Efforts to reach the new investment community online need improvement, according to a probe of NASDAQ 100 companies posting investor relations news on their Web sites.
That finding was the conclusion of a new PR Newswire study. Results were presented at the National Investor Relations Institute's annual conference in Orlando.
While most companies (87 percent of the NASDAQ companies analyzed) have prominently displayed investor sections (most just two clicks from their home pages), what's online isn't enough for new online investors to complete thorough research, says Mike Reilly, president of Hally Enterprises Inc. It's estimated that 7.2 million investors trade online with equity assets of $420 billion.
To improve online delivery to the new investment community, Reilly recommends putting annual reports and proxy statements online and using push technology to deliver stock quotes and headline news to investors' e-mail addresses.
No surprise, Reilly's comments came couched in a PR Newswire press release about its creation of "vIRtual IQ," PRN-tailored Web sites providing SEC filings and other IR buzz to bridge the gap between corporations and investors. (PRN, 212/282-1929)
In other Web-related market research... While analysts and entrepreneurs sing the praises of the Web, when it comes to communications, your Web site may simply be whispering sweet nothings in your public's ears.
Eighty-eight percent of 103 trade magazine editors said they use the Net to research articles, but that won't replace the need for PR pros "to establish and maintain personal relationships with the journalists who cover their industry," says Tom Rankin, president of Thomas Rankin Associates, East Greenwich, R.I., the firm which sponsored the study.
Half of the editors said they use search engines as their starting point, while 42 percent said they go directly to company Web sites. And of those scouring the Web for information, 97 percent concurred that the sites they're logging onto are "highly or moderately useful" - a finding that should feed some corporate egos.
(Thomas Rankin, 401/884-4090)