Thursday, July 16, 2020

The Link Between Alcohol and Aggression

The Link Between Alcohol and Aggression Addiction Alcohol Use Print The Link Between Alcohol and Aggression By Buddy T facebook twitter Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Learn about our editorial policy Buddy T Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on November 24, 2019 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD on November 24, 2019 Oliver Henze/EyeEm/Getty More in Addiction Alcohol Use Binge Drinking Withdrawal and Relapse Children of Alcoholics Drunk Driving Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Nicotine Use Coping and Recovery The association between alcohol and aggression is huge, according to Robert O. Pihl, professor of psychology and psychiatry at McGill University. Alcohol is involved in half of all murders, rapes, and assaults, he said. But the dynamics of this association are complicated, which is why any research that focuses on explaining this relationship is important for society in general. Statistics from the National Institute on  Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism from 2015  corroborate his statement, including:?? 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 were assaulted by another student who had been drinking.97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 reported experiencing alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape. The Basics of Anger Aggression is an outlet for anger. Its easy to think of this as the emotional state that occurs when we get mad. Often, this is a response to a provocation of some sort.   Actually, the personality trait of anger refers to your general tendency to experience chronic anger over time. If youre an angry person, you tend to seek out stimuli that activate  feelings of anger. This may explain why you are angry more often compared with someone who does not have this personality trait.?? Trait Anger Is an Aggression Predictor Trait anger significantly predicts aggression in intoxicated men who report low levels of anger control, according to a study published in Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research.  To obtain these results, researchers recruited 136 male social drinkers ages 21 to 35 to express their aggression after consuming either an alcoholic or placebo beverage.?? Participants were told they were going to compete  against  another individual on a reaction time task, during which they might receive electric shocks from their opponent. While engaged in this fictitious task, which included both high and low shock levels or provocation, the participants experience of anger was unobtrusively assessed using the Facial Action Coding System. Alcohol Brings out Aggression Alcohol intoxication brings out peoples natural tendencies to the expression of anger, said Dominic Parrott, the graduate student who conducted the study. Our findings strengthen the notion that alcohol increases the likelihood that certain drinkers, particularly those with the tendency to be angry and to express their anger outwardly, become aggressive when provoked. If individuals tend to express their anger outwardly, said Zeichner, alcohol will turn up the volume, so that such a person will express anger more frequently and more intensely. A heightened response will most likely occur when the provocation against the drinker is a strong one, and will less likely occur when the individual is experiencing a low provocation and is sober. Anger, Alcohol, and Domestic Violence The relationship of intimate partner violence is one area that is of great concern when it comes to alcohol and anger. This pertains to adults in long-term relationships such as marriages as well as dating and sexual violence. In a 2017 report, researchers shared their findings of the relationship between alcohol and dating violence. The study included 67 undergraduate men who were engaged currently dating someone. The conclusions were that alcohol increased the odds of physical aggression in those men who had high trait anger and poor anger management skills. It also noted that sexual aggression was higher with alcohol, even in men with low trait anger and reasonable anger management skills.?? How to Get Help When Your Partner Gets Violent After Drinking Energy Drinks and Alcohol a Potential Risk Factor Cocktails that include energy drinks should be considered a possible factor  for aggressive behavior in bars as well. In another study, researchers surveyed 175 young adults who mixed alcohol with caffeinated energy drinks about their verbal and physical aggression in bar conflicts. More research is needed, but the study did find enough escalation in people consuming these drinks to label them a potential risk to increased hostility.?? Could you be in danger? Take the Domestic Danger Assessment Quiz.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Humorous Wedding Roast †Why Would Anyone Want to Marry...

