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

IR and PR teams often work in silos. With the help of modern collaboration tools though, they can share resources and maximize coverage to everyone’s benefit.

Investor Relations (IR) is a PR function. PR works for Investor Relations. Both are true because both teams work for the same goal. However, the people behind Investor Relations, Public Relations, and other communication functions often sit in different departments.

This may be a challenge. But it’s also an opportunity, as there are countless areas where stronger collaboration can deliver results. Areas like Regulation Fair Disclosure, which is about keeping all communication clean, or collateral creation, sharing visuals and copy that tell your company’s story. It’s about listening to the market, and acting on what it says.

How can you help PR and IR teams collaborate for the benefit of both the business and their own careers? Here are 12 tips:

1. Create a common core for communications

Finance folk needs their GAAP and EBITDA figures, while marketing talks brand and product. But both audiences share some common content – work out what that is and make sure it is shared. If necessary, get PR people onto earning calls and analyst webinars and vice versa, get IR people into brand strategy roundtables. Sharing breeds understanding on both sides.

2. Build a go-to reference

Simple documents like glossaries, vocabulary sheets and key facts save time and money when they’re available to all. Get the teams together to collaborate on those, and share them as dynamic documents, not ‘write and forget’ pieces. Create a channel on your collaboration platform to become the go-to place for these documents, as well as questions about them.

3. Set the legal framework

Ensure both teams understand relevant compliance frameworks to properly protect all information and avoid duplicate efforts in the legal department. Proper governance of your cloud communications platform can help ensure that only certain documents can be shared externally.

4. Decide on hot buttons and phrases

Having a set of key phrases that activate all audiences saves time for everyone. As a result, there’ll be less miscommunication between IR and PR, and more consistency in the company image, for less effort. Again, use the common channel on your collaboration platform to store a document with all key phrases, so everyone can access it easily when needed.

5. Go big on visuals

Today’s media is picture and video driven. Graphs, charts and diagrams communicate more than ever and can be simple to create and animate. PR’s creativity can make sense of Investor Relations’ figures. In turn, IR figures and facts can support brand assertions.

6. Share content, information and figures

Assets aren’t just text like bulletins and releases. Articles, visuals, videos and meetings can be used again and again. Establish a central store of approved images to keep your brand sharp. Keep a list of white papers that can add value to links, updates and newsletters.

Record collaborative meetings and webinars to release on-demand or simply for future reference. Store all assets in the common channel on your collaboration platform.

7. Combine media relations

IR may focus on the Financial Times and WSJ, while PR looks to trade papers and social media. But readers don’t differentiate and neither should you. Share your lists of friendly (and not so friendly) reporters and keep them up to date in your team channel. Concentrate on selling one story from two angles – not two stories!

8. Cross-promote media coverage

Stories about you are great. Stories shared about you are even greater, because content shared by a third party has high trust. So, don’t treat promoting your coverage as purely a PR job, rather establish best practices for social sharing – and roll them out across both teams.

Make distribution lists available to both IR and PR in your shared team channel. Then make PR’s media list aware of IR stories, and vice versa.

9. Centralize social

Social media may be a whole lot of different channels, but there are tools to manage them from a single platform. Put them to good use and adopt one platform across all communications teams. Set up an automated report with key metrics to be sent to your shared team channel to foster understanding, and learn about all audiences, across departmental silos.

10. Foster thought leaders

Many companies have internal experts whose audience is limited. Sharing their thoughts makes the most of your content and your people. Create a definitive list of in-house influencers to become your go-to people. Share lists of their best quotes, numbers and findings in your team channel. Ensure your people are top-of-mind among journalists from all sectors.

11. Connect sites, don’t combine them

Many journalists prefer online newsrooms and IR subsites to be separate. But separate doesn’t have to mean disconnected, provide a path from one to the other.

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

12. Standardize your statistics

Measurement and monitoring aren’t just for PR. Listening to the market is useful to everyone in communications, so make sure everyone can do it. Always give context – don’t just count mentions but show trends. Contrast your coverage against your sector’s and your competitors’. Regularly share findings between teams and refresh everyone’s knowledge.

In the end, it’s all about communication. And that’s something your IR and PR teams will agree on.

Want to know how else we can help your team? Have a look at our services for virtual earnings calls, annual meetings and roadshows.