Creativity in communication is often Just a lack of clarity

If there is one thing that still amazes me almost every day, it is how creative people are. Sometimes brilliantly creative. Sometimes hopelessly creative.

Take the spoon, for example. Spoons already existed in ancient times, among the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. So you might think we had figured that thing out by now. A handle, a bowl, food in it, done. But no. Every year, hundreds of new spoons are designed again. Not because the existing spoon has suddenly failed on a massive scale, but simply because it can be done. Because there is always someone who thinks: you know what this world needs? Another spoon. But just slightly different.

I see that same creative urge in entrepreneurs. Sometimes in a good way, but often in a destructive way too. Everything has to be special. The website has to be different. The brochure has to be more exciting. The proposition has to be more surprising. The photography has to be more creative. And even the old-fashioned business card, yes, they still exist, suddenly has to feel like a small brand experience on cardboard.

And do not just take my word for it, but this sometimes leads to expressions that make your toes curl back into your shoes.

Creativity Without Clarity Becomes Fog

Because the problem is not that entrepreneurs do not have enough creativity. The problem is that they often use creativity at the exact moment when they actually need clarity. They do not know sharply enough what they do, who they do it for and why it matters. And instead of solving that problem, they pour a creative sauce over it.

A strange slogan. An abstract image. A far-fetched metaphor. A logo with a meaning that only the designer can still explain after three glasses of wine. A pay-off that is supposedly deep, but mostly proves that nobody in the room dared to say: guys, what is this actually about?

Creativity only becomes useful when you can apply it with direction. When it makes something sharper. When it reveals something. When it strengthens the core. But creativity that tries to make something more beautiful, bigger or more profound than it really is, quickly becomes fog. And fog rarely sells anything. Fog mainly makes people drop out because they have no idea what you mean.

Often, the essence is already creative enough. Especially with good entrepreneurs. Their story, their craft, their way of looking, their experience, their customers, their choices, their strange quirks, their frustrations and their convictions are usually much more interesting than the polished outer layer that is later pasted over it.

But you do have to be honest enough to look at it.

A Coaching Slogan Nobody Understands

Recently, a good friend of mine, although if she reads this, that friendship may cool down a bit, started as a coach. Because she must have thought: apparently the Netherlands did not yet have enough attic-room coaches who, after an expensive distance-learning course, think they have finally understood the human psyche. But fine, there is a lid for every pot and everyone gets the coach they deserve, so she will probably find her audience.

Her credo is now:

“Where we touch each other.”

Do you get it?

For a tantra workshop, I would. Then it might even be a pretty good slogan. You know what you are getting into. You walk in, someone starts talking about energy, intimacy and conscious touch, and before you know it you are breathing deeply on a yoga mat while six strangers touch places you did not even know existed.

But for coaching, this sentence is very far-fetched. What do you mean, “we”? Who touches whom exactly? And where? Emotionally? Spiritually? Energetically? In your childhood trauma? In your gut? At soul level? Or does she mean that you can be bothered by something because you were touched by something, after which she touches you, you touch her and then you both touch each other at a point that wants to be touched?

Never mind.

I am lost.

And that is exactly the problem.

Not because the sentence is stupid. It may even be trying to be too clever. But it says nothing. Or at least not enough. It sounds sensitive, but it is not sharp. It sounds deep, but remains vague. It tries to suggest something, but dares to say nothing.

And I see that far too often.

Good Communication Does Not Have to Be Special

Entrepreneurs think a good sentence has to be special. But a good sentence does not have to be special. A good sentence has to land. Not in the vague coaching meaning of the word, but simply: someone has to understand in one go what it is about.

What do you do?

For whom?

Why should I trust you?

Where is the difference?

Why should I keep reading, call you, buy from you, book you or believe that you can mean something to me?

If your text does not answer those questions, you do not have positioning. You have decoration.

And decoration is nice on a birthday cake, but dangerous on a website.

Communication Is Still a Craft

And that brings us directly to the next point. Communication is still a craft.

Of course, the miracle called ChatGPT can now help you a long way. Sometimes even further than your own communications adviser, especially if that adviser has mainly learned to put words like “impact”, “transition”, “connection” and “total solution” in random order. But just as a car can be both a means of transport and a deadly weapon, ChatGPT can completely destroy your message if you do not know what to put into it.

Because AI does not automatically make bad communication good. AI mainly reveals whether you yourself are thinking clearly.

If you do not know what the core is, ChatGPT will not perform a miracle either. At most, you will get a faster and better version of your own vagueness. Nicely written, grammatically correct, with a friendly tone and maybe even a call to action at the end. But still vague. And vague remains vague, even when it is suddenly written in perfect English.

