MUNCmedia_Retail_Investor_Targeting

Opportunity for investor awareness. That’s what we promise.

RetailInvestorConferences.com is gaining strong momentum. So much so, the client feedback is beginning to accumulate. I hope you don't mind if I unload some here now. ( phew, thanks!) “Great idea and great experience.”         Richard Franco, Chairman & CEO, DARA BioSciences, Inc. "...a cost effective and convenient way to reach out to individual investors."       Friederike Edelmann, Director, Investor Relations, SAP "... a powerful tool to communicate with shareholders and potential investors.”        Gerald Prosalendis, VP, Quaterra Resources "...able to reach a group of investors that I likely would have normally not been able to do - if it were not in a virtual format.”       Delia H. Moore, Manager Investor Relations, Aflac "...an audience who would have never heard our story... That’s powerful for an OTC company.”       Meghan O’Sullivan, PR, Regenicin "...Q&A session in my virtual booth was very beneficial for both me and the attendees... get the information they need in order to make an educated decision..."        Shawn Roberts, Director of Investor Relations, TSYS "...the combination of BetterInvesting’s network, PR Newswire’s access to broad media and MUNCmedia’s technology create a great platform..."       Jeff Lambert, Managing Partner, Lambert Edwards & Associates   VIEW FULL QUOTES PDF HERE. RetailInvestorConferences.com helps ten companies each month. Have a great day

Reclassifying IR as “Institutional Relations” and “Individual Relations”

This week is my one year anniversary with MUNCmedia. And it’s taken this full year for me to truly experience the bias against retail investors. This past week alone, two articles re-enforced this attitude towards Main Street. The first op-ed takes the position that any communication tool other than those meant for institutional investors is to be avoided at all cost. This article is doofy for other reasons, but that has already been bantered about in the Twittersphere. The next piece asked the question – “How would you cope with 46M retail investors?” …and to pour salt on that slug, the opening statement is “Love or hate retail investors, would any company want 46 million of them?” I know HUNDREDS of small and micro-caps company clients that would GLADLY answer “yes.” Is my thought-thread that IR has no regard for retail investor? Not at all. I believe that this bias is NOT intentional by most Investor Relations Officers and that “picking on” retail investors is easy humor by pundits and media. Like bald jokes. My optimistic Bradleyesque opinion has always that most companies undervalue – and thus underbudget – and thus understaff– their IR group. Expectations are incorrectly set. Energy is mis-directed. My last employer is a 5 billion market-cap company with a one-person IR department. He has no bandwidth or budget for retail. Better to define this as “Institutional Relations” which I commented here as a sales role. A long-term, capital equipment sales process. ( I would waste my time and his for me to call on him about Retail Investor Targeting) Small and microcap companies, those under 500 million market-cap, NEED Main Street as Wall Street cannot take a position. This IR is now defined as “Individual Relations.” It’s more a commodity marketing activity – like selling smartphones. (They like my services) Is the access to the material data or any other disclosures different? Is the information “dumbed-down?” NOT AT ALL. But the attitude towards and engagement with would be custom per the appropriate investor audiences’ needs. The best business relationship ( and owning stock is a business relationship) is one where BOTH SIDES of the deal understand and appreciate the value of one another. How would you cope with 46 million retail investors? I suggest sending a “thank you for your business” note. Before they vote against at your next proxy. Have a great day

How many individual investors read your news release? What do mean you don't know?

We know EXACTLY how many.

Have a great day.

You are Invited!! (160,000 Social Media Real-time Investors Can't Be Wrong! )

Like all of us here at MUNCmedia, Phil Pearlman, executive editor at StockTwits has retail Investors on the mind. And, just like us, StockTwits is 100% dedicated to using the web to facilitate communications to, and with, individual investors. This THURSDAY, you are invited to listen ( and ask questions) to Phil as he is presenting: Social Media’s Impact for the Retail Investor THURSDAY, MARCH 3 2:00 pm ET Register here now Join this interactive event FREE - and learn directly from one of the architects of TIME magazine's "2010 Top 50 Websites." Have a great day.

March 3: Real-investors chatting with one-another in real-time.

Another reason RetailInvestorConferences.com's audience of investors continues to expand: real-people chatting with one-another in real-time. RetailInvestorConferences.com: Once a month, ten companies presenting live to retail investors. Simple idea. Smart execution (disclaimer: I am a tad biased.) Have a great day.

Retail Investors: the Rodney Dangerfield of the Capital Markets?

Last Thursday, I had a lunch with Kamie Zaracki, CEO of BetterInvesting. In addition to discussing the ancient Italian secret of soaking the octopus in milk overnight to make a finer Calimari, we discussed the growing (evolving) respect for retail investors. Many factors contribute to this - Wall Street inaccessibility, eProxy, Dodd-Frank, etc. Certainly, MUNCmedia's exponential success is a result of this expanding "appreciation." Kamie commented that, on more than one occasion, she has seen shock, surprise and ultimately pleasure cross a CEO's face when a... "little old lady walks up to the CEO and starts grilling him with detailed questions about the EBITA reconsolidation of the cash flow on the Q3 balance sheet." That would have been my wife's grandmother. Ex-bookkeeper.

In this same vein, below is a snippet from a conversation on NIRIs egroups from last month regarding communication with retail investors.( I am not sure I am supposed to show this but I removed names.) ...for many years as an IRO, agency and corporate, I worked only with institutional investors. I had neither respect for nor need to reach out to the retail market. However, ( I love this "however" part - BHS). I have had an opportunity to see this "new" market in a whole new light. A few points I would make are: Retail does not look anything like institutional Retail investors tend to be more seasoned and more casual Retail investors can be less aggressive in their style, but can have just as pointed questions - do not come unprepared Retail investors are less likely to go long first and loud second. In other words, where institutional investors can be more secretive up front as they build a position, in contrast retail investors are more likely to engage in a social manner about the stocks in which they have an interest. Do not take audience 'chatter' as disinterest Above all, they are eager to see the financials and investment potential of the company Do you respect numbers? This month, 2,500+ investors, media and professionals took the time to answer a few quick questions at RetailInvestorConferences.com. Have a great day. Learn more!

Consistent Communications With Main Street Spurs Success of New Retail Investor Relations Program

Public Companies Guided to Present Their Vision and Financials Directly to Investors Without Hyperbole or "Promotion" NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MUNCmedia, #1 in Retail Investor Targeting, today announced that the sales of their newly released Cmessaging(TM) package has exceeded sales projections, with almost one-half million dollars in booked sales in January 2011. The company attributes this immediate influx of new clients to the program's appeal in response to OTC and small-cap companies' ongoing frustration towards the lack of shareholder communications options. "When it comes to communicating with Wall Street, small-cap and micro-cap companies hit a communications wall," stated Matt Bird, CEO of MUNCmedia. "Certainly, there are several factors that affect this, but one hard fact is many companies are just too small an investment for large holders. For reporting purposes, many institutions need to own less than 5% of a single company's stock. For a large fund, less than 5% of a small-cap company is too insignificant an investment. They won't talk to a small-cap company, let alone an OTC-listed company," finished Bird. Wall Street's inaccessibility has forced many publicly-traded companies down a path that is uncomfortable for Investor Relations practitioners: stock promotion and pay-per-opinion spam. MUNCmedia's CMO, Bradley H. Smith, is a staunch opponent of unprincipled shareholder communications practices. "From a marketing perspective, the mechanics of stock promotion are sound... straight forward one-to-many communications. Unfortunately, due to countless one-shot pump-and-dump schemes, the whole practice and often the associated public companies, are painted with the same dark 'scam' brush," said Smith. "MUNCmessaging is a new, consistent and, importantly, company-direct alternative." Consistency builds credibility: MUNCmessaging is a calendared package for companies to present their shareholder communications -- in their own voice - directly to proactive individual investors and large, sophisticated investing groups. It combines MUNCmedia's exclusive Retail Investor Targeting solution with best practice elements from MUNCmedia's network of partners and alliances. These relationships include leading shareholder communications organizations like the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and their new alliance with BetterInvesting / NAIC and PR Newswire who recently partnered with MUNCmedia to launch RetailInvestorConferences.com. MUNCmessaging's program provides a strategic and tactical 12-month calendar of events that includes Monthly Retail Investor Targeting into MUNCmedia's network of 90+ million real-time investors with guaranteed message delivery to hundreds of thousands of investors Two presentations at RetailInvestorConferences.com, one at program launch, the second at a strategic point in the calendar year Introductory email to BetterInvesting member-base of sophisticated retail investors BetterInvesting Magazine - 84,000 subscribers: Featured company half-page showcase profile plus one quarter-page showcase profile each quarter throughout the year Featured company article in BetterInvesting eNewsletter - 54,000 subscribers Four quarterly company listings in BetterInvesting Magazine and company profile on the BetterInvesting website Five MUNCmessaging program specific newswire press releases Six month NIRI educational scholarship for IR best practices and peer-to-peer network Detailed analytics & quantitative data of all outreach programs The MUNCmessaging program fee is $3,500 a month. The package can be upgraded to include an IR website, live video media & investor events and more guaranteed direct real-time engagement with prospective investors from the MUNCmedia network. The MUNC messaging program is available now. Public companies and their IR agencies are invited to call + 1 212.699.0999 or visit MUNCmedia.com About MUNCmedia MUNCmedia is the first Information Media Network and world leader in web-based Retail Investor Targeting solutions. We provide online corporate communications, research and media solutions to companies worldwide. From targeting press releases one-to-one to individual investors to network media content syndication, MUNCmedia helps companies deliver targeted and scalable messages to the precise audience in real-time. Hundreds of companies, IR and PR agencies, stock exchanges and integrated newswires rely on MUNCmedia services to deliver news messages to the retail financial community every day with measurable results. MUNCmedia was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY with regional offices in Bellevue, WA, Chicago, Boston and Vancouver, BC. The firm currently service over 300 direct public company issuers, 40 IR agency partners and other shareholder communications organizations including tterInvesting, GlobeNewswire, a NASDAQ OMX company.

