Why Intersect?

This is the photo that inspired me to create Intersect Strategies. While the photographer’s intent was to show how people’s lives intersected, often at various crossroads, I have co-opted this image to show how communication strategies should intersect.

What do I mean by Intersect?

You want the media to report on you more often. Investors to better understand you. Customers to appreciate what differentiates your products and services. You want more followers on social media. If you are a non-profit, you want your members to understand the value they are getting from belonging to your organization. You want your employees to be more engaged. You need regulators and policymakers to view you as credible and an honest broker.

At Intersect Strategies, I can help you solve any one of these problems but you should hire me because I can help you with all of them. I know how your communications should intersect for maximum impact across your audiences.

I have seen many organizations make the mistake of thinking they can develop three talking points and repeat them to everyone, regardless of the situation. Perhaps you have even been advised to so by a lazy PR person. This is a lazy approach to communications in today’s hyper-segmented environment.

Your communications must be consistent but they need not be the same. To be effective and stand out you must understand the different needs, motivations and communication preferences of your various audiences and tailor your messaging to them.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re a biotech company and you just had a new product approved by the FDA. Congratulations! Your investors care about the revenue potential and your margins. Policymakers will want to know how much the new treatment may cost – or save – the system, such as Medicare or Medicaid. And, of course, patients will want to know what it will cost them.

All of these answers flow from the same set of financial data. You are not being disingenuous telling different stories; all of them true. In fact, you are being respectful of your audience by sharing with them the facts and data that matter most to them.

The truth is very few organizations understand how to develop and execute a communications strategy that covers all of their constituencies: customers, investors, policymakers, employees, influencers and business partners. Each has unique needs.

Sound complicated? It’s not. In fact, my mantra is simplify, simplify, simplify. Simplify your messages.

Simplify your delivery. And simply execute.

This is why I started Intersect Strategies.