How we empower IROs with impactful presentations
Our business is built on delivering value to the IR community, knowing that a few of the IROs might hire us when it makes sense.
We focus on sharing valuable insights, putting lots of little deposits in the karma bank and making a thoughtful withdrawal at times (like this, hopefully). In this blog post, I’m going to write about some of our services.
Even if you don’t have an immediate presentation need, there are two reasons why you might still continue reading. I believe that you can find this useful:
- Impressions matter: If you think about an Institutional Investor’s journey, they are checking out presentations on your IR site. When you email them, you’re sending them a high-level Company deck. During live conversations, you use slides as tools. Even after they invest, you continue to communicate with them via various presentations (earnings, I-days, ESG). In short, every presentation creates an impression, and these add up…and ultimately matter when acquiring or influencing investors and analysts.
- Building presentations makes you better: When I have an idea unless I can write it clearly, it’s mostly not a good enough idea. Building an investor story via slides forces you to ask the right questions…forces you to think of investor rebuttals to come up with better answers. When you force yourself to improve your company overview or earnings presentation, you also become smarter at formulating (and telling) your company’s investor value proposition.
Alright, back to the original topic of what we do, and how. Let’s start with our team.
Our Team
My primary role as a principal strategist at OUTKREATE is to quickly understand IRO’s business needs, and uncover opportunities in their presentations. When we start work, I focus on elevating the overall messaging. Plus, I make sure our team is always zooming out, and focused on our IRO client’s pain points and investor goals.
Our creative design lead combines left and right-brained thinking to ensure the overall story is cohesive, and that the slides are crystal clear. He also makes sure that the headlines are working, and data visualization is on point. Plus, we have an in-house team of multiple specialist presentation designers that bring it all together.
Who makes a great client for us?
- IROs and senior IR team members working at public companies (typically mid-cap and larger).
- They see value in presentations – creating strong impressions matters to them.
- They have the authority to make budget decisions and act on re– commendations.
- They value open and candid feedback. They aren’t going to embrace all the recommendations, but they’ll approach them with an open mind.
How the conversation starts
Many IROs usually find us through our regular insights newsletter, just like this one or via our email outreach. Some might have also explored our YouTube channel.
Usually, the initial conversation kicks off when IROs or their leadership see gaps in their existing presentation or have an important investor event coming up. The world / their business has changed, and the story needs to be retold. In most cases, IROs schedule an IR Presentation Assessment call for our first conversation. This also allows me to do homework prior to the call.
During the live connect, I learn more about your business, IR goals, and what’s working / not working with your IR decks. Next, we review a specific IR deck, and I candidly share my ideas or 2 cents around how your story, content and design can be enhanced. If there is interest, I can provide a rough estimate for pricing and timelines.
We may need an additional call (or email exchanges) to finalize “scope of work”. After vendor onboarding, most projects start with a Kickoff meeting where you meet our team, and we re-align on expectations, ways of working, and timelines. Then, we get to work.
Below are the most common projects that IROs tap us for…
a. Quarterly Earnings Presentations
Earnings Presentation should convey your audiences primarily about your results from the quarter, and your outlook. Balancing KPIs with business actions and long-term strategy progress makes your company look like a champion. When business is not strong, clearly articulating your actions going forward will soften the blow.
What IROs get:
Process:
Most earnings presentation projects typically span 4-6 weeks and across 2 phases,
- Phase 1 (2-3 weeks): Story + Content Enhancement
Through 2-3 live Zoom workshops, we understand your needs and define your future state. We’ll suggest gaps in content, ideas to improve your story / flow, and ways to make your slides easier to understand. By the end of Phase 1, we’ll have a deck with finalized story and content. This phase is very collaborative – the IRO’s team and our team work hand in hand in this phase.
- Phase 2 (2-3 weeks): Design Transformation
Over the next 2-3 weeks, we design / redesign every slide to pack a punch – both from the ability to land your message, and visually. We work per your brand guidelines but often find ways to push boundaries while following your rules.
Phase 2 is design-focused, and plays to our strengths. We involve IROs only during key alignment milestones, and save them time otherwise.
