Today, each and every piece of content needs a precise planning and distribution strategy to emerge from the constant news overload we are exposed to on a daily basis.
We see it, audiences are many-and often very different-and one of the keys (to embracing effectiveness) is to be able to multiply the storytelling possibilities. And this is where transversality comes in: the ability to decline the same news story into multiple narrative cuts, enhancing it differently depending on the audience, channel and context.
This capability, when well structured, allows companies to enhance the strategic value of each story, building a narrative that creates value for subsegments of the same target audience.
One news story, many ways to tell it
Take the case of the launch of a new product or service.
A press release alone is not enough, but more importantly, one press release cannot be enough. The same news story can be read in multiple ways, each useful for speaking to micro-targets that have different questions and needs, generating coverage in different areas, and strengthening brand identity.
Here are some examples of different narrative cuts:
- B2B / industry titles: the details of the product or service, the innovation behind it, the technical data, the positioning compared to competitors are emphasized.
- B2C / more generalist titles: the concrete benefit to the consumer's daily life or the effect it has on a certain sector is told.
- Employer branding: you value the work of internal teams, corporate culture, and the ability to innovate.
- ESG and impact: you place the product in a narrative related to sustainability or social responsibility.
- Local/territorial: collaborations with local entities or the positive impact on the geographical area are highlighted.
These approaches are not alternative, but complementary because telling a news story with different cuts does not mean distorting it, but multiplying its reach and value.
Some virtuous examples
For Good & Partners, for example, in narrating relational capital, then the use of business networking to support the creation of value for their clients, the team (composed of Valeria Volpato, Micaela Longo and Andrea Ilaria Leoni) set up an approach based on fragmentation, with differentiated narratives:
- for the business and financial press, Benedetto Buono commented on economic data, market trends and technological phenomena applied to the business world;
- for generalist newspapers, reality has latched onto topical issues;
- for the labor and HR titles, explored sociological issues that affect young people in particular, such as how they think about work and how they relate to technology.
With IUNGO, a company specializing in supply chain collaboration optimization through cloud technology, despite the verticality of its core business, during the course of the collaboration, the team (composed of Micaela Longo and Chiara Guerra) adopted a cross-cutting narrative approach to generate costed media visibility by intercepting very different media.
Having identified the areas on which the brand is active, we constructed texts that could intercept specific audiences:
- for the corporate and technology press, we recounted the company's growth results, the appointment of strategic figures for IUNGO's development such as Luca Mongiorgi, Chief Operating Officer of the Customers Area, and Micaela Valent to Chief Operating Officer of the Solutions Area. These communications were flanked by product communications such as platform evolutions
- crucial was intercepting macro economic trends/scenarios and relevant phenomena on which different professionals from IUNGO spoke on the basis of the topic addressed. For example, for the Red Sea crisis, Andrea Tinti, CEO and Founder of IUNGO, took a position, or on the challenges for procurement, Micaela Valent a Chief Operating Officer spoke, while on the importance of evaluating suppliers, Antonella Sibio, Marketing Manager, spoke.
- IUNGO is also a reality very much linked to its territory (Modena - Emilia Romagna) so we used it as a reputation lever to communicate the IUNGO FORUM, but also and especially the numerous welfare projects both internal, especially HR projects in favor of employees with disabilities and in support of parenting, and external such as the training done to the workers of the "Casa delle donne di Modena" anti-violence center in the city.
Why it works
This ability to adapt the message is not just an exercise in style. It is a useful skill to amplify the visibility of a news story by getting it out in different media with different angles. At the same time, it makes it possible to connect with different segments of the target audience, keeping brand consistency intact, but above all, it strengthens reputation: telling a news story with awareness and attention to context demonstrates solidity and the ability to read the reality around us.
This approach also reinforces trust with the press: according to the Cision 2024 State of the Media Report study on the future of media relations, 77% of journalists say they receive pitches that are irrelevant and decontextualized to their subject of interest. Cross-media responds to exactly this need, namely the need to identify the right news for each journalist.
How to put it into practice
Building truly cross-cutting content takes method and a lot of creativity. Here are some operational suggestions:
- Segment your audience: asking then, "Who will buy our product or service? What kind of message will attract them?" Audience segmentation allows you to tailor messages, select appropriate communication channels, and achieve stronger engagement.
- Build a diversified editorial plan: predicting different cuts for the same news item from the start.
- Involve diverse teams in the creative process: marketing, product, HR and PR, through the intersection of different skills, can contribute unprecedented points of view.
- Customize pitches for media: Do not send the same communiqué to everyone. Therefore, work by micro-narratives.
- Monitor reactions and adapt the narrative: transversality is not static; it evolves with audience responses. According to a Wall Street Journal article, the use of artificial intelligence in PR also makes it possible to analyze audience responses, analyze sentiment and adapt strategies in real time, improving the effectiveness of future communications.
Transversality in storytelling is not a fad, but a strategic asset.
News told well, from multiple perspectives and to increasingly specific targets, can become much more than news-it can be an opportunity to strengthen positioning, multiply impact, and build stronger relationships.
For communicators today, the challenge is not to choose one story to tell. It is to figure out how many different stories the same news story can contain.
