Greater Reach: Digital advertising provides a platform for companies to reach a broader audience than traditional advertising methods. With billions of people online worldwide, digital advertising allows companies to reach millions of potential customers with a single campaign.
Better Targeting: Digital advertising offers advanced targeting capabilities, enabling companies to tailor their message to specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. This targeted approach can increase the effectiveness of campaigns and drive better results.
Cost-Effective: Digital advertising is often more cost effective than traditional advertising methods. Companies can run ads on social media platforms and other websites for a fraction of the cost of television or print ads.
Measurable Results: Digital advertising allows companies to track their campaigns in real time and measure the success of their ads. This information can help companies refine their campaigns, optimize strategies, and drive better results.
Enhanced Engagement: Digital advertising offers more interactive and engaging ad formats, such as video, interactive ads, and rich media ads. These formats can increase engagement and generate higher levels of brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Increased ROI: By combining the benefits of greater reach, better targeting, and measurable results, digital advertising will generate a higher return on investment (ROI) than traditional advertising methods.
Overall, digital advertising provides an effective and efficient way for public companies to reach their target audiences, generate brand awareness, and drive revenue growth.
Digital Advertising Public Companies:
At OTC PR Group, our experienced creative teams and partners start with a big idea or a well-told story about your company. We make sure your story connects your company’s vision of the future.
A behavioral analysis of search shifts using real GSC data for SEO and COVID-19
We analyzed how searcher behavior shifts during the COVID-19 crisis has impacted different industries. Using our extensive pool of Google Search Console data, we analyzed the clicks, impressions, CTR, and position of keywords from 4800 domains to get valuable insights into which industries have profited, and which have lost out.
The COVID-19, a global pandemic, is unlike anything that most of us have experienced. Lives are threatened, but the very way we work and exist has changed rapidly, and average daily life has reached a whole new level of strangeness.
As many of us adjust to working and functioning fully from home, most of our wants and needs can only be satisfied via digital channels and virtual spaces. We are all seeking outlets of entertainment, social interaction, fitness, grocery shopping, and education quickly and reliably without having to leave our homes.
The home office is not my natural environment, nor is it my preferred one, but obviously, those preferences don’t matter anymore when others’ health hangs in the balance.
SEO and COVID-19
Working in the digital marketing or SEO industry should be a massive advantage as we witness the world to move offline to online exclusively. However, knowing to uplift online traffic means little if that business can’t operate anymore.
This ongoing uncertainty and turbulence are evident with the enormous changes in searcher behavior and consumer demands we witness right now. We must understand and adhere to these shifts as we move forward and rapidly adopt digital strategies for our businesses to survive.
Due to the increased online-activity and dependency on reliable search results, SEO and website optimization are now an important marketing channel. Still, it can also ultimately become a defining factor in whether a business survives. Proper SEO helps assure our information is factual, well-represented, and that websites are technically capable of search engines and users. In doing so, we can ensure that we are prominently ranked for search queries.
Takeaways and advice for positively impacted industries
COVID-19 and SEO Steps:
Use increase impression data as an interpretive sign for which products to restock online as a priority.
Keep a close eye on the new keywords rising in impressions and clicks, as these are clear indicators of trending topics that your domain may already be ranking. Even if it’s a low position yet relevant placement, you can pipeline these to editorial teams and work to rank highly for those keywords as fast as possible.
Invest time analyzing your search snippets and seeing how you can best stand out to drive more clicks. There aren’t many industries that have been positively impacted, so the competition is fierce, and standing out more in the SERPs is a must. To improve your search snippets, you can test providing better copy, apply Structured Data for rich snippets, and structured content for Featured Snippets to secure traffic for your rankings.
Create fantastic online services and resources that keep people active, productive, and happy!
Final thoughts
SEO and COVID-19 analysis of organic search impressions provides an in-depth and reliable understanding of what is taking place in search during the current crisis. People rely on search to discover information and facts about the crisis, but more importantly, search helps people fulfill the needs they can no longer meet offline and in person.
Whether your business stands to be positively impacted by the crisis or scaled-down due to lack of ability to operate, we digital marketers and SEO practitioners have to ensure our website and content make a positive contribution to the current situation. By building enriched online experiences, resolving worries and uncertainties with informational content, targeting and solving upcoming topics, creating happy distractions, and adapting our services and products for the stay-at-home period, we can help make dealing with this crisis a little easier.
At OTC PR Group, we provide a full suite of investor relations services utilizing the latest web and SEO solutions coupled with relationship building processes to develop and maintain interest from your shareholder base. We work to build shareholder value by engaging with key-stakeholders and effectively following up and communicating your message, investment potential, and corporate vision.
Investor relations is all about grabbing attention and creating an audience.OTC PR Group networks with only the “Top Rated” service providers and advertising partners, including our In house and external newsletter publishers, social media specialist, editors, analysts, research writers, and video talk show producers, are utilized in our corporate outreach visibility programs.
Working closely with our clients and professional network partners in conjunction with our newsletter publishing sites, we can create and implement marketing and advertising programs that deliver high impact exposure campaigns.
A well-organized, professional Investor Relations and Broker Network Program can help provide ways to fund your business, build the familiarity your company needs in order to get its share of attention and increase the liquidity in your company stock.
Finding ways to fund your business still remains a difficult task even though in recent years a number of platforms have been developed to help new entrepreneurs.
New technological advancements have opened up many new avenues to launch and fund budding enterprises. To succeed in this process, you have to find ways to fund your business and get noticed by those who want to provide financing in exchange for a stake in your new company.
Online Fundraising Platforms
The past few years have given birth to virtually countless online fundraising platforms. They have become highly popular with sophisticated and accredited individual investors, angels, and even banks and funds looking for new ways to deploy capital.
The major platforms run from peer-to-peer lending sites that offer business loans to donation-based, debt and equity crowdfunding portals.
For donations, you can try Kickstarter or Indiegogo. For equity crowdfunding platforms the most popular platforms are the following:
•AngelList
•Seedinvest
•StartEngine
•CircleUp
•Wefunder
Even if you don’t use online platforms to raise all the money you want, they can be extremely effective for getting noticed. The key is finding the right match in a platform for your venture and needs, as well as being realistic about what it will take to make a campaign work.
Social Media
Social media can be your best friend when looking for ways to fund your business. Whether engaging in it or not: social media isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Implementing the right social media solutions is paramount for any successful marketing program. It’s a digital world out there, and with hyper-connectivity comes new technological ways to keep us socially linked. As a lean startup or solo entrepreneur looking to test the market, gain traction, and attract investors, social media makes it easy to be discovered and is still one of the most cost-effective methods of reaching others.
You can take an inbound approach with your own posts and
updates, or take a more active approach with collaborations and leveraging sponsored
posts or influencers.
Direct messaging can be a powerful tool when searching for ways to fund your business. If you can get the social profile handles of well-fitting investors, it might only take one great message to connect with the capital your startup needs. If this sounds like a fit for you, check out LinkedIn contact information for the top 50 angel investors based on investment volume.
In the event you need VCs you can always go to Crunchbase and research for those investors that are actively investing in your industry.
When it comes to social media, here are the most popular
channels and how to use them:
•LinkedIn for cold messages or to seek quality introductions to pass the social proof with guarded investors such as Venture Capital investors. LinkedIn Premium is totally worth for unlocking certain features.
•Facebook for meaningful relationships after you have been able to meet with an investor once or twice. It is critical to building a relationship to generate trust.
•Twitter for thoughtful conversations and engagement with relevant information shared by the investor
Ways To Fund Your Business try Attending Events
Success in business and fundraising is all about visibility, getting noticed by the right investors, who you know, and who knows you. Attending events is a great way to achieve this. Try to find out who is attending the event ahead of time and schedule meetings to be productive.
This can be pitch nights for presenting your own opportunity
and meeting active investors who are there, engaging in coding marathons, or
simply getting out to organized networking functions and industry trade shows.
If you are operating an early-stage company, you may want to consider attending any of the following events:
•WebSummit
•Money2020
•TechCrunch Disrupt
•SXSW
•Collision
To get ahead of the competition and take a more passive route, consider attending other events where your investors are likely to be. Think sporting events, charity fundraisers, film festival and yacht shows.
Our experience has shown that a properly coordinated outreach program can attract venture capital and increase awareness. At OTC PR Group we’re experts in investor relations and figuring out what message you want to convey, who you want it to reach, and then executing a successful program to effectively relay that information.
There’s more than one way to find investors, raise capital and to get on the radar of those with the capital and knowledge you need to grow your budding enterprise.
It’s hard to believe, but finding investors is not the hard part in fact, through the process of trying to raise capital, an entrepreneur might have opportunities to talk to many investors, depending on their business model and unique idea.
However, just as it takes a great idea and presentation to find success, it also requires a motivated investor. An investor who works in the same field as your company, one who is able to provide assistance and knowledge throughout the development of the company and most of all, an investor who can come to a reasonable financial agreement that suits all parties involved.
Even the best funded and successful million dollar start-ups have been engaging in more fund-raising rounds than ever before.
No matter how good your product or business concept is, you will still need to find investors to gain the necessary financial leverage to grow your business.
Thankfully, for today’s entrepreneurs, we have seen increasing new ways start-ups are getting noticed, found and connected with potential investors.
1) Raise Capital with Blogging
Blogging to find investors is one of the most underestimated methods of raising capital. Blogging about your business, progressing potential investors through the learning process of wanting to invest in you, and remaining on their radar through each series of fund-raising.
Creating a basic corporate website using the many WordPress themes as a website builder, along with good SEO practices, can launch your business idea into the laps of many quality investors.
Even without a corporate website or blog of your own yet, you can publish via LinkedIn.
Moreover, another good option is to go to the blogs of the investors that you are looking to target. They all read their comments and often engage with responses. Leave a thoughtful comment to get noticed and start building the relationship from there.
A simple search in Google can provide many well funded individuals who are looking for new ideas to place their money.
Investors that are probably the most active right now on blogs include:
•Bill Gurley
•Fred Destin
•Brad Feld
•Matt Turck
•Seth Levine
•Jalak Jobanputra
•Tomas Tunguz
2) Raise Capital with Email
Simple emails have proven to be able to get the attention of notable angel investors and VCs. They have been responsible for the launch of some very important and notable start-ups.
Building or acquiring lists of Angel/VC investors can be done with a basic search on the internet. Or working with an experienced OTC PR Firmyou can tap extensive databases and networks without the need of building your own.
3) Raise Capital & Apply to Accelerators
Accelerators offer entrepreneurs good opportunities early on. Founders get help to quickly grow their business and they often better their chances of attracting a top venture capital (VC) firm to invest in their startup at a later point. Still, the programs are different frameworks for startup success.
Popular start up accelerator programs always have an open invitation for applications from serious entrepreneurs. If accepted, you’ll likely get a modest amount of funding to keep developing your work, as well as introductions to other investors, business advice and help in staging future fund-raising rounds.
Typically Accelerator programs include a demo day. This is when the start-ups attending the program pitch to a crowd of investors.
Startup accelerators and incubators can get involved at all stages of a startup’s development, from idea stage to revenue-generating, late stage.
Startups are usually admitted in batches, with many incubators and accelerators offering 1-3 batches per year. Some focus on a specific industry, market, technology, stage, or other thesis, whereas others are more generalists.
Accelerators and incubators have been very successful in helping startups attain success, being admitted to a startup accelerator or incubator is not a guarantee for success to a startup founder, and not a guarantee of a sound investment for a startup investment.
I would highly recommend to do extensive research to verify the type of success stories and the track record from such programs. You may be better off using that equity that you intended to allocate to the Accelerator to create instead a very active board of advisers and incentivize them to help with making investor introductions.
Fund-raising and growth needs to be strategic to be successful. Yet, far too many entrepreneurs and start-ups aren’t focusing enough on just getting their product or service out there in the hands of customers, influencers, and in turn, in front of investors.
If you can acquire real customers, you will be under less pressure to seek outside money. When you do, you can achieve better terms, from better investors.
