Reasons to Build a Bridge Between IR and PR Department

A company that is publicly traded or preparing for an IPO generally has two separate communication departments: investor relations and public relations.

Public relations focus on reaching customers and financial analysts, while investor relations target investors and financial analysts. Both serve separate constituents, work under different mandates, and often report to several internal executives.

Investor communications are governed by tight guidelines. Analysts, institutional investors, investment bankers, and others rely on IR experts to communicate a company's business model, financials, and future expectations.

They are usually in close contact with the general counsel, the finance department, and the Chief Financial Officer.

Mistakes can violate securities law and result in several significant issues, including shareholder litigation.Meanwhile, the firm's public relations team is responsible for disseminating the company's story in different public forums, including the mainstream and trade media, trade exhibitions, and even within the company to coworkers.

As IR and PR serve separate audiences, have different goals, and report to other bosses, they typically work in silos and rarely interact.That's a mistake. These two departments share more commonalities than you might think, and savvy executives would search for ways to maximize their production.

Here are a few pointers to make investor relations and public relations work together to get better results.

1.   All of Your Business Units' Communications Should be Consistent. 

There has always been a need for businesses to convey a clear, concise, and consistent message. But now, in an age of information overload, it is even more vital than before.

Your story must be thoroughly developed and repeated often in order to penetrate and leave a lasting impression. Anything else is likely to cause uncertainty, if not outright disaster. 

2.   It is Inefficient to Fail to Collaborate.

Investor relations and public relations contribute to the success of the company. If they aren't cooperating, they are mostly duplicating each other's efforts to some degree. 

Furthermore, they're creating ideas and resources that could be used for many different purposes if only one side is aware of the other's activities.

3.   A Possible Solution. 

Some may believe that merging the IR and PR departments is the best way to address this problem.

In general, IR and PR professionals have diverse skill sets, and they each have their own vast tasks to manage. 

IR personnel aren't familiar with all of the media players with whom PR works, and the same is true for PR and the investment community.

4.   Both Jobs are Significant and Require Devoted Personnel.

Instead of consolidating, focus on increasing teamwork. An IR professional can bring your company's IR and PR workers together while dealing with clients. 

They might discuss the forthcoming calendar of events in a conference call or in-person meeting.

Final Thoughts 

One might make a persuasive case that IR and PR should be more of a top-down approach, beginning at the C-level. However, both groups are more bottom-up, with projects coming from lower levels of the organization.

In the meanwhile, consider bringing your investor relations and public relations teams together on a regular basis.