campaign.”

Gamergate was not the first harassment campaign conceived in the bowels of 4chan and its affiliate websites, but it was perhaps their crowning achievement. The attacks against developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu and media critic Anita Sarkeesian, among others, ranged from doxing to rape and death threats. Its tenets and tactics eventually proved valuable in bringing people into the burgeoning alt-right movement. Even Pizzagate and QAnon can, in some ways, be traced back to what was happening with gamers online in 2014.

“Gamergate was a recruiting ground, a pipeline to leverage the loneliness, discontentment, and alienation of young men—often white young men—into alt-right politics, extremist misogyny, and outright white supremacy and Nazism,” Thirsty Suitors narrative lead Meghna Jayanth told WIRED.

If the early days of social media incubated a cultural cold war, Gamergate turned it hot. Frustrated that they were no longer the sole demographic being catered to, Gamergaters saw “the growing visibility of women, not to mention their incomprehensible insistence that games cater to their perspectives as well, as an unwelcome intrusion in a space that does not belong to them,” Laura Hudson wrote in WIRED at the time. As a result, they wanted more than debate, they wanted blood—and nothing really stopped them from going after it.

Ten years later, aggrieved gamers are focusing on other forms of diversity and inclusion, which is how Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Yasuke has become the latest point of contention.

While only so much can be truly known when it comes to history, accounts suggest Yasuke (the real one, not the video game character) was a man presumed to be from west Africa who served the Italian missionary Alessandro Valignano. He accompanied Valignano to Japan where he served Oda Nobunaga at the daimyo’s demand. Yasuke was presented with the trappings of a samurai: a house, servants, a sword. He would go on to be with Nobunaga, or near him, at the time of his death, before seeking his heir Nobutada and joining him in battling those responsible for Nobunga’s death, though unsuccessfully.

While Yasuke’s history is fascinating and mysterious, much of the fuss over him has concerned whether he was officially a samurai, a depiction that has shown up in media several times in and outside of Japan. Some insist that he may have instead been a retainer, page, squire, or sword-bearer. Others decrying his inclusion in Shadows said he looked gay.

“There is no easy way to separate the many threads of what we are seeing within the Yasuke backlash,” says Paula Curtis, a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA’s Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies. “There are legitimate complaints about the developers’ decisions regarding representation and historical engagement … There are also many discriminatory responses to the game that have been anti-Black, misogynistic, and politically motivated.” It’s important to note, Curtis adds, that Shadows’ fans and commentators, and the issues they’re raising, aren’t uniform.

When Japanese historian Yu Hirayama tweeted there was “no doubt” as to Yasuke’s samurai status, he was treated to a tirade of abusive replies in English, including one claiming he brought “dishonor to [his] family and Japanese history.”

Amid the backlash to Yasuke’s inclusion in the game—and specifically to his role as a samurai—Ubisoft, the game’s developer, issued a statement saying that while the company “extensively collaborated with external consultants, historians, researchers, and internal teams at Ubisoft Japan” on the game, “some elements in our promotional materials have caused concern within the Japanese community.”

Without saying specifically which aspects caused concern, the company added that it was taking this “constructive criticism” into account as it prepared for the game’s November launch, and apologized. (Ubisoft did not respond to a request for comment on this story.)

Jayanth believes the apology was a case of misplaced appeasement.

“The alt-right's fundamental drive is hatred of the ‘other,’” she says. “Even if we cleansed our games of women, non-white people, queer people—which is their ask, and one we absolutely should not give in to—they would turn to insufficiently ‘masculine’ depictions of white men. This movement exists only in opposition to some polluting ‘other,’ an enemy that must be manufactured if a real enemy cannot be found.”

Revisionist approaches to history have seen a rise in recent years, especially in the interest of enshrining an idealist sense of a traditionalist past as an ahistorically conservative utopia.