At OTC PR Groupwe use our publishing sites and knowledge of the markets and industry to provide our clients with a better understanding on how to approach their marketing decisions. Your goals are our goals, which is why OTC PR engages in a true partnership with our clients. OTC PR has worked with a diverse group of talented and respected professionals whom have joined forces with us in order to create a cost effective advertising network dedicated to publicly traded Companies.
OTC PR Groupfounders utilize over 30 years of experience in managing awareness campaigns. We understand that increasing brand and investor recognition, as well as broker awareness through network marketing, can be an extremely daunting task.
OTC PR Group excels in providing you with the proper network media outlets because of the screening process we put list network owners through. This allows us to avoid the mistakes many people make and be sure that your news and story sends the right message to the right people at the right time.
At OTC PR Group using the tools provided in the Google Search Console offers many valuable insights into your site’s performance. Optimize your Website for the right keyphrases to fix: low rankings and low click-throughs. For example: how often a page is shown, or how often people clicked on your website in Google’s search results. But, once you have a list of posts that could do better, how to decide on the next step? What’s the best strategy to improve your SEO based on Search Console data? Should you improve low ranking posts first, or low CTR posts?
Google Search Console offers a wealth of information for Optimizing for the right keyphrases for site owners. For instance, you can find out which pages don’t rank well or get few clicks.
We’re obsessed about #speed! Faster websites are better for users, and better for search engines. That’s why we spend a lot of time working out how to make our own site faster. It’s also why we stay on top of the latest trends in browser technology and performance techniques. Website design tips.
That’s all well and good, but while speeding up our own site, we kept hitting a bottleneck — no matter how many things we tweaked, our CSS was slowing us down.
So we thought about ways in which WordPress might handle CSS differently, and better, and we’ve come up with a new, faster approach. If you want to squeeze every last drop of performance out of your site, this might be just the thing for you!
That first step? Optimizing for the right keyphrases, of course! The keyphrases you aim to rank for should contain the words your customers use. Imagine yourself selling dresses for gala events. In your marketing, you refer to these dresses as [gala dresses]. However, Google Trends shows people do not search for [gala dress]. They search for [gown]! You won’t get much traffic if you optimize for [gala dress]. So, make sure you target the right keyphrases.
Investors play a major and vital role in the success and growth of a company. Because of that fact, it is important for companies to maintain strong, transparent relationships with investors.
Why is investor relations so important?
Investors are essential to a company. It is important for businesses to communicate effectively and honestly with investors. Depending on the size and scale of a business, as well as on the number of investors the business has, an effective IR department keeps the lines of communication and information open between investors and the company.
We help companies market and position their corporate messages to the investment community. We raise awareness levels regarding your company in the minds of existing investors and prospective investors. We foster understanding and a sense of partnership between you and your investors so that they stick with you when times get tough.
At OTC PR Group we develop and extend the base of investor relationships, establishing and maintaining direct relationships between you and key institutional and retail shareholders, sell-side analysts, brokers, market makers and specialists. We work with you to achieve the appropriate investor mix.
A companies ability to attract and retain new investors is based on its ability to expose prospective and existing investors to positive messages about their company. Your base communications plan will indirectly expose investors to your key messages, but a well-crafted, targeted investor relations communications program can transform passive awareness into active investor interest, investment, and support.
We will become your “total” Public Relations firm. As a result of our extensive experience with particular client’s needs, we’ve developed programs that meet your specific goals.
Why is investor relations so important? Many growth companies have great potential but no real retail buying. We have powerful systems of investor participation throughout the world targeting not only investors… we also market to stockbrokers as well by using all the latest digital and social marketing venues available.
SEO is important for public companies for many reasons and in today’s competitive market, SEO marketing is more important than ever.
Search engines serve millions of users per day looking for answers to their questions or solutions to their problems. A properly executed SEO investor relation optimization program can help public companies develop and maintain market value. Without a doubt SEO is important for public companies!
Search engine optimization is essential because:
The majority of search engines users are more likely to click on one of the top 5 suggestions in the results pages (SERPS), so to take advantage of this and attract potential investors, analysts and journalists to your web site you need to be in the top positions.
SEO is not only about search engines but good SEO practices improve the user experience and usability of a web site.
Users trust search engines and having a presence in the top positions for the keywords the user is searching, increases the web site’s trust.
SEO is important for public companies because it is good for the social promotion of your web site. People who find your web site by searching Google or Yahoo are more likely to promote it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or other social media channels.
SEO is important for public companies because the smooth running of a big web site. Web sites with more than one author can benefit from SEO in a direct and indirect way. Their direct benefit is increase in search engine traffic and their indirect benefit is having a common framework (checklists) to use before publishing content on the site.
SEO can put you ahead of the competition. If two web sites are selling the same thing, the search engine optimized web site is more likely to have more customers and make more sales and investor exposure.
Everyone has their own opinion on what makes a “Great Investor Relations Website”, keeping up with regulations and disclosure is always top of the list. But without good SEO practices you will not be able to attract new clients and potential investors. SEO is a must for every web property.
To sum it up, Search engine optimization or SEO is a way to optimize your website so that search engines will understand it better and give you higher rankings. It’s not just the general public that locates you on the web to keep in mind; you must consider potential investors, current shareholders, analysts and journalists. This is where working with an experienced IR firm can make this difficult job much easier.
At OTC PR Group we provide a full suite of investor relation’s services utilizing the latest web and SEO solutions coupled with relationship building processes to develop and maintain interest from your shareholder base. We work to build shareholder value by engaging with key-stakeholders and effectively following up and communicating your message, investment potential and corporate vision.
Working closely with our clients and professional network partners in conjunction with our newsletter publishing sites we can create and implement marketing and advertising programs that deliver high impact exposure campaigns.
When trying to get exposure and gain investor attention it’s crucial that you maintain your web presence. Site Speed Influences SEO. Performing Site speed SEO optimization practices is more important than ever!
Site Speed Influences SEO and Google has said time and again that a fast website helps you rank better. Recently, Google launched the ‘Speed Update’ making site speed a ranking factor for mobile searches. Google stressed it would only affect the slowest sites and that fast sites getting faster won’t get a boost, but they are surely looking at site speed across the internet.
For now the slowest sites take the hit, but what about the future?
New articles are published almost daily, telling us that optimizing for speed is one of the most important things you can do right now. And they’re right, of course! Site speed influences SEO in many ways. Here’s a small overview of how site speed and SEO go together.
If you don’t put in a lot of effort to make sure that your site works well there will be a significant drop-off and a lot fewer people will visit your site. It’s important to have great structure that includes fabulous targeted and relevant content. You need the first experience your potential visitor/investor/consumer has with your site to be flawless. They need to load your site first before they can access company content. If it takes ages to load, A much faster competitor is just a single click away. Site Speed Influences SEO and not investing in a fast site is almost like you don’t care about your corporate image. No reason for them to stay, right?
On mobile, site speed is even more of an issue. According to research by Google, the average mobile site takes over fifteen seconds to load while people expect them to load in less than three seconds before they consider leaving altogether. Every second counts, as conversions drop sharply with every second longer, your site takes to load.
OTC PR Group founders utilize over 30 years of experience in managing awareness campaigns. We understand that SEO optimization, increasing investor recognition, as well as broker awareness through network advertising, can be an extremely daunting task. Having a properly coordinated marketing plan can provide a positive impact and accelerate trading activity, brand and investor awareness.
We use our knowledge of the markets and industry to provide our clients with a better understanding on how to approach their marketing decisions. Your goals are our goals, which is why OTC PR engages in a true partnership with our clients. OTC PR has worked with a diverse group of talented and respected professionals whom have joined forces with us in order to create a cost effective advertising network dedicated to publicly traded Companies.
You’re cheating yourself if you’re not spending some effort on internal linking, this is one of the most important ways to optimize your pages!
If you have interesting content, your visitor wants to read it and you should help them get there. Also, internal links make for a better site structure, which we know improves crawlability. A win-win situation!
Internal linking is one of the most important ways to optimize your pages. Internal links contribute to a better site structure, easier crawling, and indexing of your pages, and might increase your time-on-site in Google Analytics. It’s a way to point Google to your main pages about a topic.
SEO is a marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. SEO encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines. There are many aspects to SEO, from the words on your page to the way other sites Link to you on the web. Sometimes SEO is simply a matter of making sure your site is structured in a way that search engines understand.
OTC PR Group not only knows exactly how to use SEO to enhance an investor relations platform, we’re constantly tracking the progression and adapting our strategies to our clients’ advantage.
Internal linking is one of the many ways to optimize your pages. We use extensive arrays of SEO solutions to make sure our clients are rapidly, accurately and powerfully presented to the public and company shareholders.
OTC PR Group is an investor relations firm specializing in comprehensive programs for micro-cap, small-cap and mid-cap public companiesincrease stock visibility in a range of industries. We combine knowledge of capital markets communications, and an unparalleled reputation for integrity and client service with evolving industry best practices to design and execute investor relations programs that help deliver long-term shareholder value. Read more.
When evaluating different IR firms, ask yourself, Does the IR firm have all the skill sets I need? Does it have the experience and people to get the job done? Consider IR Firms that understand the Power of the Internet.
Investors are increasingly dependent on the Internet as a primary source of information about the financial markets and their investments. Good communication with your investors includes a well developed website that satisfies their information needs.
In 2015 Google announced a new update which included the performance of websites on mobile devices as a ranking factor.
In the SEO world this update is known as ‘Mobilegeddon’. The consequences of this update are rather simple: if your website isn’t deemed mobile friendly, it won’t rank well in mobile search results. 50-60% of searches are conducted on a mobile device. With that number rising every year, not ranking well in those search results means you’re not ranking well for the majority of investors searching for ideas.
An investment profile that is mobile friendly is one of the most important facets of your company’s investor relations program. It is your company’s face to investors. For many emerging companies, the investment profile created by the IR firm is the only profile on the company available to investors.
Check whether or not your site is mobile-friendly using these simple tools.
If your website isn’t shown in the mobile results, People who searched for one of your keywords on their mobile devices won’t be able to click on your site. Your total CTR will therefore decrease. Also: if 50% of searches happen on mobile devices, it’s a major discovery method. People can only share URLs or link to them when they’ve actually found your site. This ties back to rankings, so this will impact desktop search quite heavily in the long run.
And when you get the message that your page is not mobile-friendly, they’ll obviously also tell you why not. If your website is not mobile-friendly according to this test, you really have to evaluate your IR Firms credentials.
At OTC PR Group we can provide a regularly updated mobile friendly website with information about your company that will significantly expand the reach of your story. The websites of effective IR firms attract the attention and help gain the confidence of investors, analysts, fund managers, brokers, market makers and others. Make sure the company you choose has a website strategy that will work for you.
We all know that stocks are sometimes undervalued or for the fortunate sometimes overvalued.
In most cases this can be due to general market conditions, such as a trending industry sector. If you are lucky enough to be in an industry that is in the news the positive side can be enormous.
Nothing motivates investors to buy a stock more than a rising share price. Such situations can become self-fulfilling prophecies when a rising stock price attracts more investors, who are willing to pay more for the stock. Momentum traders buy stocks simply on the assumption that once an uptrend starts, it is likely to continue.
Most CEOs or CFOs ever admit their share price is too high — at least not to the public. This obsession with seeing your company shares as “cheap” can lead to some unfortunate corporate actions.
Given all the time corporate executives spend generating investor interest in their stock, it would be very hard for them to ever see, much less say, their stock is overvalued.
First and foremost is the desire to buy back shares at the peak of the market. In the peak stock market year of 2007, many members of the S&P 500 index bought back billions worth of their own stock, which was much more stock than they repurchased in 2009 when the S&P 500 index hit their lows.
The problem of course is that investors used the same approach, however, undervalued most stocks were during the credit crisis of 2009. The problem is often recognizing this at the time. Overvaluation or undervaluation can also be applied to an industry or individual company that is running hot or cold.
It’s troubling that even when the overall market is hot, most senior executives tend to believe their own stock is undervalued. This mindset is often reinforced by investment bankers who won’t even use the term “overvalued,” preferring instead to refer to companies using terms such as “fully valued.”
