One question we are almost always asked is "What kind of firm are you?" which usually means what areas of the financial community do we service. IRC is one consulting firm that has been successful in this business long enough to have traveled in all financial community circles in this nation and many of the key countries abroad. That means whatever type of investor a company needs to approach IRC can get the job done. That ability gives us the basis for recommending what the client needs not just "what we can do". There are consulting firms that just cover institutions or just retail. IRC covers any sector you might need.

Our specialists can develop important market intelligence and institutional, research, broker or individual sponsorship in direct and indirect contact with the domestic and international investment communities and individual investors on behalf of our clients. We also apply what we learn to hold productive individual and group meetings for management with selected, qualified investors.

IRC has a proprietary method to uncover and target the right investors, including our own intelligence and knowledge of the financial community. Also, in IR today there are ample service providers that offer expeditious ways to put together the best target lists. At IRC we have the advantage of starting with our proprietary lists of 50,000 investors in small and medium cap companies. This advantage permits us to start fast by utilizing the highest potential investors from our lists. To that, if appropriate, we can consider 13f and non-13f filers and peer group purchasers, whether the peer group is an industry or financial group. Also, our street contacts and networking off of them continually uncover additional pockets of potential interest. When completed, this process permits us to target appropriate messages to the right audiences, including targeting the most logical institutional investors.

We counsel not to worry about the herd instinct among institutions. That only comes into play if a company has been passive. In that case a company will pop up on the screens of institutions looking for very similar characteristics. Those might all buy and sell at the same time. But that would be because the company let it happen by being passive. With a proactive program we purposely aim to diversify the institutional base so we will not have all sellers at the same time, because they have different interests and degrees of patience. For instance, we find at times a company can be both a value and growth play. Both types of institutions might be interested, and might buy, but maybe not at the same time and they are unlikely to sell at the same time. Overseas investors normally have longer time horizons for their investments than in this country. They also consider the dollar value against various currencies which can lead to timing differences in investing.

We can assist in financial public relations research and goal setting. We can help a client answer a question like how do you reach potential foreign stock owners? Or, for example, what percentage institutional vs. retail support is optimal for your company and how do you get it? What percentage of European vs. American holdings should you seek? What type of shareholder owns your stock, controls your float today? Why? Should you alter this? How? For that matter, how do you reach brokers, analysts, institutional investors or individual investors in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, Tulsa, Grand Rapids or Indianapolis?

The IR Marketing Program

With all information gathered, IRC then fine tunes an action program for comment and approval. The tailored program encompasses a rationale for its recommendations and appropriate tactics aimed to further your corporate objectives and specific needs in marketing your company. It also includes agreed upon measurement criteria. There are two key pages in the program that break out in great detail each major category of activity including the amount of hours, and how many dollars that represents, that IRC estimates to put in during the first 12 months of the relationship.

Our monthly activity calendars and extremely detailed fee billing statements follow very similar formats so a client can follow the process from one through to the other. In that way, all parties have a very good meeting of the minds as to what is to be done, what is getting done and what are the results of the efforts.

In representing clients there are times when all the activities one normally thinks of can only go so far. There is always some art in IR. For instance, a company that wants its stock to sell at a premium to its peers must have available proactive investor relations representation that has, in the words of one money manager when referring to IRC's services, "...devoured the essence of management (an art)," and can have the experience, talent and judgment (art) to appropriately direct investors' attention beyond the historical financials toward valuable non-financial or "soft" information (art) such as a capable management with a solid strategy and plan. The experienced investor relations professional can address, for example, those real management team and leadership qualities exhibited by the executives. This discussion, coupled with an appropriate strategy and commensurate plans, builds a platform for outstanding successes. In our programs, we provide tailored communications strategies and activities aimed at investors of various types, the business media and shareholders as agreed to prior. We are prepared to implement a full or partial program including the most essential ingredients for success.

The corporate communications included in our services may be aimed at investors, or at times to employees or your surrounding community. Also, at times, our clients face a crisis. In those emergencies, IRC is able to react quickly to assist your crisis plan.