Give Value, Get Value from High-Impact IR Websites
Investor relations websites are a powerful, often overlooked tool in attracting, educating and influencing shareholders, customers, employees, investors, and other stakeholders such as the media and job seekers. NASDAQ reports that 89% of institutional investors will visit a company’s website prior to taking a meeting. As your primary storytelling vehicle, your IR website is most effective when visitors are able to consume content in ways that are visual, intuitive, and meaningful.
For small and micro-caps in particular, a well-organized, visually attractive site not only serves as a disclosure vehicle but a great way to help time-starved investors get excited about your company and your industry - especially if the company is too small to attract analyst coverage. Sharing key industry trends and related information will support your corporate narrative. If you don’t provide this level of information, investors will go somewhere else to get the information and, in our view, it’s always better to own the conversation and proactively control the flow and quality of information. Besides educational content, visitors should have access to a sign-up for push email alerts to easily dispatch PR, SEC filings, upcoming earnings calls, news and more, including webcasts and presentations.
As Louis Sullivan's famous axiom (American architect and “father of skyscrapers") stated, “form follows function,” which means websites should feature seamless navigation and easy search. High-end interactive websites are remarkably sticky and great at driving engagement but clean, simple websites that are visually eye-catching work can be just as impactful. Besides building rapport, trust and communication, your IR website serves many functions beyond easily accessible financial information. Building alignment with key mega-trends shaping the world and associated societal and regulatory pressures can demonstrate short- and long-term strategy which can improve valuation. This also includes a section detailing ESG initiatives which is becoming more and more important with investors and customers who purchase your brand.
Your investment story should not only be compelling but contextually informative since this pitch ultimately influences a decision to invest. This starts of course, with your purpose and vision, along with your investment cast and measured results presented in clear, digestible data visualizations. You can get much more creative with these sections using storytelling in customer case studies, product innovations or ESG/sustainability priorities led by stunning photographs, illustrations, video, or motion graphics to further support your investment case and inspire your investors.
Depth and breadth of IR content should correlate to all your audiences: institutional and retail investors, as well as media, industry, employees and job seekers. While you can’t please everyone, you always can make it easier for stakeholders to understand your company and your future.
