Welcome back to Lending Leadership: The Creative Brief! In this episode, we dive headfirst into the shifting landscape of content creation and marketing, especially as it relates to automation, AI, and the growing exhaustion with “perfect” content.

More and more, we’re seeing that highly polished, automated posts aren’t building trust in fact, they might be doing just the opposite. The flood of similar, AI-generated content is creating a “sea of sameness,” making it harder for audiences to differentiate and connect with you. We’re feeling the pressure too! So today, we give ourselves (and you!) permission to keep it real: imperfect, unscripted, and authentic content is not just acceptable it’s necessary.

We’re drawing on real-world industry experience and the feedback we see every day from loan officers, agents, and clients in the field.

Here’s what we covered:

• The downside of too-perfect, overly polished content and how audiences are increasingly able to spot AI at a glance
• Why trust is harder to earn (and easier to lose) in today’s digital marketplace
• The importance of shifting the focus from volume and automation to intention and authenticity
• How storytelling can be a powerful differentiator, making your brand and message relatable and memorable
• The real stats behind trust, engagement, and content fatigue and how to adjust your strategy accordingly

Key Takeaways

1. Perfect Content Doesn’t Convert: We’re seeing a clear shift away from polished posts. Not only do audiences spot AI-generated content instantly, but they also trust it less imperfection feels genuine and earns attention.
2. Burnout Is Real for Creators and Audiences: The pressure to post frequently, the endless scroll, and automated sameness are exhausting everyone. More isn’t always better; strategic, intentional content wins.
3. The Power of Storytelling: Real stories about helping clients or solving problems make you memorable and relatable. Use day-to-day experiences for organic, unscripted content people want to see themselves in your story, not just hear a sales pitch.
4. Trust Must Be Earned Through Authenticity: Stats show that 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before buying, and 92% trust real recommendations over branded content . User-generated stories, testimonials, and genuine voices cut through the noise.
5. Let Go of Perfectionism: Good lighting and sound help, but don’t wait for a perfect script or flawless take. Mess it up. Be yourself. The differentiator is you and your honest, imperfect story is what builds true connection.

We hope this episode gives you the permission you need to show up as your real self online. Let your audience in, share your everyday victories (and stumbles), and remember that authenticity is your superpower.

Stay tuned, get inspired, and let’s keep it real together!

Rach & Rin

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There's so much talk right now about content that is. That is too perfect. There's so much noise and so much stuff, and everybody's just like trying to create so much content and make it so perfect when actually that's probably working against them. So we are seeing a shift right now. The more polished your content is, surprise, surprise, the less people trust it. Wow. There's no surprise in that. Actually.

At the same time, we're all feeling exhausted from posting and audiences assume everything is a pitch because they feel like everyone's selling to them. So what's actually working anymore? Well, today Corinne and I are getting into some of the things that are not working, the things that are working and just keeping it real today. Welcome to Lending Leadership. I'm Rach, this is Rin. We're getting real. Let's go. Hi, Rin.

How you doing, Rach? Yeah, this is a good one. I feel like it's been brewing for a while now with how far automation has come with social scheduling and social posting, and then now in the last, however many, I guess we're into years now or from early development, how AI is playing such a significant role, that's changing by the day on, you know, how we look at trends in content, how we're seeing content online. I mean, I don't know how many of you out there, how many loan officers can now spot an AI generated post. I feel like all of us can raise our hands and say, yes, we can see that this post was made by AI. This person did not sit and just type off the top of the dome something that they were thinking or feeling. So when that's happening, how is that changing the landscape? How is that changing your audience online to. To view what you're doing? How is that affecting the scroll ratio? I've seen this, done this, looked at this before. I don't need to read it.

You know, that's the question that we're kind of floating out there and that we want to discuss today.

I feel like there's so much talk right now about content that is. That is too perfect. And everybody, I don't know about you, I feel so much pressure. And even when I go on online and I'm on social, there's so much noise and so much stuff and it, like, makes me so overwhelmed. And everybody's just like trying to create so much content and make it so perfect when actually that's perfect, probably working against them, you know, and like, the things that actually work are the intentional pieces, the story. I want to get into just the storytelling aspect of it. The things that actually connect and relate. We can talk about a little bit what you talked about at sales rally, just a little.