If you are fortunate enough to have a share price that is overvalued now is the time to “strike the match” following these four actions can increase shareholder value when the share price is high.
Issue Shares. This might be a good time to reduce leverage below the long-term target to build in a cushion to soften the next downturn. This can also help build the financing capacity needed to make opportunistic acquisitions when stocks again become undervalued in bad times. As a general rule, it is better to have more leverage during an up-cycle to increase the share-price appreciation and to have less leverage during a downturn to dampen the decline.
But be careful, since investors may react negatively in the short term, it’s crucial that management have a disciplined process of making only investments that truly create value.
Issue Convertible Debt. For managements concerns that they cannot convince investors of the merits of stock issuance, issuing convertible debt is a good way to at least take some advantage of an unusually high share price.
When stock prices are at cyclical peaks, they are less likely to rise in the coming years and so convertible debt is less likely to convert — making this a attractive form of financing when stock prices are high.
Use Your Stock to Make Acquisitions. Cash acquisitions usually don’t create value at the top of the stock market cycle. In many cases exchanging your companies overvalued stock for the stock of the acquired company mitigates the risk of overpaying.
This strategy can lead a company that believes they are particularly overvalued to actually seek acquisitions to take advantage of the high-valued currency their shares represent.
Avoid Buybacks. Companies that buy back stock when the price is high earn much lower returns on their buybacks than those that buy when the price is low. Refraining from share repurchases should go without saying. But it’s worth repeating that most companies should avoid the temptation to buy back stock when the market is high.
Always assess your valuation and maintain objectivity. If the company appears overvalued or undervalued, make sure to take strategic actions. At OTC PR Group we can help you capitalize on any given condition and help increase shareholder value.
If you think about the ways people find your company it will become very clear that blogging can provide a effective strategy to increase traffic and investor awareness. Learn How to Build a Social Media Marketing Blog for Investors.
Learn How to Build a Social Media Marketing Blog for Investors.
Are you using your blog for business?
Wondering how to combine blog posts with social media content to increase shareholder awareness?
In this article, you’ll discover how to use blog posts to create social media content at every stage of your marketing funnel.
#1: Define Your Marketing Goal
At OTC PR Group we know that creating a social media marketing funnel is directly tied to your marketing goals. To begin, think of one marketing goal you want to accomplish. Beginning with a single short-term goal is much easier than tackling long-term goals. Also, choose a realistic, measurable goal so you can identify whether you’ve reached it.
Here are a few examples of goals that would make a great starting point for a social media marketing funnel:
If you’re launching a new business or acquisition, aim for a specific number of blog posts describing new business and the positive aspects of that sector.
If you’re reaching out to new investors, focus on making a certain number of press or company updates for your first quarter of business.
If you want to grow your email subscriber list, concentrate on increasing your rate of new subscribers from 8% per week to 10% per week.
#2: Publish Six Blog Posts to Create a Funnel to Support the Stake Holder Journey
After you identify your goal, you want to ensure you publish content that leads people toward that goal. To do that effectively, your content must cater to people at different stages in the funnel. For each stage, write two blog posts that support your goal at each stage: awareness, trust, and conversion.
Stage 1: Blog Posts That Create Awareness
To create awareness, think about blog posts that would attract new people to your brand and demonstrate what you can offer. Also, if your blog posts give people a quick-fix solution to a problem, you’ll earn enough trust for them to hang around and learn more.
In this first stage of the exposure process, these types of blog posts work well:
Top resources post: Share your best resources with your audience.
Product and guides: Share about and rank products and/or services that suit a specific purpose.
How-to posts: Present a problem and demonstrate a solution (or many solutions) to that problem.
Question-and-answer posts: Write a post in Q&A format to answer your readers’ burning questions about a product.
Stage 2: Your Prospect Wants to Know, Like, and Trust You
At this stage, the word “want” is important. Marketers often assume that loyalty is hard-won. However, when you help people, they naturally want to like and trust you. Your prospect becomes eager to learn more and figure out if you can help. The higher the price tag, the more content you’ll need at this stage.
Here are five blog post types that work well for building trust, like-ability, and loyalty:
Customer case studies: Share a customer’s experience to show readers how your business helped that customer.
Expert interviews: You might ask an expert to give insight into an issue that’s relevant to your readers.
Inspirational and motivational stories: Tell a personal story to motivate and inspire your readers.
Opinion pieces: Persuade readers to consider an alternative point of view by challenging conventional wisdom on an issue.
Research breakdown: Analyze the takeaways from several current surveys or studies about a trend in your industry. Or summarize an industry report to help your readers understand how the information may affect them.
Stage 3: Your Prospects Are Warm and Ready to Take the Relationship Further
Conversion doesn’t necessarily mean asking for the sale. To illustrate, you might ask the reader to subscribe to your email newsletter so you can nurture the sale via email. However, it’s a myth that blog posts should never contain sales information.
When you’re in business, you’re supposed to ask for the sale. It’s absolutely okay and necessary for you to tell your potential customers how you can help them and why they should buy from you. Focus on attracting and nurturing relationships 80% of the time, but you can focus on conversions with the other 20%.
Here are three types of blog posts that work well for conversions:
Call the reader to action: Run a challenge that motivates your readers to take action. You can organize a formal challenge where readers must sign up to participate or an informal challenge designed to foster a sense of community.
Invite the reader to enter a competition/giveaway: Promote a product or service by enticing readers to enter a competition by writing no more than 25 words about a given topic.
Launch a new product or service: Write a blog post announcing a new product and explain how the product helps your customers.
#3: Re-purpose Published Blog Posts to Create Social Media Marketing Collateral
Because you’ve started with blog posts, you can easily re-purpose the content in other formats for use on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other channels.
From content in each example blog post, you can create social media content chunks such as the following:
Why I dropped everything to found a tech startup: Behind-the-scenes video, inspirational quote graphics
Create your content calendar in 7 days – Join the challenge: Lead generation ad with downloadable document, live video Q&A for each day of the challenge, Facebook group for challenge participants
Small beginnings: Our content tech experiment has begun: Conversion ad with a call to action to purchase, recorded video that demonstrates the product, infographic that shows the product’s value
Creating the Right Amount of Content for Your Prospects
Depending on your product, prospects may take their time to make a purchase, especially if what you’re selling is at a higher price point. In that case, it helps to allow a longer lead time in your marketing campaigns. Your audience’s tolerance for information frequency will determine your lead time.
Conclusion
When you build a social media marketing funnel that supports a goal, you create more targeted and relevant content on both your blog and social media. Also, you can easily re-purpose your blog posts for your social media marketing.
Remember to create content for each stage of the shareholder journey and adjust how much content you post based on your knowledge of your product and audience.
This demonstrates the scalability of business blogging. While you might not see immediate results, over time, you’ll be able to count on a predictable amount of traffic and leads for your business without any additional resource investment — the work to generate that traffic and those leads is already done. There are other reasons businesses might want to blog, they also become great outlets through with marketers can communicate other PR-type important information — things like product releases or event information and press releases. It’s certainly easier to get attention for more company-focused initiatives if you’ve built up your own audience on your own WEBSITE, as opposed to pitching your story to journalists and hoping one of them bites. These are all great side effects or uses of a business blog that must be implemented to ensure an effective marketing and shareholder outreach campaign.
OTC PR Group is a complete financial public relations firm. Our unique and persistent market exposure techniques have consistently motivated the investor/brokerage community to take action on our clients’ stock offerings.
We Deliver Your Message
We will become your “total” Public Relations firm. As a result of our extensive experience with particular client’s needs, we’ve developed programs that meet your specific goals.
Our program affords you the greatest coverage in developing stock support and higher market capitalization utilizing the largest and most popular database providers in the industry who can take positions in your company stock.
These services have proven to help create and maintain strong relationships with a corporation’s investor base, resulting in strong valuations in the marketplace and the establishment of leadership positions for our clients.
Let us help bring your company to the forefront of the investment community.
For more information on our services contact us today at 561-807-6350
According to Econsultancy, “88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience” and this explains why brands invest big in UX design. Once you frustrate a user, they’re probably gone for life – and that’s a lead you’ll never get back again. This really hurts your profit margins when you’ve worked so hard to get each of these visitors to your site.
Good web design helps investor exposure.
Which mistakes annoy users the most?
Web designers and developers have come up with thousands of ways to annoy users over the years, but here are some frustrations that really stand out, even today:
Slow loading times:Almost half of users leave a site that doesn’t load within two seconds. Poor navigation: If users can’t find their way around your site, you’ve already lost them. Shoddy mobile experience: Despite all the talk about mobile optimisation, too many sites fail to deliver for users on the go. Annoying popups: There’s a reason ad blocking has become such a thing – take the hint. Complex forms: People don’t like giving away personal information and they certainly don’t like filling out forms more than once because of an error. Checkout problems: Making it difficult for people to hand over their hard-earned cash is never a good idea.
What is UX and how can it help my business?
UX design is one of those topics you can’t ignore as a marketer because it has deep roots in everything you do for an online brand. It’s something you and everyone in your team must understand, even if you’re not experts in the field. So what exactly is UX and why is it important to every business?
This is the question we’ll be answering today so there’s no more confusion about the role of UX design in marketing.
What is UX design?
At its most basic, UX design simply stands for user experience design, but what do we really mean when we say ‘user experience’?
When a user lands on a website or opens an app, they’re locked into that platform for a certain period of time. Everything that happens during this session builds a mental experience in that user’s mind about the platform and the brand it represents.
The role of UX design is to ensure this experience is a positive one.
What makes a good user experience?
The answer to this question depends on the kind of platform you intend to design/market and the users it’s targeting. The concept of a ‘good’ user experience can vary from one person to another – and this is why it’s so important to test and tweak your designs over time.
That said, there are a number of key factors in creating a user experience that maximises your marketing efforts:
Information architecture and navigation
Information architecture is the structural design of information – pages, content, labels, etc. – and navigation is the pathway that connects them all. Mastering these two principles is vital to getting your brand story across and creating sales funnels for users to, you know, navigate.
Speed and performance
In most cases, website performance refers to the speed of a website – how long pages and content take to load. However, performance should also consider mobile optimisation, bugs and other quirks that might get in the way of people using a site/platform.
UI design
User interface (UI) design is the visual and functional design of elements people use to interact with a website or application. This includes buttons, icons, navigational elements, advanced search options and anything else users click or touch. The trick is these things need to visually communicate what they do so users quickly understand what they can do and how.
Getting the job done
You could argue this is the most important element of UX design. In most cases, users land on your website looking to do something, to achieve some kind of tasks. The same goes for mobile apps, chatbots and any other platform you design. They have to be useful, intuitive and get the job done in the most efficient way possible.
Another element of user experience that often gets forgotten these days is the enjoyment factor. If users love using your site, app or whatever else, they’re going to be a lot more forgiving about the occasional UX gripe. So don’t forget the human element and strive to create something people actually enjoy using.
Why is UX important to every business?
UX design has become one of the most important aspects of modern marketing. Take a look at the leading brands in any industry and you’ll see how much time and money they invest in creating and maintaining a user experience that keeps people involved with their brand and coming back for more.
Generally speaking, the goals of UX design are as follows:
Make a positive first impression with users Create a pleasing experience that people associate with your brand Reduce the percentage of users who leave before completing an action Increase the percentage of users who come back to your website/platform Encourage users to come back to your site in the future
UX design’s role in marketing is growing, though. Google now considers user experience factors in its search algorithm (e.g: mobile optimisation) but even its core metrics are influenced by UX design. The number of pages people visit, the time they spend on them, the moment they choose to leave and various other factors are a reflection of the user experience you create.
That gives you an idea of some of the things users hate the most but there’s more to UX design than suppressing internet rage. Creating a profitable user experience means analysing every detail of your brand – down to the colours of your CTA buttons and your choice of fonts – to understand what generates the most conversions.
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of UX design in modern marketing. In fact, with the rise of chatbots, personal assistants and the latest wave of web technologies, UX design is fast becoming the new web design. It’s something that incorporates every interaction between users and brands, from the moment they see you in search until they confirm their payment – on your website, in-store or via a third-party platform.
