Twelve tips to get your IR and PR teams working together. Investor Relations (IR) is a PR function. PR works for Investor Relations. Both true because both teams work for the same goal. But, the people behind Investor Relations, Public Relations, and all the other comms functions often sit in different departments. That’s an opportunity: there are countless areas where stronger collaboration can deliver results. Areas like Regulation Fair Disclosure, keeping every communication clean. Like collateral creation, sharing the visuals and copy that tell your company’s story. Like listening to the market, and acting on what it says. How can you help these teams collaborate for the benefit of both the business, and their own careers? This SlideShare lays out twelve tips.

1. 12 ways to help your
IR and PR teams work
as one

2. WHY INVESTOR RELATIONS AND
PR ARE ON THE SAME SIDE...
BUT NOT THE
SAME TEAM.

3. THE INVESTOR RELATIONS FUNCTION:
TALK TO THE MONEY.

4. Investor Relations knows the
city and the street because its
professionals come from there.
Knowledge of banking and
consultancy.
They give the story of the
numbers. And for a finance
audience, it works.

5. THE PUBLIC RELATIONS FUNCTION:
TALK TO THE MARKET.

6. PR’s remit is broader
and less numbers-driven.
Its people come from marketing,
advertising, journalism.
Soft-skilled and people-focused,
they provide the story beyond
the numbers.

7. In brief:
DIFFERENT TEAMS,
DIFFERENT GOALS.

8. But these different goals have a common core of content.
And if that core content is:
then there are resource costs and risk of message
disconnects that never needed to happen.
Created by
different
people,
Stored in
different
silos,
Produced
more than
once,
Or limited
to a narrow
audience

9. “Today’s post-Regulation FD environment
is fertile ground for manipulation and
distortion of the facts, making it essential
for the IR and PR function to work
together to present a unified front to
investors and the media,”
Michael Fox, Managing Partner, ICR.

10. Here are 12 tips to
strengthen your
communications team.

11. Finance folk need their GAAP
and EBITDA figures, while
marketing types talk brand and
product.
But both audiences share some
common content.
Work out what that is.
TIP #1:
Create a common core
for communications.

12. Get PR people onto
earnings calls and
analyst webinars.
Get IR professionals
into brand strategy
roundtables.
Sharing breeds understanding
on both sides.
HOW?
Make sure content is
shared.

13. Simple documents like glossaries,
vocabulary sheets, and key facts
save time and money when
they’re available to all.
TIP #2:
Build a go-to
reference.

14. Get the teams together
to collaborate on the list.
Share them as dynamic
documents, not write-
and-forget pieces.
HOW?

15. When PR people understand
compliance frameworks like
Regulation Fair Disclosure,
legal risks nosedive.
TIP #3:
Set the legal
framework.

16. Both teams understand
what can and cannot be
shared.
Information stays where
it’s properly protected.
Duplicated effort in the
Legal Department is
avoided.
HOW?

17. Having a set of key phrases
that activate all audiences
saves time for everyone.
TIP #4:
Decide on hot buttons
and phrases.

18. Less miscommunication
between IR and PR.
More consistency in the
company image, for less
effort.
HOW?

19. Today’s media is
picture-driven.
Graphs, charts, and
diagrams communicate
more than ever and can
be simple to create.
TIP #5:
Go big on visuals.

20. PR’s creativity can
make sense of Investor
Relations’ figures.
Every brand assertion
can be supported with
concrete facts.
IR bulletins can stay in
tune with your brand’s
look and feel.
HOW?

21. Assets aren’t just text like
bulletins and releases.
Articles, visuals, clips, and
meetings can be used
again and again.
TIP #6:
Share content,
information and
figures.

22. A central store of
approved images keeps
the brand sharp.
A list of White Papers
adds value to links,
updates, newsletters.
Collaborative meetings
and webinars can be
recorded and released.
HOW?

23. Investor Relations may focus
on the FT and WSJ, while PR
looks to trade papers and
social media.
But readers don’t
differentiate. Nor should you.
TIP #7:
Combine media
relations.

24. Share your lists of
friendly (and not so
friendly) reporters.
Concentrate on selling
one story from two
angles - not two stories!
HOW?

25. Content shared by a third party
has high trust.
Stories about you are great.
Stories shared about you are
even greater.
So don’t treat promoting your
coverage as purely a PR job.
TIP #8:
Cross-promote media
coverage.

26. Establish best practices
for social sharing - and
roll them out across both
teams.
Make distribution lists
available to both Investor
Relations and PR.
Make PR’s media list
aware of IR stories, and
vice versa.
HOW?

27. Social media may be 1000s of
channels…
...but there are tools to manage
them from a single platform.
Put them to good use.
TIP #9:
Centralise the social.

28. Adopt one
platform across all
communications teams.
Share standard reports
and metrics to foster
understanding.
Learn more about
all audiences, across
departmental silos.
HOW?

29. Many companies have internal
experts whose audience is
limited.
Sharing their thoughts makes
the most of your content and
your people.
TIP #10:
Foster thought
leaders.

30. Create a definitive list of
in-house influencers -
your go-to people!
Share lists of their best
quotes, numbers, and
findings.
Ensure your people are
top-of-mind among
journalists from all
sectors.
HOW?

31. Over half of journalists prefer
online newsrooms and Investor
Relations subsites to be
separate.
But separate doesn’t mean
disconnected.
Provide a path from each to
the other.
TIP #11:
Connect sites, don’t
combine them.

32. Add links to company
data from each online
press release and links to
interesting stories from
financial pieces.
Give reporters colour and
they’ll give you coverage.
HOW?

33. Measurement and monitoring
isn’t just for PR.
Listening to the market
is useful to everyone in
communications.
So make sure everyone can
do it.
TIP #12:
Standardise your
statistics.

34. Put Big Data in context
- don’t count mentions.
Show trends.
Contrast your coverage
against your sector’s and
your competitors’.
Share findings between
teams with regular
round-ups and refreshes.
HOW?

35. There you have it:
IT’S ALL ABOUT
COMMUNICATION.
And that’s something your IR and PR
teams will agree on.

36. Learn how to drive collaboration between
your different teams download:
Generating a
Collaborative
Culture, How to Build
Innovation in Your
Enterprise
Download now
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