The Expert Guide to Shareholder Engagement and Targeting

Create a shareholder engagement programme

Engaging shareholders helps them to feel connected to the company and shows them that you value their opinions. Here is a step-by-step plan to engage your investors:  

1. Inform both shareholders and directors of your aims and the processes ingrained in your engagement plan so that they are prepared for it.
2. Time your engagement right, depending on your goals. Organising a governance roadshow a few weeks before the annual general meeting helps maximise voting success, for example. 
3. Research investors to understand who will respond to engagement in the way that is most valuable to the issuer. Look into previous proxy interactions with investors and their effect on voting policies, for example.
4. Consider the engagement medium that will bring the best result. A hybrid approach widens your potential reach.
5. Research investors before meetings to tailor the interaction to them and make them feel valued by the organisation.
6. Pick a team to meet with investors that will be most able to assist them and answer questions about the topics in which they are most interested. 
7. Actively listen to what investors say – the good and the bad – and respect their point of view, politely countering them if necessary and helping the conversation move towards a mutually beneficial conclusion.

Proactive investor targeting and retargeting

Investor relations is a continual process of targeting new investors and retargeting current shareholders. Here is how to make this procedure more strategic.

1. Work out the personas you need to target and create a plan that allows you to meet with them all – in person or remotely – over the following year. 
2. Start with quick wins, such as current shareholders with an underweight portfolio and investors in your peers.
3. Customise your outreach by promoting different metrics to different funds, depending on their priorities.
4. Engage portfolio managers by honing your approach to match their interests.
5. Use IR targeting tools like IR.Manager to automate the process.
6. Consider special cases where investors request access outside of roadshows. Is the potential outcome worth the time investment for your executives? 
7. Build a relationship with investors. Only 12% of institutional investors would buy stock after one meeting. 

Create Effective Roadshow Briefing Notes

To engage your current and potential investors, you can invite them to a roadshow and connect them with your executives and IR team. To truly engage them, your roadshow briefing notes need to be strategically planned. Here is some advice on what to include to create effective notes for your presenters: 

1. The itinerary, so that they understand what is due to happen. They can also spot familiar names and prepare a personalised greeting. 
2. Information on the investors in the audience, including their profile, moves, portfolio performance, advice on whether they are friendly or adversarial and any personal details that can help your presenters recognise them. 
3. Meeting history for all investors in attendance to understand their motivations and preempt questions. 
4. The goals for the meeting so that the presenters can maintain focus.
5. Company positioning and USP details to sell the organisation to investors.
6. Data on competitors to help presenters show why shareholders should invest with you.
7. Financial disclosures that reflect the financial story of the company, showing potential and explaining any downturns with practical plans to move forwards. 
8. Non-financial performance details to appeal to the sustainability sensibilities of investors.