MUNCmedia_Retail_Investor_Targeting

MUNCmedia acquires new client: Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) - MUNCmedia's RetailInvestorConferences.com 2011 into 2012

NEW YORK, Nov. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL) the insurance company that helps employers offer their workers a financial safety net at no direct cost to their businesses, has been declared a World's Most Ethical Company for a fifth consecutive year, today announced that their November 3rd RetailInvestorConferences.com presentation is now available for on-demand viewing.

via www.thestreet.com

MUNCmedia acquires new Digital Public Relations / Investor Relations client; Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) 2011and services will conitnue into 2012.

Aflac Details: Client Sector: "Insurance" (a worldwide leader in individual and group) Services provided: Retail Investor Targeting, Digital PR utilizing MUNCmedia's RetailInvestorConferences.com service along with supporting traditional newswire and digital PR awareness through our over 1,000 news publication which MUNCmedia exclusively powers the breaking news financial updates for. We pride ourselves n simple engagment rules; We do all the "heavy-lifting" and "pick'n shovel" work involved to make clients like Aflac experience not only as easy at possible but effective and complately turn-key. The process involves complete digital Public relations calendar identifying what the monthly or quartly objectives are. Next media relations and retail vestor targeting, capital market and tier-2 analyst coverage education on Aflac's objectives prior to the IR/PR event to ensure maxamin exposure - speak to thousands of pre-registered, qualified and interested investors, media, and analysis all at once. Casting a wider net for Aflac's Investor Relations growth initiatives through RetailInvestorConferences.com and a well co-ordinated Public Relations and Investor education canmapign that drive attendacne. More over the process also supports their corporate Aflac insurance brand. The Nov 2011 conf thousands of investors and media analysts attended, it was their 3rd presentation following their earnings announcements 3 consecutives quarters in a row.

"RetailInvestorConferences.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."

Delia H. Moore, Manager,
Investor Relations
Aflac Worldwide Headquarters

MUNCmedia's primary focus is iincorporating modern media technologies, news publishers, social media along side your traditional Public Relation and or investor relation inicatives to gnerate s sustainable regional, national and global digital exposure in as many online newspapers, magazines, portals, trade publications, TV news networks and radio stations. Ranging from national publication visibility of client corporate profiles, educating our clients on how to accelerate current social media operations, or manage for them, retail investor education (over 100 million savvy investors), and lastly keeping brand and services integrity across 1,000s of news publications by providing featured exposure. meanwhile managing any negative media pressure by counter digital pr tactics to remove or push unfavorable news off the search engines - while highlighting positive progress, your news and your Services.

 

 

MUNCmedia is here to help you get exposed to the global economy: Phone: (212) 699-0999 x801 or email clientservices@muncmedia.com ATTN Frank Lane or Matthew Bird www.muncmedia.com

RetailInvestorConferences.com is a official trademark of MUNCmedia, all rights reserved. it wouldn't be possible without the collaborative efforts of our partnerships with BetterInvesting.org, PR Newswire & Parent UBM that make RetailInvestorCnferneces.com such a sucess. 

 

 

-- 

Matthew BIRD

CEO

Market Update Network, Corp. 

MUNCmedia 

800 3rd Ave, 17th Floor

New York, NY 10022 USA

Phone: 212.699.0999 ext. 801

Mobile: 646.401.1186

Fax: 425-671-0669

SKYPE: mattbird1

Email: matt.bird@muncmedia.com 

Website: www.MUNCmedia.com

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/matthew-bird/6/8b/159

 

Don’t let your employees “friend” or connect with sell-side or buy-side analysts.

Ever since their IPO, I have noticed a fury of “please connect” requests in LinkedIn. Are Street analysts asking your employees to connect? Do your employees know who they are? Make sure they do. As we are all aware, analysts are looking for any insider info, as nuanced as it may seem. Your employees are talking about work in Social Media and you cannot do a damn thing about it. Except train them. Have a great day.

Any Tom, Dick or Larry (and their retail investor followers) can affect your stock - expanding on the IMAX case study

One of the more interesting sessions I attended at this year’s NIRI Annual Conference in Orlando brought to light the impact alternative research can have on a stock. Please read Michael Mayhew of Integrity Research's fine re-cap titled IMAX: A Case Study in Why Alternative Research Matters. There is a second point to this story. IMAX is 66% institutionally held. We can assume the remaining 34%... a mix of insiders and individuals... affected the 20% drop.  Does IMAX have a Retail Investor strategy? Certainly, it was individuals and perhaps even employees who reacted to this piece. The fact that any Tom, Dick or Larry can, on just ONE BLOG, affect a $30 stock is a remarkable case study for both the pervasive reach of public opinion stock research as well as the surface-level immediacy of day-trader retail investors. LINKS I assume it is this article: http://seekingalpha.com/article/273929-imax-has-a-collapse-in-its-future “Larry” http://www.pdlcapital.com/ Disclosure: I like going to IMAX at the Boston Museum of Science to hear Leonard Nimoy say “Who put the bop in the bop shoo bop bop.” Have a great day

 

Social media advice for investor relations: install TweetDeck and lurk, listen and learn.