Good web design helps investor exposure, if your website isn’t performing as well as it should be, we would highly recommend a UX review before investing any further budget in your current site. A UX review will reveal under-performing areas and provide you with a list of recommendations that will have the biggest impact on your site. This removes any guess work and means your budget will be spent in the right areas.
OTC PR Group specializes in creating modern and esthetically pleasing-attention grabbing websites that cater to potential investors along with your existing clientele. While many company website’s today are outdated; we understand the importance of design and provide our business partners with the most modern website designs.
When we talk about advertising on Google AdWords we tend to focus on selling products or services. Increase Stock Awareness with Google AdWords.
Selling products isn’t the only reason to advertise on AdWords.
There are times where your goal is to increase brand awareness and find new shareholders at an earlier stage of the research process. So today we’ve got some tips on how to do this effectively in AdWords.
Start with the Display Network to Increase Stock Awareness with Google AdWords
The most obvious place to start with your brand awareness campaigns is the Display Network. Google has refined its targeting options over the years, which means you can narrow down your target audience with a combination of settings:
Keyword targeting: Target pages on relevant websites containing your chosen keywords.
Topic targeting: Target websites based on the topic of their content.
Placement targeting: Target specific websites, known to be of interest to your target audience.
Affinity audiences: Target users who have shown an interest in certain topics or products.
In-market audiences: Target customers who are actively searching for products or services related to your brand.
Location and language targeting: Target languages and specific countries, regions or cities.
Device targeting: Choose which device types you want users to see your display ads.
Demographic targeting: Target users based on gender and age.
That list gives you a lot of control over who sees your display ads – so you can really hone in on the kind of people you want to introduce your brand to. You can also combine a number of those targeting options, depending on how narrow/specific you want your reach to be.
Use the Search Network to build brand awareness
Google’s Search Network may not be the most obvious place to build brand awareness, but text ads can be one of the fastest ways to reach a wider audience. The first thing you need to do is to create a new list of keywords – search terms that will give you an opportunity to reach your target audience, even if there’s minimal buying intent.
Most of these will probably be long-tail keywords, but they’re the kind of queries that should already be inspiring your blog content anyway. However, for these campaigns, you’ll want to step up the content efforts even more and create something noticeably better than everything else that appears on page one for each keyword. Create eBooks, video reviews, detailed guides and put the time into creating headlines that really grab attention.
Next, you’ll promote these pieces of content with AdWords text ads. The great thing about this approach is your content will jump right to the top of page one and, assuming your content is good enough, people won’t hesitate to click for a moment.
Now for the magic part. Before your ads go live, set up AdWords remarketing on each landing page so you can continue to target them even after they’ve finished with your content.
This approach is doing three things. First, it introduces your brand to a wider audience and then it provides them with content that actually has something to offer. Second, remarketing means they see your ad as they continue to use the web, reminding them about your brand for a set period of time.
Just remember to use frequency capping and end date for remarketing to stop people getting fed up with seeing the same adverts.
So there you have it – AdWords isn’t just for promoting product and services pages. You can use both the display and search networks to build brand awareness and find new shareholders at an earlier stage of the buying process.
We Deliver Your Message
We will become your “total” Public Relations firm with strategic Network Advertising. As a result of our extensive experience with particular client’s needs, we’ve developed programs that meet your specific goals.
Many growth companies have great potential but no real retail buying. We have powerful systems of investor participation throughout the world targeting not only investors… we also market to stockbrokers as well by using all the latest digital and social marketing venues available.
Working closely with our clients and professional network partners in conjunction with our newsletter publishing sites we can create and implement marketing and advertising programs that deliver high impact exposure campaigns.
We use our publishing sites and knowledge of the markets and industry to provide our clients with a better understanding on how to approach their marketing decisions. Your goals are our goals, which is why OTC PR engages in a true partnership with our clients. OTC PR has worked with a diverse group of talented and respected professionals whom have joined forces with us in order to create a cost effective advertising network dedicated to publicly traded Companies
Change always comes fast in the Social Media Arena, all the tech giants are making big things happen as we move into the next stage of marketing and Business Facebook marketing has been particularly active.
Business Facebook marketing
Not only did Facebook establish itself as pretty much the only genuine rival to Google’s online dominance but it has also been rapidly cornering the social commerce arena.
Facebook has established itself as the only genuine rival to Google’s online dominance and it’s rapidly cornering the social commerce arena.
The network’s latest innovations will be where just about every business type can turn Facebook into a valuable marketing tool – one that can even converts leads from inside the app.
Business Facebook marketing looks very different compared to earlier years – at OTCPRGroup we understand the importance of utilizing all the Social Media Marketing that this medium has to offer ! so let’s take a preview at what’s ahead.
Facebook page conversions The days of Facebook business pages being static profiles are way behind us. Users can now reach out to you directly via Messenger bots, click to buy products and complete a range of other conversion types – all from your business page. People can book appointments, request quotes, book tickets and order takeaway directly from Facebook pages. So consider 2017 the year where Facebook becomes a genuine social commerce tool, where users go to find brands and buy on the spot.
Facebook Live The other big Facebook headline this year (from all the way back in April) was Facebook Live. Now anyone on the network can post live videos of themselves or anything around them – and the race is on for brands to dominate Facebook Live first. This medium can be a great way for CEO’s to better communicate their message and news directly to stakeholders.
Messenger chatbots The biggest news for Facebook advertisers this year is the release of Messenger Platform. Sign up and you can build your own chatbot in a matter of minutes (or longer if you want more functionality).
A lot has been said about chatbots this year and Facebook is among the biggest players in the technology right now. Finally, we have a mobile shopping experience that makes buying products easier on the go – even down to making payments without leaving the Messenger app. Chatbots are the first platform to give us that one-on-one connection with shoppers, providing you with a channel to target consumers with 100% personalised marketing messages – something we’ve been talking about for years.It’s still a new concept for marketers to work with and there have been some early teething problems. BuzzFeed’s ‘live interview’ with Barack Obama comes to mind, where the feed cut out before the president even sat down. However, we’ve also seen a number of success stories this year from brands and publishers of all size who are using Facebook Live to expand their reach and engage with viewers.
Facebook Marketplace Facebook is looking to create a unique shopping experience on the network with the introduction of Facebook Marketplace. This is where Facebook’s 1.7+ billion users can buy and sell products. The focus is on users finding items in their local area – a kind of digital version of local classified listings.
Of course, you can buy products from anywhere you like – as long as it’s in the UK, US, Australia or Canada. At least for now anyway, but Facebook promises to add more countries in the near future. What we’re really interested in, though, is what Facebook has planned for local retailers and advertising on Marketplace in the future. So stay tuned for news on these two crucial points.
Facebook Workplace Another new venture for Facebook comes in the shape of Workplace, an enterprise platform that hopes to replace email and make the working day easier for all of us. It’s pretty much Facebook for the workplace with a few extra features chucked in to make communication/collaboration easier.
If you’ve ever used corporate messaging tools like Slack, you’ll know what Facebook is trying to do with Workplace – basically integrate the same concept into its social network.
What’s more important from a marketing perspective is that this is Facebook’s first venture into enterprise software. This puts one foot in the same pool as LinkedIn and Microsoft (who just bought LinkedIn). Plus, Facebook has just announced that companies will soon be able to post job listings on the network. Watch your back, LinkedIn!
This all comes down to Facebook wanting its share of corporate data – something it lacks in comparison to Google, Microsoft and other big rivals. Workplace will aim to fix this, making Facebook more competitive across a wider range of ad channels and bring additional B2B clout to Facebook advertising.
Recommendations from friends Having your target audience’s friends recommend your business to them is the gold standard of marketing leads – and Facebook wants to make more of this. Soon users will be able to ask their friends for recommendations within a matter of clicks and get advice from their trusty pals.
The idea is their friends will recommend local restaurants, services, events and other businesses in the nearby area. So all those good impressions you make on people can turn into new leads as soon as their friends or family are in need of something similar.
Facebook marketing in 2017 will see the tech giant offer new opportunities to retailers and B2B companies as it expands its reach across the web.
OTC PR Group not only knows exactly how to use social media to enhance an investor relations platform, we’re constantly tracking the progression and adapting our strategies to our clients’ advantage.
OTC PR Group provides a full suite of investor relation services utilizing modern technologies coupled with long lasting relationships and relationship building processes to develop and maintain interest from your shareholder base. We work to build shareholder value by engaging with key-stakeholders and effectively following up and communicating your message, investment potential and corporate vision to Main Street, Wall Street and the media.
Let us help bring your company to the forefront of the investment community.
For more information on our services contact us today at 561-807-6350
At OTC PR Group small cap investor relation firm we know in order to survive and grow, small business owners must overcome the hurdle of garnering business exposure. You need to Increase Investor Exposure with Youtube! The days of simply going public and putting out press releases about your business is long gone. Now small business owners and entrepreneurs must make considerable efforts to promote and get more exposure.
When it comes to increasing your brand’s presence online, then search engines and social media is where your focus should be. Video are often the top search results and are up to 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of search results. Search engines love fresh and engaging content because it’s likely to be consumed, shared and liked and video often tops the content list due to its social and engaging nature.
In the past, written content was king. Today, you can attract stakeholder and customers who are more comfortable watching a quick video than reading through a long list of company press releases or a boring article. A well thought out video can also help you appeal to a broader demographic and extend the reach of your marketing efforts, seeing as people can share your video content on social media and reach thousands of friends, contacts and followers in an instant.
Nothing beats a creative YouTube video to captivate an audience. The exposure any company can get on this site is extraordinary. A statistic from YouTube states that viewers watch hundreds of millions of hours of YouTube videos every day. Each minute, an estimated 300 hours of YouTube videos are uploaded.
There are more than 1 billion users on YouTube and the number of hours each month that viewers are watching videos has been steadily increasing by 50% year over year. YouTube provides the best opportunity for your business message to reach millions of people that all have the potential of becoming prospective customers.
Creating and posting a YouTube video is a powerful asset to any online marketing strategy. The mass appeal and widely recognizable format makes it the perfect ground for staging a product or service. Any business can benefit from YouTube’s video suggestions and shares. This benefit of using YouTube in video marketing efforts is undeniably successful in this regard alone.
YouTube videos are very easy to share online. This makes integrating them into any social media strategy plan just as simple. By distributing YouTube videos on other popular media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Reddit, your business exposure can instantly increase exponentially. Social media and video is the new SEO that’s why we incorporate it in our PR campaigns. Social media adds social proof to your video because if people are prepared to share it on their networks, it bolsters companies website confidence in your company and products.
OTC PR Group provides a full suite of investor relation services utilizing modern technologies coupled with long lasting relationships and relationship building processes to develop and maintain interest from your shareholder base. We work to build shareholder value by engaging with key-stakeholders and effectively following up and communicating your message, investment potential and corporate vision to Main Street, Wall Street and the media.
Let us help bring your company to the forefront of the investment community.
For more information on our services contact us today at 561-807-6350
Hosting an investor day can have a positive impact if you know the secrets to having a successful investor day —both during the event and in the weeks and months to follow. It can be a powerful way to raise management visibility and credibility, highlight the depth of your management team, and clarify your company’s growth strategy. Here are some tips to help you begin the process.
DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES
Why are you hosting the event at this particular time? What messages do you want to communicate? Who should deliver prepared remarks? There’s nothing that says an investor day must be held every year. In fact, they shouldn’t be held annually if there’s no new or exciting information to share. Companies should feel free to hold the event when the timing is right and the information is relevant. Make sure the event is relevant don’t want the information to get too stale for the investment community
For example, if your planning an investor day around a major announcement this can give you the opportunity to provide investors an additional incentive to attend the event. It also can make sense to include third-party speakers in addition to your management team, depending on the focus of your investor day. For example, a company that recently announced a new medical device might invite a physician to speak about its benefits.
PICKING LOCATION AND TIME
Many companies like to have their investor day at their headquarters because it gives them a chance to show off their facilities, equipment, and operations. It can be helpful to reach out to your sell-side analysts and key shareholders in advance for their opinions about the timing or location you are considering.
