Investor Relations

How would you like to get a personal "report card" daily? A progress report written by well-informed taskmasters with lofty expectations and zero tolerance for error? What if that report card ran each day in the newspaper and was made available around the clock to anyone with Internet access? What if it was broadcast all day long on cable TV?

Sounds tough, doesn't it? But that is exactly what happens to publicly traded companies every day that the securities market operates. That report card represents the price of their stocks. That price is a visible, constant reminder of a company's current corporate reputation.

Managing this vital aspect of corporate reputation illuminates what Ketchum Investor Relations is all about. Ketchum's approach differs from traditional investor relations efforts in two major ways. First, our programs are fundamentally research-based, involving direct senior-level interviews with sell- and buy-side analysts, portfolio managers and industry opinion leaders who inform our every move. Knowing what they think now -- in a way they won't share directly with our clients -- creates the foundation for our strategic messaging. Second, our messaging answers on several levels the simple question: Why should I invest in this company?

But providing breakthrough financial communications isn't merely conveying the numbers necessary to define business performance. Those are the "table stakes" to enter into a conversation with the financial community. Ketchum corporate communications consultants have programs that seek to tell the compelling emotional story behind the numbers, establish management's credibility and convey a vision of the corporate brand that captures investors' imaginations.

While these efforts are more of an art, we back them up with an industry-based knowledge of the science of investor relations. Our corporate communications consultants use the most powerful technology available, such as institutional money-manager databases for investor targeting or stock watch. We help clients harness the Internet for broad and compelling information dissemination through webcast quarterly calls, or webcast streaming-video presentations of analyst meetings.

Ketchum corporate communications consultants come to the table with personal Wall Street experience. Many are former securities analysts, in-house investor-relations officers or investment-banking staffers who know firsthand the audiences with whom they communicate. That experience with corporate reputation management breeds credibility and that credibility ensures our programs have targeted impact and power.

We deploy these disciplines and resources across a range of financial communications scenarios: initial public offerings, merger-and-acquisition communications, financial-crisis-management communications (such as attacks by short-sellers or shareholder litigation) and direct, coordinated, ongoing financial-communications programs.