Inconvenient social proof to glow up your brand

The people on my email list who benefit the most from these emails are the ones who commit to opening them regularly and reading them all the way through on a regular basis.

That might sound obvious and also like a lot of work.

But there is little you can’t have in life with a good measure of hard work and dedication to learning everything you can from the people who, for reasons unknown, seem to capture your attention.

That said, if the lesson embedded within today’s email is not immediately obvious to you, then I recommend reading it again.

In more than one of Robert Cialdini’s books he writes about a 1968 Stanley Milgram experiment whereby a man stops in the middle of a bustling New York City block and just stands there, mouth agape, staring towards the sky. After several minutes of looking at nothing in particular, few people, if any, take notice. While most simply walk around him and continue on about their day.

But when four men join the single skygazing man, more than 4x times as many people stop and join them in order determine what might be going on. People in New York are busy. But apparently, they’re not that busy.

I bring this up because most people are simply unaware just how much they’re influenced by other people’s behavior.

And if you’re unsure how to use this in your marketing, let me lead you to my next point with an example.

Back to New York City, but this time almost a decade later. Again, a city that’s pulsing with ambition, excess, and not only that, a hunger for belonging when you’re often just another face in the crowd. After years of economic decline, crime, and cultural burnout, people weren’t just looking for another night out.

They were starved for status, and looking for a story to tell.

That’s when two young entrepreneurs, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager had an idea that shouldn’t have worked.

It was a nightclub.

But instead of letting people in, they turned them away. And not just some people, most of them.

They decided to build desire not by welcoming the masses, but by rejecting them. A place so exclusive that getting left out in the cold still gave you a status building story to tell. This place was legendary, not just for what went on inside, but more so, for what happened outside, at the front door.

Every night, hundreds, sometimes thousands of people lined up behind the velvet ropes, in subzero temps, waiting for hours while Rubell stood at the door.

There, he carefully manufactured the chaos that would ensue.

Rubell and his staff would often invite their own friends or hire models, eccentrics, and drag queens to stand in line and attract attention while intentionally holding back entry to the club even when it was only half full. Coupled with his attitude and knack for entertainment. This alone made standing on line in the freezing cold line for hours just to get rejected plenty thrilling enough for the polo shirt wearing tourists who were looking for a good time.

It gave them a story to tell.

Of course, once inside, Studio 54 dare not disappoint.

Department store clerks, provided they wore enough glitter to get in that night, could rub elbows with movie stars, models, politicians, rock legends and more. While the dancefloor featured live horses, snow machines, famous impromptu performances, champaign fountains, and much, much more.

I’ll spare you all the scantillous details.

But the point is, even though the front door experience was carefully manufactured, it wasn’t a mirage. Once inside, you often got more than you bargained for. And even though they put the cart before the horse in terms of exclusivity, it was taking the risk on building the cart in the first place that gave the horses something to pull when they finally arrived.

Such is the power of inconvenient social proof.

Anyway, due to popular demand, I’m putting together a resource that will help you build a bigger, more qualified email list for your offers and services. And in preparation for that, I want to talk to a few folks on my list who are already hard at work, building their email list, but not seeing quite the results they desire.so I can tailor the content to meet their exact experience.

If that sounds like you, then reply to this email with “INTERESTED!” because I want to make sure I tailor the content to meet your exact needs and experience.

Now I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to converse at great length with everyone who replies. But I can guarantee a thrilling, velvet rope email exchange that is sure to improve your email list building efforts for many lifetimes to come.

Simply put…

Want grow list? Reply “INTERESTED!”

Talk soon,

Kevin Hood