StockTwits exhibited for the first time at NIRI 2011

To use Twitter vocabulary, social media was a “trending topic” at this year’s NIRI 2011 Annual Conference. As MUNCmedia’s focus is retail investors, I have a deep, vested interest in SoMe. (that’s the hip Twitter slang. Only requires 4 characters) Personally, I attended the Thomson Reuter’s Social Media Lunch & Learn ( I confirmed with Darrel Heaps, CEO of Q4 Websystms that his session is video archived). I also had several formal meetings with attendees and other service providers on the topic as well and numerous coffee and cocktail conversations. My observation is investor relations folks are still in the bell curve phase, absolutely advanced since NIRI 2010; with more larger pubcos embracing the sides of the curve, but most in the middle not engaged. The Thomson Reuter’s panel had Campbell’s and Alcoa present their engagement experiences. Both firms came into SoMe at an “ah-hah” epiphany moment. Although their epiphany’s were different, they both had a common ground: START WITH LISTENING. The trepidation most investor relations officers I spoke with is still rooted on two-way engagement. This is the 100% tactical advice I give MUNCmedia clients who are hesitant (or just learning) social media...

...use TweetDeck and lurk, listen and learn. Here's how. Open a listening-only Twitter account. (I use “HotGirl3154”) Don’t add any profile data. Install TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a separate Twitter application that allows you to create filtered keyword columns. Set-up a column with your company name (no spaces). Set-up a column with your company ticker WITH a dollar sign before it = $ABC. The dollar sign is a Twitter identifier for stock symbols. Set-up a column for each of your peers and competitors with their tickers. Set-up a column for any people (@BHSMITH) you know are important to your company or industry: trade publications, etc.  If you see hashtags ( # poundsigns) before words, those are discussion threads. You can filter those too. #irchat is an example. Now, just start reading the streams. Consider what is being said. Practice “engagement” in your head. If you WERE to speak, what do these SoMe Stakeholders want to hear from you?  After a while, not only will you find your SoMe voice, but you will have identified the top influencers that affect/effect the conversations germane to your company. Then, when you DO start two-way engagement, you’ll already have a base. Do NOT EVER EVER Tweet from this account. Do not “follow” anyone either. This is for intelligence only. Zero engagement. Just listening and leaning the SoMo-flow. Oh! The BEST advice from the Thomson Reuters panel? Get a summer intern-student to set-up all this. It will take them all of five minutes. Have a great day.

Rivel Research "value of IR" report > Investor relations really works? Go figure.

Spurred by the recent survey from TMX Equicom about “the value of IR,” I reached out to the Grand PuBa of and originator of buy-side perception on IR, Brian Rivel. The Equicom report was from 42 recipients – I wanted to see if their survey is in line with Rivel Research’s annual study from over 300. As luck would have it, Brian is presenting next week at NIRI National and gave me a WikiBradley sneak peak at his presentation. Why is this important on my blog? Certainly many of my clients have no buy-side analysts (yet). The data reinforces what I am continually preaching to small and OTC companies stop wasting money on paid opinions and such. Spend on building your IR foundation, even as simple as an IR site. Spend a little money with MUNC too! Have a great day.

NASDAQ reinforces commitment to Retail Investors: MUNCmedia and now Loyal3

NASDAQ OMX announced another partnership with a firm that exclusively focuses Main Street: Loyal3. From the WSJ: “Nasdaq, the stock exchange run by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., and Loyal3 say they are trying to reach small-time investors who don't use a brokerage but do have strong loyalties to favorite companies. They say they can turn the noninvesting customers of well-known, consumer-oriented public companies into shareholders, giving the companies more loyalty in both areas.”

“The company, called Loyal3, plans to offer an online interface to help publicly held companies sell stock directly to consumers through their own websites or social networking sites like Facebook. A key selling point is that investors won’t pay any fees to buy or sell stock, and can invest as little as $10 to buy full or fractional shares.” Ah, yes… Investormers!  We've spoken on that topic prior, include a quick video of our head of Client Operations. Building shareholder trust with individual investors begins with baby steps.... and perhaps a $10 purchase is exactly that. Once you have them targeted that is. : ) Have a great day.

Employees are Retail Investors too. Are you building shareholder confidence with them?

Wow. The stat below saddens me. Employees don’t trust management. So why should retail investors?

