How to Master Multichannel Storytelling and Win Over Audiences
Learn to adapt your PR campaign to reach your target audience – from AI search bots to traditional media and consumers.
In a digital world overflowing with content, a single press release is no longer a surefire path to success. According to PR Newswire's State of the Press Release Report, 38% of PR professionals say "not generating anticipated media pickup" is their top challenge with press releases, reinforcing the need for an integrated approach to communications. As a result, many are turning to multichannel comms strategies to broaden the reach of their message.
When a story is coordinated to echo across channels and platforms, PR and comms professionals create a kind of “digital chorus” of brand mentions and citations that boost authority and visibility, ultimately driving stronger results.
Read on to learn how changes in the search landscape are redefining the way communications teams are shaping their core messages and creating content designed to stand out in an increasingly competitive information environment.
The New Rules of Engagement: The Rise of AI Bots
Rapidly evolving AI technology means search results no longer consist of just lists of ranked sites, but have transformed into full answers with summaries, product recommendations and expanded, intuitive conversations to cover a variety of search intents. This new landscape demands a new strategy: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
It’s critical for PR and comms teams to create content that increases their visibility for these new AI-powered answer engines.
A breadth of content that tells a brand’s story in multiple formats is no longer a luxury; it's a necessity. AI models prioritize information from credible, authoritative, and trustworthy sources.
Search Engine Land breaks it down like this: “Building a strong brand presence across diverse platforms and earning reputable mentions (digital PR) is vital for AI search visibility, as LLMs may draw from forums, social media, and Q&A sites.”
But while the landscape has changed, the core principle shouldn’t: Create content that is unique, useful and relevant to your audience.
Before You Start: Clarify the Core Message
Before communicators start crafting any campaign assets, from a press release to social media posts, it’s important they proactively answer several key questions to ensure assets across channels and platforms are consistent, on-brand and designed to effectively amplify the story.
Ask these questions:
- What is the central message? Define the single, most important takeaway—the “what” of your story. Using the right tools for campaign research can help communicators identify things like the questions, keywords and hashtags their audience is most interested in—ensuring teams plan and create a data-driven, informed campaign that’s more likely to engage.
- Who is the audience? Are you writing for customers? Investors? Journalists? Regardless of who makes up the target audience, PR and comms teams must understand their needs, interests and preferred consumption methods. This includes not just people, but the AI models that serve them.
- So what? Why should anyone care about your news or insights? Answering this audience-centric question will drive the way you frame your story, the details you highlight and the content you create. Keeping this message front and center also improves the chances of pickup and engagement down the line.
- What are the basics? Create a concise, compelling elevator pitch for your story. By refining your story down to a concise and compelling statement—the “how” and “why,” essentially—you create a foundation that ensures consistency and maximum impact as you adapt the message for different channels. When creating content assets, refer to this single source of truth to make sure your messaging is on point.
An Arsenal of Content: Channel-Specific Storytelling Options for PR
What works for each channel—whether owned, earned, shared or paid—will look different, but by previously defining the core message, PR and comms professionals can create impactful content assets that maximize impact on each platform.
Remember: The goal is to repurpose, not duplicate.
Make it Official with a Press Release
Despite a fragmented, always-on digital landscape, this more traditional vehicle for sharing newsworthy stories is still a crucial piece of any campaign. According to the 2025 State of the Media Report, 72% of journalists want to receive news announcements/press releases from PR and comms professionals.
A compelling press release allows brands to share their story with global audiences in seconds and provide a direct line to the journalists who can amplify the news. Their importance as an official, verified source of information cannot be overstated.
The reliable and easy-to-read format of a press release also makes it one of the best ways to ensure your content is discoverable in AI search.
Appeal to Journalists with a Personalized Media Pitch
Half of journalists receive over 50 pitches per week, according to the State of the Media findings. In a crowded inbox, how is a communicator supposed to break through and get their story seen? The “spray and pray” approach to media pitches no longer cuts it.
A personalized and relevant media pitch is more appreciated than you know.
When asked why they might reject or ignore a pitch, one journalist told us, “Lately, pitches have not been offering new or creative angles. There is also little understanding of my outlet. More consideration should be given toward tailoring the pitch to the outlet and its recent output.”
Part of building a strong, productive relationship with journalists is having a solid understanding of what they cover. Know the types of stories they write, who their audience is and how they want to be pitched—then craft a personalized media pitch that shows you’ve done your homework.
Be a Thought Leader with a Blog Post
A brand’s own website is a powerful tool for reaching its target audience, driving traffic, and building brand authority and trust. By regularly posting helpful and engaging blog content in the brand’s unique voice, communicators can position the company as a go-to source for industry insights.