Companies can boost attendance, awareness, and participation by taking the event to a location that is more likely to draw attendance. Major cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or Miami can be big draws because they’re convenient and because they’re attractive destinations. One idea that can encourage attendance is to piggyback off of a big industry conference or trade show. If analysts will already be in town for the conference, they may be willing to stay one extra day for the investor event.
DEVELOP AN ONLINE PRESENCE
A company could really promote the event online by giving the event its own splash page or even its own mini-site. The site could contain the event’s agenda, speaker bios, and event check-in info. When the event is over, attendees could reference the site to listen to the audio or download slide decks and other relevant information, such as the event transcript. The microsite or splash page will work best if designed in conjunction with all of the other collateral for the event including the invitations, save-the-date emails, and presentations. A design company with experience marketing investor days can create a cohesive package that accurately reflects a company’s brand and captures the event’s theme.
USE TWITTER TO BUILD ATTENDANCE
Not every company is up to speed on the power of Twitter. However, it’s likely that many of the attendees use Twitter regularly. Live tweeting the event serves two purposes. First, it relays information to those who aren’t in attendance and builds buzz around the event. However, it also provides a documented transcript of the day’s happenings. If a company creates and pushes an event-specific hashtag, they can then monitor and review all tweets surrounding the event. Those tweets can provide critical information about how the day was received and what information should be communicated better going forward.
PREPARE AND REHEARSE
Rehearsing for the investor day is essential. It allows your speakers to practice their delivery as well as make sure they are successfully communicating the key messages you want the audience to take away from the presentations.
An investor day can be as fun and original as a company wants it to be. Far too many companies fall into a default program that isn’t compelling and provides too little helpful information. By thinking creatively and embracing non-traditional ideas, a company can makes its investor day a positive experience for both the business and the attending analysts and investors.
Properly executed investor relations can help companies develop and maintain market value. Working with our experienced team at OTC PR Group allows client companies to achieve solid and positive results from their IR initiatives. Additionally, we can help clients avoid the many challenges of developing and maximizing a strong investor base. Learn More:
Get our “FREE REPORT REVEALS… The 5 (Easy Secrets)
Tools we use TO SUCCESSFULLY USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR INVESTOR COMMUNICATIONS”
Social Media Improves Investor Communications. Social media usage also improves the company’s information environment. Companies may benefit from developing different approaches to disseminating positive versus negative earnings news.
Conventionally, when a company wants to publicize investor-related information such as an earnings announcement, it would do so by sending a press release to intermediaries such as newswire services, equity research databases, and brokerage firms. A company does not know if or when any of its existing or prospective investors received the information.
Social Media Improves Investor Communications
With social media platforms such as Twitter, a company can send one or more short messages directly to a known number of followers with a link to a press release on its corporate website. As such, a company can use Twitter to target its news dissemination, increase the speed and flexibility of the news dissemination, and reduce information acquisition costs for its investors and the traditional media outlets that follow it.
Twitter and Facebook are the two most frequently adopted social media platforms for corporations and is highest for customer-facing industries such as meals, retail, books and services and lowest for industrial sectors such as oil and steel.
Quarterly earnings-related tweets are the most prevalent type of investor-focused tweets, far outnumbering tweets related to executive turnover, dividends, board of directors, and even new products and customers. The number of firm-quarters with earnings announcements on Facebook is approximately half the number on Twitter, suggesting that the preference for Twitter is even stronger when it comes to earnings news.
Using Twitter, rather than other social media data is advantageous because earnings announcements have been shown to be of first-order importance to investors and the information content of earnings announcements can be controlled more effectively than the information content of other financial disclosures. Also, the precise time that earnings announcements are disseminated through Twitter can be identified.
There can be a significant increase in the mean volume, primarily due to an increase in large trades. Therefore, while social media is commonly viewed as a dissemination channel that provides timely access to information for all investors, the results suggest that larger investors react more quickly to earnings-related tweets.
Social Media Improves Investor Communications
Studies show that the usage of social media by corporations has grown dramatically over a relatively short period of time, from less than 5 percent of S&P 1500 companies in 2008 to more than 50 percent in 2013. This trend suggests that social media usage for communicating with investors has the potential to become an integral part of many companies’ disclosure policies. The findings show that even in the absence of the Securities and Commission’s approval of social media as a channel for investor communication, companies used it to disseminate a variety of information, including earnings news, board and executive changes, new contracts, and dividends.
Appropriate social media policy for investor communications differs from social media usage for other business purposes, such as marketing campaigns, in which companies often want to generate viral reactions to social media dissemination. At OTCPRGroup we incorporate the latest Social Media Solutions , Website design, SEO Optimization and video productions in order to maximize the investor communications. Companies that adopt social media disclosure policies benefit from developing different approaches to disseminating positive versus negative earnings news. Social media usage improves the company’s information environment and it improves investor communications.
Get our “FREE REPORT REVEALS… The 5 (Easy Secrets)
Tools we use TO SUCCESSFULLY USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR INVESTOR COMMUNICATIONS”
Call or email if you would like further information, we are here to help.
Douglas Baker, 561-807-6350- corp@otcprgroup.com
OTC PR Group is a complete financial public relations firm. Our unique and persistent market exposure techniques have consistently motivated the investor/brokerage community to take action on our clients’ stock offerings.
We Deliver Your Message
We will become your “total” Public Relations firm. As a result of our extensive experience with particular client’s needs, we’ve developed programs that meet your specific goals.
Our program affords you the greatest coverage in developing stock support and higher market capitalization utilizing the largest and most popular database providers in the industry who can take positions in your company stock.
These services have proven to help create and maintain strong relationships with a corporation’s investor base, resulting in strong valuations in the marketplace and the establishment of leadership positions for our clients.
WHAT WE DO
Investor Relations
We have more than 20 years of experience helping clients navigate a wide range of investor relation issues. Our approach to investor relations delivers action orientated results for our clients including new business contacts, ideas and exposure that can save time and money while delivering the right outcomes. Read more: https://otcprgroup.com/investor-relations/
Corporate Communications
We help company’s structure and communicate their message to Wall Street through a combination of old school practices and the latest media and marketing methods. Having extensive experience as past stock brokers in the early eighties, the principles of OTC PR Group are equipped to approach analysts, brokers and portfolio managers in the language they understand. – Read more: https://otcprgroup.com/otc-relations/
Social Media Solutions
OTC PR Group works in partnership with the leading Social Media Marketing professionals in the industry to develop custom social strategies to achieve the greatest return on investment. Whether you are just getting started or need better results from your campaign, our networks can help. Read more: https://otcprgroup.com/social-media-solutions/
Video Productions
The reason we encourage clients to incorporate video in investor relation campaigns is that it is simply the most powerful digital marketing tool available. It’s better for recall, it’s more persuasive and search engines love it. A professional interview can draw out plenty of information, which is why the interview format is so effective in relaying information to others. Read more: https://otcprgroup.com/video-productions/
OTC PR Group provides a full suite of investor relation services utilizing modern technologies coupled with long lasting relationships and relationship building processes to develop and maintain interest from your shareholder base. We work to build shareholder value by engaging with key-stakeholders and effectively following up and communicating your message, investment potential and corporate vision to Main Street, Wall Street and the media.Let us help bring your company to the forefront of the investment community.
For more information on our services contact us today at 561-807-6350
The pace at which your company develops – and even your ultimate success – can hinge on your availability of capital. Learn these basic rules of raising capital. Our experience has shown that a properly coordinated out reach program can attract attention and increase awareness.
There are over 100,000 publicly traded companies in the world. In the US, less than 4000 companies are actively traded in NYSE or Nasdaq. There are another 15000 stocks that are traded over the counter. The majority of them are thinly traded. When the time comes to make an investment, stockbrokers and investors alike are swamped with decisions, choices and alternatives. Your company is lost in the shuffle – just another needle in the haystack, unless brokers and investors are familiar with your company’s name and business. The only way to build that familiarity is to put your company’s name, story and pertinent information in front of targeted brokers as often as possible. A well-organized, professional Investor Relations Firms and Broker Network Programs can help build the familiarity your company needs in order to get its share of attention in today’s competitive markets and increase the liquidity in your company stock.
Angel investing in start-ups has been accelerating with many high-profile success stories that have spurred angel investors to make multiple bets with the hopes of getting outsized returns. Many angel investors may not be as wealthy as you think but they are financially savvy. Most are looking for a way to grow their money by promoting innovative new business.
In today’s business climate, there are literally hundreds of ways to fundraise.
Here are some basic rules to keep you on the right road to raising capital.
1. Establish clear, realistic goals. From day one, clearly state your objective. If you can’t explain your vision in concrete terms to potential investors, you can’t expect them to give you their money. Be realistic about what you are trying to accomplish. By laying out your plan in detail, you should be able to say with confidence what you can expect to accomplish. Investors deserve transparency and truth. Your partnership must be based on trust — and only credibility can breed it. Making a good impression with a solid pitch presentation is important, but it won’t guarantee funding. Credibility invokes confidence, which mitigates risk and opens wallets.
2. Have a solid team in place. Any startup is only as good as its people. A strong, efficient and success-driven team is absolutely necessary. Your team represents the company, its goals, its vision and credibility. Recruiting people with sound reputations for honesty and integrity helps attract investments. After all, you are your team.
3. Focus on the “real” market. Exhaustive, in-depth market research is the only way to map a blueprint for success. Many early stage businesses are too eager to get started and end up setting out in the wrong market. The best market for a new business is not always the biggest or the steadiest. You have to do your homework. There is no replacement for in-depth market research. You and your startup team should profile a variety of markets. That is the only way to determine which one is the best fit for your business. Market research can be tedious, but it is the bedrock of a solid business plan.
4. Get your name out there. The biggest irony in raising capital? You need some capital to do it. Investors won’t know every detail about your project, so you have to decide what essential information to deliver. Fortunately, the Internet is the best advertising medium invented, and it’s always open for new business. The web is without a doubt the most powerful place to advertise. Even better, it’s cheaper than broadcast TV, radio or print media. Social media can also be a real boon, as solid networking can help you connect directly with potential investors. That’s how you create the support network for your project.
5. Consider crowdfunding for validation. Crowdfunding is one of the best fundraising tools available for startups today. The concept is simple: You advertise your business idea in a number of difference dedicated platforms and users vote with their wallets. A crowdfunding pitch can also be a good litmus test. If you don’t attract investors (or interested customers), you should consider tweaking your pitch or your business model.
Raising capital can be a very time-consuming process and it will always take longer to raise angel financing than you expect. Not only do you have to find the right investors who are interested in your sector you have to go through meetings, due diligence, negotiations on terms, and more. There are a variety of ways to find angel investors, including through: • AngelList • Angel investor networks (groups that aggregate individual investors) • Venture capitalists and investment bankers • Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo
After finding investors you should determine whether a prospective angel is a good fit for your company, questions you should ask: • How do you like to help your portfolio companies? • What amount of follow-on investment do you think our company will need to succeed? • How do you think you can be helpful to us in growing the business? • How do you like to interact with your portfolio companies?
Angels will often invest in the company through a convertible note. They key terms negotiated are: • Unsecured or secured on the assets of the company – this is almost always unsecured. • Interest rate and payment – the interest is usually accrued and not paid currently. • Discount rate – this is the discount rate the investors enjoy for taking the early risk in the company, expressed as a discount from the company’s Series A round of financing. A discount rate of 20 percent is typical. • Valuation cap – this is the maximum valuation of the company where the note can be converted in the next round of financing.
We specialize in targeting qualified stockbrokers and investors who are actively seeking small cap investment opportunities. Our investor relations firm clientele are Public Companies, like you who are making a real effort to broaden their retail stockbroker and shareholder base with Real Retail Buying?
OTC PR Group can reach qualified and targeted stockbrokers for your company. Our experience has shown that a properly coordinated out reach program can attract attention and increase awareness. We have integrity and a high-quality database of stockbrokers and VC Groups who we are able to target for your company. Learn More:
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Raising Capital & Getting VC’s Attention is perhaps the most difficult challenge any entrepreneur faces, and for many, it’s unavoidable.
In today’s business climate, there are hundreds of ways to fundraise.