And. And the fact that people don't need to be more polished. That polished content is actually a signal that it's AI. And you know, something that we talked about in sales rally too. When everyone's doing AI, then, now there's no differentiator. Now it's not fun anymore. Now everyone's doing the same. It's the sea of sameness now.

When it first came out, it was like, oh, this is different and fresh. But now everyone's doing the same memes and the same, the same cartoon style things. It's like, okay, who cares?

I can't stand it. Like, when I go on to LinkedIn, the only thing I really enjoy seeing is people posting from the events. Like a personal moment or event. I'm like, oh, where were they at? Or like, that draws me in from a business to business standpoint. And I find it to be like, interesting. Obviously there's that FOMO element of what event did you go to? What did you learn? Was I there? Was I at this other event? Like, there's that going on. But the cartoon style AI ads, I am like, oh, my God, they're a dime a dozen. I could, I don't read a thing on them.

I scroll, I'm like, oh, my, my. It's like, it's so. There's so much in my mouth. Yeah, it's like you throw up in your mouth. Yeah, I'm like another one of those. Like, yeah, I just, I feel like

it's just creating so much noise and especially in the business world, we all feel like, oh, well, that person did it. So I need to do it too. And I need to jump on this bandwagon. Well, you don't, because it's just creating more pressure for yourself.

I think though, one of the things that we need to address with this though too is also the feeling a volume of content necessary. Oh, I've got to post at least three times a week or two times a week or whatever you're being advised to post. Maybe it varies from consultant to consultant, but it's just the need for so much content. So you're trying to automate the content and then everyone's trying to automate their content. So again, with AI playing a role, some things are looking very similar in the style of release that's coming out, the imagery that's coming out, and it's just so much More scrollable of I've seen this a hundred times this week. What's new about this post?

And ultimately the trust factor, because it all comes down to trust at the end of the day because why are people even making content to begin with? It's not just to be content creators. If you're a mortgage loan officer, I would imagine it's to ultimately affect change, affect a sale, affect a relationship. Not to just to be a content creator. So really getting to how is what you're putting out there affecting trust? How is what you're putting out there affecting your relationships? Does it even affect relationships? Does it even matter? Is it creating more noise like this is something I'm passionate about because it's exhausting. Great. It could be exhausting sometimes on both ends, right? To be the consumer of content when there's all this stuff, but then also to be the one who is creating. So I really, I'm excited to just jump in here. So, so let's.

Here's one topic for you talking about that trust factor. People just don't believe marketing the way that they used to because they can spot an AI created piece of content like you just said. So trust is harder to earn and easier to lose. Would you agree with that?

I would. And I think that one thing that's important, and unfortunately it might take more capacity out of you or a team member, is that we still need to be using our brains a bit. We can't just rely on the fact that I know, oh my gosh, I still have to access what's going on up here. Sure. Automation is wonderful and making sure that we're covered for time efficiencies so we can stay out in the field selling, doing the things we love. That's important. Closing the loans is what the number one priority is. But whether it's you or a team member, we still have to.

And actually I will give the president of HMA Mortgage, our company, big kudos on this because he still, to this day, even with a team, a high powered team behind him, still does this every single week. He just comes up with his own ideas. Yeah, he still will send me a random text message on the frequent or other members of our team that he works closely with on hey, I want to do this or I want to say something about this or I'm not sure if you saw this event, but this person was there and I want to, you know, tag them online and comment on a story that they told me. Right. He is still thinking about that stuff week to week. And Puts effort, his own effort into it. And I know, you know, it's hard to hear that because we want to automate and AI everything, but we still need to take those moments to just access what we personally know and draw that into our content. Because, you know, fortunately or unfortunately, the audience can still feel that.

Right? They can still feel that and they can still react or not react and scroll if we don't make that effort.

Well. And you can tell, you can tell when you know somebody, you can tell their voice, you know, the way that they type, you know, the way that they speak, you know, when something is scripted and when it's not. And it just feels so much more authentic when you read something and you're like, yeah, that's, that's Dave. That's Dave's style. Someone has a, an intrinsic style of the way that they do things. And yeah, I think that's definitely one of the top reasons that he is a top producer, top 1% of loan officers across the country. You know, you can't just rely on the easy way out. And I don't want to say that AI is just the easy way out, that anyone who's doing AI is just taking the easy way out.

