Guide to Effective Digital Communications

Transcription

1 BVCA Guides Guide to Effective Digital Commuicatios I associatio with

2 your story i FocuS The Cotet & Creative team at Istictif Parters helps compaies tell their story through the imagiative use of digital platforms ad chaels. Geeratig big ideas, producig attetio-grabbig cotet, egagig audieces, promotig a chage of perceptio ad behaviour, ad deliverig compellig busiess results. We help cliets tell their story ad make a coectio. Storytellig Websites Films & Aimatios (0)

3 Cotets Foreword 4 Itroductio 5 Storytellig 6 Your website: A widow to your world 8 Maximisig value with creative cotet 9 Social media 11 The future 13 3

4 Foreword Welcome to the BVCA Guide to Effective Digital Commuicatios, the latest i a series of guides produced by the BVCA. Private equity ad veture capital firms have traditioally chose to maitai a low profile. There are momets, however, whe it is ecessary to raise oe s head above the parapet, i particular whe seekig to raise fuds, buy or sell ivestmets, or recruit ew talet. This is particularly true i the curret ecoomic eviromet whe fiacial ad huma capital are limited, ad the demads o that capital are icreasigly competitive. Digital Commuicatios preset a urivalled opportuity to directly target specific audieces ad egage them i your story. This guide is aimed at helpig you establish a authetic ad differetiated olie voice. It looks at storytellig as a medium for coveyig your uique approach, ad creative cotet as a meas of brigig that visio alive olie. It also provides hits ad tips for developig a more egagig website ad provides isight ito maagig ad moitorig social media. We hope you fid this guide useful ad we would like to thak the Cotet & Creative practice at Istictif Parters for their support. Tim Hames Director Geeral BVCA 4 Effective Digital Commuicatios

5 Itroductio At the last cout the iteret was home to 951,462,783 websites. Twitter had 320 millio active members postig 800 millio messages every sigle day. YouTube boasts hudreds of millios of videos ad Facebook s ot-so-exclusive club has 1.5 billio active users. So, whilst o oe doubts the ability of the iteret to coect ad egage, how does a orgaisatio cut through the oise to reach the people that matter ad egage them i meaigful dialogue? The art of commuicatio has evolved rapidly through the ages, drive i large part by iovatios i techology. From the telegram to the telephoe, the televisio to the iteret, each techical iovatio swept i o a tide of euphoria ad o little hype. The oe costat that has remaied throughout is the eed to create a meaigful arrative ad to make a coectio. To iform ad egage. How does a orgaisatio cut through the oise to reach the people that matter ad egage them i meaigful dialogue? Oly oce you look past the techical hyperbole, ad the techology becomes a meas ad ot a ed, ca meaigful coversatios take place. Ad so it is with Digital Commuicatios. First came the platforms. Lots of them. The came the arrative. As YouTube, Facebook, Twitter ad Istagram (to ame but four) move ito the maistream, the commuicators, ad crucially their audieces, focus o the message ot the messeger. I this, the latest BVCA Guide, we focus our attetio o the essetial igrediets that make up a meaigful digital dialogue, equippig you with the skills to cut through the oise. Bob Morris Parter Cotet & Creative Istictif Parters Why does digital matter? Digital Commuicatio is rapidly overtakig traditioal commuicatio as the primary commuicatio chaels for private equity ad veture capital firms. Earlier this year Greewich Associates foud that 80% of istitutioal ivestors use digital media i their regular work flow, ad 30% said that it directly iflueces their ivestmet decisios 1. I a survey of over 3,000 jouralists across three cotiets, Caterbury Christchurch Uiversity foud that over 50% of jouralists claimed they could t do their job without the iteret 2. Ad a recet Mapower report revealed that early ie out of 10 cadidates use compay websites as their preferred source of iformatio about a prospective employer 3. Each of these surveys coclude that, i order to egage these importat stakeholders, digital really matters. 1 How Social Media Iforms ad Shapes the Ivestig Process. Greewich Associates Global Social Jouralism Study, Cisio, ad Caterbury Christchurch Uiversity If you build it, they will come. MaPowerGroup Solutios Itroductio 5