Trust is a public company's product ("trust we will make you money")

Excellent opinion piece in yesterday WSJ titled, The Business of Restoring Trust – penned by L. Gordon Crovitz. Of particular note is the data and results from the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer.®

The section that interests me most ( both as a marketer and as an IR niche workerbee) is the findings about building trust and frequency of messaging. Openly, I am not surprised that the “selling of trust” in the markets follows the same rules of any product: consistency and frequency of touch. Brian Rivel’s 2010 research spoke to this as well.



Consistency of messaging is the base of our new MUNCmessaging program, and small-cap and OTC clients are appreciating both the price and the plan... and the alternative to unpredictive "transactional" stock promotion.

Here’s the link to the WSJ full article if you have an online subscription:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703956604576110393691348706.html

Here is the link to Edelman. Well worth watching! http://www.edelman.com/trust/2011/

Have a great day.

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Hey IROs! You can use those spiders to YOUR advantage too!

Last week, the IR industry had another lesson hard learned about unprotected, yet unposted URLs containing material news. The spiders find them. And most opinions are it's 100% legal for those spiders ( or whomever ) to view the content – and act on it. ( I asked internet pioneer / IP lawyer, Erik Heels, this exact question) Yes, it’s an error by the companies. And, yes traders take advantage of this unreleased news. Erik gave me a great (hypothetical) idea - the companies themselves can use these spiders too. Why should Wall Street have all the advantage with this scraped news?

Here’s my Easy & Legal Way for Public Companies to Scam the Markets!™ DRAFT FAKE NEWS RELEASES ALL THE TIME and place them in an unprotected, yet unposted web directory for spiders to find. Let the news go viral then... ta-da... overwrite the fake one with the real news at exact release time. It will be fun!! Be creative!! "Earnings Beat Expectations by 300%." Legal pump and dump for the Fortune 500! What’s my point? Not much other than… Wall Street is ALWAYS looking for the sneaky advantage so DON’T GIVE THEM ONE. (I keep trying to keep that playing field level for Retail Investors). In fact, Firefox has an add-on (Uppity) that is made to leaf through web directories, page by page. Be very careful with web disclosure. I am very pro web-disclose and have been since its 2008 ruling. The IR site providers have safe and secure solutions to prevent pre-disclosure. All the “showcased” errors have been on the companies’ own servers. Shareholder.com was founded because most in-house webmasters we not “dedicated” enough to the needs and risks of IR. They have too many non-materials demands. Like pain-in-ass marketers. Use the web disclosure umbrella to improve your communications, not just to save money. BTW. If you do create savings…and want to reinvest that budget in direct commutations towards targeted Retail Investors, I have a couple ideas on that. Have a great day. Learn more.

The reports of my (Individual Investor) death have been greatly exaggerated.

Depending on what pundit you read, Main Street’s current sentiment toward investing in equities is either...

1.) buy
2.) sell
3.) hold

That said, the many of the reports I have been reading and commenting on are positive. Certainly, I cannot speak to  trade flow – but I can speak on “information flow.” Over 8,000 individuals have come to RetailInvestorConferences.com and from that crowd, 1,607 took the time to answer four questions for us.

Happily, with results extremely similar to the MUNCmedia Retail Investor Targeting campaigns survey results I posted over the past couple weeks, the data from RetailInvestorConferences.com illustrates, IMHO, that 1.) there ARE active retail investors and 2.) MUNCmedia knows how to deliver your company to them.

RetailInvestorConferences.com survey / four very simple questions:

Have a great day.

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Survey targeting retail investors – Question 4: how do you research stocks?

The answers from my final question in our MUNCmedia “3-second survey” surprised me – at least, the middle score for IR websites did. My Shareholder.com/NASDAQ corporate services DNA expected more that 42%.

Here are some probable reasons:

• As our question #3 illustrated, “day-traders” are a sub-group within retail investors. Personally, I equate these investors to institutional-based algorithmic / high frequency traders IE: they have no interest in the company history, message or vision. (“Why bother researching on the equity’s IR library? My HotTopTraderTips email just said WXYZ is going up today!”)

• If you subtract all the tangible datafeeds, does the company deliver content beyond what the web delivers elsewhere? What are the intangible and unique research (sales) points on the IR site? (The companies themselves need to address this. This is not an IR website vender issue.)

• IR websites are for single ticker deeper dives – essential for re-enforcing current individual shareholders’ buying decision but not so much for “shoppers.”

• Many small and micro-caps do not even HAVE a dedicated IR section. Yike. 

Have a great day.

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Individual investors toast the New Year with glasses half full!

I just read TD Ameritrade's bi-annual ( Dec 2010 ) client survey and I am optimistic about the optimistic views their retail investor clients are about 2011. Many clients surveyed (nearly 50%) feel “somewhat” or “very optimistic” about the outlook for the U.S. economy, up thirteen percentage points (13%) from in July 2010. Thirty-six percent (36%) of TD Ameritrade clients surveyed agree that news about the stock market indicates that it's a good time to invest. Up eight percentage (8%) points from July 2010 Seventy-six percent (76%) put more money into and/or held steady regarding their investments into the stock market over the last month. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of investors surveyed expect to trade more this quarter. Fifty-two percent (52%) expect to hold steady at their current trading volume The full report is in their newsroom. Have a great day. Learn more.

Survey targeting retail investors – Question 3: long or short-term holders? (...or all of the above)

Last week’s survey question confirmed that our targeted ONLINE REAL-TIME network of investors actually purchase their stocks online via retail brokers. They are researching and buying online.

Next we asked WHAT TYPE of individual investor our targeting identifies.

At first, the survey results surprised me, and I was not sure its importance. But after a couple days of noodling here at MUNCmedia and via discussions with a few clients - the consensus is the survey defined the PERFECT retail investor targeting mix… especially for small and OTC companies.





“The day-traders” – although nomadic and fickle in their behavior, deliver much needed IMMEDIATE volume and subsequent liquidity. Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am.

The “long-term holders” take more relationship nurturing (coughcoughinvestorrelationscoughcough), but deliver essential stability and create an ever-building shareholder base. Investors that you can nurture a relationship with. My Endless LooOOooooove…… 

Have a great day.

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Survey targeting retail investors – Question 2: buying behaviors of Main Street

Last week’s survey question verified the effectiveness of our platform for targeting retail investors.

Next, we asked these individual investors HOW they buy stocks. Interesting point – almost 70% of the investors targeted via MUNCmedia buy their own stocks online.

That’s a qualified group. And that’s exactly the point. ( Gives yah goosebumps, right? )





Other databases we watch give us insight into the other 22% - mostly other companies (peers & competitors) and research agents.

Have a great day.

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RetailInvestorConferences.com January 11th Event Exceeds our Expectations

"We're excited about the response we have already received from individual investors," said Bradley H. Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at MUNCmedia. "To date, almost 5,000 individuals have come to RetailInvestorConferences.com, all generated from our inaugural event. Being a monthly conference series, we anticipate the number of retail investors to compound month after month," continued Smith. "Certainly our new prize center will insert a little fun, too." READ FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

I look forward to the presentations and we have prizes to award to attendees! Have a great day.   Learn more

Survey targeting retail investors about, um… Targeting Retail Investors – Question 1

In December, MUNCmedia embedded a VERY brief questionnaire ( “3-second Survey” ) in all our client campaigns. I thought asking for more than three seconds was greedy. I am pleased with the amount of respondents, especially considering I did not offer any prize for participating other than a “thank you.”

Question #1 was to verify our clients’ investor relations messaging is reaching its desired audience. Remember, our targeting is not list-based. It’s REAL-TIME delivery to people as they are reaching equities IN REAL-TIME.

Oops. My Caps Lock was on.



Kudos to our tech team… nice to have a product that delivers its promise. Pun intended.

Have a great day.

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62,000 investors saw our client's news in just one day!

We use two separate 3rd party analytics services to verify our client's news release reached its target... simply a
SLEIGHFULL of engaged investors in REAL-TIME. 

Have a merry little day!

New CEO Video Interview Suite Simplifies Investor Targeting for Public Companies Presenting at the 29th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference

MUNCmedia Investor Relations package creates and delivers content for public companies to video showcase their CEO’s vision -and personality- to 20,000+ online investors NEW YORK, Dec. 21, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MUNCmedia, #1 in Retail Investor Targeting, today announced the creation of a new suite that combines high-end video production with their innovative financial communications media network's capabilities.