“You see this in the false assertion of a purely white Middle Ages or the denial of war atrocities in World War II,” Curtis says. “Bad-faith actors may cherry-pick historical sources in order to craft specific narratives, completely ignore sources that do not support their views, or appropriate historical symbols as rallying cries to their causes.”

The proponents of Gamergate 2.0 have veiled their scorn for Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ inclusion of Yasuke within concerns for historical accuracy. Much Like the Gamergaters of old, who insisted they were defending ethics in gaming journalism and not harassing women they felt needed to be put in their place.

Gamergate then, and Gamergate now, are both ultimately about the sensitivities around who saw representation and how, made disproportionately important by how disempowered and alienated modern people feel. As games have made room for a wider array of characters, the gamers at the center of the backlash have seen this progress as a form of persecution. Games are changing, and as much as those upset over Yasuke’s inclusion in Shadows want to push back, they may not be able to stop that.

“It's certainly been strange to see us tied to a ton of games we've never worked on simply because people perceive ‘wokeness’ or progressive ideas in them,” Sweet Baby’s Belair says, “but maybe it's indicative of a greater truth that Gamergaters miss: No external consultancy is forcing studios to make their products more diverse or more progressive. The change, whatever you think of it, is coming from inside the house.”

[sean-parnell]

How Manufacturers Can Leverage Content Marketing to Grow

Cold calls, print advertising, tradeshow participation, and knocking on doors once worked well manufacturers can no longer rely on them to generate leads that fuel sustainable, double-digit growth despite having an effective sales team that may still have some skills in these areas.

Inbound lead generation in commercial and industrial markets requires compelling brand storytelling and thought leadership that educates prospects along the buyer’s journey, who don’t want to talk with salespeople before they’re good and ready as they fear being “sold to” by people that don’t have their best interest in mind.

Problems Solved vs. Products & Services, Features & Benefits

Powerfully resonating with prospects requires brand storytelling that converts website visitors into prospects then into customers.

Your brand story begins with having a deep understanding of the problems faced by your prospects, what they need to overcome them, and the value to them in doing so before promoting all of your products and services and their features and benefits. Prospects are searching for who can solve their problems and may have a limited understanding of what will solve their problems, so claiming your solutions are “the best” and that you’re an “industry leader” may mean nothing until they have an understanding of how your products will help them.

The hero of your prospects’ story is themselves, so you need to educate them on how you can solve their problems, and how your people, process, products, and services – not just products – do so. This is what will resonate powerfully with them. In this way, you serve as a guide for achieving success and avoiding failure. Your products and services with their features and benefits are how you solve these problems..

Thus, your “brand story” needs to be told throughout all of your marketing: on your home and about pages, blogs, guides, case studies, marketing collateral, presentations, proposals, press releases, third-party website profiles, direct mail, email campaigns, your tagline, and anywhere else you promote your company.

A brand story for each product and service you sell can also be developed as each of them solves different problems in different ways for different markets. This “sub-brand storytelling” is also effective for different vertical and geographic markets as each has different requirements.

Extracting & Promoting Thought Leadership

When they have a problem that they want to solve – because the pain of not changing exceeds the pain of the change – prospects self-educate themselves by researching the internet before speaking with any vendors, so it’s important to provide educational content that will help them understand how you can solve their problems:

TOFU: Top of Funnel: this content builds awareness by providing an overview of the problems you solve and how your products solve them

MOFU: Middle Funnel: this content goes one level deeper and helps them consider between different options that can solve their problem

BOFU: Bottom Funnel: this content gets very specific and helps prospects make their final decisions

OOFU: Out of Funnel: this content is created in a misguided attempt to maximize keyword rankings and website traffic as part of a flawed search engine optimization strategy (SEO) but fails to generate leads though can be quite costly

Tip: it’s important to have a good balance of all types of content (except OOFU).