The SOX whistleblower regulation has several security checks to guarantee employee privacy and anonymity, however the report below clearly shows that employees do not trust their management (nor the Board) there will be not retribution.  

Companies should consider this a symptom of how they treat individual investors. All the effort is on institutions.

Show some effort to Main Street. Stop pretending they do not exist or are unimportant.

Have a great day.

 

These Main Street Investors say they ARE proxy voting ( poll results from RetailInvestorConferences.com)

Whether on the phone, online or as a database, I interact with retail investors all day - facilitating investor relations interaction between them and public companies. Last month, with help from our new friends at Moxy Vote, I asked some of the individual investors whom attended our recent RetailInvestorConferences.com event what they do in regard to proxy voting. The results are encouraging on many levels: Voting is important to proactive (passionate) retail investors (our audience) Long-term investors vote their proxies Our targeting is reaching an engaged audience Below is a really big pie chart showing the proxy voting participation breakdown of 859 of the identified Main Street investors. I kept the questions simple - no discussion of eproxy v paper, etc.   Retail investors WILL vote, but they need to be engaged. ( which our targeted audience is ) That said, engagement is a two-way street - the investor needs desire too. However, we must do our role here - let's make sure fincom professionals are doing our vey best to reach, educate and guide our retail investors through the maze of regulation changes. Have a great day.

Retail Investors not responding to eproxy? No one in marketing is surprised.

I blogged a couple weeks ago about my opinion on eproxy’s lack of sincere professional communication effort. THEN I received a “notice” from a company that I own. Ouch. If a true marketing department was involved, they should be fired. Here are some PROBLEM SOLVING marketing / education ideas... The envelope Forget the cute “Make a positive… while reducing…” marketing poetry. This envelope should have clearly stated – “You will not be receiving an Annual Report Package from XYZ in the mail. Your annual voting information is inside.” This looks like junk mail, especially as I did not expect it (I expected my annual report). Also, the actual company name was 11pt, cheaply printed font in the window. The Notice Apparently, who ever created this is not experienced with the world of fonts, leading or kerning. This is sloppy and thus hard to read. Also, to request hardcopies... they want me to send my uber-private control number as the subject of an email? To a blind email box? That surprised me. The above image is the backside. The following pages were equally clumsy. "Voting Instructions” The quater is for scale. Small print implies "sneaky." Is that your financial brand? I know that retail investors are not revered by many companies, but a little sincere thought does not cost anything more. The parties involved could have used a little of the money saved - OOPS, I mean trees saved... to help investors. It may actually build a little trust. Have a great day.

Without an IR website, OTC-listed companies are stuck with day-traders and stock promotion

Yesterday, I had three separate conference calls with OTC companies. Great companies with smart CEOs who are passionate about their products and visions. And all three trying desperately to get off the roller-coaster ride of stock promotion. In fact, the topic was visceral to them. But none of the three had an investor-centric section on their corporate site. I won’t even use the vocabulary “IR website” as the concept on “investor relations” was still foreign. So again, I framed the discussion in the vocabulary they all knew: marketing. It ALWAYS works. (especially if they are a B2C company) BHS: “What do you suppose is the first thing people do when they first hear about your [insert product name here]?” CEO: “They Google us and go to our website.” BHS: “Why?” CEO: “To learn more – see if we are real.” BHS: “So you have product information, etc on your site. A digital marketing to sales conversation path?” CEO:: “Yes. Of course. Our strategy is very…… Oh.” Never fails. It is at this point I hear the little “ding” of comprehension.

You are wasting money and will never get buy-and-hold investors without an investor-centric section. Individual investors ( the sophisticated lot we deliver with MUNCmessaging, etc.) are first and foremost stock consumers. And as I blogged prior, (per Meghan O’Sullivan) they need to buy the story before they will buy the stock. Day-traders are not investors. They are the High Frequency Traders (HFTs) of the small-cap realm, the difference being instead of complicated Algorithmic Trading Strategies, they act on Stock Promotion Spam. A small company cannot build a shareholder base, let alone shareholder value, with this group. Have a great day.

Why is it so hard to educate Retail Investors about eproxy?

Last week, I was very pleased to introduce the SEC’s Director of Policy, Richard Ferlauto, to MUNCmedia’s eager audience of individual investors at RetailInvestorConferences.com. Richard heads up the Office of Investor Advocacy and Education – an SEC unit that was created to help address (amongst other issues) the significant drop off retail investor voting on proxies: a recorded 70%. He and his staff presented many action items and aids for retail investor’s to heed. From a marketing perspective, kudos to their “taking it to the (Main) streets” efforts. We look forward to their ongoing participation at our conferences. and every year. So, back to my original point: Why is it so hard to educate Retail Investors about eproxy? It’s not. But companies need to try – they need to invest in the outreach. And from my experiences with the “Notice & Access” SEC regulation, no one really did. And as I wrote last week, reaching out just once may be compliant, but it is hardly effective. Treat retail investors like they buying consumers (which, BTW, they are) and follow the proven rules of advertising. People, not matter the "product," people need to see your message multiple times before they act. Think about how many marketing messages you see for Sprint, Verizon and AT&T.