MUNCmedia is initiating the new service for companies who are presenting at the 29th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Jan 10 – 13, 2011 Westin St. Francis, San Francisco. “By bringing cameras and crews right into San Francisco’s Union Square, we’ve significantly simplified the largest hurdle for Investor Relations departments who need video content of their CEO – their CEO’s time,” said Bradley H. Smith, MUNCmedia’s CMO. “During a 30–minute break from the JP Morgan Conference, CEOs and other senior executives will just walk across the street to our Grand Hyatt studio for their interview,” Smith continued. “Once produced, the CEO interview will be targeted directly into our network of millions of real-time investors.” In a new report from comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, 84.2 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video content in November for an average of 15.1 hours per viewer. The duration of the average online content video was 5.1 minutes. “Video is the king of online content,” said Justin Schreiber, President of Executive Video, “and combining the deep content of a CEO interview with guaranteed targeted delivery to investors assures that this vital ‘look-investors-in-the-eye’ CEO content will absolutely reach a relevant, active audience.” It is recommended that companies presenting at the 2011 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference make their CEO video interview reservations now. +1 212/699-0999 x 805 or http://www.muncmedia.com/General_Inquiries.html. The turn-key fee is $3,500. Companies can also merge this service into a complete MUNCmessaging package

I'm waiting for Investor Relations to converge with their true brethren: Sales

In November 2002, I hosted a Shareholder.com webcast titled “The IR/PR Convergence: Tearing Down the Silos.” It featured a stellar panel  of very smart and dedicated practitioners with a sincere view for the coming utopia. (view original press release here) However, we’re still having that same discussion eight years later. From my work sorting and building out the shareholder communications products and strategies for reaching individual investors, I had my own personal epiphany on the IR and PR convergence. The tangible tools of the two practices are the same: press releases, micro-sites, targeting (historical) databases – but here is the difference (please keep in mind, my perspective is always marketing and sales). PR does not go for “The Close.” IR does. Sorry PR, but you don't close deals. Nor are you goaled or measured as such. To me, IR has a very tactical and essential sales endpoint. The institution (the customer) taking (buying) a position (the product).

Investor Relations is Business-to-Business sales and marketing. It's hard work.           1.) Know how the product works (know what the numbers mean)           2.) Identify prospects from their buying habits (institutional targeting)           3.) Makes sales calls on prospects (roadshows)           4.) Build a relationship (build a relationship)           5.) Bring brochures (financials)           6.) Offer brand and color context (IR website)           7.) Articulate the value to the customer (“ditto”)           8.) Exhibit at trade shows (present at investor conferences)           9.) Send out product emails and regular newsletters (news and earnings reports)           10.) Follow-up via SalesForce CRM (Pinpoint,Thomson One)           11.) ASK FOR THE SALE (“TAKE A POSITION”)           12.) Track success (surveillance) Great companies imbibe their best sales people and their investor relations department with the exact same philosophies: truth, transparency and setting realistic expectations with the customer...sometimes called "an investor." Have a great day. PS: For tools for your sales outreach to individual investors....please contact me here to see the 12-month MUNCmessaging calendar and case studies. Damn right it's a sales and MARKETING calendar.

3,271 visitors (investors!) can't be wrong

The January 11th Retail Investor Conference is almost closed out. And no wonder! Our first event exceeded our expectations. Delia H. Moore, Manager, Investor Relations at Aflac Worldwide Headquarters, is renowned for her passion and expertise in working with individual investors. Ever articulate and polite, she shared her view with us regarding Aflac's participation the November event... "Retail Investor Conferences.com provided a nice way for me to be able to reach out to individual investors in a cost efficient manner. I was able to reach a group of investors that I likely would have normally not been able to do if it were not in a virtual format." Contact me here to learn more about virtual Retail Investor Confernces.com and to see the 12-month MUNCmessaging calendar and case studies. Remember, we are only allowing TEN companies per month to present. Have a great day.

A 2011 tactical plan for shareholder communications to Main Street

Since the launch of our MUNCmessaging program, I have been joining our sales people on many of their sales call ( four or five a day...phew ) – sometimes participating, always listening. On ALL these calls, without fail, I am hearing the same statement again and again: “You are the first company ever to create a real-time [continual] plan for reaching retail investors.”

One prospect - who is becoming a client ;) - said “Our communications [to retail] was always shooting from the hip. We’d do a webcast or live conference once in a while. No follow-up. Nothing consistent.” No realistic, easy to execute plan. Of great interest to me– this sentiment was mirrored from companies across all capitalizations. IRO perception is that most IR service providers only offered “shoot-from-the-hip” solutions. A webcast here, an email list there. Plus… Small and micro-caps are furiously preyed upon by promoters who offer short campaigns to day-traders “that cost tens of thousands even for one week” Larger and mega-cap companies would like a individual investor program, ( with all the new proxy access pressures, etc) just didn’t know “how to start one” Corporate IR is often criticized for ignoring the individual investors; however I have never taken to that thought. By default, corporate IR is limited by both budget and subsequent bandwidth – thus their support mechanisms lean towards institutional outreach. Like any sales organization, they have to focus on “the big deals.” Executed poorly, retail investors will be a time consuming, un-measurable exercise. Working with a consistent, sustainable shareholder communications map to retail investors – WITH a thoughtful IR website – will give your senior team measurable analytics while demonstrating your company's commitment to Main Street without burdening your 2011 investor relations "to-do" list. Contact me here to see the 12-month MUNCmessaging calendar and case studies. Have a great day.

Enhanced Video Capabilities in Response to Retail Investors’ Appetite for Video

We just announced our new VIDEO technical enhancement. Faster server, easier conversion and an embedded player in all our client commutations - at no extra distribution fee Read the press release here. "Video and the web are now synonymous and those companies that have not begun to incorporate video into their online IR and shareholder communications, particularly to Main Street, are missing an opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitive investment options,” said Matthew Bird, CEO, MUNCmedia. “Video has gone beyond the actual content and is now perceived as an important visual creditability generator."

"Retail investors need to feel a one-to-one connection with the company – a video delivers a tactile presence – separating the CEO’s and your overall IR messaging above from the rest of the online noise," finished Bird. BOTTOMLINE: We believe that video deepens engagement, especially with sophisticated online individual investors... so much so that we are including video streaming within all our clients' shareholder communications - and within our new MUNCmessaging program. Learn more.. Have a great day.

 

MUNCmedia Announces Enhanced Video Capabilities in Response to Retail Investors’ Appetite for Video

Video news delivery platform pushes CEO messages directly to real-time individual investors NEW YORK, Dec 1, 2010 -- MUNCmedia, #1 in Retail Investor Targeting, today announced a video upgrade to their financial communications media network’s capabilities. The implementation of this new video enhancement increases both the resolution and amount of data that can be served across the MUNCmedia – Market Update Network Corporation - breaking news network deepening the investor relations engagement for public companies, financial publishers and the 90+ million individual investors they serve and communicate with. “Video and the web are now synonymous and those companies that have not begun to incorporate video into their online shareholder communications, particularly to Main Street, are ignoring an opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitive investment options,” said Matthew Bird, CEO, MUNCmedia. “Video has gone beyond the actual content and is now perceived an important visual creditability generator. Retail investors need to feel a one-to-one connection with the company – a video delivers a tactile presence – separating the CEO’s message above from the rest of the online noise.” In a new report from comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, 175 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in October for an average of 15.1 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.4 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month. “Our network data shows that video dramatically increases investor engagement,” stated Bradley H. Smith, CMO, MUNCmedia, “so much so that we are including MUNCmedia video streaming capabilities in all our clients’ investor relations communications. We’ve also added new programs that help clients create video content specifically targeted for retail & institutional investors as well as present their message, in real-time, at investor virtual conferences,” finished Smith. The new video capabilities are being included in the new MUNCmessaging program and implemented throughout MUNCmedia's publishing network including high traffic retail investor sites like Nasdaq.com hundreds of others. About MUNCmedia: Market Update Network, Corp. MUNCmedia is the first Information Media Network and world leader in web-based Retail Investor Targeting solutions. We provide online corporate communications, research and media solution to companies worldwide. From targeting press releases one-to-one to individual investors to corporate video PR content, MUNCmedia helps companies deliver targeted and scalable messages to the precise audience in real-time. Hundreds of companies, IR and PR agencies, stock exchanges and integrated newswires rely on MUNCmedia services to deliver news messages to the retail financial community every day with measurable results. MUNCmedia was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY with regional offices in Bellevue, WA, Vancouver, BC and Boston. We currently service over 300 direct public company issuers, 40 IR agency partners and have sales and marketing partners across the globe. MUNCmedia services and blog links: Retail Investor Targeting | Retail Investor Conferences | Blog

Retail Investor Conferences.com Integrates Social Media into Virtual Individual Investor Events

