Storytelling: Your key to winning audiences

Being genuine on the Internet is harder than you think. Seth Godin, author of “All Marketers Are Liars”, recants the title of his popular book by stating that marketers are not liars but storytellers. In Investor Relations, successful marketers are storytelling IROs who tell authentic stories to audiences who want to believe, and do investors ever want to believe.

But there will always be that little, annoying voice in everyone’s head that whispers doubts and disbelief about every company’s potential for growth. Call it due diligence, corporate distrust, or fear of the unknown, but this voice serves as IROs’ nemesis, chipping away at all the work they’ve put into promoting their company as the ultimate deliverer of shareholder value.

Yet, is the effort enough? More specifically, is the online story that companies are telling an open book, with all elements present to powerfully draw in investors so they not only believe the company’s story but want to tell others?

For it to resonate with your audience, your story needs to be easily accessible, understood and true. Ask yourself, your IR department, and the investors who visit your website:

-Does your website require visitor information prior to giving access? (The equivalent to a salesperson asking me to provide my personal information before I can browse a store for shoes)
-Does it hide the good stuff in PDFs?
-Does it only speak to the past, rather than also proactively discussing the future?

If the answer to these questions is yes, revisions are in order.

Consider Canada’s current place in the world economy. Relatively sheltered from the global recession, Canada is slowly but surely recovering. And so, Canadian companies are positioned to capitalize on this major opportunity once the country recovers and people regain confidence in the markets. But companies need to prepare now for when that time comes, when investors will flood the markets seeking best value, trusting in stories that clearly tell them how they will earn that value. Pen your online tale properly now so that you can be ready to draw these investors in and create believers out of them.