Would YOU trust a product after just a single communications. No, you would not. Your board is a very important product to your company. Reach out to all your investors sincerely and transparently . Consistent, targeted communications at the exact moment retail invesors are online is one approach. And, coincidently, that is what MUNCmedia does. Funny that. Have a great day.

Eproxy should have been passed to MARKETING, rather than Investor Relations

Here’s a parable. Or is it a metaphor? Each and every year, the head of marketing mails a beautiful four-color, highly designed brochure to the company’s customers. Included with the brochure is the annual order form to buy more product. Customers, familiar with this annual function, fill out their order and mail it back. Some customers go on line. This year, the CEO says the company can cut expenses. He tells the head of marketing, ‘no more mailing beautiful brochures –use web only. We’ll save eleventykazillions of dollars. Just mail everyone a SINGLE one-color ink postcard with instructions to go to the web to order.’ The head of marketing followed the CEO rules exactly. Customers didn't know about the change and missed the little postcard. Sales dropped 70%. Sound vaguely familiar?

If companies want to address the drop in retail voting, this is how a marketer would rock the vote: 1.) Email shareholders “voting instructions” – several times. 2.) Hold a webcast on “how to vote” – get canned slides from Broadridge. Webcasting is not expensive. Use a fraction of the money saved from not printing and mailing. 3.) Link to this “how to vote” in EVERY press release. 4.) Start a “Shareholder responsibilities” blog. Remind shareholders they DO have a voice and a responsibility to vote. 5.) Don’t expect the SEC to do education for you. They are your customers. I mean “shareholders.” Note: the communications above are purely instructional – they are not solicitation. Tell council to back off. Retail investors behave like retail consumers. MARKET to them. (Might I even suggest a 6.point "Use MUNCmedia" too?). 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

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!

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.

Learn more.

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.

Learn more.

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wow. I totally forgot! MUNCmedia is my SECOND retail investor network.

Perhaps it is deep within my subconscious, but I must have a passion for transparency and retail investors. In 2002, Ron Gruner, shareholder communications pioneer and  founding entrepreneur of Shareholder.com, “tasked” me with the product development and business execution of OpenCompany.info – the world’s first full market earnings calendar targeted to level Main Street’s ease of access to corporate events with Wall Street’s. But, between you and me, the role was easy. A lot of organizations were committed to helping individual investors and the resume of my partners who wanted to join was top-notch. RegFD was just a toddler and its success was paramount to most companies within the investor relations business. < Yike. This is why I never wear hats.

Very proudly, our effort towards corporate transparency was recognized and rewarded -  “2003 Champion of Innovation” by Fast Company magazine. (This is all prior Sarbanes-Oxley BTW) Today, seven years later, OpenCompany is still free and open to all. Thousands of retail investors and public companies still connect via this seemingly indestructible engine. (Go WPI and Big Red!) Do retail investors matter? New research continues to trickle in regarding their changing demographic and challenging the archaic "Mom & Pop" perception of retail investors. Unfortunately, not everyone feels that the individual investors are entitled to have “a say.” On second thought, I am pretty sure my subconsciousis isn't not driven by corporate transparency nor governance. That’s Nell Minow. I am a merely a “Madison Avenue” guy who follows the teaching of classic ad-man David Ogilvy. Although outdated, his quote on equity towards communicating to constituents rings true: “The consumer is not a moron… He also said this. Perhaps I took it too much to heart. Have a great day.

Investors need to buy the story before they will buy the stock.

