Brene Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston has heard this saying at a 12-step alcoholic anonymous meeting and it has led her to deeper studies on communication.
"Most of us avoid clarity. This can be attributed to a lack of courage or communication skill. The cultural norm of "nice" and "polite" is leveraged as an excuse to avoid tough conversations and give honest and productive feedback."
Feeding people half-truths, white lies or bullshit to make them feel better (which is almost always about making ourselves feel more comfortable) is unkind.
My professional work is visual communication, where the same rule applies. I encourage my clients to be honest, to refine their mission statement, to dig a little deeper and to be authentic. This requires courage.
Communication is about connection, knowing and using the language of your partner, audience and customer (or your target audience). That's why we put a lot of emphasis understanding the ICP (Ideal Customer Profile).
Not only words, but also images can lie. In my work, I choose color palettes, typefaces and images to carefully craft a clear message, that can be heard and felt.
Apart from your message, the delivery method or platform also needs to be chosen consciously and wisely. You don't want to break up with your girlfriend on facebook, nor do you want to use marketing chain mails or drip sequences when your goal is to create a personal connection with your audience. Drip email sequences are great when United Airlines wants to update me on my flight details...in that case it's clear and effective.
I have noticed lately that I’m no longer interested in being sold to, I am allergic to heavy-handed marketing and AI suggestions. I encourage to develop a deeper emotional intelligence, to learn more about communication, creating connections, feeling more empathy and compassion.
My clients receive websites, videos and designs with clear intentions and (hopefully) straight forward communication and no BS. No BS is what we all deserve. I may always stay on the learning curve of clear communication.
Please send me feedback, if you can (or can't) relate to what I am saying.
To improve your branding, I can send you a free ICP worksheet that you can use to better understand your market, just email me back to request this very useful pdf.
Clearly,
Ulrike Kerber