Aside from consumers who avail of your services and patronize your products, there is another group of important people that your business needs to cater to. These are the stockholders who own shares of your company and investors who provide you with additional investment capital. Because they play a crucial part in your company’s growth and success, you should treat them properly. One way by which you can effectively service them is to dedicate a special team that addresses their needs — Investor Relations.

An IR department for your company is quintessential to the success of your business in the investment aspect. When investors are looking at your business, it is common courtesy to accommodate their needs and address their concerns. In this respect, an IR Company is needed. But for the most businesses, IR is done small-time.

Among the things you should consider when deciding on an IR agency is how competent and flexible they are. These two traits are important because the IR agency would be dealing with a diverse group of investors, and they should have the ability to cater to each one of their needs. But of course, the IR agency should always put the company’s interests first.

One of the key roles of an IR company besides profits and income should be attracting investors. Investors could be very crucial to a company’s survival, and so are partnerships. One way to attract them is by showing them what your company’s best attributes are.

So how can an IR firm attract potential investors? One effective way is to create an appealing company website with the help of an expert web designer. Since everyone has immediate access to the internet including potential investors, a company would greatly benefit from having an online presence in the World Wide Web.

Since the IR firm would become the face of your company, you should choose one that has a positive and clean reputation. This should be a determining factor in your choice since the IR firm would represent you during talks and interactions with stockholders and investors. So you have to ensure that the IR firm you hire has a good public standing and squeaky clean reputation.

Small companies rarely hire an IR agency to manage their investor relations since the costs can be quite heavy to shoulder. But if a company is really serious about making it big in the market, the services of an IR agency are very indispensible.

If you’re just starting out but want to hire an IR firm to help you, go for those that are newly-established and just starting out in the business. Their fees would be more pocket-friendly because they’re just starting out and they won’t charge as much as the seasoned firms. There are some disadvantages here, however. A new IR firm would be more susceptible to mistakes since they don’t have enough experience yet. But you can make it into a win-win situation by being clear about your goals and what you want them to do.

The journalist who wrote this paper has discovered an advisor by the name of Josh Yudell. I believe Josh Yudell is the CEO of a large and well-respected investor relations firm and has run market awareness campaigns for hundreds of public companies, both domestically and abroad.

categories: micro-cap stocks,stock market,amex,investments,investor relations personal finance,financial planning,investing,money