January 11 conference to facilitate real-time Tweeting and chatting among all attendees, presenters and investors   New York, NY, November 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — BetterInvesting (NAIC), PR Newswire and MUNCmedia today announced that RetailInvestorConferences.com now has a social media functionality integrated directly into its webcast event presentation platform. Launched on Nov. 4, 2010, Retail Investor Conferences provides an interactive forum for presenting public companies to meet directly with individual investors using a graphically-enhanced online platform. The next conference will be held Jan. 11, 2011 and will continue the first week of every month throughout 2011. Investors are invited to register on the November 4th event to be pre-registered for all 2011 events. “Individual investors have a huge and insatiable appetite to share their very best ideas via Social Media,” said Howard Lindzon, Co-Founder and CEO of StockTwits.com, the web’s Social Media built information service for investments. “StockTwits channels over 100,000 users, many who would certainly enjoy hearing, and Tweeting about, a CEO’s presentation in real-time.” “Last month’s inaugural event generated a healthy amount of social media activity pre- and post-event,” said Bradley H. Smith, CMO at MUNCmedia, “so it was logical that we enable Tweeting from within the actual conference itself. Individual investors are extremely active with social media. This is clearly demonstrated on sites like StockTwits,” continued Smith. “Main Street investors like to share what they know, openly ask questions and boast about their great buys.” Retail Investor Conferences offers presenting companies broad distribution, including: ·      Press release distribution from PR Newswire announcing participation in the conference, the full conference agenda and post-event highlights distributed to more than 1,000 investment and financial portals ·      An email invitation to BetterInvesting’s 120,000 member and customer base and an event link on BetterInvesting.org and other key investor portals ·      Custom Retail Investor Targeting campaign into MUNCmedia’s network of 90+ million retail investors ·      Reporting of total traffic and related metrics for opt-in investors attending each conference ·      View full details at www.retailinvestorconferences.com/VRIC_companies_receive.html Full year calendar available  To facilitate investor relations departments’ full-year 2011 scheduling and budgeting, a full calendar of Retail Investor Conference dates is now available on www.retailinvestorconferences.com. Public companies that are interested in participating in a conference can access information about upcoming opportunities and engage conference organizers about specific openings. Time slots will fill quickly It is recommended that public companies book their preferred time slot now. Click here to email Bradley H. Smith, at MUNCmedia, call him directly at +1 917 680 6011 or use this form. IR firms and PR firms are invited to contact Smith. Corporate sponsorships available Besides real-time investor presentations from public companies, corporations that offer services for retail investors and public companies will have virtual “trade booths” showcasing their solutions. These exhibiting corporations will staff their booths for live chat as well as offer videos and downloadable materials. Corporations interested in sponsorships may also contact Bradley H. Smith.   ### About BetterInvesting Visit our website/ Visit us on Facebook/ Follow us on Twitter Since 1951, BetterInvesting (www.betterinvesting.org), the brand identity of the National Association of Investors Corporation, has helped over 5 million people become better, more informed investors. BetterInvesting, based in Madison Heights, Mich., helps its members build wealth through local, regional and national learning events as well as through Web-based tools, software, member publications and online resources. As the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to investment education, it provides investing knowledge and practical investing experience through local investment clubs, local volunteer chapters, online courses and an active online community. BetterInvesting and its subsidiary, ICLUBcentral, currently serve over 120,000 investors. About PR Newswire Visit our website / Visit us on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com) is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 56 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content – from rich media to online video to multimedia – and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world’s largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world’s enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a United Business Media company.   About MUNCmedia Visit our website  /   Visit our blog  /   Follow us on Twitter MUNCmedia is the first Information Media Network and world leader in Web-based Retail Investor Targeting solutions. We provide online corporate communications, research and media solutions to companies worldwide.  From targeting press releases one-to-one to individual investors to corporate video PR content, MUNCmedia helps companies deliver targeted and scalable messages to the precise audience in real-time. Hundreds of companies, IR and PR agencies, stock exchanges and integrated newswires rely on MUNCmedia services to deliver news messages to the retail financial community every day with measurable results. MUNCmedia was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY, with regional offices in Bellevue, Wash., and Boston. We currently service over 300 direct public company issuers, 40 IR agency partners and other shareholder communications organizations .   Media Contacts:   Rachel Meranus Vice President, Marketing & Communications PR Newswire +1.201.360.6776 rachel.meranus@prnewswire.com   Bradley H. Smith CMO MUNCmedia +1.917.680.6011 Bradley.smith@muncmedia.com   Adam Ritt Director of Communications BetterInvesting +1 248.654.3045 adamr@betterinvesting.org

That’s all I can stands and I can’t stands no more! (stock scams)

Judging by the large number of inbound emails and calls this week, I am not the only person who follows the prose the great philosopher Popeye once opined “That’s all I can stands and I can’t stands no more!” I am referring to our new alliteratively named MUNCmessaging program. VERBATIM COMMENTS: Bradley, I have been involved in small/micro-cap IR now for over 13 years and found myself nodding (unfortunately) in agreement with much of your email content. So the humbling question…  Hello Bradley,   I read late October release that you put out and was quite impressed by your no nonsense approach. I would like to see… Hi Bradley, I am always looking for ways to improve investor awareness on a long term basis.   Can you…

One CEO at an OTC cap commented, quite simply, “It’s nice to have a plan written down.”  Other comments included that “a lot of stock promotion is like Chinese food” and that it’s "...an expensive, endless cycle of cash in and cash out” and that “…it sets unsustainable expectations for shareholders.”   My favorite comment was that “… you’ve created a very real well planned outreach program.” Contact me HERE for more information. And finally, in the spirit of transparency, my opinion is that canned spinach is gross Have a great day.

RetailInvestorConferences.com November 4th event exceeded expectations

Hundreds of investors, hours of investor engagement – and – chatting and commenting both between the attendees and with the companies. Congratulations to all our presenting companies and to the investors that joined in to make Retail Investor Conferences the IR Presentation Destination!

Next event: December 2!  If you would like to present your story, please contact me (bradley.smith@muncmedia.com) ASAP to assure your spot.

Screenshots below illustrate a nice (transparent) interactivity path. Be sure to log in to hear the events from November 4th. Plus, once you log in, you are set for all upcoming dates. ( as are all the retail investors too.)

Have a great day.

Start Making Sense ( and stop stock promoting )

We just released our new MUNCmessaging package, a 12-month program that was expressly created as an ethical alternative to stock promotion.   Read the press release here. I don’t know what has changed in my world – probably just more online exposure – but over the past month I have had a deluge of calls from stock promoters all trying to get to my clients. They all offer the same pitch… a bullpen of telemarketers calling day-traders and publication on “newsletters” to drive volume regardless of the company’s actual story or message. I have a visceral creepy reaction to this investor relations “philosophy” (rooted from my 9.5 years heading marketing at Shareholder.com/NASDAQ products

I believe to create high-value long term-holders, you need to sell the story THEN the stock. And you need some IR structure. But rather than only bitch about this underbelly of IR outreach, I have put our money where our MUNC is and made a package that matches the typical fees of these pump and dump enablers. To quote myself from the press release ( this ain’t no foolin’ around ahem ahem) "To price our new MUNCmessaging initiative, we engineered backwards from the monthly price point that stock promoters and stock opinion bloggers typically charge companies," said Bradley H. Smith, MUNCmedia's CMO. "We worked with our partners to build the smartest and most transparent shareholder communications program at this set price point. If companies are looking for a "pump and dump" product, stay with the stock promoters...don't bother calling us," emphasizes Smith. "MUNCmessaging is created for companies that are committed to grow their complete business, not just looking to fallaciously inflate their stock price." More to the point, this is not about “pricing” – MUNCmessaging is a calendared plan. Many of our clients are lacking IR as a function. This is a clean structure start. Have a great day. PS: Retail Investor Conferences NOV 4 event is ready to rock!

 

How would YOUR management team react if you showed them 34,705 investors saw your press release in just one day?

With MUNCmedia Retail Investor Targeting, investors don’t find your press release. Your press release finds them... targeted at the exact moment they are online researching investment opportunities or checking-up on their current holdings. We find individual investors, cross reference them in real-time with your company and if it’s a match – we deliver your company news, financials, current share activity and even a Retail Investor Conferences.com presentation. And now, our new third party analytics (daily samples shown above!) demonstrates and validates your IR ROI dollar spend for DIRECT distribution more than ever before. Have a great day.

BetterInvesting and MUNCmedia Form Partnership to Align Retail Investor Targeting Activities

Organizations share common goal of building relations between retail investors and public companies Detroit MI / New York –October 20, 2010 -  BetterInvesting, a national, nonprofit association with members consisting of individual investors and investment clubs, and MUNCmedia, a leader in retail investor targeting, today announced a strategic alliance that will cross-market their unique retail investor targeting services with each other. This announcement follows their recent announcement regarding the formation with PR Newswire of RetailInvestorIConferences.com. The agreement gives MUNCmedia clients exclusive marketing opportunities to BetterInvesting’s active investor membership and allows BetterInvesting’s corporate members special access into MUNCmedia’s network of 90+ million investors as well as attendance at live New York City investor events. ”This partnership is a great opportunity for our membership and the corporate members who support our mission,” said Kamie Zaracki, BetterInvesting’s chief executive officer. “MUNCmedia provides innovative, leading-edge solutions for publicly owned companies that want to attract retail investors, especially small companies that don’t have coverage on Wall Street and in the traditional media, and our members are always interested in learning about new investment opportunities. Corporate members will have opportunities to tap into MUNCmedia’s extensive network.”

"Within the investor relations industry, BetterInvesting’s member base of retail investors is renowned for its stability and quantifiable portfolio base,” said Bradley H. Smith MUNCmedia’s chief marketing officer. “Helping our clients build relationships with this sophisticated group of educated investors can have quite an impact on a company’s growth, especially for a small-cap company. It’s the perfect complement to our Web 2.0 real-time outreach.” ###  About BetterInvesting Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. BetterInvesting Magazine is published monthly by BetterInvesting.    BetterInvesting is the brand identity of the National Association of Investors Corporation, a national, nonprofit association with members consisting of individual investors and investment clubs. Founded in 1951 and with headquarters in Madison Heights, Mich., BetterInvesting is considered the voice of the individual investor, as well as the pioneer of the modern investment club movement. BetterInvesting is dedicated to providing a sound program of investment education and information to help its members become successful long-term, lifetime investors.  About MUNCmedia Visit our website  /   Visit our blog  /   Follow us on Twitter MUNCmedia is the first Information Media Network and world leader in web-based Retail Investor Targeting solutions. We provide online corporate communications, research and media solutions to companies worldwide. From targeting press releases one-to-one to individual investors to corporate video PR content, MUNCmedia helps companies deliver targeted and scalable messages to the precise audience in real-time. Hundreds of companies, IR and PR agencies, stock exchanges and integrated newswires rely on MUNCmedia services to deliver news messages to the retail financial community every day with measurable results. MUNCmedia was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY with regional offices in Bellevue, WA and Boston. We currently service over 300 direct public company issuers, 40 IR agency partners and other shareholder communications organizations .