It’s especially important for manufacturers to understand that, in addition to learning about how you solve their problems with your products and services, your prospects want to know how your solutions and business practices compare with both direct and indirect competitors. They also want to understand how their investment can be cost-justified so they can sell the idea of buying from you to internal decision makers that may not be in communication with you. Product comparisons are very useful because this is what prospects try to compile themselves, especially if they include areas where your competitors have an advantage over yours. Case studies that include return on investment (ROI) estimates are also highly useful for prospects.

Lead-Generating Content Begins with Keyword Research

Understanding and prioritizing what your prospects are searching for is a critical first step for lead generation, which begins with conducting keyword research on all the different terms your prospects may use.

Onsite SEO then fully leverages the content you’ve already developed when you work the highest priority keyword phrases into your page titles, meta descriptions, H1 headers, and throughout the content of each page – just remember it has to read well and should only be performed by someone that thoroughly understands your business and what prospects value.

Brainstorming content ideas that incorporate these keyword phrases and educates prospects along the buyer’s journey is the next step, following by prioritizing these content ideas into an editorial calendar. The best content comes from getting a professional copywriter to interview your company’s thought leaders and then writing up what is learned in the form of foundational website content, blogs and guides.

Best Practice: Google Search Console reports the keywords people searched for to find you.

Creating Lead Magnets

When your prospects discover that you are providing education and thought leadership for how you can solve their problems, many will be willing to provide their contact information to download this gated content – especially long-form, MOFU and BOFU content including guides, whitepapers, ebooks, and webinars. It’s also important that your contact forms ask prospects where they found out about you so you can attribute each download to the marketing or other activities that generated them. It’s not recommend to gate promotional material that prospects expect to be freely available, including blogs, brochures, data sheets, infographics, case studies, and similar materials.

Promoting MOFU and BOFU also generate even more website traffic and leads, including in Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaigns, Microsoft Ads and other pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, your social media profiles (especially LinkedIn and Twitter), on third-party article publishing sites (e.g. Medium), and throughout your public relations activities.

The Manufacturing Content Creation & Lead Generation Process

Here are the steps for creating content that has been proven to generate leads and product sales from many commercial and industrial manufacturers:

Conduct keyword research and optimize all of your current content for search

Develop brand storytelling and implement it throughout your home and about pages, marketing collateral, presentations, and all other marketing materials

Write blogs and publish them on a consistent schedule, educating prospects on a wide variety of topics that help them understand how your products and services will solve their problems

Syndicate unique versions of this content on high ranking, third-party websites

Launch Google ads and email campaigns to bring more prospects in

Create microsites to promote how you solve specific problems in your top vertical markets

Launch ecommerce to supplement sales through your channel partners for people that want to speak with and buy directly from you – just don’t undercut them, so selling only at list price is recommended

Evaluate new market opportunities where your current competitors are irrelevant with Blue Ocean Strategy

This approach routinely generates sustainable, double-digit sales growth with an ROI of over 300% within 12-18 months when executed by an experienced industrial marketing agency – and your company will no longer be a well-kept secret in your markets.

The Case for a Marketing Audit

While it may be appealing to hire a full-time content marketer, SEO specialist, or to outsource to a manufacturing marketing agency that may wow you with shiny objects, conducting deep dive marketing due diligence with an experience marketing consulting resource understands your industry is typically a better way to start.

An effective marketing audit will identify what it will take for you to generate sustainable, double-digit growth by leveraging brand storytelling, content marketing, SEO, content syndication, email campaigns, marketing automation, social media, advertising, PR, and more.

Most marketing audits focus only on promotional marketing communications, so you may want to find an industrial marketing agency that can auditing the other three Ps of your marketing: products and services, pricing and placement (selling through channels and go-to-market strategy).

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Shuham at HuffPost:

The national group representing college Democrats released a statement Tuesday standing with pro-Palestinian campus protesters and criticizing President Joe Biden for his “bear hug” of what the group called “the genocidal acts of the far-right radical extremist Israeli government.”

