Quarterly earnings reports are mainstays of the corporate calendar––but that doesn’t mean they have to be boring. As technology allows more people to easily engage with Wall Street, it’s more important than ever for public companies to make earnings content and financial data accessible and engaging for a broader audience beyond institutional investors. This shift means public companies must move beyond traditional investor relations tactics and craft earnings content that resonates with individual, retail investors—often referred to as “Main Street” investors. Corporate communications professionals can be key players in helping CFOs and IR teams make earnings reports more engaging, understandable, and relevant for this growing audience.
Clarity, creativity, and accessibility should be the guiding principles for communicators looking to connect with this new wave of investors—breaking down complex financials into compelling, understandable insights that go beyond the typical earnings script.
Clarity is essential to reaching a broader audience. Keep it simple and clear. The general public, including new “Main Street” investors, likely lacks the same understanding of financial jargon that traditional and institutional investors, regulators and financial reporters have. If you want to reach them, ditch the jargon. Work closely with the finance and IR teams to ensure accuracy while adjusting language for those who have day jobs outside of finance.
Not only does language need to be understandable, but earnings reports and financial information also need proper context. Work with the CFO and IR teams to identify key trends shaping your company’s financial outcomes, and again adjust the messaging to make it more digestible to “Main Street” investors.
Reaching a broader audience also provides new opportunities for more creative communication strategies. Just as language and context need to be adjusted for main street, so does presentation. Creative delivery can make financial reports more eye-catching, understandable and useful. Enhance charts and graphs with colors and branding. Use graphics to highlight top-line information. Encourage the CEO to record a video recapping a quarterly letter to shareholders. These tactics each engage the new and growing audience and make the information more accessible.
A corporation’s financial, IR and communications teams now have a larger and more diverse audience to engage. Corporate communications professionals have the unique skillset to tailor messages from the financial and IR teams to meet the needs of non-traditional investors. By focusing on clarity and embracing creativity, they can ensure earnings reports resonate with today’s broader base of investors.