Is your story old, dull news by the time an annual retail conference cycles around?

The challenge public companies h

The challenge public companies have with annual or semi-annual retail conference is just that… the annual or semi-annual schedule. That may suit mega-cap companies that are presenting a du rigor story, but small and micro-caps are far too dynamic for such a schedule. They are (hopefully) on a growth trajectory. That break-through may happen THIS month. FDA approval may be THIS month. The big partnership may be THIS month.

When we laid out the product plan for Retail Investor Conferences.com, one essential aspect I fought for was a MONTHLY calendar. Tell your story to investors WHENEVER you have material, market moving news. Companies do not have to wait for an annual or semi-annual conference to cycle around. Additionally, the monthly schedule is allowing IR firms to organize their client’s year, at least in context to Main Street outreach. Lastly, the monthly schedule allows us to showcase fewer events on your presentation day -  no overlapping (competitive) sessions and more emphasis on your CEO. That's barking up the right tree.  Have a great day.

Retail Investors Conferences off to a roaring start !

I have NEVER had a product launch where I am overwhelmed with INBOUND calls. What a treat. Since our announcement about Retail Investor Conferences last Thursday, there has been a flurry of true activity – and the November event has over half the spots filled – in four business days. Other special points to know about the events: The presentations are sequential, not concurrent. The client companies have DEDICATED time and attention for the whole hour for presentation and trade booth time.

The presentations are meant to be live (audio and slide) but if your CEO prefers, we can run an precorded audio BUT it would be best to be on the line for live questions. Some of you do earnings calls in this manner. (BTW, questions come in as text) Many IR firms stated that they will be “staffing” the trade booth to answer questions. We have set the dates for 14 months so companies and their supporting IR firms can set and budget an outreach plan. You can speak with me directly ( 917 680 6011 ) OR you just call BetterInvesting or PR Newswire if you have an existing relationship – we are a team. Like the Three Musketeers. Have a great day. PS: we have a educational sponsor too! Contact me if you want to sponsor.

 

BetterInvesting (NAIC), PR Newswire and MUNCmedia Align to Launch Interactive, Multimedia "Retail Investor Conferences" Program

Monthly Series of Virtual Investor Conferences to Connect Public Companies With Tens of Thousands of Retail Investors Each Month at Retail Investor Conferences.com New York, NY, October 7, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — BetterInvesting (NAIC), PR Newswire and MUNCmedia today announced the launch of “Retail Investor Conferences” — the first monthly virtual investor conference series created specifically to connect retail investors with publicly traded companies.   Scheduled to commence on November 4, 2010, with new events occurring the first week of every month, Retail Investor Conferences will provide an interactive forum for presenting companies to meet directly with retail investors using a graphically-enhanced online platform. Designed to replicate the look and feel of location-based investor conferences, Retail Investor Conferences unites PR Newswire’s leading-edge online conferencing and investor communications capabilities with BetterInvesting’s extensive retail investor audience network and MUNCmedia’s sophisticated retail investor targeting. “Targeting retail investors has recently become a high priority for many public companies as new SEC regulations have empowered individual investors with direct voting access,” said Kamie Zaracki, CEO at BetterInvesting. “Retail Investor Conferences will facilitate direct dialogue between public companies and current and prospective retail investors. Of most significance, our members will benefit from two-way, real-time access to management teams from a wide array of companies month after month with each new event.” During each event, presenting companies will have the opportunity to showcase their corporate vision and investment thesis in one-hour live audio and slide webcasts that enable retail investors in attendance to listen to and observe each company’s presentation and then engage the spokesperson in real time via live-chat Q&A sessions. Additionally, throughout the day, companies will be able to host follow-up Q&A sessions with interested investors in their dedicated “Virtual Trade Booth” that allows for direct, open discussions and the exchange of videos and investor materials. Retail Investor Conferences offers presenting companies broad distribution, including: ·         Press release distribution from PR Newswire announcing participation in the conference, the full conference agenda and post-event highlights distributed to more than 1,000 investment and financial portals ·         An email invitation to BetterInvesting’s 120,000 member and customer base and an event link on BetterInvesting.com and other key investor portals ·         Custom Retail Investor Targeting campaign to MUNCmedia’s network of 90+ million retail investors ·         Reporting of total traffic and related metrics for opt-in investors attending each conference ·         View full details at retailinvestorconferences.comhttp://www.retailinvestorconferences.com/VRIC_companies_receive.html “In creating the Retail Investor Conferences program, BetterInvesting, PR Newswire and MUNCmedia recognized that there was a significant need to effectively connect public companies of varying specialties and market caps with motivated retail investors who are eager to find the latest ‘undiscovered gem,’” said John Viglotti, vice president, IR Products & Analytics, PR Newswire. “By using Retail Investor Conferences, small-cap companies seeking liquidity and larger-cap companies seeking balance can expand their opportunities to meet and attract retail investors at a fraction of the cost and with greater efficiency than presenting in-person at traditional investor conferences. These gains in both communications and increased visibility offer value-adds throughout the investor relations continuum.” Full year calendar available: To facilitate investor relations departments’ end-of-year 2010 and full-year 2011 scheduling and budgeting, a full calendar of Retail Investor Conference dates is now available on www.retailinvestorconferences.com. Public companies that are interested in participating in a conference can access information about upcoming opportunities and engage conference organizers about specific openings. Time slots will fill quickly: It is recommended that public companies book their preferred time slot now. Click here to email Bradley H. Smith, at MUNCmedia, call him directly at +1 917 680 6011 or use this form. IR firms and PR firms are invited to contact Smith. “At a macro level, retail investors are essential for economic recovery. At a micro level, their stock position can be the lifeblood for a company, especially those with smaller market caps and less institutional exposure,” said Bradley H. Smith, CMO, MUNCmedia. “Retail Investor Conferences will place these public companies directly in front of individual investors who proactively desire to discover new opportunities.” Corporate sponsorships available: Besides real-time investor presentations from public companies, corporations that offer services for retail investors and public companies will have virtual “trade booths” showcasing their solutions. These exhibiting corporations will staff their booths for live chat as well as offer videos and downloadable materials. Corporations interested in sponsorships may also contact Bradley H. Smith.   About BetterInvesting Since 1951, BetterInvesting, the brand identity of the National Association of Investors Corporation, has helped over 5 million people become better, more informed retail investors. BetterInvesting, based in Madison Heights, Mich., helps its members build wealth through local, regional and national learning events as well as through Web-based tools, software, member publications and online resources. As the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to investment education, it provides investing knowledge and practical investing experience through local investment clubs, local volunteer chapters, online courses and an active online community. BetterInvesting and its subsidiary, ICLUBcentral, currently serve over 120,000 investors. For more information, go to www.betterinvesting.org.   About PR Newswire Visit our website / Visit us on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter PR Newswire is a global leader in innovative communications and marketing services, enabling organizations to connect and engage with their target audiences worldwide. Through its multi-channel distribution network, audience intelligence, targeting, measurement and compliance services, PR Newswire helps corporations and organizations conduct rich, timely and dynamic dialogues with the media, consumers, policymakers, investors and the general public, in support of building brands, generating awareness, impacting public policy, driving sales, and raising capital. Pioneering the commercial news distribution industry 55 years ago, PR Newswire connects customers with audiences in more than 170 countries and in over 40 languages through an unparalleled network of offices in 16 countries across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and via unique affiliations with the leading news agencies across the globe. PR Newswire is a subsidiary of United Business Media Limited (UBM.L), a leading global business media company that serves professional commercial communities around the world. For more information, go to www.unitedbusinessmedia.com.   About MUNCmedia Visit our website / Visit our blog / Follow us on Twitter MUNCmedia is the first Information Media Network and world leader in web-based Retail Investor Targeting solutions. We provide online corporate communications, research and media solution to companies worldwide. From targeting press releases one-to-one to individual investors to corporate video PR content, MUNCmedia helps companies deliver targeted and scalable messages to the precise audience in real-time. Hundreds of companies, IR and PR agencies, stock exchanges and integrated newswires rely on MUNCmedia services to deliver news messages to the retail financial community every day with measurable results. MUNCmedia was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY with regional offices in Bellevue, WA and Boston. We currently service over 300 direct public company issuers and 40 IR agency partners.   Media Contacts: Rachel Meranus Vice President, Marketing & Communications PR Newswire +1.201.360.6776 rachel.meranus@prnewswire.com Bradley H. Smith CMO MUNCmedia +1.917.680.6011 Bradley.smith@muncmedia.com Adam Ritt Director of Communications BetterInvesting +1 248.654.3045 adamr@betterinvesting.org

R.I.P. OpenCompany - the bridge to DIY corporate transparency (pre-social media)

