Patricia Baronowski-Schneider
Pristine Advisers
New York, NY
Patricia is CEO of Pristine Advisers, an IR/PR/Media Relations/Marketing firm with 33 years of experience working her way to starting her own Company a decade ago. She can be reached at pbaronowski@pristineadvisers.com
The annual letter to the shareholders is one of the most important tools for a successful IR/PR strategy. However, it is often overlooked even by experienced professionals in the industry.
Most investors, especially retail investors, are not interested in reading through letters; and, they conveniently avoid reading them. Even the media is least interested in covering letters of communication unless it’s written by Warren Buffet or Jeff Bezos, maybe. This is why many IR/PR teams pay less attention to drafting the annual letter to shareholders.
However, it is a serious mistake that you must avoid at all costs.
The annual letter to shareholders is an important tool of communication and is read with a great deal of interest by professional investors and analysts. They read the letter with the expectation to understand where the business stands and what it aims to achieve. It is also a tool for them to analyze the company’s progress and determine its compatibility with their financial goals.
The letter is also a great opportunity for the management to communicate effectively with the shareholders. It helps gain and establish the trust of existing investors and entice potential investors to consider the company for their portfolios. You must use the letter to highlight the key achievements made by the business and how it aligns with its long term goals.
Here are some tips to write an effective annual letter to your shareholders –
- Maintain accuracy
Accurate information is the soul of the letter. The letter should be able to communicate the actual position of the business to the reader. It goes without saying that you should refrain from adding any false information. There should be no errors as well; it should be an accurate description of where the business stands today and where it hopes to reach.
- Keep it crisp and clear
There is only enough time for you to capture the reader’s attention and get your point across to them. Don’t waste it talking about things that are not important. Keep it short, crisp and clear. Your letter should be dense with valuable information. It should have the right mix of facts and figures to effectively communicate with your readers while not boring them at the same time.
- Maintain consistency
Before drafting the letter, review last year’s letter. It is a good idea to see what kind of goals you had set for the business last year and what kind of promises you had made to investors. Maintain consistency in your letters and share with investors the progress made by the business in achieving key milestones.
These are just some of the key ways in which you can make sure that you hit the bulls-eye with your annual letter to the shareholders.
I hope you strive and thrive in these challenging times.