Humorous Wedding Speech – Why Would Anyone Want to Marry this Man? Ladies and gentlemen, if theres anybody here this afternoon whos feeling nervous, apprehensive and queasy at the thought of what lies ahead, its probably because you have just got married to Charles Farrer. Looking around this packed room, its surprising just how far some people are prepared to travel for a free lunch. Its very fortunate that Charles was not involved in developing the menu; otherwise you would have been very disappointed to have come all this way for cheese sandwiches washed down with lager. Oh well then, I’d better hurry up. After all, I’m supposed to, in good taste, put the groom down. So, minus the good taste I’ll get on with it.†¦show more content†¦In fact, he starts thinking from the moment he gets up and doesnt stop until he opens his mouth. He has a wonderful skill. Charles can offend anyone on any topic. People know this and steer clear of him at parties. Often, as a sign of respect, they don’t even invite him. Another reason to marry Charles is that he’s very caring – especially about his appearance. Its easy to see from today that Charles, impeccably dressed, has always been an image-conscious sort of guy. You know, he once admitted to me that his favorite forms of entertainment were TV, Playstation and mirrors - in reverse order. He also very caring - when it comes to money. As he has often told me: ‘The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it back in your pocket’. But marriage changes a man and his approach to spending is shifting. Just yesterday, while mulling over a purchase, he blurted out, ‘Well, if you’ve got it why not spend it! I’m not extravagant enough! It’s a lot of money, but hey, you only live once! I’m going to buy this right now! I don’t care how much it costs!’ I was really impressed by this. And dramatically Charles threw the packet of Jaffa cakes in the shopping trolley and marched off. But more likely for Sherie the reason was love. I mean, when they first started seeing each other Charles was a real romantic. He’d take Sherie to all sorts of places†¦ although mainly pubs and bars†¦ with

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Ethical Dilemma Of A Patient s Death Or Permanent Damage

It wasn’t until the second month of my job that I realized that I needed God more than ever in my life. By that time I had worked with three different supervisors (un-named, of course) that had covertly learned to master the deceptive art of concealing medical malpractices, medication errors, and other incidents that could have been easily been avoided. Although I cannot say with 100% certainty that any of these events ever resulted in a patient’s death or permanent damage; however, I will say that there have been countless times during that brief period that I have sat in my track, alone and scared, not sure what was going to happen. Plagued with overwhelming fear and guilt of knowing these internal secrets, I faced an extreme ethical dilemma, not knowing if I should report these kinds of incidents or not. With tears gently streaming down my face, I prayed to the lord and cried out for the lord to save me and to guide me in the right direction. Although, as an voluntee r, I was never the person who was directly involved in any of these unfortunate events, but I still couldn’t help but feel just as guilty just knowing the cold hard truth that was being swept under the rug. I believe in honesty, dignity, and doing what is right, and I firmly believe that the patients and their loved ones have the right to know the truth, even if it makes our hospital appear to be negligent. There have been many, many times where I’ve overheard the hospital administrator or the director ofShow MoreRelatedEthical and Legal Issues of Death and Dying2409 Words   |  10 PagesEthical and Legal Issues of Death and Dying Tracey Rentas Old Dominion University CHP 480 November 30, 2012 Dr. P. Lynch-Epps Abstract This was not easy to put this paper together. Recently my mother- in- law passed away, and her death was devastating to the entire family as well many friends. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and became dependent as she neared the end of life. 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Nature of Evil in Othello Free Essays

The Nature Of Evil In Othello The Nature of Evil in Othello William Shakespeare’s Othello uses different and unique techniques in his language to express the nature of evil throughout the play. Verbal twists and the characters most importantly stress the act of evil. Iago, most of all is portrayed as the â€Å"villain† or â€Å"protagonist in the play. We will write a custom essay sample on Nature of Evil in Othello or any similar topic only for you Order Now Shakespeare uses this character to set the basis of evil. Each plot point is spiraled further into tragedy due to the nature of Iago and his manipulative language towards the other main characters. Corruption overcomes the Venetian society as Iago uses his crafty skills of deceit. The plan to have Othello turn against the ones he loves is the perfect