This week, I had several MUNCmedia “IR 101” conference calls with a few of our long term clients. By no means were these strategic IR consultation discussions on issues: ie “should you offer quarterly of annual guidance” or “the value of stock-buy-back programs.” It was a tad simpler: ie “where the hell is your Investor Relations website?” One important facet of my joining MUNCmedia was to introduce real “tactical expertise” to the hundreds of smaller market-cap clients we serve. The very FIRST thing I do when we sign a new client is I review their IR website ( I have a deeeeeeeep knowledge in that topic ). I was surprised by how many small cap companies have no IR website. Some do link to random stock pages, but a large percentage have nothing. Bad PubCo, bad bad!     Without an IR website, you will be marginalized in the eyes of prospective Retail Investors. Opportunity for liquidity will fall away. What I tell them, very briefly? Get an IR website ASAP! Not for “transparency” - not for “compliance” but as an “investor destination.”  ie: What is the next step (the action) for all the Retail Investors MUNCmedia will bring to your IR door? Every investor – retail and institutional – ABSOLUTELY EXPECT to find an IR website about your company. In their eyes, iIt validates the “IR product” exactly as shopping consumers expect “more information” about a company’s products and services. “Without an IR website,” I merely state, “you are losing sales leads out of your sales funnel.” Funny. When I switch from IR vocabulary into Sales lingo, the CEOs tend to understand and take action. I also suggest to them… don’t get buried in the sales mire of available features. Just start with a crisp, professional presence, but the key point is to start. Make your “financial brand” at par with your marketing brand. There are many important reasons to have a great IR website, but for small-cap companies remember: Investors need to buy the story before they will buy the stock. Have a great day.

Will IR bring more balance between institutional and individual investors outreach?

Last week’s NIRI Conference in San Diego was excellent for MUNCmedia. It was our Sophomore year at this event ( my personal 11th) – and anecdotally we were successful. We literally demonstrated our Retail Investor Targeting solution a couple hundred times and it was VERY exciting watching the light bulbs go on over attendee’s heads and the collective “ooOOooh…that’s reeeeeally good” acclaim from both the Investor Relations Officers and the industry. No one else does what we do. We reach retail investors in real-time. Did you take a break from the sessions and walk along the water behind the NIRI Conference hotel and see this man in San Diego? Amazing. That said, many of us have a long way to go in actually understanding the retail investor. The perception of the senior citizen who holds 100 shares coming to the Annual Meeting and complaining there are not enough cookies is still pervasive. It’s unfair these days. The balance is slowly shifting. Rule 452 has brought retail investors top-of-mind for several companies.  Rule 452, "Giving Proxies by Member Organizations," has been amended to eliminate broker discretionary voting for the election of directors and brings new emphasis regarding the need to educate investors on the importance of their vote. And what is the best way to learn? Cram before the big test ( the big vote) or continually study (inform) throughout the school (fiscal) year? As I wrote prior, I tend to view retail investors outreach as an ongoing “marketing effort” – not a seasonal effort. Like any online consumer, these investomers are very web savvy – and need consistent brand re-enforcement. The web (and MUNCmedia) does exactly that. There is no list. It is dynamic engaged investors. Will there be 50 – 50 balance between Main and Wall Streets?  No, but it is shifting and for many small cap companies,  balance may NEVER be possible… It’s retail or nothing. Have a great day.

Transparency is great marketing. And no one said it was free.

	Jeff Morgan and the NIRI team demonstrated great leadership in regard to the ongoing discussion surrounding the SEC’s 2008 web disclosure interpretation: NIRI asked the IRO for their opinion. To me, the 2008 interpretation was watershed for a single factor. The SEC acknowledged that a company’s website’s value to shareholders as a news vessel is equal to Yahoo’s (for example) value. The SEC's new opinion on disclosure is that the web is flat. Remember, RegFD was penned as law October 2000. Web-years are like dog-years. The new interpretation reflects that the web grew up since RegFD’s inauguration. For example, earnings webcast are de rigor now, in 2000 they were magical. RegFD’s 2000 goal was not to rank different disclosure points – it was to stop selective disclosure to favored analysts. So where does that leave us with the 2008 interpretation discussion? Exactly where the NIRI survey’s said we are.
Using a commerical newswire is no longer a compliance decision for a corporation, it’s a business decision or better yet, it’s a transparency decision. Perhaps even a marketing decision. If a company’s goal is just to be web compliant, here are some handy-money-saving-tips for investor relations. 1.)   Take down your IR website. The only pages required by the SEC are your Section 16 files and recently, your XBRL raw files - no rendered view needed. The rest is just transparency flotsam. 2.)   Post your earnings “somewhere” on your corporate site. Ask your web developer to put it in his work queue – no rush. He’ll get to it right after he posts the CEO’s new photo and bio. And the new lead generation form for sales. Oh wait. He's on vacation this week. 3.)   No more newswire feeds to the Street. Analysts and portfolio managers spend too much time in their Bloomberg, ThomsonOne, etc. terminals anyway. It will good for them to stretch their legs and walk over to the fax machine. They will thank you. 4.)   Stop holding earnings calls!  Simply and simultaneously tell nothing to no one. 5.)   Obviously, nix the annual shareholder meeting webcast! Your board is dull anyway. 6.)   Just file your Ks and Qs with the SEC. Prospective and current investors should show some initiative and just go to the SEC.gov site for themselves anyway. 7.)   No more road shows or investor conferences. Make those lazy analyst bastards come to you. 8.)   And CERTAINLY – don’t fuss with Retail Investors at all. They are a scary bunch, right? Transparency outreach is akin to marketing.  It drives investors (customers) into the investment (sales) funnel, builds their confidence about the company and hopefully compels them to take a position (buy the product). Compliance will not do that. Caveat. I build and market IR transparency solutions and I have a zillion friends, across many companies who do the same. And - (spoiler alert) - we make money from these services. It’s an individual corporation’s business decision whether to value (purchase) these services. Most transparency solutions, like marketing solutions, have costs.  A company does not have to “advertise.” Heck, I love it when my marketing budget is cut. Gives me tons of free time to blog. Have a great day and look for me at NRI / San Diego. I’ll be trying to sell you something in Booth 320.

