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

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

 

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

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

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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.