Here are rules to keep you on the right road to Raising capital & Getting VC’s Attention.
Establish clear, realistic goals. From day one, clearly state your objective. If you can’t explain your vision in concrete terms to potential investors, you can’t expect them to give you their money. Be realistic about what you are trying to accomplish. By laying out your plan in detail, you should confidently say what you can expect to achieve. Investors deserve transparency and truth. Your partnership must be based on trust — and only credibility can breed it.
It is essential to make a good impression with a solid pitch presentation and corporate website, but it won’t guarantee funding. Credibility invokes confidence, which mitigates risk and opens wallets.
At OTCPRGroup, we encourage you to follow these basic rules to get started:
Have a solid team in place. Any startup is only as good as its people. A robust, efficient, and success-driven squad is necessary. Recruiting people with sound reputations for honesty and integrity helps attract investments. After all, you are your team.
Focus on the “real” market. Exhaustive, in-depth market research is the only way to map a blueprint for success. Many early-stage businesses are too eager to start and set out in the wrong market. The best market for a new business is not always the biggest or the steadiest. You have to do your homework. There is no replacement for in-depth market research.
Market research can be tedious, but it is the bedrock of a solid business plan. You and your startup team should profile a variety of markets. That is the only way to determine the best fit for your business.
Get your name out there. The biggest irony in raising capital? It would help if you had some means to do it. Investors won’t know every detail about your project, so you must decide what essential information to deliver. Fortunately, the Internet is the best advertising medium invented and is always open for new business. The web is, without a doubt, the most powerful place to advertise. Even better, it’s cheaper than broadcast TV, radio, or print media. Social media can also be a boon, as reliable networking can help you connect directly with potential investors. That’s how you create the support network for your project.
Consider crowdfunding for validation. Crowdfunding is one of the best fundraising tools available for startups today. The concept is simple: You advertise your business on several dedicated platforms, and users vote with their wallets. A crowdfunding pitch can also be a good litmus test. You should consider tweaking your angle or business model if you don’t attract investors (or interested customers).
Choosing the right platform is paramount. Again, do your homework, this time in the form of due diligence of the companies managing your crowdfunding initiative. It would be best to verify the platform’s solidity and validity, including the track records of those running the forum.
Keep them close. Ultimately, your success will depend upon the credibility you’ve built and the connections you’ve established. A successful venture results from positive interactions between the business and its investors. Keeping investors in the fold will make them comfortable and confident about how things are run. Remember, they will keep the engine running, but only as long as they are sure you are moving in the right direction.
Raising Capital & Getting VC’s Attention
The road to raising capital can be a bumpy ride. But with the right approach, the right people, and the right funding avenue, it’s one worth taking.
OTC PR Group provides a full suite of small-cap public relations services utilizing the latest technologies and relationship-building processes to develop and maintain interest from your shareholder base.
We build shareholder value by engaging with key stakeholders and effectively following up and communicating your message, investment potential, and corporate vision to investors, Brokers, and the media.
Unlike other firms with a similar focus, We connect our clients with groups that invest in many of their clients, putting their own earned capital into positions to safeguard management’s interests while fulfilling their goals and objectives.
Introducing our clients to experienced teams leads clients throughout the mandate, constructing and communicating the business’s investment potential while negotiating to secure funding under the best possible terms and conditions.
Investor and Public relations professionals do more than draft press releases. Top Public Relations Firms craft persuasive messages and implement key communication tactics while building relationships with media representatives. Great PR is the telling of a good story. We all know the public wants to hear an exciting story. The more engaging the topic, the better the acceptance by investors and the better the public outreach. Of course, if the story is appealing, hitting on all the hot buttons of investors and clients, you could have a PR slam-dunk. In this case, communication with your target market and all possible media outlets put your company on the map.
At OTCPRGroup.com, we feel nothing more rewarding than helping an organization overcome business challenges with all the benefits outlined below:
Public relations produces media results, including articles, radio interviews, and op-eds that provide strong marketing materials and credibility. For example, a well-executed media placement can be distributed as an e-mail blast, a physical mailer, and social media post. Further, that content can be sent to existing customers or member bases and potential ones to demonstrate company value.
Brand visibility, placing your company name and products in front of your target audience, is powerful. In most forms, media coverage often validates a company in the eyes of investors and makes them more familiar with the brand when they see it again, be it from an e-mail blast, sales call, and other marketing techniques.
Top Public Relations Firms know how to influence an audience and can position a company or individual as an expert within their industry. For companies with very targeted audiences, when impactful news occurs, or trends develop, making your voice heard through a story in the press, blog, or a strategically placed op-ed/byline is essential.
Driving lead generation for your brand, effective PR can influence and motivate your target audience. As people continue to see your company or product in the media, it increases the chance of them making a call, sending an e-mail requesting more information, subscribing to a newsletter, visiting a website, and/or other calls to action.
Public relations addresses brand competition by ensuring that your company is presented with the same opportunities to get in front of targeted audiences as others in your industry. It is essential to be seen in similar media coverage to your competitors regarding story ideas, trends, product features, etc.
Over time, PR can improve a company’s website rankings based on a high volume of high-quality media placements. Public relations efforts can be leveraged across social media to drive more traffic to the article, resulting in SEO Optimization for the page and the links within it. They will continue establishing the brand publishing via social media to increase visibility.
The most critical task is to get the word out about your company’s potential to those who could invest in you. PR may help your company look more influential, bigger, and more critical in the public eye. Investor/Public relations are essential to marketing and advertising and must be considered in your advertising budget. The good news about PR is when done effectively can lead to strong community and industrial partnerships and even financial support.
Top Public Relations Firms for Emerging Companies
Our investor relations firm can deliver robust investor awareness programs to meet your goals.
Tools we use TO SUCCESSFULLY USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR INVESTOR COMMUNICATIONS”
Small Cap Stock OTC Investor Relations for Emerging Companies. Your company should have clear objectives of how you will need to broaden your investor base and how you retain the current ones. Institutional and retail investors must be apprised of your company’s evolving business model in real time — and measuring your investor relations program’s success for your entire management team is critical. The investor relation function is becoming more strategic in the organization, as they are working closely on corporate governance, M&A, and market analysis which is a new and challenging pattern for this role. Measuring your effectiveness by your stock price alone is not enough. Instead, your best measurement is found by gathering feedback from the buy- and sell-side analysts and what the general market says about you (i.e., retail investors, the media, and the general public.)
In this fast-paced market, Small Cap Stocks can easily be overlooked. Without the resources and funding of Fortune 500 companies, it can be challenging to maintain a consistent presence in the public’s eye. Whether you hire an in-house professional or put an external advisor on retainer, your IR specialist must create buzz and guide your company’s strategic communication and beyond. The investor relations function involves:
Educating the public about the company’s position in the industry.
Delivering a regular update of forecasts.
Identifying any key business issues that could impact the company.
Persuasiveness: They should be able to draw the market’s interest and attract sell-side coverage and potential investors.
Creating buzz: Your IR professional should also be able to continually publish and generate articles for your company. “Get you in the press.”
Risk awareness: Your IR professional should also be able to manage the risks associated with external messaging.
Storytelling: Your IR professional will have to continually retell the company’s story, fine-tune the investment value proposition, and provide the appropriate guidance on milestones and financial performance.
Integrity: Your IR professional must be transparent and honest and instill confidence in your organization.
OTC PR Group is a Small Cap Stock OTC Investor Relations firm. Our ongoing market exposure programs have consistently motivated the investor and brokerage community to participate in clients’ stock offerings.
We have developed programs that meet your specific goals.
Many growth companies have great potential but need an actual retail buying program. We have potent systems of investor participation worldwide, targeting not only investors. We also market to stockbrokers using the latest digital and social media marketing venues available.
Our program affords you the most significant coverage in developing stock support and higher market capitalization by utilizing News Letter publishing sites that broaden exposure.
A good corporate video is one of the best ways you can bring visibility and corporate recognition. If you are a public company you can increase shareholder recognition with video. If you are not communicating your story with a corporate video whether it’s an interview style format or a well-developed commercial video you are missing out on what is a tremendous marketing tool. Online video has been gaining strength as a source for content marketing the benefits can be increasing shareholder recognition; increase sales, web presence, along with exposure to media.
A commercial video is the first chance to show the world exactly what your company is doing giving investors or potential partners the opportunity learn about your business and goals. Yet another advantage for preparing commercial videos from video production companies is that you can use the video for press release exposure and distribution. Videos have the ability to reach the right venues and create the right impact.
The reason we encourage clients to incorporate video in public relation campaigns is that it is simply the most powerful digital marketing tool available. It’s better for recall, it’s more persuasive and search engines love it. A professional interview can draw out plenty of information, which is why the interview format is so effective in relaying information to others. The exposure of video content continues to grow, and it’s more important than ever for investor relation professionals to develop an engaging video marketing strategy In fact, research has found that using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates.
An interview by itself shows that both parties are experts in their chosen niche, which means people watching or listening to the interview will consider the information being talking about as valuable. This video interview can then be placed on various video blogging or streaming websites so that it gets plenty of exposure for your business. The modern way of advancing this tradition of oral communication is through video blogging. Through interviews that can be posted online, people are simply able to capture knowledge in a very effective way. There are different type of learners in this world, and when it comes to content, your goal is to gain exposure. You may be informing someone why they need your services, how they can use your products or when they will need your expertise. No matter what you sell, your basic content creation goals will all boil down to attracting a targeted audience.
As a top Investor Relations Firm we know one of the best things about video content is that you can post it on YouTube. While video can dramatically increase your website’s visibility on the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo), few businesses understand how to take advantage of YouTube, the world’s second largest search engine.
Depending on your marketing objectives, your videos can live either on YouTube or on your website. If your video is on YouTube, you can increase your brand’s visibility in search fairly quickly, but the traffic will go to YouTube. But if your video lives on your website, the traffic goes to your site, but it takes longer to build up your rankings and traffic. That’s what video does: it increases email click-through rates, ensuring that your email campaigns get the highest ROI possible. If you’re ready to become an expert in your niche, then it’s time to see what a good video marketing team can do with an online interview. Learn More:
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The stereotype of an angel investor is a hardened business entrepreneur who has amassed great wealth but is always ready to earn more. Angel investors invest in early-stage or startup companies in exchange for an equity ownership interest. Angel investing in startups has been accelerating with many high-profile success stories that have spurred angel investors to make multiple bets to get outsized returns. Many angel investors may not be as wealthy as you think but are financially savvy. Most are looking for a way to grow their money by promoting innovative new businesses.
Angel investors fill a gap between the venture capitalist and the commercial lender. They don’t want to play an active role in the business but have business savvy. Venture capitalists and financial institutions lend more significant amounts, with the former willing to accept the high risk and the latter expecting minimized risk. Many angel investors invest smaller amounts of money, $20,000 instead of $200,000, but there are no limits, so $500,000 up to $ 1 million is possible.
Angel investors are also groups of people who pool their money to fund startup businesses. They include investment clubs, professional groups like doctors or lawyers, and other entrepreneurs. There is a bit of mystery surrounding angel investors because they keep a low profile, making them difficult to categorize. What you know is that they are financially savvy, thorough in their evaluation of businesses, and hopeful of earning a high return on their investments. So don’t stereotype angel investors because they can be anyone. Learn More
Important things angel investors LOOK for in a company?
The quality, passion, and integrity of the founders.
The market opportunity is being addressed, and the company’s potential to become very big.
A thought-out business plan and any early evidence of obtaining traction toward the plan.
Interesting technology or intellectual property.
An appropriate valuation with reasonable terms.
Questions entrepreneurs should anticipate from angel investors?
How much capital are you raising?
How long will that capital last?
Do you have detailed financial projections for the next two years?
What are the key assumptions underlying your projections?
What are the likely gross margins?
The angel investor will want to understand how the company plans to market itself, the cost of acquiring a customer, the long-term value of a customer, and management. So the entrepreneur should be prepared for the following:
How does the company market or plan to market its products or services?
What is the company’s PR strategy? You can find help with this question at OTC PR Group
What is the company’s social media strategy?
What is the projected lifetime value of a customer?
