My Nasdaq blog

Use video webcasting to countdown your ten Buy-side touch points

More great content from the IR Intelligence Council conference. After this video, I spoke further with Brian Rivel on the subtle nuances of “the ten times.” To be clear, you do not need to get your CEO in front of a specific portfolio manager face-to-face ten times. But, just like in my world of “product marketing,” your “Buy-side marketing” needs frequent touch points. The ten touch points need to be high-value and deliver content: earnings calls, analyst day meetings (live and video), annual shareholder meetings (live and video), investor conferences and your overall (transparent) shareholder communications.

Heck, there’s seven touch points right there. ( ...and especially counting video webcasting. Note: clearly I am very biased towards video, however I do believe that recording your live shareholder events will exponentially extend their communication value. You've invested a lot of energy, money and CEO time creating the live, physical event - video record and webcast the presentation so it works harder for you. Make video an engaging 2010 touch point.)  Have a nice day.

Happy clients with high spirits make every day a holiday

Yesterday morning, the VERY FIRST EMAIL I had in my inbox for the New Year was from Chris Santiago, our VP of Operations (including Client Services). Chris and his team have started the parsing of the reams of quantitative and qualitative data we get each December from our Annual Client Satisfaction survey. He sent me a slew of verbatim "open form" comments and direct end-of-year follow-up client emails. Today's post is yet another blog that wrote itself and a terrific way to launch a very exciting 2010. I (and our clients!) work with very dedicated and talented people. "Hello, very nice job to you and your colleagues on the call today. Could not have gone better. I can't thank you enough for your patience, responsiveness and helpfulness during this sometimes very tedious project. :)" "Pleasure teaming up with you and your gang, Alison. You made it smooth and straightforward!" "Aina, Thank you so much for getting this over quickly.   Everything was absolutely perfect, you guys are hands-down the best conference providers I have used! Thanks for your help"

"Hi Manny, I wanted to thank you for your e-mail and voicemail messages. We had our first GlobeNewswire PR sent out today and had a good experience with the website and the editorial assistance we received. My kudos to you and your team for a first rate service and excellent customer relations." "I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know how great it has been to work with Lisa. When I have a questions or a problem, Lisa is very prompt in getting back to me with an answer or a resolution. Lisa is very reliable and I am at peace knowing that she will take care of it. I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate her hard work." "Thank you Matthew. Seriously, that was super easy and seamless. Thank you for your help and the service was excellent even at 3am. Thanks for the data." "Hi Mark, I wanted to thank you for all of your help yesterday morning. You were very helpful and patient in trying to solve our problem and provided the information so we could solve the problem on our end...  Again, thank you for your assistance." "Hello Aina-san. Thank you very for your super work yesterday. I profoundly appreciate your kind support and consideration." "I met with the IR team from [client] yesterday, they raved about Mike and the service he provides!  Had nothing but great things to say! Nice work!" "Just wanted to say thank you to you and your team for helping with this event. Everything went very smoothly. The full-screen link worked well in our cafeteria, and everyone is pleased!" "It was a pleasure working with you on the [client name] meeting.  Based on the raw feed I saw, the video and audio quality looked and sounded very good. Doug was great on site.  He and his team were friendly and easy to work with on the install.  He also worked competently to solve the internet connection issue. I look forward to working with Shareholder.com in the future." "They also said our advantage was that they really like working with you and would prefer not switching because of that. Your professionalism and your great customer service may win us additional business. Thanks!" "I wanted to reach out to thank you for your hard work in developing and launching our new investor relations site. This note is far overdue as we launched some time ago but I wanted to make sure you understood from us that we are very pleased with the final product and appreciate all of your efforts in getting the website in a format that most appropriately suits our audience." "Thanks Brian. Everything went really well yesterday. Michael did a great job on-site!" "We have received great feedback from investors who find the new site a major upgrade from what we had before with [competitor]. Indeed, I personally enjoy the new site and the ability to find certain information far easier now than on the previous version." Is all the annual feedback we get radiant praise like above? Of course not - I don't always wear my blog colored glasses. However, I can guarantee that we attack any and all client concerns with the urgency and professionalism that earned us the wonderful client praise you just read. Have a nice day.

NIRI's Introduction to Investor Relations (JAN 10 -13) conference is the best for learning IR fundamentals

If you are new to IR – or you have a new colleague on your team – this annual conference is “must-see TV.” The January meeting is always in Santa Monica – this is the first time I have been able to attend this West coast session. I am looking forward to this meeting as besides being above 32 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s the first where I will be “trapped” to sit in the complete sessions. The annual September Boston meeting is too close to my office, so I tend to go back into the office. Also, from my side of the IR fence, I really like this conference as the pace allows me to have quieter, in-depth conversations with people as they dive into the deep-end of IR. What I find most interesting is the huge diversity of professional backgrounds: PR, corp comm, finance, legal... and even (gasp!) marketing. This diversity is exactly why NIRI has been so important to so many in the industry (practitioner and vendor alike) as where else would we learn this stuff?    This is college for IR. Have a nice day.

