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IPO Story
Interview: Angeline Cook, Metropolis Public Relations At just 26 years old, Angeline Cook is a former IR executive at a publicly traded tech company and a former analyst with Yamaha Corporation. Her background also includes: freelance writing, various accolades for four plays, as well as a number of film and theater projects that she has directed. A few years ago, she founded Metropolis Public Relations in response to the changing needs of the marketplace and need for PR professionals that clearly understand how the capital markets work. The services are comprehensive, including financial public relations, traditional public relations, strategic communications, corporate and individual reputation management, strategic planning and even crisis management. Basically, her team is a creative group -- but can also explain a balance sheet. The other day, she set aside some time from her busy schedule to have an interview with Current Offerings. There's often confusion between PR and IR. What's the difference? Investor Relations is specific to publicly trading companies and refers to the management of financial disclosures, investor communications, marketing and securities law compliance between companies and the investment community at large. Public Relations is for both public and private companies, and primarily used to build goodwill and company awareness with the public. The confusion generally occurs in that a company markets themselves through both. For example, press releases of earnings apply to both investor and public relations. Investor Relations and IR professionals are more closely governed and adhere to specific disclosure guidelines, versus PR, which is more about announcing new business and products. When you take on a client, do you basically put together a media relations campaign? If so, what does that entail? That is generally dictated by the client�s immediate needs, though it is very important to us that clients build active and lasting relationships with the media early on. We suggest, especially for our publicly traded clients, to be prepared for anything, and to be proactive with both the media and investors. We discuss (and create) everything from messaging, developing clear objectives, comprehensive media kits, proactive media outreach, press releases, keeping an upcoming news funnel and time-line, company newsletters, crisis communications plan, local community outreach, designating a company spokesperson and identifying target media outlets. At minimum, it�s important to have discussed these items for future reference. One key customer win, merger or financial win can create a flurry of media activity that you want to be in control of versus the event controlling the business and public opinion. This is particularly true if the events are not so positive. A big focus for businesses is ROI. What are the ways to measure the success of PR? Public companies would say this would be reflected in the stock price, of course! But, there are certain other intangibles that let a company know they are headed in the right direction with their public relations efforts. Are the phones ringing with inquiries? Are customers commenting on news stories they have seen on the company? Are the employees well-informed and morale high? Are competitors suddenly taking notice? Is the Company/CEO being asked to attend media, investor, financial and community events? There is no set barometer, but when a business is underexposed, they feel it. There has been quite a bit of new federal regulations over the past few years. What has that meant for PR, especially in regard to public companies? This is really an area where a well planned and executed investor relations and public relations plan serves a company well. There are so many disclosure requirements now. Public companies are much more aware of their messaging today as investors are savvy and the Internet provides an abundance of information that previously was not available. We have seen companies deal with employees posting in chat rooms in order to provide information to their fellow shareholders. This poses a unique dilemma, and companies must now self-monitor what they say, to whom, and how optimistically they say it. We act as a sounding board and sometimes, as a filter. No one wants to be excused of hyping today, so there is a delicate balance to PR for the public company. In building a company's PR, it seems that the CEO is the critical person. How much of your business is dealing with coaching the CEO? Oh yes, the CEO is critical, they are the team captain, and the person expected to have all the answers while being highly marketable and likeable as an individual. What the CEO says, or does not say, can have a material impact on the business. Many CEOs today realize this and take proactive measures, from working with us on media coaching, presentation skills and conference call rehearsals to making sure their appearance can not be construed negatively. CEOs are now expected to have the equivalent of a political strategist monitoring them; yet, you do not want the person noted as too well rehearsed or too smooth. That takes work. With all the noise in media, is PR more important than ever? Absolutely. Company�s that do not reach out to the business media really miss the opportunity to increase awareness, recognition and inform the public about their business. Even if the news is bad, get it out there, face the media and shareholders and they will respect your honesty. Repeatedly saying �next quarter we�ll hit our numbers� is no longer an option with today�s sophisticated and somewhat road-weary investment community. |
