We attended the IR Magazine Forum—Small Cap 2022 in New York City this week. Joined by over a hundred CEOs, CFOs and IROs, we were all looking for insights into navigating today’s macro-driven investing climate. The mood was rather somber compared to year’s past and we heard the same refrain on repeat: check your investment thesis and your value proposition.

The “undervalued” explanation to all that ails a stock is a common refrain we hear from management of small cap companies—especially during volatile markets. But, don’t fall for it. It’s a trap.

Understanding why investors should own your stock has never been more important than today. As the conference season gets into full swing after the quiet summer, get your “why” down by analyzing current and future outlook and explain why each of these has a case for different types of investors.

As the end of summer draws near, and the year-end push begins, don’t forget to include IR in strategic planning discussions. We often hear Investment Relations Officers (IROs) are not invited to the table. Major mistake. IROs are your frontline offense and backline defense. At their core, they are relationship builders— interacting with external stakeholders, shareholders, analysts, and portfolio managers.

The same principle applies to making noise online. Working on the right content strategy (getting the topic right with rich messaging) is more important than the myriad details of execution (how deep you go, and how wide it’s disseminated).

It’s increasingly important to strategically mobilize current and prospective investors via a sound communication strategy across social channels. The lynchpin of any plan starts with understanding the types of investors your business and industry attracts. Next, is the content discovery phase which will help guide keywords and content for SEO which will drive engagement and nurture relationships.