Outreach Strategies: Attract Investors With Your Company’s Story

Here’s an important question to consider: What’s the point of telling a story if there’s no one to read it?

Investor outreach, whether using traditional or digital strategies, ensures there is your company’s story has an audience. Internal and external communications efforts build an audience that will read your press release, listen in on your earnings call, and ultimately invest time and money in your company.

Based on research and evaluation, here are the nine most critical outreach strategies that will help you build an audience of investors.

1. Disclosure Mailing: While digital investor outreach strategies are now front and center, don’t neglect disclosure mailing — your company’s most significant opportunity to communicate with shareholders. There are a lot of options to choose from: printed or digital format, full-set delivery, notice-only or a hybrid of the two. While the delivery option can vary by company, clear and concise messaging must remain a constant, as this may be the only communication that shareholders engage with.
2. Web Hosting: While companies may be required to include annual reports on their investor relations website, IR websites can go beyond meeting an obligation and create great opportunity. They can include company press releases, earnings call and webcast archives, investor presentations and interactive stock charts — all valuable engagement tools that will assist investors as they research a company.
3. Employee Communications: Did you know that a company’s employees are its biggest advocates? Clearly communicate your company’s vision internally using email communications to help build your audience.
4. Employee On-Boarding: Your company’s HR team can begin involving employees from their very first day at a company with clearly communicated priorities.
5. Social Media: Your company’s annual report offers rich content for social media. By promoting it across Twitter, Facebook, StockTwits and more, you can drive traffic to other parts of your investor relations process, such as your IR website.
6. Customer Outreach: In order to stand out in an oversaturated marketplace, your company should put their best foot forward. Enable your sales team to share investor relations materials surrounding earnings events, such as your annual report, to reach new potential customers, build transparency, and showcase your company’s reputation and stability.
7. Email Campaigns: Email is an effective, timeless outreach strategy. Compile a list of analysts, buy-siders, sell-siders, employees, regulators and other key contacts provided by your transfer agent, then send this valuable list a link or PDF of your annual report. As needed, customize the message to the specific audience. Other potential contacts to populate your email list include media professionals, analysts, family offices and retail investors.
8. Marketing Communications: Effective marketers know how important linking is to building and engaging an audience. Your company’s annual report can create a 360-degree communications loop by linking to other marketing collateral on the website and investor relations website — and vice versa. The more investor materials that link internally, the more streamlined your company communications will be.
9. Corporate Collateral: Increasingly, companies are using annual reports as collateral rather than just the traditional 10-K. The more these reports are framed as promotional pieces, the more potential investors and constituents they can reach. An annual report can also be a valuable component of a shareable IR kit that also includes a summary report and a recent quarterly report.

Do you want to gain a better understanding about how your company can strategically target new investors? Read our Investor Targeting white paper to gain valuable insights that can improve your IR process.