Update: O'Brien and others tell me to man-up!

UPDATE on my last post: I received six calls from niche folks calling me a Wimpy-the-Pooh (I am paraphrasing – they actually questioned my physical virility) for not taking a stronger stand a topic that I am very knowlwdgeable in. Here is my stand. In theory, tactically and technically it is a total no-brainer. Instead of a 6,000 word full content release, send a short 6 word snippet that says “Click here to read our earnings” that directs the reader to the IR website. Done. Wait a minute; this sounds a lot like the official SEC-driven eProxy Notice & Access model. And, Mrs. Lincoln, exactly how did THAT work out in practice? Not so well, mostly as the investors did not realize it was coming. (It does seem better this year.) But, the point is, with eProxy, the shareowners are being asked and given a choice… “what is your preferred method of proxy communications?” Can news distribution be modeled the same?

Certainly, lawyers, blogs and vendors have opinions on this. But what do investors want? Here are some points: ·   If you are compelled to switch, don’t switch to save money. Switch as you have a better honed web disclosure method to reach the audience you need to reach. And the definition of “better” may be different for different companies. ( per my blatant product placement ad for Retail Investor Targeting) ·   If you are switching just to save money, try renegotiating your fees first. ·   Are you really prepared? Going to a “notice and access” news model will need a total rethink of internal IR processes. Double work ? - creating the “snippet” press release as well as the full content version report. And what is that? A page on the IR website? Excel sheet? The 10-Q? One XBRL 10-Q to rule them all? ·   Also – be mindful of your content and formatting: not all news portals take (XHTML) embedded links. ·   A press release is an indelible public watermark. Content can be changed on an IR website 24/7. (Hopefully that is not part of your plan.) ·   Many companies use the newswire as their single input point for ALL the subsequent automated output including posting onto their own 3rd-party IR website, email broadcasts to opt-in recipients and to social media outlets. This is highly efficient for IR departments. Saving IROs time has immeasurable value.   ·   Twitter and Facebook instead of newswires? Great tools and I use them a lot, however – they are free services. Twitter’s and Facebook’s management can change their operation whenever they want. They "owe" us nothing. Not a foundation for compliance. ·   Is there a viable commercial product being built? NIRI is just around the corner. A couple newswires have dropped hints. Clearly, I could go on and on with this and no, I am not “picking a side.” I simply ask again: where and how do investors want to receive your news? That is notice and access. Have a great day.

Should companies switch to a “notice & access” model for press releases?

Video length: 45 seconds

There's been a lot of media, blog and Twitter discussions about Google’s announcement regarding their taking advantage of the SEC’s 2008 interpretation of RegFD. It’s a topic that I am very familiar with for a few reasons includuing: 1.) it was my Shareholder.com data that NIRI brought to the Hill back in 2008 that drove the interpretation,

2.) I obvivosly know the product workings of both IR website disclosure and 3.) the newswire product processes quite well.   I have been asked several times since Google’s “Earth Shattering Announcement” (capitalized that to make it look important) for my opinion on this. My Opinion (capitalized that to make it look important) is….. it’s a moot point for my MUNCmedia clients – which is my focus now. The overarching reason that public companies select to work with MUNCmedia is that their broadly disseminated news is not proactively reaching eyeballs (cue Frank video above). Regardless if it’s a 6,000 word earnings release or a 400 word “snippet” with a link to the full content, until a company gets their ticker into an investor, media or analyst watchlist, having their news passively sitting somewhere is not effective outreach. What am I defining as a watchlist? Any mechanism (financial web portal, IR website, institutional terminals) that sends out an alert that “xyz company has issued a news release.” This blatent MUNCmedia sales pitch aside, my belief is that newswires continue to be a very effective and IR friendly one-stop distribution channel to established investors and media.   I’m dodging the main question, aren't I? Should companies switch to a “notice & access” model for press releases? How the @#$%& would I know that? I ABSOLUTELY do know that tactically -and for RegFD compliance- companies can switch. But a tactical “can” is unrelated to a strategic “should.” Even though he's the grumpiest looking of the four in this IR Alert post, I like what my friend Jeff Stacey (GlobeNewswire) stated: “The term "best practice" is relative as each implementation is highly dependent on the company and the type of announcement. There are many nuances that influence what makes a best practice. Each company must measure whether the end goal is SEC disclosure, generating news coverage, reducing costs, engaging more directly with customers, attracting investors or a combination of any number of these factors.” Closing Thought. ( I capitalized it to make it look important) Perhaps companies need to ask their investors how they want to receive their news? That’s actually the genesis of the “notice & access” moniker anyway (it was stolen from eproxy). IE: if your institutional holders’ daily workflow is all within Bloomberg, ThomsonOne, FactSet – then companies may not want to interrupt that business process. Consider the fee for 6,000 words and snazzy XHTML tables as a cost of business. Retail Investors? MUNC is your best COB. Have a great day and see you at the NIRI Conference

