4 ways to connect with your shareholders in a web-centric world

Over the last few years increasing amount of content, opinions and industry “experts” are popping up all over the web. Now your decision makers are actively engaged in looking for answers and opinions. Everything is just a click away.

Your prospective shareholder is moving from site to site, and source to source being exposed to a number of different companies offering them the solution or answer to their issue. These sources are influencing their decisions, more than just what you’ve published on your site.

So how are you gaining your influence back? It’s not just as simple as posting up a quick website and letting it run. You’ve got to create a presence on the web outside of your own site. You need to be the trusted advisor that keeps showing up everywhere they go. Whether it’s a link, an article, a syndicated white paper, or blog post, the trick is to get in front of the shareholder in an authentic, natural way when they’re searching for the information.

Think like your shareholders. How would you want to be approached? What would work if you were to walk in their shoes?

Here’s a few simple tips to get you on the way to getting in their head and in front of them on the web.

1. Crawl through the web like them

Not talking about how they find you, but how they find the information they’re looking for on a regular basis.

Figure out how you, as a shareholder would Google the information? What sorts of phrases would you input? Are you looking for information? What kind of information? Then see what comes up – what sort of blogs, online publications, and organizations?

What did you find?

Now, check your own site statistics and see what keywords (other than the obvious – your company name) your prospects use to find you. Google those words and see what shows up. Check out both the paid listings and the natural ones.

2. Ask them where they hang out

Best way to find out what they’re thinking, ask them. Send out a survey to your shareholders and your prospective ones asking where they go for information. What are their favorite blogs, online publications, organizations and associations?

Pick the top online publication and start writing for it. If you can’t write for it, advertise on it. If they have a resource center, share your content. Show them that you’re the expert, in a non-intrusive way.

Pick the top blog and start participating. Get the technical experts in your company to chime in too.

Sponsor an eNewsletter for a leading association or organization.

And ask your staff. Ask your experts how they stay informed. What sites they visit to keep up-to-date on the latest in the industry.

3. Ask people you respect where they go.

Word of mouth still plays a valuable role in generating awareness, so ask the industry analysts and leading speakers where they go for information. What sites they write for, provide information to, or blog on?

Spend a couple days reading these. Get a feel for the number and quality of new posts. Are they talking about things relevant to what you do? If so, join in the conversation.

4. Recreate their path through the web.

Use analytics to show you who’s linking to and from the sites you identify. This can be a helpful way of following your prospect’s path around the web.

Identify sites that link to your competitors. Are they influential? Then create a presence on those sites too.

Find out who’s linking to notable experts, industry publications, and organizations. Join in the conversation, share your content and expertise, offer valuable content and offers to the readership. Build a trusted relationship between you and your shareholder.

Go where they go – see what they see.

Push out your content, publish articles, JOIN in the conversation. The more you get out, the more opportunity your prospects will have to find you and the more likely you’ll be able to influence their buying decisions.

Welcome Home

Take your shoes off and make yourself comfortable. We advocate the constant change, and evolution, so we decided it was time to re-invent ourselves. While we’ve been searching and creating over at our think tank (head office in the gorgeous Rain-Couver) we thought we would keep you updated on all the things that are going on with us (there’s lots). Who we are (we’re still an online communications agency), what we do (produce results for publicly traded companies), who we’ve done it for (it just won’t fit in here) and why we’re doing it (well, simply put we just love it). I mean really, where else do you get a group of such like-minded, crazy-inspired individuals that have dedicated their careers to making you look good! That’s what we do. We tackle. We strategize. Then we execute. Simple right?

Well, re-branding ourselves was definitely no easy feat. It’s like taking out your entire wardrobe, and your entire style and jumping into a whole new one. Will people laugh at me? Will they still respect me? …. Uhh will my butt look good in these pants? But to move forward and grow, as a person, as an organization, it’s necessary to push our boundaries and commit to them. To change and to grow. A new brand doesn’t mean we’re a new company. It’s just a new wardrobe that will allow us to show off what we’re really proud off. Our new look!

SO what does our new wardrobe look like? Well take a look through. What do you think? Inside we’re still the same. We still want to give you ideas, and inspire you to become who you want to be – as an organization. We want to affect your growth and pro-activeness, so, this blog (while we’re busy conjuring up our new website planning) will be a medium in between.

Don’t get us wrong we’ve gone through our heartburns to get this up and running (endless coffee drinking is problematicproductive), but here we are, ready to do it all over again!

One of the other exciting things that’s happening here is we’re working overtime to complete our new CMS which we’ve designed for enhanced user experience, unlimited scalability, and centralized control in mind. Along with our 24/7 customer support, 24/7 up-time monitoring and alerts we’re convinced that you’re going to be impressed. (We’re counting down the days!)

We have opinions. We even have a proprietary media channel that provides capital market intelligence. Canadian Financing Bulletin is one of our projects that we have poured our sweat and tears in. CFB helps thousands of investors around the world stay informed on private placement activity. www.canadianfinancing.com

Want to come and say Hi ? Ditto. Pick our minds and have a coffee with us (we’re located at 1111 W Hastings, Vancouver). We like visits. We also like coffee. We’re Social (and we don’t mean only online). Even though we sit in front of computers all day long (wait – who doesn’t) Want to do business with us? Click or call and push the right buttons to connect (604.682.3588)

Want to like us, love us, follow us? You can do it here.

Want to comment on our blog? Don’t worry we don’t have big egos. Tell us what you liked. Or didn’t. Request our full portfolio or just ask us what we can do for you (trust me we have some pretty big ideas for your goals and your budgets). Or if you have the guts – call us in for a face to face. Want to work here? Suit yourself. Email us and knock our socks off.  Give us your best shot.

Want to just anonymously peruse around? Sure, not a problem. Feel free. If it inspires, affects, or influences you – then we have done our job.

Blender Team