We use it every day, but absolutely use it as a filter. Don't use it as your starting point. And I think we've all fallen into that trap. It can be very tempting to just say, oh yeah, just let AI handle everything. Well, that's a really, really dangerous territory to be in. Because then all of a sudden you're like, oh wait, how do I even write an email anymore? I don't even remember. Cause you're just not using your brain anymore.

Yeah. And I mean, one strategy that we actually dove into on our sales rally and many of our successful loan officers are doing it and executing on it is through storytelling in content creation, graphics, video, social posts, all of it. So you know what I mean by that is just taking actual week to week stories of how you worked with your customers, how you worked with your agent partners, and putting it into storytelling format. So organic day to day. An example of how you executed a VA loan product with your neighbor and how that made your neighbor, neighbor feel, what solutions did that provide for your neighbor, what pain were they experiencing or frustrations or obstacles did they have before you were able to come up with that, you know, product or solution as an example or somebody who you were able to refinance and say 4 or $500 a month off the, off their mortgage. So don't just Talk about the result. Make the result be a portion of it. But first, you know, open up and just describe the story like you're just sitting in your living room with a cup of coffee saying, you know, this person called me.

They were having a lot of problems with this. You know, they were going through X in their life. Because others can relate to that. Right. Other agents are going to relate and say, I have a customer with that same problem. Or another person who's, you know, considering buying a house or refinancing is going to say, well, I was thinking the same thing. I have an issue very similar to that. Or my cousin has an issue similar to that.

Right. And that's a way to personalize yourself still. Yes. And it requires you recording your stories and, you know, either using a team member or if you outsource or if you do it yourself, you know, taking that time to make sure that you're sharing that content organically. But again, it's a way to relate in a deeper format, and it's more personalized than just, you know, an automated release that goes out on your behalf. That's probably a little bit more canned.

Yeah, you did a great job with that at our sales rally, Red. It was such a nice way to start things off and something that everybody could relate to. And storytelling just does that. Right. It allows people to see themselves in your story. So rather than just saying, like, okay, we have a VA Loan. Okay, well, who cares? But like you just said, tell them what happened. Tell them the beginning, the end.

Don't have it scripted. Maybe. Maybe have a couple of bullet points you want to hit, but there's nothing like throwing on a camera. I'm a big fan of, like, I'm not suggesting filming while driving. It's probably. People get. AJ not about this, but when you

do it safely or, like, I don't

like it, I. I find it because I'm doing something right. Or if you're. When you're parked, you get home, and, like, you're still in the car, and you're just like, okay, well, I'll meet you halfway.

We have to say. We have to add the disclaimer. Rachel. Lindsay. Lindsay will kill us if we. If we don't say, do not try this at home, guys. We don't want anyone getting hurt.

But. Right. Or doing something. Or like throwing on a camera and having a little stand or having someone film you while you're cooking. You know, you see this a lot where someone's doing something else, and it actually takes a lot of Pressure off of you because then you're doing something but then you're just telling a story like you would tell a friend. Like you said in the living room. I love that. But you did such a great job of pulling these stories together in a relatable way.

And we all have these stories and then it allows us to see ourselves in that story rather than just I have a VA loan. Who cares? Who cares?

And your marketing department should be helping you with this. I have to plug and say that we are building sales presentations that ask specific questions where the loan officer can just kind of fill in some storytelling if they're doing a brunch and learn or ordering lunch at a agent partner's office to discuss a product or service where they can build stories into their presentation so that it's not just that selling moment of bullet points. Right. We're doing reels and we're doing scripts so that you know, you're really reading the script, reading the questions and you're able to just kind of fill in your stories. And then of course like social graphics and social shares that are built around testimonials and storytelling. So there should be some supportive measures. Talk to your marketing department about it because it is important and it gets better engagement online. Yeah.

And again, just going back to that trust factor, I was pulling some stats together because I was like, huh. I'm really curious about just the actual statistics behind what's working and what's not working. And so I have the actual data behind this says that 81% of consumers say they need to trust a brand before they even consider buying.