The optimism and growing self-reliance of Retail Investors

Last week, one of our European sales partners asked me if I had research that links Retail Investors to liquidity. A MUNCmedia report on that is underway ( a consensus from our hundreds of campaigns… much to do, I just started here afterall J ). In the meantime, they found our library of one-off client case studies to be very helpful. (please request them here or email me directly) In addition to our case studies, I sent the excellent “ING DIRECT USA’s ShareBuilder Investor Study” which has very enlightening findings and  - to ING’s own admission - surprising OPTIMISTIC points about Retail Investors. This perception report is especially relevant as it’s fresh. January 2010. Love it. Any conversations and insight regarding the expanding self-reliance of Main Street is new wave music to my MUNCmedia ears. FROM THE ING REPORT: 2.) A movement toward greater independence and individual responsibility   The fact investors remain optimistic and committed to their investing strategy is not to say they aren’t making any changes. The losses they incurred in 2008/2009 and the questionable practices of some financial institutions have caused investors to re-evaluate their reliance on financial advisors and brokers for investing advice. Forty-five percent (45%) of U.S. investors say they have either reduced or eliminated all together their use of financial professionals for investing advice.

Older investors are leading this trend. Almost half (49%) of those 40 - 65 have reduced or eliminated their reliance compared to 37% of investors aged 21 – 39. The ING report supports much of what we speak on with clients and prospects: the economic crisis has changed the Retail Investor. ING, Scottrade, Etrade, Ameritrade, etc. all know that. Individual Investors want direct commumications - no middlemen. Thanks to the #irchat group (in Twitter) for bringing this report to my attention.  Hey! – the NIRI Annual Conference is soon. Look for me, booth 320.   Have a great day.

Here’s a new topic: Investor Relations and Social Media

This Tuesday, I participated in a panel at the well attended CCG – MZ Investor Relations Global Ranking conference. This was the umpteenth Investor Relations& Social Media panel I have attended – the first I sat on. As always, 30-second video humor aside, the question of “who is using social media” drew blank stares. Exactly the same response I heard four months ago at the Rivel Research Intelligence Council.  The IR Tweetosphere was twittering about the lack of hands at the CCG - MZ gig.

In my opinion, there are many interwoven reasons for this - at least that is what I offer to my MUNCmedia clients and ex-Shareholder.com / NASDAQ colleagues for insight). Here is the first reason. Social Media evangelists (self inclusive) and Social Media choices have confused the bageebers out of what IRO can do, let alone should do. It's overwhelming to a job that is already extremely full. Here is the first step AND IT IS REALLY REALLY EASY: A phone call. Call your IR website provider and have them enable your IR website with “share” functions. All the commercial providers have this included with their subscriptions, but you probably need to ask them to turn it on.

That's it. No philosophy or band wagon. One phone call.

This simple first step instantly enables investors, media, whoever to share and discuss your content amongst themselves. They are now a free, engaged distribution channel for you. A viral marketing channel. Don’t fuss with tracking, monitoring or “have a dialogue” with them – for now. Caveat on my opinions – I am not altruistic: my views are formed from almost 10 years making and marketing web-based IR and PR tools. I am all about creating (coughcoughsellingcough) great solutions and their practical application for companies. MUNCmedia is Retail Investors Targeting, so Social Media is a logical partner: it’s one-to-one with individuals.

Sincere thanks to CCG – MZ Investor for inviting me to join the panel.  Hope I did not suck. Have a great day.

