The “Easy Way” is hurting your Brand Experience

So many people are looking for the “easy way” these days. And to be fair, the marketing industry is all about selling it to you.

But here’s the thing with the “easy way”…nothing worth having was ever gotten that way.

Plus, the “easy way” is also almost always someone ELSE’S way. And they’re usually pretty quick to tell you what’s wrong with YOU, because it couldn’t possibly be their way that has something wrong with it. After all…it worked for them.

“Easy ways” are all around us…

“Let me help you bypass all the hard times I went through”

“This strategy works for anyone who does the work”

“Respond to more people more quickly with this automation”

And many, MANY more.

So, although we know “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, and we know deep down that we are all unique humans and THAT is what makes us stand apart, we STILL get sucked into “easy way”. I’ve been sucked into it myself. And every time, it doesn’t FEEL good. Because it doesn’t take into consideration what it looks like for ME to be ME.

Today I want to talk about some of the times I’ve seen the “easy way” have a NEGATIVE impact on the brand image of either a person or a business; with the goal of helping you to ELIMINATE these activities from your brand building practices.

Because, in fact, none of these BUILD your brand experience. They are BREAKING it.

Let’s go.

Automated Responses

Earlier today, I received an automated LinkedIn response to a connection request I had sent (to someone who knows who I am).

The response? 100% generic.

My experience? That you don’t care enough about me as a person to give me a 2-minute personalized response. It also makes me wary about recommending you to other people, because I know THEY aren’t going to get a custom experience either.

Now, of course, I don’t know that’s true. And I’m all about giving people the benefit of the doubt.

But not everyone is.

And for the people who aren’t, you just broke your brand experience.

Especially if this came AFTER an experience that actually was personal.

And to recover from this takes a lot MORE effort, than the effort of just providing a personalized response in the first place.

So, is it faster for a first touch? Yes. But does it build a relationship faster? Absolutely not.

Email Funnels

In the entrepreneurial space, almost everyone thinks they need an automated email funnel. And there are tons of people who are trying to sell you one…most of which want to sell you TEMPLATES of what to do.

But what is a template?

It’s someone ELSE’S words.

Most of the time, when people are using templates, the feeling is one of being a square peg in a round hole. PLUS, we end up thinking that the template was created by someone who knows more than we do, so we default to THAT experience, and erase all of our uniqueness.

But the actual problem is that…the template wasn’t created for you.

So what experience do you end up creating?

The experience of SOMEONE ELSE.

And let’s be honest, is the best way to build a relationship with another human to pretend to be someone else?

Nope, nope, nope.

So, yes. These processes may make it easier to get out more touches. But are those touches building your brand? Or someone else’s?

HR Automation

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has received a totally generic rejection email in an application process. One that doesn’t take into consideration all the WORK I put into an application.

I once applied to a company that I really admire, with a custom resume, cover letter AND introductory video telling them the impact the company had had on me up until that point.

The result?

A completely generic email telling me that I wasn’t what they were looking for.

Now, to be fair, again, that might be true. But, for a company that had earned my heart and trust, those things REALLY took a hit.

Why? Because the FEELING I had was “one of many”. Which, if their marketing is to believed, is the complete OPPOSITE of the brand experience they are trying to create.

And if you have a lot of applicants that have a good relationship with your company, how many of those experience are you breaking on a daily basis?

So, yes, automation might seem like the easiest way to process thousands of applications and rejections, but how is that automation impacting your brand experience in total?

Misaligned Staff

I once participated as a podcast guest for another business owner in the brand confidence space, and we had a great conversation.

When I received the notification that our episode had gone live, my name was spelled wrong on all the collateral. So, I responded to the announcement email with that fact. I did not receive a response for TWO WEEKS.

So, yes, I know that it’s your assistant who is responsible for all these things. But guess who’s brand was damaged? YOURS.

You need to know the brand experience you want to create, in order to train your people effectively.

Another issue in this area is something I like to call, the “Golden Handcuffs”. It’s the phenomenon of creating so many limitations around how your staff can show up, they can’t actually help anyone the way they would choose to.

Each of your employees has a brand experience. And if their experience and YOUR experience is aligned, the likelihood that they will misuse their autonomy in a way that’s misaligned is low.

But again…YOU need to know enough about the experience you want to create to hire the right people.

It might seem easy to just outsource something. But when another person gets an experience wrong, ALL of the humans end up having a bad experience.

Easy Way vs. Your Way

In the end, the biggest problem with the “easy way” is that it’s likely not YOUR way.

So, how do you define what YOUR WAY is?

You need to have the INTENTION of doing that.

As long as you’re goal is to make something easier (at all costs), you will do that. But again, what is the cost to your brand?

If you switch your intention to “what’s the ONE THING I could do right now while still maintaining my desired experience, so that all other things become easier or unnecessary?”

Your brand experience is what people remember about you.

Do you want people to remember you for who you really are?

Or do you want to be remembered as “just another” whatever?

Make sure you’re remembered how you want to be remembered. As a HUMAN who cares about other humans.

Because you’re NOT just another whatever.

If you’re ready to curate experiences that BUILD your brand experience instead of breaking it, let’s chat. That’s precisely why I created the Curate Your Experience program. Whether you’re an individual or a corporation, there’s a solution for you 💖