Pricing:
Typically for a quarterly earnings deck we charge $20K to $25K+ depending on your needs. This is a great ROI because 1) your messaging is considerably improved, and 2) you get a presentation system that saves you significant time and stress each quarter.
Useful Links: Select Projects & Earnings Presentation case study
b. Investor Overview Presentation
When designing Investor Overview decks, our goal is to get you more conversations and “conversions” with large investors.
What IROs get:
Investors invest in your company because of your leadership team, industry trends, your unique moat (brands, tech, IP), execution track record, financial/business model, and how you allocate capital. We make sure you’re covering these topics in a succinct and compelling way as we transform your investment thesis.
Process:
It’s very similar to the earnings process we mentioned earlier.
Pricing:
For an Investor Overview Presentation, our pricing falls in the range of $20K to $25K+ based on your needs. Again, the ROI is strong as these slides feed directly into non-deal roadshows, earnings presentations, conferences, and even Investor Day materials.
Useful Links: Select Projects & Investor Overview case study
c. Investor Day Presentation
For IROs, getting your Investor Day presentation design and story right is sometimes even career-defining. Your Investor Day narrative is followed closely by investors, analysts, and the media—potentially impacting stock prices and long-term perceptions.
What IROs get:
We’ve done 11 Investor Days in the last 2 years. When IROs delegate presentations to us, they get access to our I-day expertise on both content and design fronts. With a dedicated design team assigned to IROs, you can iterate and refine your story at a rapid pace. Plus, you’ll save hundreds of hours of your time which you can direct towards higher-value tasks to make your I-Day successful.
Process:
Investor Day Presentation projects typically span 1.5-4 months of joint efforts. Less time generally equates to more focus on the visual design front. More time allows us to influence all the key ingredients, i.e., agenda, overall story, content and design. Most such projects roughly follow the phases below:
- Phase 1 (2-6 weeks): Building Main Sections
In this phase, we typically start with elevating the CEO and CFO sections. Based on your preferences, we can enhance content (better headlines and copy, better data visualization) in addition to designing slides that deliver impact. Via these slides, we are also defining an upgraded design style for your entire I-Day slide content.Optionally, and to the extent you need, we can also advise on the main message, agenda, and overall structure – drawing from industry best practices and insights from your peers.
- Phase 2 (2-4 weeks): Designing and Elevating Business Segments and other Sections
After phase 1, the design style is locked, and collaboration processes are fine tuned. Next, we design the remaining “sections” (business segments, capabilities).
- Phase 3 (final 2-4 weeks): Finalizing / Bringing it all together
1. At this stage, the design process is iterative. Typically, IR teams are performing dry runs, and we’re making changes dynamically.
2. Often, we’ll play the role of zooming out to ensure the main message is still coherent, and cohesive
3. Also, we coordinate with your Event and AV partners to ensure the presentation output is perfect
Useful links: Select Projects & Investor Day case study
Pricing: For an Investor Day Presentation, our pricing has ranged from $30K to $100K+. A low-end scenario involves us designing fewer sections, and providing money slides or templates to IR teams to build slides on their own. Larger budgets allow full deck design work, continuous iterations, and strategic advisory work, i.e., story + content enhancements.
Get Investor Day ready with our Jumpstart Package
We know it’s not easy to find the perfect partner for your Investor Day. That’s why we’ve created an Investor Day Jumpstart Package. It’s a great way to test-drive our services before committing a larger budget. Visit the link for more info.
d. Miscellaneous Deliverables
We also help our IR clients with ESG presentations, LinkedIn earnings posts, factsheets, and infographics. Pls see our website for project examples.
Thank you
So, there you go. Thank you for taking interest in our work. As always, if you’re thinking of upgrading any of your investor materials, pls reach out for a no-obligation consultation. Or, simply reach out via email at [email protected]
Learn more about OUTKREATE’s Investor Relations Solutions
Tell your investment story impactfully with IR solutions that drive analysts engagement, build shareholder confidence and showcase your brand.
We will help you make your IR communications more compelling. We can transform your Investor Overview Deck, Quarterly Earnings, Conference Decks, Investor Days and more.
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