6 Storytellig Before a compay ca begi to egage stakeholders through ay medium, they first eed to work out what they are goig to say. This is especially true of digital media, because it is oe of the few occasios whe your corporate arrative is laid bare for the world to see ad scrutiise. Storytellig is perhaps the world s oldest art form, however i recet years it has gaied popularity i corporate circles as commuicatios professioals icreasigly recogise the eed to commuicate a coheret ad cosistet corporate story. Storytellig is about developig a compellig ad authetic arrative that strikes at the heart of your value propositio, ad the relayig that story to stakeholders i such a way as to chage perceptios ad drive positive behaviour. The private equity (PE) ad veture capital (VC) idustry has a great story to tell. PE ad VC firms help busiesses develop ad grow, they drive iovatio ad job creatio, ad they eable busiesses to compete i the world s most competitive markets, thereby lauchig the great compaies of the future. But more ofte tha ot PE ad VC firms lag their listed peers whe it comes to promotig their achievemets ad raisig their profile. Listed compaies ivest heavily i articulatig ad promotig their brad idetity through effective itegrated commuicatio campaigs, both o ad offlie. With icreasig competitio Imperial Iovatios has established a clear digital arrative ad uses olie chaels to keep stakeholders iformed ad egaged 6 Effective Digital Commuicatios

7 for capital, may PE firms will eed to shout a little louder to esure their voice is heard. Of course may PE firms do ot have the resources of their larger listed rivals, however they ca still take a leaf out of their book. Most will agree that marketig is a itegral part of a effective corporate strategy but may fail to realise that commuicatio is a itegral compoet of marketig. Whe you start to aalyse the PE sector you soo begi to see that the majority of PE firms marketig commuicatios lack differetiatio. I this eviromet how ca you tell the differece betwee oe ivestmet firm ad the other? This is where effective storytellig ca help shape a differet arrative so stakeholders ca fully uderstad a firm s expertise, approach ad culture. PE firms eed to start thikig about themselves as brads ad their corporate arrative should ultimately aswer oe questio: How are we differet? PE firms eed to effectively expad their arrative beyod fiacial data ad key metrics ad give a more detailed uderstadig of their focus ad expertise, their ivestmet approach ad track record, ad their people ad culture. These key differetiators eed to be embedded i the firm s DNA ad amplified through all commuicatios. It s importat to uderstad that parters are lookig for clear, differetiated strategies with relevat ad prove capabilities. So get your story out there through multiple chaels because effective commuicatio ca be a real game-chager. Effective commuicatio ca be a real game chager. Six steps to effective storytellig Be differet I order to esure your corporate arrative stads out from the crowd, you eed to differetiate yourself from all the rest. So clearly articulate what makes your firm differet. Be huma The iteret owes its success to the fact it is accessible to all. The laguage you use eeds to reflect that. So avoid idustry jargo ad stick to every day laguage to clearly commuicate your story. Be clear Your digital coversatios will attract a broad audiece, so esure your message is clear. Ambiguity has o place o the Iteret. Be cocise Platforms like Twitter have brought micro-bloggig ito the maistream. I part it is a reactio to the short attetio spas ad promiscuity of iteret users, who hop from site to site. You oly get a few miutes to make your poit so keep it short. Be authetic ad credible The iteret presets users with a ecyclopaedia at their figertips, so you eed to esure your story is geuie ad fouded i fact. Be trasparet There is o place to hide olie. Bury somethig ad it will soo surface. So esure you are clear ad trasparet. Storytellig 7