New Pinpoint Intelligence feature charts Investor Relations activities against ownership

Every single minute that you shave off a tactical task to apply towards a strategic effort will benefit your IR department in 2010. Without a doubt, your time is better spent targeting new investors, measuring sentiment and monitoring dynamic changes in institutional holdings rather than on time-consuming, redundant chores of searching market data and manually drafting reports. To that, last week we released many new enhancements to Pinpoint Intelligence.   One well-designed addition is this automatically generated report that plots IR communications and meetings against ownership.     Our new report creates a graphical timeline of your calls and meetings by institution juxtaposed against quarterly 13F filings   A discussion of the strategic value of “number of meetings” as an IR ROI measurement is an old debate and for each company to decide internally. However, if I view this data tactically as a “sales & marketing pipeline” of outreach efforts - roadshows, investor conferences, etc.-  it could be a very useful tool to hone how and to who (whom?) time is spent “closing the deal.”   Regardless….the chart is created automatically – you don’t need to do anything.  Now that’s ROI!   Have a nice day and Happy Holidays.

Investor Relations cautious, not cowardly, towards Social Media

The IR Intelligence Council had a very “passionate” discussion in regard to Social Media’s role for Investor Relations. Simply, the chasm continues between the IRO and "the SMO” opinion. IROs remain cautious. I sense the harrumphs from the Social Media devotees and evangelists even as I type. However, please make no mistake about the caliber of the folks in the room. The participants were all very sophisticated Investor Relations Officers…not a gathering of Social Media ostriches. They are all hyper-aware of Social Media’s impact on communications (many do have teenagers at home, afterall).

The observation that received the most heads nods was made by Greg Secord, IRO at OpenText, a company acutely cognizant of online content - “Why are we letting the [Social Media] media pressure us to change our disclosure policy?” OTHER POINTS, not in order: IR is in no position to “experiment” with Social Media. Neither the Street nor the SEC is forgiving. Companies must establish a Social Media policy and offer employee’s policy training. Social Media is reminiscent of the Yahoo chats rooms from 10 years ago. “We did not reply to rumors then, why would we now?” Most companies are blogging, but from their marketing / product groups (like me). The PR departments has a good handle on monitoring and have internal triggers in place for IR's involvement. Time is a big concern. Departments are small and Social Media takes commitment. It’s not a issue of ROI but of doing a smart job. What is the implication if a direct Tweet is not answered, etc? If you stop and start, it will have a negative non-transparent impression - or a harbinger of messaging inconsistency. A company’s Retail Investors strategy certainly relates to Social Media. IR is proactively placing Social Media into their 2010 strategies but in context to their overarching strategies and their investor mix.  Rivel Research, the IR Intelligence Council’s architect, (...and our Waypoint partner) had some data on the Buy-side’s use of Social Media. 31% read blogs on the job at least weekly, however, at this point there is no detail about what type of blogs –Street opinion blogs vs. corporate IR/CEO blogs. Seeing how there are veeeeeeeery few IR/CEO created blogs, we can assume the blogs are news and market opinion. Also, it was noted during the meeting that "reading" is not "influencing." Rivel is going to work on this deeper dive for his next Perspectives report. The audience absolutely understands Social Media’s evolution into overall web communications. However, IR  - and their General Counsel -  are still working out the reward vs. risk. Better safe than sorry is status quo. Cannot fault that, especially in context to the severity of selective disclosure and SEC lawsuits. This ain't no fooling around. Is IR a conservative bunch? Hell yes. And rightly so. How and what they communicate affects everything at their company. Have a nice day.

A blog about my blog promoting my blog.

Against my humble judgment, it has been suggested I post about this kind article IR magazine published in their December issue. Below is the text from the online version.  Humor sets Bradley Smith apart as an IR space oddity The IR world has had lots of bloggers but no jokers – until now. Bradley Smith, director at Shareholder.com, which is owned by the NASDAQ OMX Group, sprinkles his blog with jokes, pop music references and cleverly Photoshopped illustrations. Smith began blogging in July, NASDAQ OMX’s first blogger since the company established its social media policy last spring. He uses Shareholder.com’s new blog tool built into its IR website platform. He makes no bones about his marketing bent – beginning with his blog’s title, Investor relations/public relations product blog.

‘My job is clear: to communicate about my products and my company. If I can sell products, educate clients and engage new prospects at the same time, I’ve done my job well,’ he says. NASDAQ’s social media policy is ‘realistically liberal’, allowing Smith editorial control with the disclaimer that his views and opinions are his own. He says that working in the IR industry means he knows the boundaries for material disclosure. Smith’s college era musical tastes are reflected in his headlines – Rule 452 ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, for example – and in the music videos that his ‘have a nice day’ sign-offs link to. Earlier interests – and those of his 12 year-old son – yield Star Wars or Indiana Jones references, like Yoda holding the SEC seal, intoning, ‘Do or do not. There is no try.’ ‘I have gi-normous creative energy,’ says Smith, who earned a bachelor’s in fine arts before studying marketing and going to work on Madison Avenue in the late 1980s. He joined Shareholder.com in 2000 and stayed through its 2006 acquisition by NASDAQ. ‘How I get that energy out doesn’t matter to me – whether it’s building a deck, making IR products or writing a blog.’ Smith is pleased with his blog traffic: over 1,800 unique visits in September, lasting over three minutes on average. He promotes the blog through Shareholder.com’s internal client system, Twitter, Facebook and his LinkedIn network. The blog’s playful tone is unusual in business. Last month, for a post about NIRI CEO Jeff Morgan making a presentation on Capitol Hill, Smith Photoshopped Morgan onto a background shot of the Capitol and titled the post, ‘Ah did not have investor relations with that woman.’ Another recent post, about RR Donnelley’s XBRL breakfast seminars, featured a bowl of Cheerios with toasted oat XBRLs mixed in with the O’s. Smith says he has had only positive comments about his blog and no distraught phone calls from inside counsel. ‘It may be mischievous at times, but it’s always respectful to the niche and the audience,’ he concludes Have a nice day.