example of evil’s nature. The power struggle is evident between these two. This situation is the start to Iago’s plan to corrupt the society and take Othello’s place. The root of Iago’s â€Å"evil† is jealousy indeed, in turn changing into a power hungry manipulator. Iago is tired of acting like one â€Å"courteous and knee-crooking knave† like he always appears to be [I. i. 46]. Since Iago is reluctant to choose to be a master, he is the servant that bites off the fame and â€Å"keep yet their hearts attending on themselves,† still showing his service to his master but instead is more self-preserving with no attachments at all towards the master [I. i. 52]. Irony is used diligently in Shakespeare’s unique language style. Referred by Othello as â€Å"honest Iago†, the irony is very evident in this title. Iago is everything but honest but this proves how easily led and manipulated Othello is. The traits Iago possess are unexpected to a normal villain. He comes across as charming and smart, he can also be referred to a wolf in sheep’s clothing. For example, he knows Roderigo is in love with Desdemona and figures that he would do anything to have her as his own. Iago says about Roderigo, â€Å"Thus do I ever make my fool my purse. † [I iii. 355,] By playing on his hopes, Iago is able to conjure money and jewels from Roderigo, making himself a profit, while using Roderigo to further his other plans. He also thinks stealthy on his feet and is able to improvise whenever something unexpected occurs. When Cassio takes hold of Desdemona’s hand before the arrival of the Moor Othello, Iago says, â€Å"With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. † [II, i, 163] This language demonstrates the evil inside Iago’s goals of retrieving absolute power. He actually even says of himself, â€Å"I am an honest man†¦. † [II, iii, 245]    Iago slowly corrupts the character’s thoughts, creating ideas in their minds without implicating himself. His â€Å"medicine works! Thus credulous fools are caught†¦. † [II, i, 44] â€Å"And what’s he then that says I play the villain, when this advice is free I give, and honest,† [II, iii, 299] says Iago. In turn, people rarely stop to consider the fact that old Iago could be deceiving and manipulating them; yet they are convinced that he is â€Å"Honest Iago. † From these quotes from â€Å"Othello† it is proven that the dialogue used between Iago and the others is manipulative causing an evil outcome. Iago’s complexity in character grows as the play comes closer to a conclusion. The tricky and crafty way Shakespeare uses the evil in Iago is to make him seem amoral as opposed to the typical immoral villain. At the climactic end of the play, Iago’s plot and plan is given away to Othello by his own wife, Emilia. Iago kills his wife seeing her as a non entity to his vicious foresight. He kills her not out of anger but for more pragmatic reasons. She served no purpose to him anymore and she can now only hurt his chances of keeping the position he has been given by Othello. Iago’s black hearted taking of Emilia’s and Roderigo’s lives is another proof of his amorality. The root of all evil stems from some would say money, but in this case it is power. To drive Iago to get the power he wants, he is fueled by jealousy. The way jealousy affects the other characters is uncanny. Othello is led down the same path as Iago which is exactly what he wants. The other characters all play off Iago’s misfortunes in turn making Iago’s manipulative plan a success. â€Å"Divinity of hell! When devils will their blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows, as I do now. †(II, iii, 348) This is the first quote that it is evident Iago is jealous. He is the voice of jealousy in its entirety, giving way to the evil deeds that drive the play. There is a counter argument to the fact whether Iago is truly â€Å"evil.    In Richard Grant’s, Studies in Shakespeare, describes the dual aspects of the character of Iago, whose external demeanor is characterized by warm sympathy for his friends and apparent trustworthiness among his peers, but whose real and inner nature is amoral, heartless, and entirely self-interested. The fact that Iago was the youngest out of the group of characters, Grants theory on Iago’s evil nature i s that he adapted it by consciously adopting it. â€Å"Brave, and a good soldier, he was also of that order of ability which lifts a man speedily above his fellows. His manners and his guise were of a dashing military sort; and his manner had a corresponding bluntness, tempered, at times, by tact to a warm-hearted effusiveness, by the very tact which prompted the bluntness. † [Grant: Studies in Shakespeare, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1886, pp. 258-79] Grants theory can twist the minds of what Iago has always been thought of to be. The typical villain is taken as something else in this scenario. Being in the military, in is in Iago’s nature to make his way to the top. His actions may not have been particularly â€Å"evil†, but yet understood. Another excerpt from Grants theory, â€Å" All the principal personages of the