8 Your website: A widow to your world Despite icreasig competitio from social media, your corporate website remais your primary digital real estate. It is the first port of call for ew ad existig stakeholders lookig to fid out more about your busiess. To that ed your website eeds to commuicate your busiess purpose ad reflect your brad. Here are six steps to improvig your corporate website: 1 Usability A website should be visual ad egagig, but above all else it eeds to be useful. Make sure users ca avigate your site with ease ad quickly fid what they are lookig for. Divide your story ito relevat sectios ad provide simple meus to aid avigatio. Thik about what you wat to ecourage your audiece to do ad make it easy for them. 2 Relevacy Your website should look iterestig, but resist the temptatio to prioritise style over substace. Esure you iclude relevat busiess iformatio icludig; a descriptio of your busiess, your visio ad values, sigificat ivestmets ad key persoel, relevat fiacial accouts ad above all else, make sure your cotact details are readily available 3 Brevity Iteret users ted to skim-read iformatio ad sack o webpages, so keep text short ad cocise. 4 Mobility With over 50% of iteret traffic ow comig from mobile devices you eed to esure your website is resposive or adaptive. That is to say, it ca be accessed from all devices. 5 Cotet Creative cotet, icludig images, videos ad graphics will help demostrate what drives your busiess ad reveal the people ad stories behid the umbers. There are those that argue that a website is worthless without cotet. We agree, which is why we ve give it a chapter all of its ow. IPO: Rule 26 A egagig corporate website is a must for compaies lookig to raise fuds, particularly those listig o AIM. Aim Rule 26 stipulates that each AIM compay must maitai a website ad keep it up to date with statutory iformatio, icludig a descriptio of the busiess, biographies of directors, ad fiacial performace ad metrics. So if you are plaig a IPO it pays to create a website early i the process. Whe Polle Street Capital brought Shawbrook Bak to market a ivestor website kept all stakeholders up to date 8 Effective Digital Commuicatios

9 Maximizig value with creative cotet Cotet is broadly defied as the assets that you publish o your website ad share o social media. This icludes documets, images ad audio files, however the kig of cotet is udoubtedly olie video. Films are much easier to digest ad they ca act as visual evidece of your propositio ad demostrate your expertise. If a stakeholder ca see it, the it becomes tagible ad based i fact. Films help stakeholders to visualise your busiess ad your team. It helps them to make a coectio ad aids greater uderstadig. Creative cotet ca also help you maximize the value of your ivestmets o exit by promotig a better uderstadig of the ivestmet case or busiess propositio, leadig to a ehaced valuatio. Ad this is becomig extremely importat i the private equity ad veture capital idustry. At a time whe digital is your shop frot to the world, the profile of ivestmet firms ad their portfolio compaies could ofte beefit from far better widow dressig. Whe embracig creative cotet there are a umber of thigs that a idustry professioal should cosider. Creative cotet should directly support defied busiess objectives. It should directly reflect brad ad values. Ad, most importatly, it should be uique. viewer o a huma, emotioal level. Combiig the arrative of the private equity ad veture capital idustry with the kid of creativity ad techiques associated with the advertisig idustry ca be particularly powerful, but it requires a strog uderstadig of the tastes ad prefereces of fiacial audieces as well as real creative visio. So choose your creative parter carefully! This combiatio of kowledge, isight ad creativity is key whe devisig ad deliverig isightful creative cotet that also directly cotributes to a objective whether that be raisig the profile of a firm or articulatig a ivestmet propositio i advace of a trasactio. So how does a idustry professioal choose what types of creative cotet to use, ad how to deploy it most effectively? Oe of the guidig priciples should be to thik about storytellig across all platforms of iformatio. Powerful storytellig, as laid out at the start of this guide, ca create a strog affiity betwee target audieces ad a brad. Visual presetatios i the form of video ca have a far greater impact tha text o ivestor decisios. -Etrepreeurial Isights, Jauary 2015 Olie video has rapidly moved ito the maistream, such that there is ow a expectatio from all stakeholders that films will play a part i your commuicatios. But such is the icreasig prevalece of video cotet, that here too you eed to esure your cotet stads out. Whether raisig capital, pursuig a acquisitio or plaig a exit, competitio is rife, so the eed to capture ot just the attetio, but also the imagiatio of target audieces is key. Stakeholders expect to be iformed, egaged ad etertaied. Whe Alchemy Parters owed, Revolutio Bars Group, listed o the Lodo Stock Exchage, a high-quality ivestor film helped to realig historic perceptios about the brad Leadig busiesses are icreasigly eschewig the traditioal corporate video ad are takig a leaf out of advertisers playbooks, producig high-impact visual cotet that coects to the Maximizig value with creative cotet 9

