Investor relations is a strategic management responsibility that integrates finance, communication, marketing and securities law compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a company’s securities achieving fair value.

Securities law compliance should be a given in all situations, although this requires continued focus, up-to-date knowledge and common sense. As investor relations is not about box-ticking, but all about pro-actively reaching out to enable the financial community to fairly value a company, it is all about marketing, communication and finance.

It should be about marketing since any company needs to safeguard its air time in a crowded arena of quoted companies. Literally thousands of choices can be made by any investor, so “If a company is not telling its own story, who will ….?”

It should be about communication which is a two-way process. Next to telling your story, it is about willingness to listen, to answer questions and to engage in a dialogue.

It should be about finance since providing such great disclosure does allow investors and analysts to fairly value the company. It is not about throwing out all the numbers, but about identifying and providing the value drivers.