Monday, August 25, 2008
Building a Sales Organization
One of the most fun and rewarding parts of working for an early stage company is having the ability to build the sales organization from the ground up. I had the opportunity to do this at my previous company (most of the team is still intact and I still keep in touch), and now have the opportunity to do it again at iMiners. I am thrilled to have Leslie (Knutson) Reilly and Michael Roach joining me to help iMiners introduce our new and innovative products into the marketplace! I hired Leslie at Shareholder.com in May 2003 and she worked with me through the launch of the company's corporate governance products, and then moved to Houston and became the Account Executive for Texas. I hired Michael in September 2005 as my Inside Sales Manager and he played a key role in helping us build a very successful Inside Sales organization. There's no better feeling than to get to work again with people who I know and trust; people I hired once before and had success with. Looking forward to continuing to build a world-class sales organization!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
IVVI and GOCH go live with iMiners' Press Releases By Type
Companies continue the rapid adoption of our services: Ivivi Technologies (Nasdaq: IVVI) and Geeks On Call Holdings (OTC: GOCH) both went live with iMiners content on their IR sites in the last 24 hours. IVVI is using Press Releases By Type and Event Chart (see http://www.ir-site.com/IVIVI/pressbytype.asp and http://www.ir-site.com/IVIVI/eventchart.asp). GOCH is using our Press Releases By Type page: http://www.ir-site.com/goch/pressbytype.asp
Friday, August 15, 2008
Electronic Shareholder Forums gaining momentum
Electronic shareholder forums, also known as e-shareholder forums (like what iMiners announced in June with our turnkey solution eShareholderForum: http://www.eshareholderforum.com/) continue to gain momentum and visibility as a truly viable way for companies to engage in dialogue with shareholders using "Web 2.0" technology. Our own solution has already been positively received in the market, and yesterday on its earnings conference call Broadridge CEO Rich Daly announced plans to launch an "investor network" linking all "validated shareholders" with companies they are invested in (for more information visit the IR Web Report blog here http://www.irwebreport.com/daily/2008/08/15/huge-social-network-for-us-shareholders-planned).
The SEC's encouragement of companies using new technologies to facilitate communications is finally starting to take off, and we think that in the not too distant future shareholder forums will become standard on many company IR websites (at least for those companies not afraid to embrace new technologies, and not afraid to have a dialogue with shareholders).
Since the late 1990s most companies have maintained content on IR websites where they deposit information for investors (and prospective investors) to read/view. What has been lacking in IR websites is a two way dialogue between the company and shareholders. But electronic shareholder forums are already beginning to change the way IR websites are viewed. No longer just a depository for information, IR websites will be a place for any shareholder, prospective shareholder, employee, supplier, etc. to come and engage in a dialogue with a company, virtually real-time, and the flow of information will be streamlined and "democratized" (in the words of Rob Williams, Sr. Director of IR at Dell, in his description of Dell's IR blog called Dell Shares).
Companies have been searching for ways to lure investors from financial portal sites to their IR sites so they can tell their own story in their own words (several studies show declining use of company IR websites over the past few years). Company sponsored electronic shareholder forums represent a new and unique "hook" for companies to drive traffic to their IR site, by promising to engage in a dialogue with investors. Who would go to Yahoo! Finance to view company financial information and a third-party message board (where anyone can post anything they want, and the company does not participate) if a company provides unique content on their own IR site PLUS a link to their electronic shareholder forum where the company engages in the message boards, posts to a blog, conducts online Q&A with shareholders, and conducts real-time polling of relevant issues to get a quick pulse of what is on shareholders' minds?
We welcome these continued developments, and look forward to introducing eShareholderForum to as many companies as are willing to engage in this type of online dialogue with shareholders!
The SEC's encouragement of companies using new technologies to facilitate communications is finally starting to take off, and we think that in the not too distant future shareholder forums will become standard on many company IR websites (at least for those companies not afraid to embrace new technologies, and not afraid to have a dialogue with shareholders).
Since the late 1990s most companies have maintained content on IR websites where they deposit information for investors (and prospective investors) to read/view. What has been lacking in IR websites is a two way dialogue between the company and shareholders. But electronic shareholder forums are already beginning to change the way IR websites are viewed. No longer just a depository for information, IR websites will be a place for any shareholder, prospective shareholder, employee, supplier, etc. to come and engage in a dialogue with a company, virtually real-time, and the flow of information will be streamlined and "democratized" (in the words of Rob Williams, Sr. Director of IR at Dell, in his description of Dell's IR blog called Dell Shares).
Companies have been searching for ways to lure investors from financial portal sites to their IR sites so they can tell their own story in their own words (several studies show declining use of company IR websites over the past few years). Company sponsored electronic shareholder forums represent a new and unique "hook" for companies to drive traffic to their IR site, by promising to engage in a dialogue with investors. Who would go to Yahoo! Finance to view company financial information and a third-party message board (where anyone can post anything they want, and the company does not participate) if a company provides unique content on their own IR site PLUS a link to their electronic shareholder forum where the company engages in the message boards, posts to a blog, conducts online Q&A with shareholders, and conducts real-time polling of relevant issues to get a quick pulse of what is on shareholders' minds?
We welcome these continued developments, and look forward to introducing eShareholderForum to as many companies as are willing to engage in this type of online dialogue with shareholders!
Methode Electronics goes live with Press Releases By Type and Event Chart
Through our new partnership with PrecisionIR, today Methode Electronics (NYSE: MEI) went live on their IR website with our "Press Releases By Type" and "Event Chart" pages. See the links on the navigation bar here: http://www.ir-site.com/methode/corporateprofile.html
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
iMiners and PrecisionIR Team Up
Today we signed a reseller agreement with PrecisionIR (http://www.precisionir.com/) to provide our Press Releases By Type and Event Charts to all PrecisionIR's IR website clients going forward. This represents iMiners' first significant reseller channel, and we are looking forward to providing our services to enhance PrecisionIR's website offering! From the PrecisionIR website:
"PrecisionIR is a leading provider of online investor relations and web-based corporate communications solutions to companies worldwide. From annual reports to webcasting, PrecisionIR helps companies deliver the right message to the right audience. Over 3,000 corporate clients in 13 countries rely on our services to target and attract institutional and high net-worth investors. Our services include the global investor relations and investment information services which we have provided to public companies and mutual funds since 1992, and our rapidly growing webcasting and webconferencing business."
Stay tuned for more information about this reseller agreement via a joint press release in coming days.....
"PrecisionIR is a leading provider of online investor relations and web-based corporate communications solutions to companies worldwide. From annual reports to webcasting, PrecisionIR helps companies deliver the right message to the right audience. Over 3,000 corporate clients in 13 countries rely on our services to target and attract institutional and high net-worth investors. Our services include the global investor relations and investment information services which we have provided to public companies and mutual funds since 1992, and our rapidly growing webcasting and webconferencing business."
Stay tuned for more information about this reseller agreement via a joint press release in coming days.....
Friday, August 1, 2008
Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM) goes live with iMiners "Press Releases By Type"
Today Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM) went live with our "Press Releases By Type" page, seamlessly integrating it into their IR site hosted by Thomson Reuters. Check it out:
http://investors.delmonte.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=86259&p=pressreleasesbytype
http://investors.delmonte.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=86259&p=pressreleasesbytype
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