I Read Your Press Release. I Still Don’t Know What You Do.

I studied journalism because I loved stories. I got into PR because I loved taking complex messages and turning them into stories. How many times have you read a press release, or another piece of content, that begins like this:

"Company X, a leading provider of AI-powered, next-generation solutions for synergistic cloud-based enterprise transformation, today announced..."

At this point, we black out.

This kind of messaging isn't rare, it's rampant. And it's a problem. Because if a smart, curious, professionally engaged reader can’t figure out what your company actually does after reading your content, you've already lost. Not just attention. Not just press. You’ve lost trust.

We’ve Made Language Into a Labyrinth

Corporate communications has become a kind of performance art. It’s often written for internal stakeholders or boardrooms instead of real people. Messaging is aligned and optimized, until it’s unrecognizable. There’s so much fear of being wrong, or not sounding "innovative" enough, that we end up saying nothing.

This obsession with overengineering our language stems from a lack of clarity and a fear of honesty. We hide behind buzzwords because specificity feels risky. Real connection happens when companies speak like humans.

No One Falls in Love With a “Market-Leading Solutions Provider”

People fall in love with stories. With purpose. They want to know what you do, why it matters and how it might help them. If your messaging can’t answer those questions, you’re not communicating. You’re camouflaging.

The best companies don’t sound like companies. They sound like you and I speak. They use real words. They tell the truth. They aren’t afraid to say what they do plainly.

Clarity Is Bravery

Simplicity isn’t a sign of a small vision. It’s a sign of courage. It means you’re not afraid to be understood. It means you know what you’re doing well enough to say it in one sentence.

If your content can’t answer that question in the first paragraph, we should talk. 

Because the world doesn’t need more jargon. It needs more honest stories, well told.

And that starts with saying what you mean.