In most companies, public relations and marketing functions have little interaction with the finance department. At first glance this appears normal, since most publicly traded companies have investor relations personnel and private companies rarely disclose financial information. Focus a little deeper, however, and you can see that this is a lost opportunity to strengthen a company’s positioning and brand image.

 

To view a previous issue of Insight, please click on the headline below: Dealing with the Media: A Potent Marketing Tool How to Create an Effective Corporate Newsletter Effective Trade Show Media Relations Strategies The Strategic Importance of an Effective Earnings Press Release

Financial results are potent tools that can help companies boost the impact of their non-financial communications, both internally and externally. Whether private or publicly traded, a company’s financial performance provides valuable proof points that can support marketing and branding messages to all key constituents:

• For customers and business partners, positive financial information reinforces that they’re doing business with a winner.
• For shareholders, it affirms their decision to invest in the company.
• For current employees, it is a source of pride, loyalty and motivation.
• For potential employees, it paints the picture of an attractive, solid choice in the job market.
• For media and industry analysts, it projects credibility and legitimacy on the company.
• For peers, it generates respect and improves the company’s value proposition in terms of potential M&A activity.

Simply stating that a company has a leading product in the market will not have much of an impact if every other competitor says the same thing. Backing up such a statement with the fact that the company has experienced a five-fold increase in factory orders in the past year will make constituents take notice.

 

Used effectively in this way, financial results can position a company as a market leader or rising player of importance, as a successful company with a smart management team and sound business strategy, and as having quality products and services. It also can enhance the more common, day-to-day company news.

 

For example, a simple executive hire announcement can communicate more than just the employment news: “We’re pleased to announce that John Smith has joined our company as president of retail operations. His product management skills will be a great asset as we work to continue our eight straight quarters of record earnings.”

 

Or in a press release relating to community giving efforts: “We are proud to establish the Acme Corporation Scholarship. The tremendous growth of our retail sales network has given us the opportunity to help students achieve their academic goals and dreams.”

 

For those less than expert in financial matters, useful financial information can include revenue and sales results, net income, assets, market share and industry-specific ratios such as net interest margin for banks. For publicly traded companies, much of this information can be found in quarterly earnings press releases, annual reports, and 10-Q and 10-K reports (standard SEC filings available at www.freeedgar.com ).

 

Obviously, financial performance is easy to promote during good times. However, even in times of poor performance, utilizing financials can still be quite effective when answering questions from the media or other constituents.

 

The key is to characterize the performance in the overall context of the company’s business strategy. This could mean relating the fact that the company’s long-term prospects remain strong, that its strategy remains sound. It could entail stating that the company is adjusting its strategy to better fit new market conditions, or that the entire industry is experiencing a downturn.

 

For example, “Despite the recent industry-wide downturn in overall demand for widgets, our Ambassador® line remains the fastest selling product on the market, according to the Widget Times.”

 

Or, “During our 50-year history as the industry’s No. 1 provider of widgets, Acme Co. has succeeded regardless of the ups and downs of the economy. We will continue to provide our customers with the best products and service for many years to come.”

 

There are some cautions to note when using financial information for marketing and PR purposes. It is essential to check with executive management to determine what financial information they would like to disclose or not disclose. In cases where management would rather be vague, a good tactic is to use percentages when talking about revenues or sales, such as “double-digit income growth,” or referring to the company as a category leader or a product as a key profit center.

 

All too often marketing and PR messages are dismissed as fluff or exaggerated. Adding concrete financial information to back up those messages will add untold credibility and impact to a company’s communications effort.

To view actual examples of MarshComm's financial communications work, click Work Samples.