tragedy, Desdemona and Cassio included, thus regard him; although Cassio, himself a soldier, is most impressed by Iago’s personal bravery and military ability. In speaking of him, he not being present, the lieutenant calls him the bold Iago, and in his presence says to Desdemona that she may relish him more in the soldier than in the scholar,† [II. i. 75, 165-66] [Grant: Studies in Shakespeare, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1886, pp. 234] further explains how the soldier instinct in Iago has replaced his demeanor rather than â€Å"evil. The sheer importance of the character Iago is immense. The theory of Iago being â€Å"evil† or just jealous of a military position is up for debate. The interesting fact about Shakespeare’s characters is the relation they have in real life. As Grant explains, â€Å"In Iago Shakespeare has presented a character that could not have escaped his o bservation; for it is of not uncommon occurrence except in one of its elements, utter unscrupulousness. But for this, Iago would be a representative type, representative of the gifted, scheming, plausible, and pushing man, who gets on by the social art known as making friends. This man is often met with in society. Sometimes he is an adventurer, like Iago, but most commonly he is not; and that he should be so is not necessary to the perfection of his character,† [Grant: Studies in Shakespeare, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1886, pp. 205] you can see the relations Iago has to a specific stereotype of a person in the real world. In another excerpt, â€Å"Thus far Iago’s character is one not rare in any society nor at any time. Yet it has been misapprehended; and the cause of its misapprehension is the one element in which it is peculiar. Iago is troubled with no scruples, absolutely none. He has intellectual perceptions of right and wrong, but he is utterly without the moral sense. He has but one guide of conduct, self-interest. [Grant: Studies in Shakespeare, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1886, pp. 205] Grant explains how Iago is just lacking moral sense. He may not in fact be â€Å"evil† at all. He can simply just be greedy and envious in result of not gaining the position in the military. â€Å"Iago, however, had no thought of driving Othello to suicide. Far from it. Had he supposed the train he laid would have exploded in that catastrophe; he would at least have sought his end by other means. For Othello was necessary to him. He wanted the lieutenancy; and he was willing to ruin a regiment of Cassios, and to cause all the senators’ daughters in Venice to be smothered, if that were necessary to his end. But otherwise he would not have stepped out of his path to do them the slightest injury; nay, rather would have done them some little service, said some pretty thing, shown some attaching sympathy, that would have been an item in the sum of his popularity. There is no mistaking Shakespeare’s intention in the delineation of this character. He meant him for a most attractive, popular, good-natured, charming, selfish, cold-blooded and utterly unscrupulous scoundrel. † (pp. 333-34) [Grant: Studies in Shakespeare, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1886, pp. 205] This excerpt further explains Iago’s nature being exactly how Shakespeare intended yet a little different than what the average reader would think of him. The nature of evil is strictly evident as the play comes to an end, yet it is viewed as an opinion or a theory whether Iago is truly â€Å"evil. † Ironically, Iago’s words speak louder than his actions, proving how legitimate Shakespeare’s use of language for the character was. This dynamic use of language is significant because it can alter the thought of the reader whether Iago was truly evil or just using military tactics to better him. Iago and his use of language set the main plot for every characters outcome. How to cite Nature of Evil in Othello, Papers

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Martin Luther Was A German Theologian And Religious Reformer, Who Star

Martin Luther was a German theologian and religious reformer, who started the Protestant Reformation, and whose vast influence during his time period made him one of the crucial figures in modern European history. Luther was born in Eisleben on November 10, 1483 and was descended from the peasantry, a fact that he often stressed. Hans Luther, his father, was a copper miner. Luther received a sound primary and secondary education at Mansfeld, Magdeburg, and Eisenach. In 1501, at the age of 17, he enrolled at the University of Erfurt, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1502 and a master's degree in 1505 . He then intended to study law, as his father had wished. In the summer of 1505, he abandoned his studies and his law plans, sold his books, and entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. The decision surprised his friends and appalled his father. Later in his life, Luther explained his suprising decision by recollecting several brushes with death that had occurred at the time, making him aware of the