Investor Relations in India is at a very nascent stage, due to which we generally try to assume that IR in India is being handled by PR agencies. There are certain points which helps in distinguishing these two concepts.
The move an organization makes from a privately held company to a publicly traded company can be a stun. Robust coordination of the company’s image can help with making a smooth move from the private to public by seizing the interest of investor community. To do that a organization needs to work with the Investor relations and public relations team.
Major difference between a IR and PR agency are as follows:
- Defining Roles: The IRO and PRO are both in charge of advancing the organization however they hardly cooperate as they answer to difference corporate officers. The IR team reports to the CFO, who is responsible for communicating the finances of the company to financial analysts, media and shareholders. The public relations team reports to the chief marketing officer and is charged with promoting the company’s products and services to industry analysts, media, customers, partners, prospects, and depending on the size of the organization, employees.
- Coverage success: Public relations success is measured by the number and quality of articles secured for the company where as IR success is measured by visibility of the company in the market, sell-side analyst coverage, attract higher liquidity into the company’s stock.
- Tracking trends: The PR team monitors the latest industry trends and leverages them to position company experts as thought leaders with the media. The investor relations staff is often engaged in identifying the trends in the company’s stock,screening data to distinguish potential securing targets and track historical deals,effectively screen the institutional perspective of both the organization and the peers at any given time.track macro factors driving the industry and the metrics that investors use to gauge value, in-depth analysis, ideas and data sets on industries, companies, credit, government and litigation factors that impact decision making.
- Sharing timelines. Both groups maintain timelines of upcoming activities. For PR team, the focus is on press releases, trade shows, presentations at events and awards. Investor relations personnel looks toward quarterly results, scripting earnings calls and end-of-year 10K releases,maintaining IR calendar, organizing and arranging roadshows.