Today's blog is just a quick note to honor the September 24th passing of a dear friend: OpenCompany.info. But this is not a mournful passing, but a celebration of transparency towards retail investors and OpenCompany’s role as a bridge to corporate transparency. Or perhaps a better metaphor is “corporate transparency training wheels…” no longer needed, technologically-wise, in the age of RSS, Twitter and other self-publishing media.
	What was OpenCompany? At its loftiest goal, it was an opportunity for IROs to DIY post and distribute their OWN earnings estimates in juxtaposition to street consensus. At its most tactical level, OpenCompany was the only earnings call calendar (datastream) that was full market AND 100% free to both Main and Wall Street.
Concepted by IR product pioneer Ron Gruner (President and founder of Shareholder.com), incredibly fed by Team Lotterer, brilliantly engineered by Jim Konz & Robert Tiberius Scanlon and crafted/developed by some cheeky marketing guy-  in its eight-year lifespan, OpenCompany delivered over 15 million webcasts to investors worldwide, mostly to retail investors. Oh. Did I happen to mention the Fast Company magazine's 2003 'Fast 50' Champions of Innovation award? OpenCompany was born in June 2002, less than two years into Regulation FD yet over a year before Sarbanes-Oxley. At that time, “transparency” was not quite the de rigor phase we all use now, and the leading datafeed of earnings calls (built prior RegFD) was focused on Wall Street – as a professional tool. There was a retail version of this feed, but for competitive reasons it was “strategically parsed” to distribute only specific (vendor selected) company events. Shareholder.com saw this “transparency oversight” as an true opportunity to level the playing field in regard to ease of access to a full market feed for both individual and institutional investors. Also, frankly, we needed a calendar product as a defensive action. We turned this frown upsidedown and created a very successful, industry-based marketing initiative. Their words, not mine. “One of NIRI’s objectives is to encourage open and effective flow of information between corporations and financial stakeholders,” said Louis M. Thompson, Jr., President and CEO of NIRI. “We view this calendar and earnings database as one way that NIRI can help its member organizations communicate more clearly and directly with their shareholders and the broader investment community.” “NAIC (BetterInvesting) is partnering with OpenCompany to help ensure that individual investors and investment clubs obtain the same information at the same time as professional investors,” said Kenneth Janke Sr., NAIC chairman. "Shareholder confidence begins with broad access to corporate information simultaneously to all investors, and Rukeyser.com is pleased to contribute to that effort through its relationship with OpenCompany," said Louis Rukeyser. “Building market confidence is everyone’s responsibility,”said Adrienne Baker, North American Editor of IR Magazine. “Everyone involved in IR needs to embrace thought-changing initiatives like OpenCompany. We’re proud to join NIRI, NAIC and other shareholder communications organizations that are dedicated to promoting credibility and transparency to investors.” "Our members are committed to the free flow of investor information and to rebuilding investor confidence in the markets" said Tom Phillips, NYSSA CEO. "We're pleased to offer them access to the OpenCompany resource as an important tool in that effort. OpenCompany has brought together Wall Street, Main Street and public corporations with a timely commitment to transparency in investor information. This service is a great benefit for our members." "With OpenCompany, professional investors no longer need to rely solely on third parties to receive guidance or earnings call scheduling when assessing their portfolios and funds,” said Erik Vander Kolk, Publisher, Institutional Investor Online. “Many shareholders rely on our readers to have the most relevant and timely information when they plan their investments. We’re joining OpenCompany to ensure the industry has the best resources for the most transparent and important data available." ”We are pleased to work with OpenCompany in its efforts to restore confidence in the investment community," said Wing Yu, CEO of FinancialContent. "The response from our clients has been very enthusiastic. The XML integrated seamlessly into our system." “We’re pleased to provide TheDeal.com subscribers with a resource for gathering current corporate earnings information,” said Tom Groppe, general manager of TheDeal.com. “Our partnership with OpenCompany is another example of our continuing efforts to develop our one-stop-shop of news, information and services for the dealmaking community.” "EDGAR Online is pleased to be counted as a leader within the OpenCompany network of financial information providers," said Jay Sears, Senior Vice President of Business, Strategy Development of EDGAR Online, Inc. "Building market confidence begins with building shareholder trust," said John Viglotti, managing director of Computershare Analytics in North America. "We applaud the dedication OpenCompany leaders have shown towards this important objective, and we're proud to be included." "The idea of OpenCompany - connecting public companies directly and equally to both Wall Street and Main Street - was long overdue," said QuoteMedia CEO Dave Shworan. "We're pleased to contribute to this dedicated group of market leaders. Certainly, building market confidence is a responsibility best shared," finished Shworan. Sincere thanks to all the forward-thinking organizations that stood together in support of transparency and made OpenCompany a resounding success. And, looking ahead…CONGRATULATIONS to all the public companies that have embraced the OpenCompany mantra and use the evolving power the web to be their own “datastreams” of corporate disclosure.  Have a great day.

Zen and the Art of Material Transparency

Metaphorically blogging today: Two months ago, I found a dusty framed print in my parents' basement (my father hung it in his office for many years). Double-matted behind a non-glare glass, it was a benignly pleasant image of a Russian horse and carriage. However, due to the etched and slightly opaque glass, even with a loupe, I could not tell if it was a lithograph re-print or the original watercolor. Last week, I cracked the frame's seal. Original watercolor, spectacular detail and worth thousands of dollars. I have thrown the non-glare glass away. In my meetings with small-caps ( and micro-caps ) the discussion of “transparency” always comes up.  It’s very scary for many companies... not that they are hiding any financials misdoings, but that they are concerned they will appear TOO small to potential investors. “You are small,” sez me. “But we don’t want to look small,” sez them.  “They know you are small. But you don’t have to act small. Behave like a large-cap. Being transparent is not how you deliver your IR message, it IS your IR message," sez me. Transparency builds credibility. Opaqueness blurs details, and for many small companies, all they have at this stage in their corporate life-cycle are details. And often, the details hold the beauty of the promise.   Above: as photographed behind the glass.                  Above: 120 year old original watercolor sans-glass. Have a great day.

A wicked pissah great IR Event!

Congratulations to the National Investor Relations Institute for a very successful "Introduction to IR" this week in Boston. This is the 11th time I have attended annual great conference (I'm a slow learner). One point - if conference attendance is an economic barometer, we're on the road to recovery... there were 133 "IR newbies" signed up this year, which is about 40% more than last year. It's a smart event chock full of Best Practices in Investor Relations insights from working practitioners. You may meet a friendly service provider too. Who knows, maybe they'll buy you dinner!     Welcome to Boston     Full house.     MUNCmedia sponsored dinner at Fire & Ice     Brain food     Oooh. Sooooo this is how NIRI's Kraig Conrad gets new members - he hypnotizes them!     BFFs Have a great day.

Next One Interactive Closes $2.2 Million Investment From MUNCmedia

Investor and consumer targeting firm, MUNCmedia, to provide vertical marketing integration and financial communications expertise: becomes strategic investor and partner FORT LAUDERDALE /  Next One Interactive, Inc. (OTCBB: NXOI) announced the closing of a strategic investment and partnership with MUNCmedia, a leading global information network and #1 in Retail Investor Targeting. Under the terms of the agreement, Next One will utilize MUNCmedia’s exclusive, targeted content delivery capabilities within the Travel arena. Additionally, MUNCmedia invests in NXOI, by way of a private placement, at $1.00 per share with an additional 1 million warrants attached, each exercisable at $1.00, vesting over the next two years. “Directly connecting premier destination travelers with an abundance of trustworthy content and knowledge, has been the holy grail for both the traveler and the online travel industry,” said Bill Kerby, CEO and Vice Chairman of Next One Interactive Inc. “MUNCmedia’s expertise in both increasing our audience reach and  delivering highly targeted communications, will enhance  our premiere brands, such as Maupintour vacation products. In short, the MUNCmedia partnership provides us with the ability to offer customers the right travel product at the right time,” concludes Kerby.

“Our 2010 strategic growth and innovation advances have opened many new doors for us, far beyond our flagship financial communications footprint,” stated Matt Bird, CEO and President of MUNCmedia. “The opportunity to integrate our technology with Next One’s online assets, is expected to propel both of our companies’ growth. The cultural and work ethic of our two firms, is a perfect match,” concluded Bird. About Next One Interactive Inc. Next One Interactive Inc. (NXOI) is a multi-faceted media company, specializing in Travel and Real Estate. Next One delivers targeted content via digital platforms, including Satellite, Cable, Broadcast, Broadband, and mobile. Along with the full-time R&R TV network, the company delivers its content and sponsors' messages on Video on Demand outlets, enhanced by interactive applications. The company also provides content in customized print publications. In today's digital market, Next One Interactive delivers both targeted information and entertainment to consumers. The company has created multiple revenue streams, including transactional commissions, referral fees, branded content, advertising, and sponsorship. The multiple revenue streams, delivered on integrated media platforms, allow for measurable return on investment to its advertisers, sponsors and business partners. For more information, please visit www.nxoi.com About MUNCmedia: Market Update Network Corporation Follow MUNCmedia on Twitter @BHSMITH and visit the blog. MUNCmedia is the first Information Media Network and world leader in web-based Retail Investor Targeting solutions. We provide online corporate communications, research and media solutions to companies worldwide. From targeting press releases one-to-one to individual investors to corporate video PR content, MUNCmedia helps companies deliver targeted and scalable messages to the precise audience in real-time. Hundreds of companies, IR and PR agencies, stock exchanges and integrated newswires rely on MUNCmedia services to deliver news messages to the retail financial community every day with measurable results. MUNCmedia was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York City with regional offices in Bellevue, WA and Boston. We currently service over 300 direct public company issuers, 40 IR agency partners and have a fully integrated partnership with GlobeNewswire, a NASDAQ OMX Company. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plan, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to product and service demand and acceptance, changes in technology, economic conditions, the impact of competition pricing, government regulation, and other risks described in statements filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All such forward-looking statements whether written or oral, and whether made by or on behalf of the Company, are expressly qualified by the cautionary statements that may accompany the forward-looking statements. In addition, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. CONTACT Bradley H. Smith MUNCmedia Bradley.smith@muncmedia.com +1 917 680 6011

NIRI's Introduction to Investor Relations (SEPT 12 -15) conference is the best for learning IR fundamentals

Ahh...MUNCmugs. 15oz of joy.