Holiday Contest! What would YOU do with over 5 miles of yardsticks?

What should we do?  Please give me your ideas in the in Post a comment below – silly or straight up. As I have written prior, the head of our Mail Fulfillment service has, ironically, embraced green and digital shareholder communication  – without sacrificing  effectiveness for incoming shareholder hardcopy requests. His main point is stop wasteful printing. And that brings us to the 9,000 yardsticks. 5 miles worth. ( do the math ) A client purchased these but never completed the mailing campaign, so they requested we “toss em.” Ethan Howe wants to find them a more meaningful use than “recycled wood.” I have already brought a couple hundred to my local elementary school.

LOL ! Our Mail Fulfillment Manager, Ethan Howe, literally has his arms full helping clients be green and save green.

Share this blog with friends, families, ask your spouse, your kids, school teachers, charities… where ever.  Retweet this a lot please!  The more ideas, the better chance we'll find a home other than as kindling. Hopefully, we can execute the best, winning idea! ( ...and we'll send the winner a NASDAQ gift too! ) Lastly, Happy Holidays to all and sincere thanks for taking time to read my blog this year. Have a nice day

Hospitals have always been early adopters in converting to digital from hardcopy

Before I worked in our investor relations niche, I worked in medical imaging (digital x-ray is sort of akin to transparency, right?) and, at that time, the big push was for hospitals and healthcare centers to become filmless (PACS). The sheer volume of imaging hospitals produce was staggering. That need was closely followed by electronic patient records (watch Allscripts great Video Annual Report here). So, it was no surprise to me that hospitals were the very first Director’s Desk clients and that our development team continues to work with hospital boards to expand our feature set to meet their very demanding workflow: IE hundreds of directors, multiple boards.   Below is a case study written about our client The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health Systems - recently published in Great Boards' Buyer's Guide to Board Portals by GreatBoards.org. GreatBoards.org’s buyer guide brings an fine objective eye to reviewing different electronic board portals and, unlike me, makes no subjective (coughbuydirectorsdeskcoughcough) opinions. Have a nice day.

Duck season! Rabbit season! Duck season! Rabbit season! PROXY SEASON!

Now that you've watched our video webcast panel  on activism and its surrounding proxy discussions, here is more in-depth work from experts and their viewpoints on the upcoming 2010 proxy season. Follow this link to download The Altman Group's EXCELLENT new ebook (PDF) Governance Compendium Series. We are the distribution arm and sponsor for this 50 page report that provides readers with insights and perspectives on what is in the pipeline for the 2010 proxy season. This issue covers a wide range of vital topics: Proposals to reform the proxy voting system Proposed rules from the SEC on direct proxy access Proposals regarding advisory votes on compensation Views on current developments from RiskMetrics Perspectives from key decision-makers at several well-known activist institutions, including CalPERS, AFSCME and Pershing Square Capital Management. Comments from other experts, including Martin Lipton and David A. Katz of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

In addition, the Compendium provides readers with perspectives on proactive communications strategies for navigating all of the changes in corporate governance and shareholder activism. Have a nice day.

Rivel Research reveals the impact IR has on valuation

This past Wednesday, 40+ Investors Relations Officers gathered in our MarketSite conference center to participate in Rivel Research’s IR Intelligence Council. This exclusive conference drew in these senior IROs from many sectors and cities including Seattle, Atlanta, Warsaw, IN and certainly companies right down the block. Most attendees traveled to NYC just for this event. Why the big draw? Rivel Research (our partner for Waypoint) de facto wrote the book on investor perception. For almost 20 years, they've conducted thousands of Street interviews each year.

From this deep archive of Buy-side interviews, in addition to providing the specific perception analysis to their contracted clients regarding their specific corporation, Rivel analyzes the qualitative and qualitative meta-data into industry-wide-super-uber reports  that are only available to this group. Wednesday's was RIvel Research's first physical meeting of the IR Intelligence Council. The conference was a very successful day of transparent, round table discussions touching on topics from share buy-back strategies, social media, corporate access, measuring IR as well as a Q&A session with four Buy-side analysts. I was fortunate to be the sole “service provider” allowed past the velvet rope and grateful that Brian Rivel took a few moments to share his research on the “Holy Grail for IR” discussed in the video snippet above. It's good stuff. Have a nice day.