10 It ca ispire your reputatio, your brad, ad ultimately ifluece how your actios are received ad judged. Devisig your story is a o-liear process. Creative cotet opes a ew world of opportuities that traditioal prospectuses ad PowerPoit do ot offer. The power of graphics, bradig, films ad aimatios is their multi-sesory impact. You do t eed to describe somethig that ca be show. You do t eed to explai somethig that ca be visually iterpreted. You do t eed to covice whe you ca draw your audiece ito comig to the same coclusios idepedetly. Ad you do t eed to vociferate whe you ca be authetic. There are of course limitatios to be aware of. Bradig, publicatios, films ad aimated cotet ca demad a meaigful ivestmet. Decisio makers must be comfortable that a large proportio of the ROI may be aecdotal. Ad the cotext withi which creative cotet is deployed ca have a big impact o ROI too. But these limitatios are isigificat withi At a time whe digital is your shop frot to the world, the ivestmet profile of ivestmet firms ad their portfolio compaies could ofte beefit from far better widow dressig the cotext of maximizig the value i a trasactio, supportig a equity story, promotig better uderstadig of a propositio or ehacig a valuatio. I a world of digital shop frots, widow dressig really does matter. TPG Capital backed Russia hypermarket Leta used ifo graphics to commuicate the value of their market leadig loyalty card Ideas for creative cotet Cotet comes i may guises, but whatever cotet you commissio, make sure it reflects your brad ad your voice. High quality cotet will edure ad coect. Ivestor Film A high-level itroductio to your busiess ad your approach. Take viewers o a jourey through your firm. Haress the arrative of a corporate storyteller ad sell it with strog images like a advertiser. Case studies Ivestors are always kee to see where their moey has bee ivested, so take them o a virtual site visit through each of your ivestmets. Iclude footage of operatios ad soud bites from key persoel at each busiess. Cliet testimoials Third party recommedatios carry far greater weight tha a first perso sales pitch, so let your former or existig ivestmets do your marketig for you by producig a series of films i which your parters share their experiece ad edorse your approach. People profiles The stregth of most busiesses ca be evideced through the calibre of its people, so profile key employees i short films i which they detail their expertise ad experiece. Live webcasts Webcastig allows you to broadcast your evets ad presetatios to stakeholders over the iteret. Webcasts ca be either live or o-demad (archive), ad either audio-oly or video. 10 Effective Digital Commuicatios

11 Social media Social media has rapidly moved ito the maistream ad is icreasigly gaiig a share of voice. However such is the proliferatio of platforms, eve those compaies with sigificat resource will eed to make cosidered decisios about how ad where they egage. To make that decisio easier, we ve listed overleaf the most effective chaels for corporate commuicators. It should be oted that whilst it is easy to get distracted by the immediacy ad demads of social media, your corporate website should retai its status as your primary digital real estate. Social media should serve to egage old ad ew audieces alike ad drive them back to your website. Each social media platform is differet, but they share a commo theme; the eed to egage ad iteract. Do t just shout. Liste. Seek out like-mided etities ad iteract. It is also importat to maitai a regular dialogue. Not oly will this aid your Search Egie rakigs but it also keeps your stakeholders egaged i your story. If you ultimately decide that social media is t for you the close the accout. Nothig creates a worse impressio tha a social media feed that has t bee fed. Eve if you decide ot to commuicate via social media, esure you moitor all digital chaels for metios of your busiess, your brad or your operatios. Social Media is ofte the first sig of trouble - the jugle drums of old. Social Media moitorig, at a basic level, is free ad easy, usig ay of the popular search egies such as Google or Yahoo. alerts ca be received as soo as the alarm bells soud. Ad lastly, esure you deploy a Social Media Policy that all employees uderstad. I the digital age it is possible for ayoe to udermie your hard eared reputatio with oe ill-coceived post. Social media 11