What advertising will you be doing?
Who are the founders and key team members?
What relevant domain experience does the team have?
What key additions to the team are needed in the short term?
Why is the team uniquely capable of executing the company’s business plan?
How many employees do you have?
What motivates the founders?
Raising capital can be very time-consuming, and raising angel financing will always take longer than you expect.
Not only do you have to find the right investors interested in your sector, but you also have to go through meetings, due diligence, negotiations on terms, and more. There are a variety of ways to find angel investors, including:
After finding investors, you should determine whether a prospective angel is a good fit for your company; questions you should ask:
How do you like to help your portfolio companies?
What amount of follow-on investment will our company need to succeed?
How can you be helpful to us in growing the business?
How do you like to interact with your portfolio companies?
Angels will often invest in the company through a convertible note. The key terms negotiated are:
Unsecured or secured, the company’s assets are almost always unsecured.
Interest rate and payment – the interest is usually accrued and not paid currently.
Discount rate – this is the discount rate the investors enjoy for taking the early risk in the company, expressed as a discount from the company’s Series A round of financing. A discount rate of 20 percent is typical.
Valuation cap – this is the maximum valuation of the company where the note can be converted in the next round of financing.
There are many reasons an angel investor will reject your pitch.
The great majority of prospective investors are likely to reject you. Here are some of the typical reasons for rejection:
The business’s market opportunity or potential size is perceived as too small.
The founders don’t come across as knowledgeable or passionate.
The entrepreneur, through a blind email and not a referral, made the pitch from a trusted colleague of the angel investor.
The financial projections were not believable, and the founders couldn’t convince the investor of the reasonableness of the underlying assumptions.
The investor wasn’t convinced of the need for your product or service.
The investor needed to be convinced that your company was going to differentiate itself from competitors.
Bring your team to the pitch meeting but only have the CEO speak.
Showing me uninteresting or unrealistic projections
Taking too long in your presentation
Not doing a demo
It is not being able to explain the key assumptions in your projections.
Unable to articulate why your product or technology is differentiated from a competitor.
I need to find out how you will use my investment capital and how long it will last.
What benefits can an entrepreneur get by taking on an angel investor?
Other than money, some or all of these benefits are obtainable from good angel investors, such as contacts with venture capitalists and strategic partners—advice and counsel along with credibility by being associated with the investor. Also, contacts to potential customers, employees, lawyers, banks, accountants, and investment bankers, the list goes on, and suffice to say, more than enough reason to make a go at it and raise needed capital.
View the YouTube video for answers to your company’s PR solutions and gain needed exposure and advice: YouTube
Disclosure of CEO pay regulatory-issues. It is always a wise time to consider the regulatory problems requiring decisions and action. Court cases alleging excessive pay have focused on whether plans that govern director may include:
“Meaningful limits.”
Suggesting that employers might want to consider what compensation level constitutes a “meaningful limit,” for example.
A fixed formula.
A dollar/share limit.
Should different limits exist for roles or a single cap for all directors?
Companies should consider reviewing and documenting their pay-setting process thoroughly, including how the board sets director pay and the role of peer group selection. Consider the optimal time to adopt a limit, whether it should be in the omnibus plan approved by shareholders, and whether the board can amend that plan without shareholder approval. Also, consider if shareholders should be asked to approve a new stand-alone plan solely for directors.
Compensation committees would be well served to ask finance departments and their accounting firms to consider GAAP rule changes as part of the compensation planning process.
Disclosure of CEO pay regulatory-issues
Companies should think about their communication strategy sooner rather than later, as this could be a multiyear project for many companies. Communicating the CEO pay ratio will be necessary; the ratio will be out there for all to see, including employees, customers, competitors, potential employees, and the press.
The hedging regulations proposed by the SEC require companies to disclose their adopted policy to shareholders. Given the heightened shareholder focus, the rules do not need any specific hedging policy; companies should consider adding or amending an approach.
Companies that still need to do this should start modeling to develop the best approach to disclosing the comparison to the peer group’s total shareholder return. Under the rule, companies must choose whether to use the peer group in the disclosed TSR table or the one used to benchmark executive compensation.
The overarching concern should be implementing a Clawback Policy in a way that does not trigger shareholder lawsuits; this might be the issue that will require the most work. Companies should undertake a deliberative, well-documented process to understand how any restatement of results would affect executive pay. Finally, review the process in which pay decisions are documented to clarify which payouts are based.
The data reveals How Press Releases drive traffic to your company. We are experts in creating shareable content and enabling sharing capabilities through the relevant channels that can dramatically increase your shareholder base.
Optimizing content for sharing pays off regarding the amplification of news. Press releases shared on Facebook and Twitter drive significantly more traffic back to your company. Optimizing content for sharing works for investor awareness and should be implemented for each release. Key conclusions from the analysis include:
Each press release share generates two new views; expands the audience.
Creating engaging content and enabling sharing capabilities through Social channels can increase exposure and views for News. Crowd Factory and PR Newswire found that each share generates an average of nearly two click-backs to the original press release. Additionally, sharing press releases across social channels builds stakeholder base and social reach.
Twitter drives more traffic than Facebook and Press releases need to be shared on many platforms to gain the best coverage
The three largest U.S. based social media channels, Facebook is tops when it comes to sharing news:
Approximatly 40+ percent of press release sharing happens on Facebook.
30+ percent of sharing happens on Twitter.
15+ percent happens on LinkedIn.
But not all shares are created equal: despite Facebook’s more significant popularity for sharing, each share on Twitter drives about 30 percent more press release views than a share on Facebook.
Multimedia news enhances engagement more than text only.
We recommend that you include photos, videos, or audio to generate more views, shares, and clicks than text-only press releases. Adding an image to a press release increases exposure; adding a video and a photo doubles the engagement rate. Press releases that contain pictures, video, and audio generate the most attention.
Twitter has been more heavily used for news and business purposes in driving traffic back to press releases. This data reiterates the importance of creating engaging press releases that motivate people to share, whether pairing your release with a video or photo or simply creating a more tweetable headline. Since a single share can drive two new people back to your press release, optimizing sharing content can easily amplify your investment’s impact in news distribution.
In today’s social media era, OTC PR Group understand how many views or shares your content has received is not enough – it’s essential to know where and how your content is circulated among top influencers and which networks have the most impact.
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Are you communicating the right message to your stakeholders?
The Best Investor Relations Firms start by identifying your shareholder base to understand who they are and how they feel about particular issues that affect your company and community.
Though shareholder identification has been controversial in the IR community, it can help ensure you’re talking to the right people about the correct issues.
Have you been delivering it through the proper channels? Make a mistake; at best, you risk missing your audience. At worst—I’ll leave that to your imagination.
Effective investor relations are critical in today’s economic climate. When markets are volatile, and regulation continues to rise, the stakes grow even higher. Naturally, the effort is complicated by risk management considerations, leading to the possibility of tension between investor relations and corporate legal teams.
The key is to work together; following these steps, you can make shareholder communications more effective:
Build relationships with your investors.
Shareholders don’t exist only during proxy season. You should invest in your relationships with them all year long. One idea is to create “a historical chronology of what you have spoken about with each investor that includes a few notes on each conversation.” You’ll have notes ready to go at the next meeting, even if it does come a year later.
Figure out who votes.
Identifying shareholders is only the first step; the next is to ensure you know who is voting for those shares. (Don’t chase people who don’t have actual voting authority) These are the people who will determine your company’s future.
One tip is to try and find one person, hopefully, someone you can then leverage and work through whatever that particular investor’s organizational structure is.
Understand the correct issues.
You need to set an agenda based on your audience of shareholders and voters. Take a look at your corporate governance processes with a critical eye. Prepare for any questions or concerns from your shareholder community. Anticipate needs rather than push your company’s agenda.
Determine whom you need most.
Issuers can make strategic errors when they target investors for communication. Set aside concerns about which shareholders have the most significant stakes; it may be smaller groups of investors that have more pressing questions for you.
Please focus on the concerns of your constituency; communicate with concerned shareholders with answers to what’s on their minds.
Seek out help.
Proxy advisers can give you a hand in engaging shareholders in a variety of ways. These firms can do more than help you with a proxy campaign. Get them to help you identify the key people with each institutional shareholder and to analyze voting results for trends and insights.
OTC PR Group combines public, investor, and media relations into a powerful networking tool. We are an experienced firm with financial knowledge, high familiarity, and understanding of the investment community. Through our networks of dedicated and creative professionals, we provide a comprehensive social media marketing strategy that benefits our clients and their investors. Read more:
Delivering messages that gain analyst coverage is what good Investor relation professionals do when creating proactive strategies for building long-term, engaged relationships with shareholders.
Investor relation professionals also need to proactively communicate the right message to the right investor, which starts with understanding that investor’s decision-making criteria. Due to fundamental changes in the brokerage industry and sell-side, many companies, especially smaller and medium-sized businesses — are struggling to attract or maintain analyst coverage.
Investor relation professionals can no longer rely on analysts to regularly report on their business. With diminishing coverage, investor targeting has become a critical function for Investor relation professionals.
It’s key to understand how the function of corporate access plays into your meeting schedule and to push for the most strategic meetings. There is no substitute preparation and strategy when it comes to seeking and maintaining investors.
Investor relation professionals also need to proactively communicate the right message to the right investor, which starts with understanding that investor’s decision-making criteria. Investor relation professionals need to ensure they get their message out to investors and get an early read on anything that may be creeping up on them, including activist intentions.
The 2008 financial crisis was a watershed moment. The aftermath exposed many problems within the industry, including a growing disconnect between some management teams and their investors.
Companies started receiving poor scores regarding executive compensation from mutual and index funds which was followed by a wave of activist campaigns and proxy fights. Investors are changing the way they classify companies; peer groups are evolving to take rapidly changing conditions or investment strategies into consideration.
Say, for instance, a company increases its dividend from 2% to 4%. This company would then be perceived as part of a ‘synthetic basket’ of stocks made up of companies that have drastically increased their capital return programs.
Investor relation professionals need to be aware of these types of emerging investment strategies such as Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) which is becoming more meaningful to investors. Shareholders are increasingly making decisions around investments and divestments based on socially or environmentally responsible factors.
Peer group considerations and SRI represent just two of the growing types of ‘thematic’ investor characteristics (another example is passive investors) that companies need to monitor and engage with. As a result, it’s no longer effective to focus solely on factors such as assets under management or specific sectors.
Investor relation professionals need a broader view of investor characteristics and tendencies that they can’t get from traditional peer analysis. This could mean identifying ideal investors in entirely new ways. A savvy IR professional will want to adjust his or her company’s story and targeting program to account for these trending themes.
With growing business and market complexity, the role of investor relations has evolved to become more strategic.
The typical Investor relation professional is now tasked with helping the company’s board members understand the way investors perceive business strategies and developing a more engaged shareholder community based on long-term relationships. In some cases, companies are increasingly turning to perception studies to better understand their vulnerabilities and develop a stronger offense.
Delivering messages that gain analyst coverage is crucial to help bridge the gap left by the changing broker model and to compete for coverage with the remaining sell-side analysts and the increasingly influential buy-side analysts, Investor relation professionals require more advanced data sets to provide them with insight into their company, industry, peers and prospective investors.
It’s clear that the era of the Investor relation professionals focusing on reactive communications is long gone. Instead, the modern Investor relation professional is creating proactive strategies for building long-term, engaged relationships with their shareholders. As they do so, the insights that Investor relation professionals provide are becoming a critical part of board-level conversations.
OTC PR Group provides a full suite of small cap public relations services utilizing the latest technologies coupled with relationship building processes to develop and maintain interest from your shareholder base.
We work to build shareholder value by engaging with key-stakeholders and effectively following up and communicating your message, investment potential and corporate vision to investors, Brokers and the media.
If you think about the ways people find your website it will become very clear that blogging can provide a effective strategy to increase traffic. The following methods also drive traffic but lets consider how they stack up:
People cantype your name right in to their browser, but that’s an audience you already have. They know who you are, you’re on their radar, and that doesn’t help you get more traffic on top of what you’re already getting.