fleeting character of life. In the monastery he observed the rules imposed on a novice but did not find the peace in God he had expected. Nevertheless, Luther made his profession as a monk in the fall of 1506, and his superiors selected him for the priesthood. Ordained in 1507, he approached his first celebration of the mass with awe. After his ordination, Luther was asked to study theology in order to become a professor at one of the many new German universities staffed by monks. In 1508 he was assigned by Johann von Staupitz, vicar-general of the Augustinians and a friend and counselor, to the new University of Wittenberg (founded in 1502) to give introductory lectures in moral philosophy. He received his bachelor's degree in theology in 1509 and returned to Erfurt, where he taught and studied. In November 1510, on behalf of seven Augustinian monasteries, he made a visit to Rome, where he performed the religious duties customary for a pious visitor and was shocked by the worldliness of the Roman clergy. Soon after resuming his duties in Erfurt, he was reassigned to Wittenberg and asked to study for the degree of doctor of theology. In 1512, after receiving his doctorate, he took over the chair of biblical theology which he held till his death. Although still uncertain of God's love and his own salvation, Luther was active as a preacher, teacher, and administrator. Sometime during his study of the New Testament in preparation for his lectures, he came to believe that Christians are saved not through their own efforts but by the gift of God's grace, which they accept in faith. Both the exact date and the location of this experience have been a matter of controversy among scholars, but the event was crucial in Luther's life, because it turned him decisively against some of the major tenets of the Catholic church. Luther became a public and controversial figure when he published his Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517. His main purpose of wri ting the theses was to show his opposition for the corruption and wealth of the papacy and to state his belief that salvation would be granted on the basis of faith alone rather then by works. Although it is generally believed that Luther nailed these theses to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, some scholars have questioned this story, which does not occur in any of his own writings. Regardless of the manner in which his propositions were made public, they caused great excitement and were immediately translated into German and widely distributed . Luther's spirited defense and further development of his position through public university debates in Wittenberg and other cities resulted in an investigation by the Roman Curia that led to the condemnation of his teachings and his excommunication. Summoned to appear before Charles V at the Diet of Worms in April 1521, he was asked before the assembled secular and ecclesiastical rulers to recant. He refused firmly, asserting th at he would have to be convinced by Scripture and clear reason in order to do so and that going against conscience is not safe for anyone. Condemned by the emperor,

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Secret Heart essays

Secret Heart essays The book Secret Heart takes place in Helmouth, in present day. The author of this book David Almond grew up in a large family in northeastern England and says The place and the people have given me many of my stories. He started his career as a writer after he graduated from college. This book is one of the few that he has written. For example his first novel was Skellig, his second was Kits Wilderness, and his third was Heaven Eyes. David Almond loves to write, he says Writing can be difficult, but sometimes it really does feel like kind of magic. I think that stories are living things among the most important things in the world. David Almond is an amazing writer, but in Secret Heart he made it too boring. I almost fell asleep several times while reading this book. For example on one whole page they do nothing but jump over an elastic band, while Corinna was jumping with the children she says jump children jump (194). Another thing that he did is in some parts he needed to add just a little more detail. For example when Stanny yelled at the snake it slithered away, he should have thrown something at it all he did was yell. In the book it says It turned its bloodied head and eyes and stared at them for a second, then darted off (24). Another thing is that the whole book is about three days. When you read it, it seems a lot longer than three days. However there were a few parts in this book that I felt were particularly good. For example when Joff and Stanny killed the panther, and Joe and Corinna find it. The book says There was no head of course (156). Another thing is That Joe has dreams and he cant tell if they are real or not, his mother had said you and your dreams (19). This book was a good book it was entertaining for the most part. It had some faults, but I really liked it. If anyone is thinking about reading it I highly recommend it be...

