Bridging the PR and IR Gap

Evidence has shown that stronger collaboration can generate better results for companies.

Keeping all communication clean and sharing information between departments can help companies share their story in a more nuanced or attention-grabbing manner.

Communication is all about listening to the target audience, and then acting on what that audience communicates back to the brand.

The same thing is true with investor relations and public relations teams, which often tend to work in silos. Instead of working separately, however, they can share their information and resources to benefit their company more.

Integration

The most important result of better integration between internal relations and public relations is the trust that’s generated between the two.

The best way for the two departments to build trust is by maintaining open and honest communication, and by understanding the differences and similarities between the investor relations and public relations professions.

That means either department should consistently communicate across every channel, and support their arguments with evidence.

Investor relations departments are well equipped to make strong arguments to analysts because their arguments are based on a company’s financial modeling, financial statements, consensus management, and peer group analysis.

Public relations departments tend to be well equipped to communicate management quality, integrity, social responsibility, and sustainability to the public and outlets.

Both departments require storytelling and expertise to generate better results, which means both need to work together to achieve their goals.

Data

Measuring and monitoring the performance of communications isn’t reserved solely for public relations departments. Listening to the target market is useful for everyone who’s working in communications, including investor relations and public relations teams.

Thus companies should ensure that this function is available to each department that needs it. It’s also important to give context to the statistics that are generated from that data, instead of simply counting mentions.

Companies can contrast their media coverage against their competitors, or their sector, and share any findings between the two departments to show trends or improve the communications departments’ knowledge.

Legal Framework

Companies should have a legal framework and ensure that both investor relations and public relations departments understand the relevant compliance plan works so all the information is properly protected.

This also helps avoid duplicate work efforts from the company’s legal department.

With the help of proper governance of a company’s communication platform, businesses can ensure that only specific documents are shared externally, and only when necessary.

Social Media Metrics

Social media tends to incorporate a number of different communications channels for companies, but these days there are tools that help companies manage every channel from one platform.

The platform a company decides to use should be put to good use and adopted across every communications department.

That includes the investor relations and the public relations departments too.

Setting up an automated report that includes key social media metrics that are shared with both departments can foster more understanding between them. It can also help in learning all about the target audience and bridging any gaps between investor relations and public relations departments.

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