Best practice trends in investor branding
10 MAY 2011
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Hi
Time for coffee. In this issue, we’ll talk about
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What makes a great shareholder review?
While the inevitability of Social Media looms larger for IR communications, there’s still work to be done to improve some of the basics that we do every year.
Perhaps the most versatile platform developed in recent times has been the Shareholder Review. In addition to resolving some of the issues created by opt-in legislation, it:
- ensures more succinct communication;
- enables more effective communication;
- encourages readership and engagement with your company’s key investor messages;
- allows a less formal, and therefore more accessible, delivery style; and
- saves money – which can then be reinvested in ongoing, more frequent communication and online best-practice development
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In future issues:
- Getting the messaging tone right
- One-way communication – or a dialogue?
- Is your IR website good enough?
- Yes, but is it an Investor Brand?
- The rise & rise of social media. You can run, but you cannot hide
- Starting the dialogue: Investor blogs and their cousins
- The megatrend of CSR
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Previous issues:
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15 tips for success
In the spirit of continuous improvement, here’s some of our key out-takes for producing effective Shareholder Review documents:
- Keep the Review as concise as possible. We think 24 pages is the maximum if you want to invite readership
- Keep financials to a minimum, but do include a Financial Summary and a brief Financial Commentary. Send people online to the Annual Report for in-depth financial information;
- It’s better to issue a 12 – 16 page Review twice a year than a 40 page document once a year;
- Move away from the formal style of the traditional Annual Report. We suggest you look to communicate in a much more conversational style (think Warren Buffett), and use design to attract, involve and engage readers in your story. So more ‘business magazine’ than ‘report’. The following work from our own files provides some good examples:
a. Conversational style. See CEO’s Review on page 5: Sky Television Annual Report (PDF 5.6mb)
b. Engaging design: Air New Zealand Interim Review (PDF 4.14mb)
- Tell stories. Bring your key messages alive;
- Keep stories short and push readers to your IR website for more detail, case studies and video support material. This will not only integrate your offline and online communication, it will also encourage investors to habitually visit the site for updates (keep an eye out for future issues on how to create a really effective IR website);
- Include at least one story/report on your CSR activity in your Shareholder Review – and again cross-reference to your online CSR Report to provide more in-depth information (there’s more detail coming in later issues on the growing influence of CSR on investment messaging);
- Downgrade your actual Annual Report (financial statements) in order to free up resources and funding for a more effective and frequent shareholder review, offline and online;
- Produce an HTML version of your shareholder review, as well as the print version (see our HTML Annual Report issue);
- Use part of the money you save to print and mail every shareholder, and not just those who have opted in. This way, you plug the communication gap created by the opt-in legislation (see our Communicating with those who don’t opt in issue);
- Print greater quantities of your Shareholder Review so that you can provide a copy of the review to every staff member;
- If you can’t afford to send the Review to every shareholder, plug the communication gap anyway: look at producing a 2 – 4 page Shareholder Newsletter – even if it’s just a reprint of the CEO’s Review;
- At half year, send a second issue of the Newsletter to every shareholder, whether they opt in or not;
- Use every opportunity in print material to cross reference to further reading on your IR or corporate website; and
- Use the Shareholder Review as a stepping stone to socialise and progress the development of a clearly defined Investor Brand (watch for future issues on building and managing a long term and attractive Investor Brand)
If you’d like help with any of this, contact us about Insight’s IR Landscape model.
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Time’s up.
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Mike Tisdall
Investor Communications specialist and Managing Director – Insight Communications
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Next Issue: Presentation vs chat: getting the tone right
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