They find: • It is more efficient for them to outsource the writing of first drafts. Once corporate executives have finished drafts in front of them, they are able to make changes quickly without having to spend an inordinate amount of time on the project. • Many executives prefer this approach as they do not have to defend subjects chosen or their writing style. • Outside writers often deliver fresh insights, particularly regarding investor concerns. Inside writers sometimes “play it safe,” and tend to write only what they are sure will be approved. • CEOs occasionally use an outside agency as a trial
balloon for their own ideas. The CEO’s concepts and thoughts
are often included under the guise of “the agency’s
ideas.” This is done to test and measure the reactions
of other executives. |
| WRITING STYLE |
• Effective annual report writing delivers business and financial information in an easy-to-understand style. It aims for reader comprehension and resists the temptation to sound important or sophisticated. It simplifies and never complicates. • Great writing (along with a competent design) goes deeper. It shares the company’s strategy on a more personal level. Moreover, the writing and the design communicate in a style that matches the company’s corporate culture and style. This enables the investor to feel a part of the company. • Writing that is excessively technical or laced with legalese drives investors away every time. • Writing should always be done in the active voice. It attracts investors because management is perceived as making things happen. And investors want somebody in charge, at the helm, driving the company. By contrast, the passive voice suggests that unknown outside forces are shaping the future of the company. Educators and those who draft prospectuses and registration statements write in the passive voice. Leaders never do. • Good writing builds one compelling fact on another. Adjectives rarely appear because the facts speak for themselves. This kind of writing lets investors draw their own conclusions, which is precisely what you want. When an investor sells himself on your company, it will take a very poor corporate performance to get him to change his mind. • Finally,
effective writing is never boring. It makes a point and gets
off it. It recognizes that readers
have a limited
attention span. Few will plow through page after page
of poorly written, rambling prose. It is a fact that
the writing in many
annual reports could be cut in half, and investor comprehension
would soar two- or threefold. |
| OUR EXPERIENCE |
| We direct our writing to the needs of investors. After
nearly a decade on Wall Street selling stocks and bonds, a two-year
stint as a registered investment adviser and more than 30 years
working with investor focus groups, we know the issues investors
want addressed as well as those that are of little interest to them.
This hard-earned, practical experience is invaluable to you because
you gain an insight about what really prompts people to buy stock
and guidance on how to shape a message that taps into these motivations. |
| THE PROCESS |
Before we arrive at your company for our first meeting, we do extensive research on your company so that we can ask intelligent questions and not waste your time helping us take our first baby steps on your learning curve. We listen. We ask questions. We gather information. We especially listen to what you have to say about your corporate culture and style, as these will help us with our preliminary design work. We leave. We do additional research on your industry. We then prepare a detailed questionnaire, which we send to all those involved in preparing your report.We return for a second visit, discuss the questionnaire, make recommendations and jointly formulate a strategy with your executives. We leave. Two to three weeks later, we send your our first drafts. They are set in actual type in your layout. Everything is complete and in place. Thus, from the very beginning you will see what your report looks like. No surprises at the final hour. (You also receive the same version in larger type with lines spaced well apart so you can make any changes on that copy rather than trying to shoehorn your changes and comments into the typeset layout. This makes life easier.) You then make changes or corrections as you see fit and return them to us. We typeset these changes into your report and send the revised version back to you the very next day. (Sometimes sooner if you have the capability of receiving certain types of electronic data transfer.) Typically, the client will then send this revised version
to its legal counsel and accountant for any changes they
might wish to make. We make these changes, and the job
is done. Neat, clean, and organized. |
| ADVANTAGES |
Clients obtain three benefits: • A reduced executive workload because we write the first drafts. • A clear, concise business writing style that is directed to investors and security analysts. • Writing that is attuned to the psychological forces that prompt investors to buy, sell or hold. (To get a brief understanding of this, please refer to “Investor Psychology.”) |