But

why Real reviews and experience experiences matter. 92% of people trust recommendations from other people over brand messaging. So you would be considered another person. You're to your, yes, you're your own brand, but when you tell that story, that's authentic, that's real people, people relate to that versus just, you know, an ad style commercial. It just has that kind of ick factor. So really consider that when you are creating content, you know, make it as real and relatable as possible.

Sure, yeah. And with the volume piece of it of feeling the need to post multiple times a week or having that ongoing conversation. Use automation. We're not suggesting, I mean automation and AI support so that you have a touch in front of a person that you wouldn't have been able to get to. So it's 100% necessary. What we're advocating for though and still suggesting is that you still, still kind of bucket aside some time for yourself. To create those side stories, those side moments, those ideas that you want to also incorporate into your audience sharing and into your plan and process so that it's not just a completely automated canned release that's very predictable and something that your audience and other similar audiences are just seeing every single week.

Yeah, yeah, that's the differentiator right there. And actually this next segment, I guess you could say, just fits beautifully into what you just said, because with that, you can kind of let go of this idea that everything has to be perfect and you have to have great per. I mean, yes, you should have good lighting. Don't be in the dark like you're in witness protection and no one can hear or see you. Like little microphones are so cheap on Amazon. Get those. Get them. But it doesn't have to be perfect.

Rachel, Rachel, tell them we get in trouble, right? The partners of our company and our leaders to get in trouble with Rachel. If our lightning is not right, that will be corrected. So good lighting, people.

We're.

We're advocating for good lighting. Yes.

And listen, we're doing a podcast. This is a bit of a different situation here. You know, we are obviously being very intentional. We. We want this to be professional and in different mediums. I think they have different rules, but I'm talking about your everyday social content that, you know, you're just. You're getting. Getting content out there.

It doesn't need to be personal. Perfect, actually, they say, you know, the they out there, they say that perfect content doesn't convert and it actually creates more of a distraction than a connection. Right. With so much. I mean, I don't know about you, Corinne, but especially the stuff. I get crazy with my kids about this with all the swipes and how much they're on their phones. Like, we're really trying to buckle down on what they see. And I think we need to be careful of this, too, because so much content out there is AI and you cannot tell what is real and what is not.

So the signal now when something is too perfect is that it's AI. So congratulations. Yes. I love this. Have something be perfectly imperfect, mess it up, be weird. I don't know, don't put a filter on your face. Just be your normal self.

Well, and those hooks, too, when we're, you know, since we're on the social media track right now, those hooks are so important, Right. Because you have such a limited. And again, there's statistics out there that we could read for days about such a limited amount of time. You get to just Grab somebody's attention for a moment right before they move on to the next post or mind break that they're taking or feel that they're taking at that time. Right. So those hooks are really important. What are you doing? And you can actually, you know, develop a lot of, you know, a list of ideas for yourself. Like for example, I was reading an article the other day about how when you're looking at those videos, sometimes a person is just as you mentioned, cooking, just doing something.

Like they might be grabbing their dog leash or like walking the dog or going to open their garage door and typing in the, the code to get into their garage. And you just sit there and go, what, what's this person going to do next? You have no idea what they're going to do. You don't have any idea that it has anything to do with your business. You're just like, you just sit there, then all of a sudden it ties back to something that's relative or valuable to you in business. But the hook had nothing to do with it. It just kept your attention for a second as you're staring, right? And that's the goal and that's what's happening. There's strategies built around that to get people to stop, look, click, watch for even five more seconds than maybe they would have if it just started with a pitch or a person just talking to you directly into the camera. So you know, there, there's a lot of strategy there and we would love to talk with you more about it but you know, this kind of should hope, hopefully get the, the wheels turning on how you can make your, your content stronger.

Yeah, make it stronger without having it be perfect. And for anybody who's listening out there, if you're starting any video with, hey everybody, it's me, Rachel Tresh from HMA Mortgage. Please stop doing that. You are wasting valuable seconds in the beginning of a video. I really hope you're do if you're not doing video. That's a big problem. I think in this world we need to be doing video again. We, we, we don't want to put pressure on people to just do more, more, more.

We want it to be strategic. That's what this whole thing is about. But, but take, take this advice that it just doesn't need to be perfect. But start, yes, start with. And as we are talking about this, we have to mention that content burnout is a real thing. I think everyone out there is tired. Consumers are tired, creators are tired. It's leading to a more robotic, low impact content Facing environment.