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Plan an Entire Year of Content with this Retail Marketing Events Calendar Template

Plan an Entire Year of Content with this Retail Marketing Events Calendar Template You’re probably thinking that it’s a little too soon to be planning next year’s retail marketing calendar. But why put off until tomorrow what you can do today? In fact, there are a lot of benefits to planning your retail and e-commerce marketing campaigns  early. A few include: You’ll start filling your sales funnel  early, which means people will be closer to making a purchase decision by the time peak buying periods roll around. Working far in advance means you’ll have more time to build up plenty of marketing runway. You can be more creative, since you’ll have plenty of time to do it right. There will be fewer last-minute fire-drills, making your work life more manageable. While I’m not expecting you to have all of your retail marketing activities for next year planned, this template and infographic should help you build up at least a quarter or more of marketing campaigns. If you’re not ready to start planning yet – no problem. It’ll be here waiting for you when you’re ready to get started. There’s even a printable retail marketing infographic and calendar template to help you when it’s time to get planning. Retail Marketing Calendar Templates Before getting into the nuts and bolts of planning your retail marketing calendar, you’ll want to download these templates. You’ll find:   A Marketing Campaign Planning Template  to organize your entire retail marketing campaign. A Retail Marketing Calendar with all the upcoming holidays to plan your campaigns around. A Printable Retail Marketing Infographic  to keep up with all the key marketing dates. What is a Retail Marketing Calendar? Let’s start by discussing a little about what a retail calendar actually is. A retail marketing and events calendar is usually a spreadsheet that gives the marketing team a single source of truth for all the upcoming marketing activities. It’s the birds-eye view of the marketing strategy, new merchandise launches upcoming events and promotional schedules. A robust calendar should outline deadlines, tasks, and all required actions that must take place for content to publish on time. It's the document that makes sure your marketing activities go from imagination to reality. Companies who sell a product via a brick-and-mortar, e-commerce store, or pop-up shop can all benefit from a retail marketing calendar. Planning Your Retail Marketing Events and Campaigns When sitting down to start strategizing about your upcoming retail and sales campaigns, there are a few things you can do to make sure your initiatives are successful. Some marketers feel that these steps are a waste of time and take away effort that could be used to produce customer-facing content. However, marketers are 356% more likely to report success  when they engage in a few planning activities before launching a campaign. Here are a few areas to focus on: Recommended Reading: The Marketing Management + Strategy Statistics You Need to Know in 2019 Goal and Objective Setting The main goal of retail marketing is to bring visitors to the store†¦ be it a digital or physical location. Then, we need to convert these visitors into paying customers. Rarely does a visitor complete  a purchase their first time in the store. The buying cycle typically involves numerous interactions prior to making a sale. The individual will visit the store, see an ad or social media post, follow the company, sign up for its mailing list, visit the store again, put something in the shopping cart, abandon the shopping cart, click an ad, go cold for a few weeks, open a discount email, visit the store again, and finally complete their purchase. It’s a convoluted process†¦ and it can take weeks or even months. Defining goals and objectives can help you make sense of the often complicated marketing funnel. Let’s go through how to set goals that actually contribute to the bottom line. â€Å"Get more visitors.† This is not a very well-thought-out business goal. Why? Because it doesn’t specify much more than an outcome. Your marketing goals need to provide clear guideposts for what success looks like. In other words. Your goals need to be S.M.A.R.T. Here’s what your goal should look like instead: ‘We need 20,000 website visitors and 5% converted into leads, within the next 12-months in order to achieve our revenue goal of $1.2 million.† Recommended Reading: How To Set Social Media Goals To Crush Your Business Objectives Find Your Retail Marketing Goal With This Step-by-Step Process Start by figuring out how much revenue you need to generate and how much you want to grow. Step 1: Figure out how much revenue you need to generate and how much you want to grow. Your company sold $1 million worth of merchandise last year. You want to grow by 20% in the coming year. That means you need to sell $1.2 million next year. Here’s the equation: Total Sales Previous Year x Percentage Growth = Revenue Increase $1 million x .20 = $200,000 $1 million + $200,000 = $1.2 million Step 2: Calculate the average price of your sales. So, you sold $1 million dollars in merchandise last year and you had about 20,000 total customers. That means the average person spent $50 in your store. Total Sales Previous Year / Total Number of Customers = Average Price of Each Sale $1 million / 20,000 = $50 Step 3: Figure out how many customers you need to reach your revenue goal. Assuming the average sale of $50 remains constant... You’ll need about 24,000 customers next year. OR 4,000 more than you had last year. Total Revenue Next Year / Average Sale Price = Total Customers Needed Next Year $1.2 million / $50 = 24,000 Step 4: Calculate your visitor conversion rate. Not everyone