The statement, released by the College Democrats of America, illustrated a break with the Democratic Party — of which it is an official arm. It was approved by an 8-2 vote of the group’s executive board, which is made up of national leadership that has been elected by representatives of campus and state college Democrats chapters across the country. “Since the beginning of this conflict, College Democrats and students from every walk of life have had the moral clarity to see this war for what it is: destructive, genocidal, and unjust,” the CDA statement read. It commended the “bravery” of students facing arrest and disciplinary action for their protests, and condemned college administrators for those responses. Across the country, student protesters have called for an Israeli cease-fire in Gaza, and institutional transparency and divestment with regard to investments in Israeli firms, or those linked to American military aid to Israel.

The statement also called for the “release of all hostages” and condemned the rise in domestic antisemitism and Islamophobia in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent invasion and air barrage of Gaza, saying Jewish and Muslim students had no control over the conflict. Still, it said, “it should be abundantly clear that calling for the freedom of Palestinians is not Antisemetic [sic], and neither is opposing the genocidal acts of the far-right radical extremist Israeli government.” The statement’s harshest criticism was directed at the president and his reelection campaign. The White House, according to the CDA, has pursued a “cold shoulder strategy for its own base and all Americans who want to see an end to this war.” “Each day that Democrats fail to stand united for a permanent ceasefire, two-state solution, and recognition of a Palestinian state, more and more youth find themselves disillusioned with the party,” the statement read. It earned praise from progressives across the country including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and the former Ohio state legislator and prominent Bernie Sanders supporter Nina Turner.

[...] The national College Democrats group began working on the statement after Columbia University’s president, Minouche Shafik, called in police to clear a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus two weeks ago; overnight Tuesday, Shafik called in police again, this time to clear a building where protesters had set up camp after Shafik began suspending students for their protest. Both instances resulted in several dozen arrests. Pyarali cited other campus protests as inspiration as well, including at Indiana University, where police snipers were stationed above protesters. “It’s insane, it’s not a war zone, it’s a college campus,” he said.

The statement doesn’t necessarily represent the thousands of Democratic college students whose campus chapters fall under the larger College Democrats umbrella. Rather, the only binding vote on its release was held by the CDA executive board. Two members of that body opposed it. One of them, Joshua Martin, the former student body president at the University of Houston, commented on social media: “The only way to bring peace is to destroy Hamas, who through years of terror have subjugated Palestinians to decades of violence.” Allyson Bell, a Meredith College graduate student and chair of the College Democrats Jewish Caucus — and who collaborated with Pyarali in a December call for cease-fire — told HuffPost in an email that earlier statements focused on condemning instances of campus antisemitism had been “voted down by the executive board and replaced with what was released.” She called the final statement “one sided.”

The College Democrats of America's response to the nationwide protests against Israel's genocide campaign on Gaza that criticized President Joe Biden for being too close to Israel Apartheid State government is spot-on.

[sendcrux]

Boost Your Campaigns with This Leading Email Marketing Platform in USA

Email marketing is a powerful tool for engaging with your audience, driving conversions, and building relationships. However, to truly maximize the impact of your email campaigns, selecting the right email marketing platform is essential. In this post, we’ll explore how platforms like Sendrux can enhance your email marketing efforts, especially when it comes to cold email automation.

Why Choose the Right Email Marketing Platform?

Sendrux: Elevating Your Email Campaigns

Sendrux is a standout option when it comes to email campaign services, particularly for cold email automation in the USA. With its advanced features, Sendrux offers a seamless experience for creating, managing, and optimizing your email campaigns. Its platform provides reliable SMTP services, which are essential for executing successful cold email strategies. By leveraging Sendrux, you can ensure that your emails reach their intended recipients effectively, minimizing the risk of being flagged as spam.

Features of Sendrux

Advanced Automation: Sendrux excels in automating cold email sequences, allowing you to set up personalized outreach that runs on autopilot. This is particularly beneficial for nurturing leads and increasing your chances of conversion.

Comprehensive Analytics: Gain insights into your campaign performance with detailed analytics. Track open rates, click-through rates, and other key metrics to refine your strategies and improve results.

