Hi there Reader.

I've been thinking a lot about Fan Culture lately…not only because it's World Cup season (yasss!) but because it’s one of the clearest examples of collective emotional participation we have. People paint their faces and bodies, rearrange their schedules, scream at televisions, hug and jump with strangers, cry in airports, obsess over pre-game rituals, learn player’s names overnight, and suddenly care very deeply about offsides.

That’s fandom.

And for brand builders (or anyone with a business!), that’s worth paying attention to.

Even if you’re not a fútbol fan, it’s hard to ignore what’s happening right now. The USA vs. Belgium World Cup match drew 42 million viewers across Fox, Telemundo, and Peacock, while Fox reported 30 million English-language viewers, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history.

Apparently, America does know how to become a soccer country when the stakes are high enough. ;)

Honestly, I think it gives us something we need right now: surprise, delight, and a reason to believe in something together, even if only for 90 minutes.

Which brings me to the bigger question I’ve been thinking about lately:

Not followers, not an audience.

But fans.

The people who don’t just watch from the sidelines, but care enough to show up, talk about it, bring others in, and feel like they’re part of something.

I’ve also had fandom on the brain because I’m working on a new brand for a client whose entire life and creative identity has been shaped by fan culture. And the more I think about it, the more I believe this is one of the most misunderstood ideas in modern marketing...

Because a fan isn’t just someone who likes what you do. A fan is someone who lets your work mean something to them.

The story about the white envelope.

During Spring High Point Market this past April, a couple approached me after a panel I was moderating and reintroduced themselves. It turns out we had also met in the fall, so it was lovely to see them again nodding from the front row.

Jo, an artist, had a stiff white envelope in her hand, and told me she had been touched by an email I sent a few years ago about my grandfather. (you can read the original post here)

In that email, I shared an old black and white photo from the 1940s I had found of my grandfather in his Army hat, with a sweet love note signed at the bottom to my grandmother.

So what do you think was in Jo’s envelope?

This digitally recrafted color photo of him:

I was speechless. Like full body chills and a red flush that gushed up from my heart into my cheeks and filled my eyes with tears I couldn't hold. It was one of those overwhelming emotional responses that catches you completely off guard in public, which is always convenient, of course.

But oh....what just a few thoughtful brushes of color could do!

What she did to that photograph bent time…it brought out his freckles and the glimmer in his eyes. The shape of his face suddenly brought forward in time.

And it took me back to seeing him again after so many years.

To tell you this meant more to me (and my Mom!) than anything would still not be close enough to how I felt in that moment, or all the months since that I’ve been sitting on this email.

Because Jo didn’t just read something I wrote. She remembered it, and carried it with her. And then she made me something in response. That’s not a follower, but someone who was moved enough by something I wrote to complete the emotional circuit. And isn’t that what we’re all hoping for, in some way?

Not just to be seen, but to know something we made mattered enough to travel all the way into someone else’s heart and come back to us changed in the form of something they create too?

The story of the mysterious French admirer.

And then there’s the case of the mystery French admirer, which may sound like the beginning of an Amélie subplot, but this is my friend’s actual, enchanting life. ✨

My dear friend and fellow interior designer, Stephanie Le Rouzic, is a media darling in France. Through her blog, social media, books, publications, press coverage, and years of sharing her eye and expertise, her work has resonated with a global design audience for more than two decades.

A few years ago, she told me about a mysterious gift she receives every year from a fan she has never met.

Every year, on May 1, she receives an anonymous, exquisitely crafted envelope in the mail (May 1 is La Fête du Travail, or Labor Day, in France. It’s also the day people traditionally give lily of the valley, or muguet, as a good-luck gesture).

The envelope arrives with Stephanie’s name handwritten in spooling, looping cursive. And each one is a discovery in itself…

They are so breathtakingly original that you immediately imagine the hours they must have taken. All of that time and care, just to send to a stranger whose work you admire.

And after 10 years, this anonymous fan has still never come forward to claim their artistry!

This annual gift remains a mystery, but also a sincere act of appreciation for what Stephanie shares with the world.

I find that INCREDIBLE. ✨

Here’s the moral of both stories: When your work consistently gives beauty to the world, people sometimes answer back with beauty! How wonderful.

How many true fans do you really need?

In 2008, long before everyone was trying to become internet famous, media theorist and Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly published his famous essay, 1,000 True Fans.

His point was simple and still wildly relevant: creators don’t need millions of casual followers to build a meaningful, sustainable career. They need a smaller group of people who are deeply invested and willing to support the work directly.

I don’t think most of us in the home industry need 1,000 true fans.

Some of us might need 100.

Some might need 20.

Some might need only 8 perfect-fit true fans a year who believe so deeply in what we do that they trust us with their homes, their collections, their legacy, their wellbeing, their story.

And that’s the part I want us to pay attention to…

Because the people you most want to reach aren't just watching you, they’re looking for a reason to believe in you.

A follower might see your work in passing. A fan remembers it, talks about it, sends it to a friend, saves it for later, or carries it around with them (ahem, in a browser tab or bookmark…guilty!) for years.

But a believer goes even further. They see themselves in what you’re building, and they want to participate.

Which is why I laughed when I heard futbol legend and World Cup host Zlatan Ibrahimović say, “I don’t have followers, I have believers.”

Very Zlatan.

And also, very correct.

So what are you really selling?

Most people in our industry are not selling objects. Not really. We’re selling belonging, identity, memory, beauty, hospitality, taste, ease, self-expression, and the future state of someone’s life.

Your client isn’t just buying a kitchen. She’s buying the house where everyone gathers and where she can be the host with the most.

Your collector isn’t just buying a painting or furniture objet. He is buying a point of view about himself, his culture, his taste, and his future.

And your customer isn’t just buying a slipper chair. She’s buying evidence of who she's becoming in the next phase of her life.

Because the work itself may be beautiful, but beauty alone is not always enough to create belonging.

People need the story, an invitation. They need to understand where they fit inside the world you’re building. That’s what transforms someone from a viewer into a fan, and from a fan into a believer.

And if you’ve ever wondered why your marketing sometimes feels like shouting into the void, maybe the problem isn’t that no one is listening…maybe they just don’t know what they’re being invited to join yet.

Play the beautiful game!

So yes, take the shot...publish the post, send the email, tell the story, make the thing. Share the work while it still feels a little too tender to share (trust me).

Because somewhere out there may be a Jo with a white envelope. Or a mystery admirer with a stylo and a decade of devotion.

Or simply one person who needed to hear exactly that thing that only you could say. ♥️

And please, for the love of all beautiful things, be a good fan too! If someone’s work touches you, tell them…comment, reply, share it, buy it if you really gotta have it, send a thoughtful quick note. Complete the feedback cycle so creative people keep making beautiful work and putting generous ideas into the world.

We need more of that!

Play the beautiful game: create something people want to belong to. Cheer for other people when they take the field and respect the unique strengths each person brings to the game.

And remember, as Wayne Gretzky famously said, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Hit reply and tell me what you're creating right now...how can I follow, share, and support you?

To your success! 🚀

Ericka

PS. If you’re curious about how email can help you build genuine connection with your audience, I'm hosting a workshop with Business of Home this Wednesday, July 15 called The Inbox Influencer. Learn how to turn email into one of the most powerful relationship-building tools in your marketing. Find out more and sign up here >>​