My corporate IR knowledge adds a nice balance to social media panel

Next Tuesday, 4/6, I'm an invited panelist at the The IR Global Rankings Conference & Awards 2010,Yale Club, New York City.  I am looking forward to the event, as I have never attended this function.  Fortunately, it’s not black tie – as I'm still cleaning my tuxedo ( I just popped it into the dryer) that I wore at IR Magazine's IR Awards. The topic of IR’s role is very heavily discussed – so there’s no sense in me bantering here. However, my fellow panelists will have perspectives that I have not tuned into prior: those of “social media hubs.” All my reading and conversations have been focused on “getting IRO into the game.”      Social Media and Digital Media Campaigns Moderator:   ~  Linda Salo, Senior Financial Writer, CCG IR Panelists   ~  Brian Byrne, linkedFA   ~  Joseph Porcellini, Seeking Alpha   ~  Bradley Smith, MUNCmedia I have a couple passes left. Tweet me if you would like to attend. You can watch to me stammer in front of a live audience.  Have a great day.

Best Practices in Investor Relations leaders celebrated at NASDAQ MarketSite

Three reasons why Investor Relations is a great industry. 1.) It's very relevant to the economy, 2.) it's an entire business build around honesty, 3.) no matter what your exact role or title is, there is a cohesive ground. We are all professional communicators and relationship builders. Above (although I am missing a few names - sorry) FRONT: John Viglotti: PR Newswire; Kay Breakstone, Breakstone Group; Sharon Rubio, Citrix Systems; Neil Stewart, Cross Border (IR Magazine); Demetrios Skalkotos, NASDAQ OMX; Dennie Kimbrough, Microsoft; Elizabeth DaSilva, BNY Mellon Shareowner Services; Deborah O'Donnell, Wells Fargo Shareowner Services BACK: Bradley (me) Smith, MUNCmedia; Janet Dignan, Cross Border (IR Magazine); Ian Richman, Cross Border (IR Magazine); John Simenuk, International Print Group; Kevin Brennan, BNY Mellon Shareowner Services; Gordon Stevenson, AST; Becky Updegraph, Deutsche Bank. Have a great day.

Investor Relations Celebration of Best in Class Practitioners

Excellent night as always. Professional and playful admiration to IR Magazine for once again celebrating the efforts of clients, prospects and friends in the Investor Relations Industry.   To quote an email I received last week from an IRO – “As usual, I'm overworked and underappreciated.” No need to tell that tale to anyone read this blog. Winners are below. Everyone was very pleased to see my new business card too.  Have a great day.

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The 2010 IR Magazine IR Awards Winners Grand prix for best overall investor relations – small cap: Life Time Fitness Grand prix for best overall investor relations – mid-cap: Covance Grand prix for best overall investor relations – large cap: Express Scripts Grand prix for best overall investor relations – mega-cap: JPMorgan Chase & Co Best investor relations officer – small cap: Ken Cooper – Life Time Fitness Best investor relations officer – mid-cap: Paul Surdez – Covance  Best investor relations officer – large cap: David Myers – Express Scripts   Best investor relations officer – mega-cap: Lee McEntire & Kevin Stitt – Bank of America  Best retail investor communications: GE  Best annual report – small to large cap: Southwest Airlines  Best crisis communications – small to large cap: Life Time Fitness  Best investor relations by a chairman or CEO – small to large cap : Glen Senk – Urban Outfitters  Best corporate governance: JPMorgan Chase & Co  Best M&A investor relations: Merck and Schering-Plough Best IR by a continental European company in the US market: ABB

Best IR by an Asia-Pacific company in the US market: Infosys Technologies  Lifetime achievement in investor relations: Kay Breakstone & Carol Ruth Best investor relations website: Chesapeake Energy  Most progress in investor relations: AmTrust Financial Services  Best use of conferencing: Gen-Probe  Best corporate advertising: Verizon Communications  Sector leaders  Consumer discretionary: Life Time Fitness  Consumer staples: Kellogg Company  Diversified: GE  Energy: Chesapeake Energy  Financials: JPMorgan Chase & Co  Healthcare: Covance  Industrials: FedEx  Materials: Ecolab  Technology: Cisco Telecommunication services: AT&T  Utilities: Northeast Utilities

 

Blog in the saddle again!

I am pleased to announce that I have taken up the marketing reins at MUNCmedia! I first met the MUNCmedia team when NASDAQ OMX brought them on as a product partner for Retail Investor Targeting. Since that time, as pard'ners, I worked on many projects with them, and grew to appreciate their innovative and measureable outreach. I am extremely excited to join their firm. Also, obviously, I am thrilled to continue my social media efforts - delivering a round-up of industry insight, product news and a little irreverent behavior now and again. It will be a continuation of my popular blog work at NASDAQ OMX - Shareholder.com/GlobeNewswire.   I'd be mighty 'blidged if you look for me at next week's IR Magazine IR Awards. It's black tie, so no denim. And trigger has to stay home too. Yippeekiyay.... and have a great day.