And I think, I think we need to be aware of that, you know, so don't just think that more, more, more is better and that you need to be doing just something to check a box. Really be intentional about what you're doing. It will make more of an impact.

Yep. It's more about those high, you know, more views and having a higher engaged post than the number of posts that are really getting very limited engagement. So you want to be paying attention to the strategies that you're employing that are actually getting reposts, comments, reactions and response.

You know what's really interesting? Again, I was pulling stats together. Listen to this. This will blow your mind. Actually, maybe I should make a guess. Okay, I'm going to make a guess. Like, everybody guess who's watching? Greg Malamut's definitely listening in. Greg Malamut.

If you're listening on YouTube, Greg Malamut is guessing. One of our. One of our amazing loan officers is watching and he will be guessing president

of our fan club. So there are over X amount of photos and videos posted every day on Instagram. Every single day. How many would you say are posted? How many photos and videos would you say are posted every single day? And I'm sure even since I pulled this stat, the number's probably higher. How. How many would you guess?

I. I don't even know where to start with that. I know, like, I don't have any, like, number or reference in my mind. Why don't you just hit us with it or we give everybody a second. Do we do a do do do do do do do do do.

Okay, well, they're probably thinking about it now. So whatever number you have, double it because it's 95 million. 95 million photos and videos are posted every day, and that's only on Instagram alone. That's insane. I hope that number's right. I googled and I chat GPT, so I'm hoping that number's correct.

That's another.

That's a whole other episode.

Another accuracy of some of the courses pulled into chat is another podcast and conversation.

Whole other episode. But okay, so I'll have that disclaimer that I got. I found that from chat, but I did some Googling as well. But that's just a staggering number to me. So. So again, when everybody's doing one thing, that's for me, I'm always the one who's like, well, if everyone's doing it, I want to do something different, you know, so to. To have that differentiator to be like, okay, if everyone's doing this, how are you going to set yourself apart? You know, make sure your content is just different. Don't just put something out there just to be more noise, to create more burnout for yourself or for other people.

And if you are feeling that burnout, you know, make sure you are reaching out to your marketing department. I mean, like Shameless Plug, we have a kick ass marketing team that really helps strategize with our loan officers. We don't do it for them, obviously, but we do have, have tools and things that we've put into place that really help their lives to be easier in this realm. We don't want people to be content creators, we want them to be loan officers and stay in that lane. But, but this is a piece of it for branding, of course. But if you're feeling lost in this realm, make sure you're reaching out to your marketing departments because they can point you in the right direction, hopefully. And if not, call us. Okay, so just to wrap it up, just bringing everything back together.

I think people get stuck, Rin, with feeling that they need to look professional and everything needs to be perfect. Get rid of that. That doesn't need to happen. You don't need to be perfect, right? Like, cut that out of your brains. Scripted videos usually fall flat because people can tell if you're reading like a robot and you're reading something back and forth, like, have an idea, have it, have an intention, but then just, just tell a story, speak from your heart, mess it up, be imperfect. And you know, when, when the content that works is, is literally the conversation that you just had with a client in, in the car, like, that's, that's the stuff that really works, you know, like how many times have you actually said, man, I wish I was recording this because that was a great conversation. Think about that when you're recording your content. How many times have we said that?

Like, just practice every week in whatever fashion works for you, recording these powerful stories. Because then it just gets easier and easier. It's like, oh, what did I do last week? Who did I help last week? Oh, I forgot that they had a unique issue or problem or they had a unique result or, you know, there was something different about their story basically and a reason why I should share it with others. And even if you think no one else is going to relate or this isn't that big of a deal, you're probably wrong. Somebody else out there is going to relate and there's something about what you're doing every single day. That is a big deal. So share it and talk about it. And I think you'll find, as we're finding with the work we do and kind of watching what our officers are doing and tracking it, that you're going to get better engagement and response.

This has been an awesome episode. I've really enjoyed Rach talking with you guys. Please like Follow subscribe all the Things Lending Leadership the Creative Brief Rach and Rin every week here to talk tips, tricks, marketing, and have conversations with our loan officers on what's working and what's not. We'll see you guys.

Catch you next time. Thanks, Rin.

Sam.