ESG had another massive year in 2022, and its set to maintain momentum in the year ahead. With sustainability and ethical best practices dominating the conversation, Environmental, Social, and Governance funds are forecasted to continue to gain traction.
Predictions for 2023 place ESG reporting and messaging as the top priorities for IROs looking to tap into these opportunities, as investors continue to add these funds to their portfolios.
However, there’s growing scrutiny on your sustainability claims as tightening regulations will come into effect soon. With this in mind, it’s important you give your ESG performance extra attention this year.
IR Narrative
Crafting an engaging and inspiring sustainability message is not always easy, especially as so many public companies are doing the same. With so much competition, the challenge is highlighting your unique value proposition as an ESG fund.
If your team struggles to communicate your initiatives effectively, reach out to an IR partner offering ESG consultancy. They can share best practices for your investor relations and corporate websites, making sure your IR narrative supports your environmental story.
ESG Website
An IR website might not be enough to underscore your ESG initiatives. For those companies looking to boost their performance, an ESG website is necessary. This dedicated site gives you space to expound on what your company is doing to uphold each letter of the acronym — all environmental, social, and government causes.
A purpose-built website offers targeted solutions for organizing your reporting and disclosures in a way that meets all regulatory requirements. It provides proactive and on-demand information that investors expect when making decisions.
Better yet, these sites can measure your performance by tracking visitor data that you can easily integrate with your greater IR platform.
An IR partner such as Q4 makes offers all-in-one software that consolidates site traffic and engagement and synthesizes them with other major engagement metrics. By using the investor relations analytics from Q4, you can track and analyze investor behavior across all your digital channels in one place.
ESG Events
An ESG-crafted narrative and purpose-built website are the bare minimum features you need as responsible investing continues to remain popular. Hosting virtual ESG events is an opportunity to go above and beyond expectations by showcasing your sustainability, social impact, and governance impact in a virtual engagement.
Consider adding these days to your busy capital markets events calendar. These dedicated conferences give you an opportunity to bring a branded virtual experience to interested investors.
By virtue of being virtual, they have very little impact on the environment, unlike physical meetings that require extensive travel and energy.
Plus, the latest webcast services provide post-event engagement data that can be easily integrated with your main IR platform. This funnels powerful engagement analytics straight to your platform, adding one extra data set for it to consume, learn from, and analyze.
The Takeaway:
As an IRO, you have to focus on messaging and reporting that drive value. These three major areas of your IR strategy can help you establish your presence on the Street:
- Consider refining your IR narrative, weaving sustainability, social impact, and governance into your story;
- Build a dedicated, purpose-built website that provides insights and engagement analytics, and;
- Lastly, arrange a regular schedule for when you will host virtual events that share your initiatives and highlights your achievements.
