6 easy steps to better investor relations

Are you delivering it through the right channels? Make a mistake and, at best, you risk missing your audience. At worst—I’ll leave that to your imagination.

When markets are volatile and regulation is on the rise, the stakes grow even higher. Effective investor relations is crucial in today’s economic climate. Of course, the effort is complicated by risk management considerations, leading to the possibility of tension between the investor relations and corporate legal teams.

The key is to work together, Brendan Sheehan writes in Corporate Secretary magazine. He provides the following six steps you can follow to make shareholder communications more effective:

1. Know your audience.

This starts with identifying it. Invest in identifying your shareholder base “to gain an understanding of who they are and how they feel about particular issues that affect your company and community,” writes Sheehan. Though shareholder identification has been a controversial topic in the IR community, it can help you make sure you’re talking to the right people about the right issues.

2. Find out who votes.