This is especially important as AI rapidly changes the SEO landscape. Informative, targeted and optimized content on your site is a signal to Google and other search engines that your company is the expert—in turn increasing chances that your content is surfaced in things like AI summaries.
Thirty-seven percent of communicators are already repurposing press release content into blog posts or articles to help position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. When repurposing content as a blog post, keep these tips in mind:
- Use a conversational tone (think engaging and relatable) and speak directly to your audience.
- Personal anecdotes and humor are also more acceptable here than in a press release, which is more formal.
- While it’s a good idea to keep press releases concise to deliver the key details, in a blog post you can delve into more detail and provide more context.
- Include internal links to keep readers engaged and on your site.
- A clear call to action to something like a newsletter signup, membership form or whitepaper download can help support lead generation.
Boost Impact and Engagement with a Video
A compelling, professional video can bring your story to life, engage and immerse audiences, and provide rich, dynamic content for media outlets. According to the 2025 State of the Media Report, 32% of journalists say PR pros provide value by supplying multimedia content, including video, to supplement their content.
Whether it’s a highly-produced video curated for social media or a quick snapshot video generated by AI to highlight key story details, a video can help grab attention in a fast-paced digital environment.
When transforming your story into a video, make sure it’s:
- Focused: Get the key message across concisely—don’t ramble.
- Professional: Lighting, sound, pacing and transitions should all be top-notch.
- Accessible: Subtitles and transcripts improve accessibility and provide a verbatim record for journalists.
Drive Awareness and Traffic with Social Media
Shared media is a crucial part of any multichannel PR campaign. According to the 2025 Cision-PRWeek Comms Report, 53% of PR and comms professionals say branded social content is among the most effective content types for influencing audience behavior.
By optimizing your social media posts for specific platforms—a task made easier by advances in AI tools—communicators can increase the chances of their story reaching the intended audience and being engaged with. Social media content that triggers emotional responses, solves problems or provides unique insights tends to get shared most often.
When it comes to building out the shared media portion of your campaign, consider:
- Where is your audience most active? LinkedIn might be great for B2B companies, but Instagram or TikTok might make more sense for a visual-heavy, consumer brand.
- What content are they most likely to share? Do you notice your target audience engaging most with videos? What about polls or thought leadership content? Their engagement behavior should steer your content creation efforts.
- What’s worked (and what hasn’t) in the past? Look at previous campaign insights to gauge top-performing social content. Is there a content gap you can fill that would compel users to engage? Analyze your results and adjust your approach based on performance data.
Make Data Shareable with Infographics & Visuals
Over half of journalists (55%) want to receive original research reports (trends, market data, etc.) from communicators, according to the State of the Media findings. Coupled with the media’s desire for multimedia like infographics, it’s clear that these visually appealing assets are not to be overlooked.
If you have unique data to share, an infographic or simple infobite (highlighting just one or two data points) can be an ideal way to add a visual element to your release, draw the eye to key takeaways and increase the shareability of your content.
Not sure how to utilize these types of multimedia? Check out these examples:
- IBM created a simple infobite to spotlight one of the big figures from its data breach report.
- Sempra changed up a typical text-and-table-heavy earnings release by including a graphic breaking down the company’s strategic initiatives.
- The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery took the classic route with a longer infographic to illustrate the trends uncovered in its annual report.
- Equifax found middle ground with a simple but effective graphic to highlight consumer debt numbers.
For more help, download the Multimedia Content Guide to Success.
What are the Best Practices for Multichannel PR Amplification Success?
- Integrated Planning: Plan your content strategy holistically, considering how each piece supports the others and how they all support the campaign objectives.
- Consistency: Maintain a consistent core message and brand voice, but adapt the tone, length and format based on what works best for each channel.
- Repurpose, Don't Duplicate: Transform content (e.g., a press release into a blog post, a blog post into social media snippets). Each asset should serve its unique purpose.
- Measure and Learn: Track performance across all channels to understand what resonates and refine your strategy for future campaigns.
- Leverage Technology: Utilize tools that streamline campaign planning, content creation, distribution and measurement across multiple platforms.
Results: Your Story, Amplified
When PR and comms professionals use a strategic multichannel storytelling approach, their news is more likely to reach the right audience, in the right format, at the right time.
Each platform or channel has a unique format that performs best with its audience, from videos on social media feeds to in-depth blog posts on a company’s website, and trusted, informative press releases for journalists. By creating compelling content to tell their story across channels, PR and comms professionals can drive better results, build brand awareness and reach the audiences that matter.
Ready to move beyond a single press release to tell your story? The enhanced PR Newswire Amplify™ platform is a PR-driven, AI-powered solution that helps communicators easily generate and plan data-driven PR campaigns, and create diverse content tailored to different platforms, including blog posts, snapshot videos and media pitches.
