A few years back, I sent an email to more than 40k subscribers.
Within minutes, the inbox was flooded with passionate replies. Something I said had touched a nerve.
I was handling email marketing for a client, and one of the challenges was that the list had been dormant for a while. Very few people opened the emails from this brand, and hardly anyone replied.
But for this email, the replies wouldn’t stop coming. I felt like Harry Potter receiving letters from Hogwarts pouring from the chimney.
Some were agreeing with me passionately, and I could see them nodding their head vigorously from behind the keyboard. Others were respectfully disagreeing and explaining their perspective.
What did I say that resonated so deeply with the subscribers?
I did not write as a corporation or a company. I wrote the email as Pranav, a real person. (Shocker)
I told them that I had recently joined this organization and that I was looking to learn about the industry from everyone. And I invited them to teach me. This was the premise.
I was NOT pretending to be an expert. I was an explorer looking to learn from them. People loved that.
My point is – You don’t need to be an expert. Someone who has figured it all out. People sense inauthenticity from a distance.
You can be an explorer.