User-Friendly Interface: Sendrux’s intuitive design makes it easy to create and manage your email campaigns, even if you’re new to email marketing.

Conclusion

Investing in the right email marketing platform can transform your campaigns and drive better results. Sendrux stands out with its powerful features for cold email automation, ensuring your messages are delivered efficiently and effectively. By choosing the right tools, you can boost your email marketing efforts and achieve your business goals with greater ease.

Visit: www.sendcrux.com

[seaoreos]

Dear Humanity,

I hope this message finds you well. 💟

My name is Hazem, and I’m reaching out to you from Gaza 🇵🇸🍉, where my family and I are living under extremely difficult conditions due to the ongoing conflict. Asking for help isn’t easy, but in these harsh circumstances, your support could make a real difference in our lives.

I am doing everything I can to care for my family of 11, who depend on me to survive amidst this catastrophic situation.

My brother Samer urgently needs expensive medical treatment, and we are suffering from malnutrition and water contamination. Additionally, the education of three family members has come to a halt, and we are in dire need of a new tent to protect us from the winter cold.

Please consider contributing to our campaign or sharing it with others!

Verified by @gazavetters , my number (#75):

https://gofund.me/917ecb89

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your compassion and support. 💜🙏

Every donation matters. If anyone sends me proof of donation, I’ll send you a hand-painted rock pin or two for free. Send proof, questions, or ask for pictures at my buisness email: BWGTart@gmail.com . more info & pictures of said pins in my pinned post.

[gaza-giving-tree]

Fandoms of Tumblr, I Need Your Help!

Hey Tumblr fam,

This is an open call to everyone in every fandom, on every corner of this platform. You’ve rallied for causes before, lifted each other up in times of need, and proved that this community can be a force for good. Right now, I’m asking for your help with something that truly can’t wait.

The Gaza Giving Tree is a project I’m creating to connect people directly with families in Gaza who are in urgent need of help. We’re talking about mothers and fathers who can’t feed their kids, people freezing in the cold without shelter, and others desperately trying to raise enough money to escape a war zone. Inflation is astronomical, resources are scarce, and for many, every second counts.

It is my hope that the Gaza Giving Tree will be something beautiful—a digital giving tree, with ornaments representing real people, that will link directly to fundraisers and verified campaigns where you can donate directly to help families survive. We don't take any money, we're just spotlighting people who need help for donors who want to help suffering people and families in Gaza, but don't know where to go. But the situation is so dire right now that I can’t wait to launch the finished product. Instead, I’m posting rudimentary posts with links to fundraisers while I'm scrambling to get this project together because lives are quite literally hanging in the balance.

How You Can Help Right Now

Visit the Blog: @gaza-giving-tree . You’ll find posts spotlighting real individuals and families who 1) have been vetted (it's been verified they're really in Gaza) and 2) urgently need your help. Even $5 could mean the difference between a meal and starvation.

Submit a Family or Campaign For Spotlight: If you know of a verified fundraiser or family in need, please send me the details. These will be featured as ornaments on the Giving Tree and shared widely.

Volunteer Your Talents: Whether you’re a web designer, writer, or just someone who wants to help organize, I could use extra hands to get this project off the ground. This is purely a passion project of mine, and I need other people who are equally motivated to help by donating their time and talents.

Spread the Word: Reblog this. Post about it. Share with your communities. Every set of eyes on these fundraisers could mean more lives saved.

Fandoms have always been about creating, sharing, and supporting each other. Let’s take that energy and pour it into something life-changing. Whether you’re part of a book fandom, a TV show fandom, or a gaming community, you have the power to rally people who care.

Gaza needs us now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now. Together, we can be the difference.

DM me, send an ask, or email me at gazagivingtree@yagoo.com if you want to help or have a family to recommend. Let’s make the Gaza Giving Tree a light in the darkness.

Thank you for reading, reblogging, and caring. Let’s save lives. 💪🇵🇸🍉