How to create winning Investor Relations web content
02/06/2021
In late May, Cargotec’s IR pages were nominated the best in Finland in 2021. The award was given by the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion and the Finnish Society of Financial Analysts. How were the IR pages made?
Image: Cargotec's IR and external communications team in spring 2021. From left: Martti Henttunen, Hanna-Maria Heikkinen (team leader), Aki Vesikallio, Antti Kalske
The Best investor pages (link opens a page in Finnish) is an annual competition since 1999. The competition aims to improve the investor communications of companies listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. According to the jury, Cargotec’s IR pages provide relevant information to investors in a versatile and easy-to-use manner.
In the award event, I had the honor of giving a speech about “How the winning IR section was made”. Here is a brief recap on the points I made. I hope they can give some tips and tricks about what things might be good to have on a well functioning IR web section.
Content - lots of it!
Over the recent years, we have produced a wide range of investor-services material to our website.
As an example, one of the most comprehensive IR presentation decks can be found from Cargotec’s website, and we have produced a variety of videos to Cargotec’s Youtube channel, many of those made inhouse. We have highlighted issues that have come up in feedback and meetings. Topics have included service business, quarterly results, the 2020 review, as well as Cargotec's sustainability work and strategy.
The videos have been well received. During the covid pandemic, it has become clear that topics are more important than technical quality. The stories we have told have interested viewers, for which we are grateful and satisfied.
We have also written numerous blog posts on various topics. We’ve raised China’s macroeconomic issues as well as reflected on the #wallstreetbets phenomenon. We have conducted a survey on Twitter, for example (“Which topics should we cover on our upcoming stories?”), and we answered those questions on our blog texts. We feel that this kind of transparency and the “How can I help you” attitude towards (also and especially small) investors has been helpful. We have received great tips on topics and have been able to produce interesting and current online content.
Systematic approach rationalises the work
The current cargotec.com was published in 2017. During the project, an extensive benchmarking round was conducted on available web technologies, for example. Certain work models were adopted of which many have lasted to this day. As an example, the decision to use our current technical platform has made page updates much easier than before. We feel it is important that the web content management system is intuitive, allowing the content producer to publish visually appealing content quickly, without fear of mistakes.
Analytics plays an important part in our web planning. Based on the data, we regularly review our popular pages vs. the less visited ones, for example, and if necessary, lift pages higher in navigation or agree on other actions.
We receive feedback both through website forms and from our meetings with investors, journalists and analysts. We strive to act on received comments as quickly as possible. IR site evaluations are important as well, such as the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion evaluation which sparked this writing. We compare best practices with our own and consider if there are gaps to be filled. We also regularly visit the websites of other companies and learn from their solutions.
Looking from another angle, short-term planning speeds up information sharing. As an example, in connection with the preparation and publication of an interim report, a well-thought work list ensures that everything will be done in time and that publishing to the website or social media will be made as needed. This way the public receives relevant information as quickly as possible.
Cooperation is king
The Cargotec website team consists of former financial analysts, marketing, journalism, social media and web technique professionals. In addition, members of the management and a large group of sustainability, finance, communications and business experts contribute to the website content.
The whole team has confidence in each others' skills, and we have a low threshold to think new things together and get them implemented. The result can then be a web page, a slide in the IR presentation, or a video topic. I would recommend this culture of encouragement as a basis for every work community. The only bad idea is the one that is not said out loud!
Author: Martti Henttunen, Senior Manager, Communications and Investor Relations