You could pay for traffic by buying an email list (not recommended), blasting them, and hoping some people open and click through on the emails. But that’s expensive and, you know. Not legal.
You could pay for traffic by placing tons of paid ads, which isn’t illegal, but still quite expensive. And the second you run out of money, your traffic stops coming, too.
So, how can you drive traffic? In short: blogging, social media and search engines. Here’s how it functions. Think about how many pages there are on your website. Probably not that many, right? And think about how often you update those pages. Probably not that often, right? Well, blogging helps solve both of those problems. Every time you write a blog post, that’s one more indexed page on your website, which means it’s one more opportunity for you to show up in search engines and drive traffic to your website in organic search. That’s one more ping to Google and other search engines that your website is active and they should be checking in frequently to see what new content will surface.
Blogging also helps you get discovered via social media. Every time you write a blog post, you’re creating content that people can share via — Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Pinterest — which helps expose your business to a new audience that may not know you yet. Blog content also helps keep your social media presence going and your blog can serve as that repository of content. You’re strengthening your social reach with blog content and driving new website visitors to your blog via your social channels. So, the first benefit of blogging? It helps drive new traffic to your website and works closely with search engines and social media to do that.
Now that you have traffic coming to your website through your blog, you have an opportunity to convert that traffic into leads.
Just like every blog post you write it is another indexed page, each post is a new opportunity to create new leads. The way this works is really simple: Just add a lead generating call-to-action to every blog post. Often, these calls-to-action lead to things like free whitepapers, free fact sheets, free webinars, free trials … basically, any content asset for which someone would be willing to exchange their information. That is how you turn that traffic coming to your blog into leads for your company.
The best business blogs answer common questions their leads and customers have. If you’re consistently creating content that’s helpful for your target customer, it’ll help establish you as an authority in their eyes. This is a particularly handy tool for Sales and Service professionals. Can you imagine the impact of sending an educational blog post you wrote to clear things up for a confused customer? Or how many more deals a salesperson could close if their leads discovered blog content written by their company? “Establishing authority” is an important metric. Because at the end of the day, that’s what many of your blog posts are. Think about the sales enablement opportunities blogging presents:
If prospects find answers to their common questions via blog posts written by people at your company, they’re much more likely to come into the sales process trusting what you have to say because you’ve helped them in the past — even before they were interested in purchasing anything from you.
Prospects that have been reading your blog posts will typically enter the sales process more educated on your place in the market, your industry, and what you have to offer. That makes for a far more productive sales conversation than one held between two relative strangers.
Salespeople who encounter specific questions that require in-depth explanation or a documented answer can pull from an archive of blog posts. Not only do these blog posts help move the sales process along more swiftly than if a sales rep had to create the assets from scratch, but the salesperson is further positioned as a helpful resource to their prospect.
Blogging does — largely through search engines help you drive site traffic and generate new leads. If you sit down for an hour and write and publish a blog post today. Let’s say that blog post gets you 75 views and 7 leads. You get another 50 views and 5 leads tomorrow as a few more people find it on social media and some of your subscribers get caught up on their email and RSS. But after a couple days, most of the fanfare from that post dies down and you’ve netted 150 views and 12 leads.
It’s not over. Business Blogging Benefits
That blog post is now ranking in search engines. That means for days, weeks, months, and years to come, you can continue to get traffic and leads from that blog post. So while it may feel like day one or bust, in reality, blogging acts more like this:
The effort you put in yesterday can turn into hundreds of thousands of views and leads in the future. In fact, about 70% of the traffic each month on most blogs comes from posts that weren’t published in the current month. They come from old posts. Same goes for the leads generated in a current month — about 90% of the leads we generate every month come from blog posts that were published in previous months. Sometimes years later.
This demonstrates the scalability of business blogging. While you might not see immediate results, over time, you’ll be able to count on a predictable amount of traffic and leads for your business without any additional resource investment — the work to generate that traffic and those leads is already done. There are other reasons businesses might want to blog, they also become great outlets through with marketers can communicate other PR-type important information — things like product releases or event information and press releases. It’s certainly easier to get attention for more company-focused initiatives if you’ve built up your own audience on your own WEBSITE, as opposed to pitching your story to journalists and hoping one of them bites. These are all great side effects or uses of a business blog that must be implemented to ensure an effective marketing campaign.
OTC PR Group is an investor relations firm specializing in comprehensive programs for micro-cap, small-cap and mid-cap public companies increase stock visibility in a range of industries. We combine knowledge of capital markets communications, and an unparalleled reputation for integrity and client service with evolving industry best practices to design and execute investor relations programs that help deliver long-term shareholder value.
How to get your company published in all those reputable places (like Forbes, Inc, The Washington Post, Mashable, Techcrunch, and more).
How to get your company published
If you have no experience speaking with journalists or you’ve never gotten press before, the question of how to get your company published and get others to write about you? For even the most seemingly “boring” businesses, there are some basic strategies and tactics for getting major media coverage–regardless of your past marketing experience or budget.
If you want to get media coverage, you need to have something to say that others will want to hear. Start to think about ways in which your story is unique:
What do you believe?
Why did you start the business or create the product? Was there some personal, painful experience you went through that inspired you to take action to solve the problem?
How is your product or service delivered that makes it stand out?
What popular issues are people talking about today that relate to your business and how you run it? The economy? Healthcare? Income?
‘The advantages of getting press over other forms of marketing is powerful”
From an entrepreneur’s perspective what is press coverage? Why does everyone want it? It’s free advertising, that’s why, and more than that it’s someone else’s; with their own built up brand credibility talking about your business.
Here are the specific advantages of getting this free advertising via media coverage:
Exposure – People who haven’t heard about your business will hear about you
Increased recall – The more often a person hears about you, the more easily they can recall the name of your business in the future i.e. when talking with friends.
Sales boost – Even if you get bad press, you can still see an increase in sales. I’ll talk more later about “bad” press…
More press – Getting published in one place often leads to interest from other journalists and bloggers. I call this a the “media echo effect.”
Boost in search rankings – If you’re published on one or more media websites with authority in the eyes of Google, your overall search rankings will increase.
Miscellaneous opportunities – Others in business will often reach out to you with partnership or joint marketing offers after they read about you.
Before you begin establish a strategy by deciding on what outcome you want to receive from executing your PR campaign:
Do you want to be able to list reputable 3rd party logos (e.g. The New York Times) on your website?
Do you want to grow sales and awareness?
Do you want to improve your traffic and search rankings?
Each of these goals requires a slightly different approach.
For example:
If you just want the option to slap some “as seen in” logos on your website, you should go for just getting mentioned.
For growing sales, you should seek to get a full write-up on your business.
For improving traffic and search rankings guest blogging works well.
How to get your company published starts by making a list of your target publications or venues. Your list might look something like this:
Wall St. Journal
Washington Times
NY Times
Venture Beat
Mashable
Fox Business News
The reason we use national outlets like these is are because it fits the profile of many mass market B2B service companies. Your company might be different though. The key is to aim for publications or blogs that are well known to your target customer.
How do you differentiate and pitch that to a journalist?
Remember, our strategy here is to get mentions, not to get a full write-up or anything like that. So that affects the tactical approach.
The easiest way is to begin by networking with bloggers and journalists.
The way that you do this is you take the list of target publications you listed in the step above (again, they should be relevant and/or respected by your target customer) and begin searching out articles, on Google and on the actual publication’s website.
Look for anything that is relevant to your business. What do I mean by relevant? Do a quick keyword brainstorm on words that are related to [your] business:
Local business
Local economy
Industry tips
Lower costs
The next step after that is to look up who the author of the article is that comes up in your search. Often, a writer’s email address will be directly on the publisher’s website, on the article, on past articles, or you can find it on his or her personal website. We recommend against contacting someone via Twitter or Facebook, because it is not as effective as email.
The final ingredient is the will to reach out to a journalist and make your case for why you can be a resource to them on an upcoming or future article. And yes, that’s the exact approach you need to take–it’s not about you when you reach out, it’s about helping them.
Here’s what a sample outreach email might look like:
Hey Thomas,
My name is [name] and I’m emailing you because I recently enjoyed reading your article here on some innovative ways consumers can lower their electric bill in the winter months.
[Link to article — putting the link on it’s own dedicated line makes it easier to click on if they’re reading your message on a mobile phone]
Here’s one other tip that I think could work well in a future article or if you decide to update this: [value added tip that positions you as an authority]
I’ve been running a growing electrical business in CA for the last X years, in which we’ve helped Y hundred household consumers — I would love to serve as a resource to you for any future articles since my expertise is in:
Electrical, bill economics, and small / local business formation and development
My direct number is below or you can email me back anytime you want a fresh perspective from someone with direct experience.
Thanks,
[name]
[number / signature line]
You can tweak and reword that template to fit your business but in my experience sending short, personal, valued-added messages like that helps to position you as an authority. And since many journalists never receive any direct email responses to their articles, they appreciate the effort and will respond.
I recommend sending at least 3 of these types of messages at a time for good measure since some percentage will not yield a response.
In closing, some other easy ways to get press mentions are to join a networking group like the YEC (Young Entrepreneurs Council), your local chamber of commerce, or another established group of individuals from your industry.
Journalists frequently will reach out the leadership of these organizations, asking for referrals to people who can talk on a certain subject or answer a specific question.
Some companies try to blur the lines between the words “mention” and “featured” but if you’re going to be intellectually honest, being featured in an article is a much bigger deal because that usually means the focus of the article is you and your business.
Many of the same key factors used for getting mentioned also apply for getting featured:
Uniqueness
Story
Niche Industry
Create a new category, or in a relatively new category created by someone else (think Living Social in the “Group Deal” space which started by Groupon)
However, because the end-goal is completely different this affects the specific tactics you should use. The main difference is that in order for it to be justifiable for anyone to write-up a full article on you, you have to be “news” which means you have to be saying or doing something new.
The key takeaway from this story is, if you want to get a full featured write-up, the kind that gets you sales and awareness, do or say something new and unique, and then reach out journalists via their “least crowded” means of communication: Email, in-person or Video chat. I believe that pretty much anyone with something new and compelling to say can with absolutely zero name recognition or reputation can get incredible exposure following these basic steps.
There are a few basic steps in marketing that will work in every situation when you’re trying to grow a business. They work if you’re trying to build an email list or close a deal. If you do not apply them, you will not succeed. At OTC PR Group we apply these basic principles in order to be competitive. Follow These Basic Steps To Grow Your Business
Things must be Easy and To The Point
You have to make things as easy and obvious as possible. This is true whether you have a brick-and-mortar store or a website, but it’s doubly true if you’re trying to accomplish something on the Internet, where competition is great. Don’t assume users of your website are sophisticated, navigational problems are major stumbling block for the average user. Dumb down everything. Make your webpage simple and to the point.
Few Words are a must
The MOST important marketing principle is to use as few words as possible. If you can’t tell someone what you’re doing in a few sentences, your chances of capturing a customer’s attention has just walked out the door. You must explain the benefit of your product or service in an extremely short sentence or phrase.
You must think of several short phrases that will drive you to go to a web page, or push “add to cart” or fill out a contact form. Putting a well crafted, short, descriptive phrase in front of your ideal customer is very powerful.
Sell your Benefit
For many in business, it becomes difficult to separate the features from the benefits. Further, we tend to become so deeply in love with the features we have developed, we think that everyone should love them just as much. That’s what you should always be asking yourself in regards to your customers, and the important word is “done.” How will the action you want your prospects to perform benefit them?
Everything must be repeated
Things that work and are important should be repeated.
If you ever wanted to share or credit something in the social media, but the page you were on didn’t have sharing icons or links to the social media accounts. They might be on the front page, but not on the inside pages. And because you might just be a little busy, sometimes it’s possible you will just drop the idea of sharing or crediting the source. Don’t let your landing page fall in this category. You should have a great landing page for all the different attributes or “hooks” that will pull someone into your website. They are usually free and you can never have to many.
Track your efforts
You need to have good analytics that show you what is working and what isn’t. With that information you are able to do more of the right marketing and stop doing what doesn’t work. Very soon you will have a business or website whose performance has significantly improved.
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