If you are new to IR – or you have a new colleague on your team – this annual conference is “must-see TV.” The September session is always here in Boston which is MUNCmedia marketing’s hometown. There is also a West coast session each January in Santa Monica CA. ( I do NOT get to go to that one dammit!) From my side of the IR fence, I really like this conference as the pace allows me to have quieter, in-depth conversations with people as they dive into the deep-end of IR. What I find most interesting is the huge diversity of professional backgrounds: PR, corp comm, finance, legal... and even (gasp!) marketing. This diversity is exactly why NIRI has been so important to so many in the industry (practitioner and vendor alike) as where else would we learn this stuff?   This is college for IR. Click here to contact Sharon Wall at NIRI for more information. And if the educational benefits aren’t enough for you, MUNCmedia is hosting a casual but cool dinner on Monday night. Have a great day.

MUNCmedia Provides National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) “Small-cap Scholarship” free to NASDAQ, NYSE, TSX and OTC Companies

Firm champions Investor Relations education and professional networking for public companies with small market capitalization NEW YORK – MUNCmedia, #1 in Retail Investor Targeting, today affirmed their ongoing commitment to small and micro-cap companies by sponsoring NIRI's “Small-cap Scholarship” to all public companies that have a market capitalization of $250 million or less.
	The MUNCmedia Small-cap Scholarship to NIRI includes six month access to these select NIRI membership benefits: IR Weekly — e-newsletter IR Update — printed monthly magazine Executive Alerts — timely e-mail bulletins on regulatory and compliance issues IR Advisors — periodic e-mail updates on IR best practices NIRI member benefit webinars CLICK HERE to sign up.
MUNCmedia’s “Small-cap Scholarship” is free to all public companies with a market capitalization of $250 million or less. Companies must be NASDAQ, NYSE, TSX or OTC listed.  “MUNCmedia assists small and micro-cap companies - many of which have no opportunity to work with institutional investors - generate share activity by communicating their Investor Relations messages directly to Retail Investors,” said Bradley H. Smith, Chief Marketing Officer, MUNCmedia. “However, we realized that many of our clients needed complementary guidance surrounding best practices in Investor Relations. Today’s battle-scarred individual investors are no longer the complacent Mom & Pop of just a few years ago,“ continued Smith. “They’re savvy Web 2.0 consumers of stock information. The deep expert network and education resources of NIRI will better equip small and micro-cap companies to speak with these sophisticated shareholders.”   Additionally, should you decide to join NIRI, the MUNCmedia Small-cap Scholarship includes a $150 savings off a full NIRI membership. For further information, please contact Bradley H. Smith, +1 917 680 6011. Follow MUNCmedia on Twitter @BHSMITH and visit our blog. ### About MUNCmedia: Market Update Network Corporation MUNCmedia is the first Information Media Network and world leader in web-based Retail Investor Targeting solutions. We provide online corporate communications, research and media solution to companies worldwide. From targeting press releases one-to-one to individual investors to corporate video PR content, MUNCmedia helps companies deliver targeted and scalable messages to the precise audience in real-time. Hundreds of companies, IR and PR agencies, stock exchanges and integrated newswires rely on MUNCmedia services to deliver news messages to the retail financial community every day with measurable results. MUNCmedia was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY with regional offices in Bellevue, WA and Boston. We currently service over 300 direct public company issuers, 40 IR agency partners and have a fully integrated partnership with GlobeNewswire, a NASDAQ OMX Company

University of Michigan connects Tweets with lower bid-ask spreads / UPDATE

The Impact of Managerial Dissemi

Per the post earlier, I am able to share the full report below. As prior, it’s nice to have such an esteemed group quantify what so many of us in investor relations instinctually know: shareholder communications ultimately builds shareholder value. Have a great day
The Impact of Managerial Dissemination of Firm Disclosure

I know, I know. “Investomers” is a goofy term. (…but there is nothing goofy about shareholder communications funding from the marketing budget)

Don’t you love it when you can actually see the lightbulb turn on over a prospect’s (soon to be client's) head? I am acutely aware that, for many companies, the IR budget is extremely lean and inflexible. However, yesterday, we were able to help a large-cap, consumer-products company have a “financial breakthrough.” By adding video (TV commercials) into their Retail Investor Targeting campaign, they are entitled to have marketing dollars allocated into IR. (cue the goofy term “investomer.”) The Investor Relations Officer was so enamored with the idea, he spontaneously conferenced in their head of MarCom during our meeting. Needless to say, we pesky marketing folks love anything verifiable and targeted. (cue another lightbulb)   Dual ROI. From a 12/09 study: “The investomer strategy is mutually beneficial for shareholders and the company. It helps drive commercial objectives and improve investor returns, resulting in long-term loyalty.”  If a retail investor believes in the product, they’ll probably believe in the stock too. < Maybe we helped turn the lightbulb on. It's called "consultative sales." Have a great day.

 

 
 

University of Michigan connects Tweets with lower bid-ask spreads

Investor relations may have found our first social media Holy Grail. Quantitative research. Last week I was on a call with one of the lead researcher from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, discussing a joint paper regarding the impact of direct communications towards retail investors. < "Bring us......a shareholder!"

Representatives from the U of Mich were our booth neighbors at this past June's NIRI Annual Conference. (...and they still chose to speak with us. Perhaps it was beer tasting in our booth) Conversation ensued, case studies shown and viola ~ because of our unique technology, we will be able to give their research team precise data regarding the online behavior of retail investors in context to our targeting - what they label direct-access information technologies (DAITs). The work we are planning directly follows their newly released (July 2010) report that... well, read the final abstract below for yourself! This is important news for small and micro-cap companies as well as service providers like MUNCmedia. "This increase is primarily driven by tweets containing hyperlinks, which is consistent with firms using this innovative technology to disseminate firm news. We also find that greater tweeting during news event windows is associated with lower bid-ask spreads and greater depths. These relations are stronger for tweets with hyperlinks. Our results hold mainly for firms with lower visibility—that is, firms that are smaller, have lower analyst coverage and have fewer shareholders. These findings suggest that managers use this new direct-access information technology to reduce information asymmetry, particularly for those firms that are arguably most in need." It's an in-depth 53 page report that touches many aspects of web disclosure and news dissemination we've discussed with our niche in the past couple of months. I should be able to post the full report later this week. Please be sure to follow me, a humble shrubber, to get the full report! Have a great day.

 

Permanent exemption from SOX 404(b) for smaller-cap companies means more dollars for allocation elsewhere…

…like umm… shareholder communications…. umm perhaps specifically shareholder communications to Retail Investors. ( A spend that can fuel growth! ) On July 21, President Obama signed the "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act” which represents a slight reboot of the regulation of U.S. financial markets. The Wall Street Reform Act includes a number of provisions that focus exactly on financial reporting. GREAT NEWS for micro-caps: Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires all public companies to provide a verification report on management's assessment of internal controls over financial reporting by an independent external auditor. The Wall Street Reform Act permanently exempts companies with less than $75 million in market capitalization from this requirement. That lifts a large fiscal burden. Serious dollars that can now be allocated towards company growth aspects. Also, studies are looking into the benefit of 404(b) for companies with market caps between $75 and $250 million. 404(b) was the most “challenging” (aka: “hated”) part of SOX. SOX was a very important work for regaining retail investor confidence after the catastrophic clusterboinks of Enron, Worldcom and others. This update from the 2002 legislation simply reduces some accounting and auditing costs for a small company - not their responsibility to be transparent. Or being crooks. < Discussing market reform strategery with Senator Oxley Have a great day.

IR magazine gives me the last words on web disclosure?

Well, at least the closing paragraph. IR magazine’s August issue has a industry recap on the recent discussion ( and Twitter catfight ) regarding web disclosure. The current context of the phrase “web disclosure” within Investor Relations and their article is the 2008 SEC interpretation on Regulation Fair Disclosure – and specifically the practice of sending a “snippet” of the news with a link back to the corporate IR website for the full material release. IR magazine asked for my view per my singular expertise from Shareholder.com and GlobeNewswire, now NASDAQ Corporate Solutions. As always, I am practical towards shareholder communications. If you would like to participate in online Twitter discussions about Investor Relations, hashtag #irchat. The live discussion is each Thursday at 11:00 am est. Have a great day.

This ain't no pumping! This ain't no dumping! This ain't no fooling around!

Untitled 15

The Case Study I recently posted generated a far amount of prospective calls and emails into MUNCmedia. I was very happy to have that happen, of course. I want to share one email in particular. It’s a extremely important differentiator that defines not only who MUNCmedia is, but also the type of client and investor that we bring together. I asked Frank to speak on camera about it as well.

Bradley, Read your blog post from today. Question: Is the stock price gain for your client as a result off their MUNC program sustainable? It sounds like something a company would do to artificially inflate the stock price in the short term, similar to a stock promotion plan? I know that’s not what ‘you’ do, but your blog post sounds an awful lot like it: penny stock, needs to pump up their price, hires a third-party to promote their company, and the stock price jumps 50% overnight. - Cole What Retail Investor Targeting does is assure that a company's official press release is served up DIRECTLY to a proactive investor. If the news is material and/or meaningful - it will have impact. Retail investors will read and react (even though Wall Street won't). If the news is meaningless, the reaction from Main Street will be "yaaaaaawn." Is it sustainable? Absolutely - if the company's message and delivery method is sustainable. The lion share of our 2010 growth is due to most of our clients buying multi-month (sustainable) services from us - they have differentiated MUNCmedia from "stock spammers" and "investment opinion" firms. They don't need to "invent" news - they already have news. The problem was no one was reading it. Many small-cap companies are forced (out of frustration and desperation) to use those promoters as, well, they have not found MUNCmedia yet. HEY! We're over here!!! We are a new, transparent and unique alternative. Have a great day.

