Like, say, you are a revolutionary who’s imprisoned, but you are allowed to write letters to your family. How would you covertly send a message to your fellow revolutionaries that only they can decode? (Your family are on your side will pass the letter along)
Obviously, it cannot appear to contain any obvious ciphertext, since the prison guards would just rip up your letter and not send it.
If you’re important enough they won’t let you send letters at all.
If you’re unimportant, well anything you agreed on beforehand should be okay.