Beyond Horizontals and Verticals
- Apr 11
- 4 min read
Selling and marketing the diagonals that cut across your business
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Most B2B companies organize their business in ways that feel obvious and rational. They group offerings into horizontals that answer the question, “What do you make?” They line up around industries that answer, “Do you make things for companies like mine?” They split around regions that reflect where they operate and how they manage regulation, culture, and local go to market. Horizontals, verticals, and geographies form the main grid.
Because this grid shapes P&Ls and reporting, it also shapes marketing. Websites are structured around product families and industry solutions. Sales decks follow the same pattern. Campaigns are briefed by product and aimed at specific industries and regions. That alignment is healthy. It keeps the story close to how the business actually works.
But it also hides something important. Some of the ideas that matter most to customers do not live inside a single product, vertical, or region. They move across all of them. Themes like AI, sustainability, data ethics, customer experience, security, or inclusion show up everywhere. They influence what gets built, how you deliver, how people behave, and what customers feel. They rarely have their own revenue line. These are diagonals.
A diagonal is a cross cutting strategic priority that moves through horizontals, verticals, and geographies at an angle. It is defined by the idea that is meant to shape everything else, not by a specific product or market segment. Internally, diagonals often have senior leaders. Think Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Experience Officer, Chief AI Officer, Chief Brand Officer. Those leaders carry real mandates but usually do not own a stand alone business. That combination of importance and structural ambiguity is exactly why diagonals are tricky in marketing.
To handle them well, marketers need to do three things. Spot diagonals. Manage them. Talk about them.
Spotting Diagonals Starts with Seeing What Refuses to Stay in One Place
It usually starts with something that doesn’t intuitively fit into your corporate narrative, your sales pitch, or your website architecture. Spotting diagonals starts with noticing what shows up everywhere. Ask three questions. First, does this idea show up across many products, industries, and regions? If it keeps appearing in roadmaps, solution maps, and regional plans, it is likely a diagonal. Second, is there a senior leader accountable for it, often without a P&L or a team? When someone is fully focused on AI, sustainability, or experience, the organization has already decided it matters. Third, does the idea show up consistently in leadership narratives, strategy documents, recruiting, and internal communication? If it does, the diagonal is already shaping how the company explains itself. Marketing’s job is to give it form and discipline.
Treat Diagonals as Overlays, Not New Boxes
Once identified, diagonals need to be managed as overlays on the existing grid, not as new structures. Horizontals define what you make. Verticals define who you serve. Geographies define where you operate. Diagonals define how all of that gets better.
That requires two disciplines. Stewardship means giving each diagonal a clear, usable definition and ownership of the narrative. “AI” is not enough. “How AI improves forecasting, support, and operations across specific offers” is something a team can actually use. The same applies to sustainability, inclusion, and experience. Someone has to translate the idea into how the business behaves. Integration means embedding diagonals into the stories already in motion. Sustainability shows up in product claims and proof points. AI shows up in sales conversations and delivery outcomes. Experience shows up in onboarding, service, and consistency across regions. The structure stays the same. The performance improves.
Make the Story About Value, Not Virtue
Most companies talk about diagonals as intentions. “We are an AI company.” “We believe in sustainability.” “We put customers first.” These statements sound right internally but do little in the market. Customers do not buy intentions. They buy outcomes.
Force every diagonal into a value statement. Finish the sentence “so that” in concrete terms. “We embedded AI into support so that customers get accurate answers in seconds.” “We redesigned our operations so that sustainability reduces both emissions and cost.” “We built a centralized experience team so that onboarding feels consistent across regions.” The diagonal earns its place by improving the core business.
Give Diagonals a Place, Not the Stage
This is where teams often overcorrect. They see a diagonal and try to elevate it into the center of the brand. That rarely holds. Diagonals need a place. They do not need the stage.
On a website, that means a clear section that explains the idea and how it shows up, supported by proof points across product and industry pages. Not a separate destination that competes with how customers actually navigate. In a pitch, that means a sharp supporting point in the company story and a deeper slide when needed. Not a full narrative that overwhelms the conversation. In campaigns, a diagonal can lead when it earns the right, but it should not dominate the calendar. Most companies are managing several diagonals at once. Technology. Sustainability. Experience. Each matters. None should consume everything. The goal is proportion. Enough presence to be credible. Enough discipline to stay grounded.
Imagine a heavy equipment company. It likely sells bulldozers (horizontal) to construction companies (vertical). It likely has a diagonal around sustainability. It is not selling sustainability. It sells bulldozers. And that is the relative volume of each. The company designs for efficiency, sources differently, and helps customers reduce fuel use. That matters. It should be visible. It should be real. But customers are still buying bulldozers. Sustainability strengthens the story. It does not replace it. It does not lead it.
Marketers who see the full grid have an advantage. Horizontals, verticals, and geographies keep the business legible and manageable. Diagonals explain how the business gets better. The work is to spot them early, manage them with discipline, talk about them in terms of value, and give them homes that are clear, visible, and right-sized.
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