Any Pubco has a basic dilemma, and that is public awareness. The micro-cap or small cap universe is crowded with large pools of companies that are fairly non-differentiated. As any well distinguished company knows it is about differentiation or defining a USP (unique selling proposition). This USP allows a company to gain market share and drive top and bottom line results. Well, on the public image side it is no different, the winners in the small cap world do the best job of identifying an investor market place and penetrating that market successfully. This starts with their core story and then spreads out from there on an awareness platform. The key is in the communcation, not the noise!
Most IR campaigns are about loudness. Rarely are they focused on differentitation, the norm is to broadcast any story but make sure it is spread to a large non-defined audience and simply let it happen. This is similar to marketing and sales campaigns that are done with the shotgun approach. Simply devise a story and broadcast it to the largest audience possible (think in terms of the old direct mail campaigns). This has commonly been a failing approach and it wastes both time and money. It also wastes the communication level with the audience. I presently receive over 100 newsletter emails daily. Now, there are probably 10's of thousands, but I can only stand so much noise in a given 24hr period. I search through these newlsetters to research my industry and see how or if any are trying new innovative approaches. I am sad to report that it is the same old stuff everyday. New companies being pitched with the same old hype copy being produced to promote the next...............I'm sure you have read many of these reports. I find the disclosures fascinating (that is for a another future commentary).
A public company and an investor pool both deserve communication that leads with clear transparency and defines the specific reasons to invest in said company. This doesn't have to be long winded either, it can be done with simple paragraphs and it needs to diffentiate the company from all peers, it needs to identify the major market (sector) and why that market presents an opportunity (again full differentiation). The communication then simply needs to affirm why the company is well positioned to succeed in the overall marketplace. This simple story then needs to be connected to predefined audience who is interested in this type of story. Any other communciation is a waste of time and money. The bottom line for both PUBCO's and investors is that IR can be very simple and it can also be most effective when the core communication is clear and concise.