So...what DO you give a video webcast on its birthday? (Retail Investors: Understanding, Reaching and Measuring)

It’s been exactly one year since I became seriously deep in the MUNCmire with our full day NASDAQ MarketSite event celebrating the retail investor! This event assembled the best brains in regards to retail investors -conventional and uniconventional thinkers.   Over 500 people signed-up to join the day’s festivities: live seminar with video webcast, market close and FUNCY MUNC PARTY with NYC’s hottest funk band! Awesome day - great content.

Retail Investors: Understanding, Reaching and Measuring (video above) Jeff Morgan, CEO and President, NIRI Matt Bird, CEO, MUNCmedia Friederike Edelmann, Director Investor Relations, SAP Peter Breen, then, Managing Partner, The Vokser Group / Strategist, BetterInvesting (now Managing Director BNY Mellon)   Besides the video above, you can download an MP3 audio file for your iPod and a transcript. I have not watched it myself in a while – so considering my spouse has a Jane Austin movie cued up in DVD player… I will be watching this tonight. Have a great day.

Retail investors’ activity prevented company delisting from NASDAQ

Client profile: NASDAQ Client sector: Technology Client mission: Meet exchange listing requirement Client news: Several news releases Campaign description: Reach 40,000 retail investors Campaign period: Ten days

Commentary: Our client was notified by NASDAQ that they were in non-compliance of the exchange’s listing requirement and that the company needed ten consecutive business days of a stock price of $1.00 or more to keep their listing. Stock activity was essential.

Volume and liquidity increase during campaign (daily average) 

 

Price activity during campaign

Impact: The result was instantaneous: the morning of the campaign launch, the stock opened at just $.85 but had a day high of $1.24 succeeded by the following twenty trading days of over a dollar, well in NASDAQ listing compliance. Again, another example of a Small-cap company with a great story for investors – their news was not reaching an active “buying” audience.    

From the client: "In the implementation of our investor relations strategy to retain [our] NASDAQ listing, MUNCmedia proved instrumental in attracting a broader retail audience to receive the series of announcements highlighting the significant business milestones that [we have] accomplished since the close of our fiscal year. As an important component of our objective to regain NASDAQ listing compliance, MUNCmedia was a reliable partner in accomplishing our goal."  

Please contact MUNCmedia for confidential details on this case study.

 

Social media’s birth amongst the haze of pot smoke

	A VERY cool book was announced today, co-authored by my friend and Marketing Strategist David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot: Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. On several occasions, David and I have spoken about his passion for their music and his appreciation for The Dead’s “approach to marketing.” I am not going to expand on the content here too much: go buy the book. I received an advanced copy: it’s a terrific summer Marcom read.  Fun and real. Why I am mentioning the book here (besides an obvious commercial for David) is how what was once perceived as anti-business Haight –Ashbury culture has became what is now coveted by corporate communicators… direct relationship with our fans, which our niche calls “investors.”  (Certainly direct communications is the crux of our Retail Investor Targeting and our client’s needs.) Also, similar to my little post here, what we’re blogging and Tweeting about today -  labeled as “social media”, transparency and access, The Dead, over three decades ago, instinctively called chillin’ and sharin’. Whoda thunked? Have a Grateful day.

Lights, Camera…PROXY! A 1956 Hollywood movie starring Investor Relations !?

“To work to work to work! Where are the stockholder letters?” (video clip)	My wife and I are big fans of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and we discovered a movie that showcases all the cliff-hanging danger, human drama and unbridled passion that is Investor Relations!. ( um… no, It was not shot at the NIRI Annual Conference. What happens at NIRI...)    " …the meddlesome Laura attends every board meeting, and when she proposes forming a shareholders' [activist] committee, Blessington [the CEO] decides to short circuit her effort by hiring her to generate "good will" among the small stockholders. As Director of Shareholder Relations, Laura is given her own office… "   Actually, it is a very excellent Oscar-winning comedy starring Judy Holiday: The Solid Gold Cadillac. As far as I have ever seen, it’s the first movie that highlights investor relations and the strength retail investors can deliver.
Mostly, it was fun to watch a movie in the vocabulary of IR. Also, what struck me is the unfortunate timelessness of the story. 54 years later, we’re still reading about the same stories:   1.)   Self serving CEO 2.)   Non-independent board of yes men ( including dolt brother in-law  ) 3.)   Book-cooking CFO who “adjust numbers to hide error of afore mentioned dolt 4.)   Retail Investors ignored by management 5.)   Activist shareholder question leadership decisions 6.)   Hard working, ethical “Shareholder Relations” officer   The story DOES have a seemingly Hollywood ending though…   7.)   Proactive outreach to retail investors 8.)   Retail investors proxy vote ousts the corrupt board   Can Retail Investors make a difference?  In line with the film’s fairytale hopefulness and faith, our case studies and  client base indicate so. Let’s see what Washington passes for the final reform bill too. If nothing else, the story reinforces the absolute importance of building a relationship with shareholders because in this parable - - SPOILER ALERT - - IR and individual investors ride the white horse.   Kiss the girl, drive off into sunset, fade to black.   Have a  great day.

Law professors debate the importance of retail investors. (Bonus! No name calling!)

	The Virginia Law Review published two fascinating white papers discussing retail investors. The first, The SEC, Retail Investors and the Institutionalization of the Securities Markets, authored by Donald C. Langevoor, Law Professor, Georgetown University, puts forward the thought that the equities market would operate stronger without retail investors. He stresses the point that the SEC places huge effort to protect the individual investors… and the subsequent regulation burdens a market that is mostly institutional anyway. It’s a long, thoughtful argument…however since I sell “Retail Investor Targeting” I threw the PDF file into my BBQ grill’s pyre this holiday weekend. Interestingly, I was not the only person who disagreed with Professor Langevoor. Alicia Davis Evans, Law Professor at the University of Michigan, delivered a white paper titled  A Requiem for the Retail Investor.  I sleep with that PDF file under my pillow now.
One strong point she makes, and a point I speak to each day with our small-cap clients is that – frankly – institutions CANNOT buy your stock. Don’t waste your time or money courting them until you are larger. Focus (coughcoughmarketingcough) on the consumer who CAN drop you into their shopping cart: the retail investor.    From Alicia Davis Evans    “Individual investor participation is particularly important for small capitalization companies.      Almost all large institutional investors are confined to making investments in large cap corporations. Either their own charters or government regulations limit their ability to buy stock in small companies because of minimum size and maximum ownership requirements. Moreover, most small cap stocks have thin floats, so any attempt to buy a significant number of shares in a small cap company could move the price of that stock higher instantly, making such investment no longer attractive. Because institutions own only a small percentage of the stock of small cap corporations, retail investors are important for the survival of many of these firms.”    Coincidently, this fine discussion ties into what I believe is the real strength of the current web disclosure discussion: hone your communications towards the constituents who can impact your company’s growth.   Have a great day.

Eureka! I pronounce the end of social media for investor relations!

An vocabularific epiphany happened on last week’s MUNCmedia client conference call ( IR 101 ). While walking some folks through shareholder communications options, a client made a side statement that they were befuddled by all the talk and articles on social media and investor relations. “Can you easily explain social media for IR?” Two shots of tequila later, I began. However, my spidey-sense immediacy warned me that the call participants’ eyes were starting to glass over. So I said – “Try this. Whenever you read or hear “social media” insert the phrase “shareholder communications.” Try it. It works. What we determined on the call was that “social media” tended to be placed in a separate silo from “shareholder communications.”  To be solidly in the middle (mass adoption) of the bell curve, social media must be ubiquitous with shareholder communications. No more hand raising games. Alright, alright… this is clearly not a “cure-for-the-common-cold” or “we-can-make-more-profit-if-we-substitute-sugar-with-high-fructose-corn-syrup” type epiphany, but there was a calming sigh on the phone. Remember, I am bringing small-caps (and smaller) into the Investor Relations realm. Baby-steps for some. < Sorry about the cigar smoke, Eric

Below is paraphrased from the call. ( I was not talking to myself. I only do that while I drive.) Q: “Twitter is just shareholder communications tool?” A: Yup, it’s a direct and lateral distribution network to investors who use Twitter. Deploy it like any other shareholder communications tactical or strategic tool. Direct shareholder communications – it’s a like..um…really  big IM. Lateral, other Twitter user may talk about you, or at least pass on your news for you to their friends and followers. Q: “Do I have to use it?” A: Shareholder communications is essential for transparency. The precise tool is up to your continuants needs. Start a Twitter account and search $ and your ticker ($ABC). (You can go to StockTwits too, but they don’t cover OTCBB) Q: “What will that do?” A: It will show you Twitter conversations about your company. You can then decide what your next steps may be within this specific shareholder communications tool. Q: “Who is on Twitter?” A: People. Nothing more, nothing less.  The Golden Rule applies. Go build investor relationships. Have a great day. PS: Sales pitch spoiler alert: Using MUNCmedia Retail Investor Targeting is a smart shareholder communications tool to build relationship with individual investors. Just add your Twitter handle /account in ALL your MUNCmedia outreach campaigns.