No matter the industry a company operates in, the shareholders of the firm would be the core audience to take into consideration when planning to develop their marketing strategy. As pointed out by Scott Tominaga investors or shareholders are crucial to all company. In addition to enabling enterprises to get on their feet, investors also have a key role to play in the continuation of their operational success. Hence, it is vital for all businesses to communicate competently and effectively with the investors, and pay heed to their concerns while devising the marketing plan for the business. The marketing unit of a company may work alongside its investor relations (IR) department for this purpose.

The investor relation department of a company can be limited to one person or extend to a team of people, based on the overall size and scale of the business organization. Scott Tominaga says that these professionals often sit down with the marketing unit of the business to incorporate the priorities of the investors in the marketing functions of the company. This factor plays a major role in enabling companies to retain their discerning investors. The capacity to retain investors tends to drive long term valuation.  A company can only retain investors if they feel that they are getting an adequate compensation in return.

Scott Tominaga marks a few important investor relations marketing strategy touch points that every businesses should try to understand and address:

  • Strategic planning: One must create a plan that is strategically coordinated across the firm, and is effectively articulated in a manner understood by the investors. This plan should help the investors to get an accurate idea of the direction the relevant company is headed towards, while developing a reasonable expectation for determining overall success.
  • Analyst coverage: Comprehensive analyst coverage can be quite helpful in driving loyalty.  Moreover, getting proper analyst coverage shall benefit the company in market valuation as well, in addition to complementing investor interests.
  • Press coverage: Having adequate press coverage is vital to both developing and maintaining an expansive investor base. There shall be no better way to inform investors about the story of a brand than through media platforms and unbiased local trades. People can seize each and every opportunity to present their firm to the world outside, and optimally leverage their coverage online.
  • Online availability: The world is slowly shifting to the web, and all business organizations must also pay heed to this element and focus on the virtual domain. Even investors and other stakeholders of companies are gradually shifting their focus to the internet. Investors usually want to be steered to the web these days, whenever there are any types of major corporate events.  Hence, businesses should try to make their annual reports, conference presentations and other investor updates available online.

The above mentioned pointers can significantly help companies to complement their investor relation functions.