who visits your store will make a purchase or become a customer. You need to figure out your conversion percentage to make an accurate approximation for how many total visitors you’ll need to bring in to meet your revenue goal. Taking the numbers from above, your store had 1 million total visitors last year and 20,000 of them turned into paying customers. In that case, you converted 2% of visitors into paying customers. Total Customers / Total Visitors * 100 = Conversion Rate 20,000 / 1,000,000 * 100 = 2% Step 5: Calculate the total number of visitors you need to reach your growth goal. The final step is to figure out how many visitors you need to bring in as a marketer to reach the revenue goal of $1.2 million dollars in sales. Assuming you continue to convert 2% of visitors Total Customer Needed / Conversion Rate   = Total Visitors Needed 24,000 / .02 = 1.2 Million Visitors That’s your north star as a marketer. Everything you do should be focused on driving 1.2 million people to visit your store. Brainstorm Ideas to Reach your Visitor Goals 1.2 million visitors (or whatever visitor number you calculated using the formula above) aren’t going to just magically appear. You’ve got to do some great marketing to bring them to your store. To start your brainstorming session, use this simple three-step process. Step 1: Get your marketing team together in a room. Have everyone spend ten minutes writing down as many ideas as they can. Don’t worry about the quality of those ideas yet - you will vet the ideas in step 3. Step 2: Spend ten minutes reading each idea out loud. Have each team member score every idea on a three-point scale. Threes are home runs, twos are possibilities, and ones you can skip altogether. Step 3: Spend ten more minutes reviewing each idea that everyone agrees is a three. These are your best ideas and the ones you should go with. By following this process, you can wrap up your campaign brainstorming in half-hour to an hour (depending on how much time you spend discussing ideas at the end). Map All Your Best Projects on a Retail Marketing Calendar After you’ve figured out all your best marketing ideas, it’s time to get planning. The template provided in the download above provides a basic foundation to get started. Simple populate the excel spreadsheet with all your ideas, when you’re going to launch them and who will be involved. Remember each individual project should have a goal to drive a certain number of visitors. Here’s how to use it: I’ve created a fictional company that sells basic kids clothing and accessories. This activity plan gives a high level for each campaign that is coming down the pipeline. In the next tab on the spreadsheet, you’ll find an area for the granular campaign details. Begin filling out details for each project under the campaign. I started by creating a fictional influencer outreach campaign where 4 influencers will create sponsored content on their Instagram feeds. Provide a short description of the project, the budget, the goal, and due dates for each task needed. Next, you can fill in the due dates on the calendar template provided. This provides further clarification of due dates for each task If you’re kinda sick of managing a bunch of different spreadsheets†¦ And you’re never really sure if people are on top of their tasks†¦ Try planning your retail marketing activities in instead. Rather than having to constantly update a spreadsheet, gives you a single version of truth so everyone can finally get on the same page. Start by creating a marketing campaign by choosing the first option called â€Å"marketing campaign†. Once you’ve done this, you’ll see the campaign populate on your calendar. Next, add each individual project that will make up the campaign. I’ll start with the influencer campaign similar to the one in the spreadsheet template. Next, give your campaign a title and due date. Now, instead of creating static due dates in a spreadsheet, assign and delegate tasks in so everyone knows what their contributions are and when to do them. After you’ve assigned the tasks, each individual will see them pop-up on their daily to-do lists. Once you’ve added all the projects, everyone on your team will be able to see how all the pieces of your retail marketing campaign fit together. Here’s what a fully populated marketing campaign in looks like. You’ll see every project, due dates, tasks and project progress all in one place. Use ’s Hubspot Integration for The Ultimate Holiday Calendar A lot of retailers are leveraging the power of Hubspot. Which is great – lucky for you we integrate seamlessly with all things Hubspot. Here’s how it works: Connect your HubSpot account directly in to sync your email marketing, pages, and blog posts into one place. Once you’ve connected your Hubspot account, you can create Hubspot projects directly in . When adding a new project, you’ll see a couple of Hubspot options you can add to your calendar. Enter your title, add labels, owner, etc. Click the Create button when you are ready. Next, choose your URL, if you're managing multiple sites, then the Page template you're wanting to work with. Once finished, you will see the HubSpot Page editor added to your project. You can change the Post Title, Author, and Scheduled Time in . To edit further, click Edit in HubSpot. Key Dates in Retail Marketing Retail marketing ebbs and flows with seasonal changes, holidays, events and special occasions. Knowing key dates allows you to plan in advance and prepare to increase sales with strategically timed marketing campaigns. This printable infographic will help you identify key marketing opportunities for better social media content, email promotions and more. I’ve also provided a few examples under each to show how you can launch similar occasion-based marketing campaigns around holidays and key dates.