A Successful Entrepreneur With Bad Communication

Recently, I stood face to face with an entrepreneur who is extremely successful. Really the kind of entrepreneur who does not need to explain that he is an entrepreneur, because his warehouse, his customers and his turnover already do that for him. But once again, that success was not thanks to the immensely creative communication with which he presents himself to the outside world.

He sells waste bins. Not just any waste bins, but those bins for schools, hospitals, offices and public spaces where you first need a manual to understand that the wooden stirrer goes in bin four, your coffee cup in bin twelve and the cold leftover coffee you no longer want to drink probably in yet another bin. You know the ones. Those bins with little logos nobody understands, colours that mean something different everywhere and waste streams of which apparently three new variations are invented every day.

His communication basically came down to saying that he offers a broad range of total solutions, from office to hospital, for organisations that are ready for the waste transition. And smoking facilities are also among the possibilities.

Yes, read that sentence again.

I have read it ten times too and even now, while writing it down, I am already lost halfway through. You probably are too. Because what does it actually say? A broad range. Total solutions. Ready for the waste transition. Smoking facilities are among the possibilities. It sounds as if someone shook a box full of business words and then thought: fine, let’s put this on the website.

The Real Core Was Not on the Website, but in the Warehouse

And now comes the interesting part.

When I visited him and we had a nice cup of coffee while he showed me around his warehouse, he started telling me how he once began. And suddenly, there was no longer an entrepreneur selling “total solutions for the waste transition”, but a man with a clear idea. With sparkling eyes, he told me that as a young boy he had already dreamed of building a company that sold simple, maintenance-free products.

He did not even care that much what the product was, as long as it excelled in simplicity and solidity.

And I can tell you: his waste bins do exactly that.

You can choose one or several square, almost indestructible boxes. Twelve types of lids fit on them, all with the same shape and the same hinges. As an extra luxury, you can choose four little legs or not. That is basically it. And that is exactly what makes it strong.

How simple do you want it?

The customer can then decide what sticker work goes on it. So if a school, hospital or municipality wants to go completely wild with pictograms, colours, arrows, residual waste, coffee cups, plastic, paper, cups with coating, cups without coating, stirrers, banana peels and other forms of well-intentioned waste poetry, they can. Knock yourself out. And they do.

But the core of his company is not complicated at all. He sells simple, solid, maintenance-free waste bins that can take a beating and last for years.

That is the story.

That is the strength.

That is the sentence you want to read on the website.

Just Say What It Is

Not: “We offer a broad range of total solutions for organisations that are ready for the waste transition.”

But simply: “We make maintenance-free waste bins that last for years, are easy to place and can be adapted to every waste stream.”

Look, now at least I know what I am dealing with.

And that is exactly where so many entrepreneurs go wrong. They often have an excellent product, a strong vision or a good story, but as soon as it comes to communication, they start acting as if simple is not good enough. It has to sound bigger. Broader. More strategic. More sustainable. More innovative. Preferably with a word like transition in it, because then it immediately seems as if you are part of something important.

But usually it does not become stronger. It becomes less clear.

Why Entrepreneurs Often Communicate Better at the Table Than on Their Website

The irony is that many entrepreneurs communicate much better in conversation than on their own website. Put them at a table, give them coffee and ask why they once started, and within five minutes they tell you exactly what their company is about. Then you hear passion, logic, experience, irritation, pride and vision. Then it becomes human. Then it becomes concrete. Then you suddenly understand why they do what they do.

But as soon as that same entrepreneur has to fill a brochure, he turns into some kind of semi-corporate word machine nobody understands anymore. The real sentences disappear and the total solutions, unburdening trajectories, customer-oriented approaches and innovative concepts appear.

As if clarity is something to be ashamed of.

While the opposite is true.

Good Communication Removes the Nonsense

Good communication does not make something more complicated. Good communication removes the nonsense until only what is true remains. What is it? Who is it for? Why is it better? Why should I trust you? And why should I take action now?

That is not rocket science. But it does require honesty.

Because sometimes the problem is not that your communication is not creative enough. Sometimes the problem is that you do not yet dare to say sharply enough what you really do. And then you hide behind words that sound safe, but touch nothing.

Or worse: words that want to say everything and therefore mean nothing.

Just say what it is.

You make maintenance-free waste bins. They are sturdy. They are simple. They last for years. They are modular. The customer can adapt them to their waste streams. And if someone also needs a smoking facility, that can be placed next to it.

Done.

Communication is not difficult if you dare to tell the essence.

It only becomes difficult when you start talking around it.