One of the things I’ve noticed lately is an uptick in attention to investor relations zones. Evaluation scores are going up and well-heeled teams are moving beyond the basics. Given the current economic climate, paying more attention to skittish investors probably makes good business sense.
And here’s an even more important reason: investor relations information actually plays a huge role in the B2B buying process. Let’s just say that risk adverse buyers aren’t particularly interested in recommending a vendor who is a market share and financial loser.
As it turns out, five types of investor relations content play huge (did I say huge?) roles in the first three steps in the complex B2B buying process (make the long list, define the short list, and monitor your company before the final decision is made). Simply put, if you don’t make the grade in these steps, you won’t even know about the deal you missed.
So here’s what matters: The most important content is your company’s:
- Online annual reports (extra points for the Cliff’s Notes version);
- Stock price charts (if they are real-time, all the better);
- Investments & acquisitions (tell me what they are, why they matter, and why I should care);
- Financial statistics and reports; and
- Breaking investor/financial news & press releases.
Which brings me to the gazillion dollar question. How can you make sure your investor relations zone is up to snuff – hits the mark with B2B buyers that count – and competes with mega-site teams that have more money than good sense?
Our benchmark tracks 40 types of content & features that are delivered on best in class investor relations zones. Of these, half of the content is an absolute industry requirement (yikes!). In other words, if you don’t have this content your visitors are going to ask why (and your B2B buyers are going to use this as an excuse to drop you off of their short list).
Usability Best & Worst Practices: For the best of the best, let your fingers do the walking over to HP.com, IBM.com, Dell.com, CA.com, and Cisco.com.
Ignore SAS.com, Newegg.com, Deloitte.com, and CDW.com (see a micro-trend here?).
Content & Features Best & Worst Practices: Spend quality time mapping your site against CA.com, Cisco.com, HP.com, Dell.com, and SAP.com.
Ignore Adobe.com, Accenture.com, Oracle.com, and Insight.com – plus everyone that’s listed on my worst practice usability list.