12 Each social media platform is differet, but they share a commo theme: the eed to egage ad iteract. Do t just shout. Liste. LikedI Raked 18th i the global league table of social media platforms with oly 97 millio members, it is a heavyweight i the world of commerce, particularly whe lookig to recruit ew talet. LikedI also eables idividuals ad orgaisatios to demostrate their expertise by sharig thought-leadership ad opiio pieces with peer groups. Best for: Attractig ew talet ad promotig thought-leadership Tips: Joi groups ad share relevat isights Twitter Twitter has captured the imagiatio of users by popularisig micro-bloggig o the move. I commo with other social platforms it affords the opportuity to seek out ad egage with like-mided idividuals. Best for: Alertig your followers to recet aoucemets ad evets Tips: Keep it short ad pithy, use hashtags, egage with others YouTube Oe of the origial disruptors, YouTube has recetly celebrated its 10th birthday ad is icreasigly ecroachig o the maistream. With hudreds of millios of videos o the site, care eeds to be take to esure your cotet stads out from the crowd. Best for: Sharig film cotet with ew audieces Tips: Add a catchy title to help your cotet stad out Facebook With over 1.5 billio members, Facebook is the udisputed kig of social media ad provides a great additioal chael through which to reach stakeholders. Pricipally a persoal commuicatios platform, Facebook is icreasigly targetig professioal commuities, most recetly with Facebook at Work, a workplace collaboratio tool. Best for: Regular corporate updates ad targeted advertisig Tips: Keep it relevat! Istagram Istagram is the yougest social platform o our list, but has rapidly developed a large ad loyal followig, eve usurpig Twitter withi certai demographics. Origially coceived as a image-sharig site it has recetly expaded ito short sackable video clips. Best for: Sharig visual cotet Tips: Use hash tags 12 Effective Digital Commuicatios

13 The future The digital ladscape cotiues to evolve at pace. The iteret will soo be home to over 1 billio websites ad almost 4 billio users. Busiess iteret traffic will be amogst the biggest drivers of that growth 1. At the same time competitio for fiacial capital ad huma resource is oly goig to icrease as the world ecoomy, ad developig atios i particular, cotiue to grow ad evolve. For those reasos aloe private equity ad veture capital firms eed to fid a credible ad differetiated digital arrative if they are to stad out from the crowd. The way that people are accessig ad cosumig olie data is also chagig. Olie video is predicted to accout for 80% of olie traffic by 2019 ad mobile devices will icreasigly domiate. Your stakeholders will expect to access iformatio at their figertips ad cosume it i a easily digestible fashio. All of this meas that PE ad VC firms eed to fid their digital feet ad fast. Capital will flow to those that shout loudest - Ster Stewart & Co Cisco Network Forecast Cisco, 2014 The future 13

14 Notes 14 Effective Digital Commuicatios

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16 About the Sposor The Cotet & Creative practice of Istictif Parters helps compaies tell their story through the imagiative use of digital platforms ad chaels. Geeratig big ideas, producig attetio-grabbig cotet, egagig audieces, promotig a chage of perceptio ad behaviour, ad deliverig compellig busiess results. We help cliets tell their story ad make a coectio. Istictif Parters Istictif Parters is a iteratioal commuicatios cosultacy, combiig strategic ad creative thikig to help our cliets egage ad ifluece their key stakeholders. Cotacts Bob Morris Parter, Cotet & Creative, Istictif Parters Bob helps cliets establish their digital voice ad brig their stories alive usig egagig multimedia cotet. Specialisig i high-impact films ad aimatios, he helps cliets commuicate their busiess critical messages to a wide rage of stakeholders; developig edurig cotet strategies, origiatig vibrat ad creative ideas, ad producig captivatig cotet that ecourages recipiets to egage, iteract ad share. Paul Owe Maagig Parter, Cotet & Creative, Istictif Parters Paul is oe of Istictif s foudig parters, with may years experiece i corporate commuicatios. He has plaed ad maaged may corporate positioig, digital ad reportig iitiatives across a wide rage of sectors. His skills ecompass strategy developmet ad implemetatio plaig for cliets i the UK ad iteratioally. Tel: +44 (0) bob.morris@istictif.com Tel: +44 (0) paul.owe@istictif.com What do you thik of this guide? Do you have ay questios? We d love to hear from you. bob.morris@istictif.com +44 (0) British Private Equity & Veture Capital Associatio 5th Floor East, Chacery House, Chacery Lae, Lodo WC2A 1QS T +44 (0) bvca@bvca.co.uk