For companies seeking an IPO on the main or secondary stock market, the marketing communication needs to be outmost important. A listing means first and foremost a new positioning on the market and it is often the case that the old brand identity is in contradiction with the new positioning.
In the context of addressing to a wide audience, messages need to be consistent, so what you say about the company needs to be highlighted by the brand image you portray. When you say that your company is an industry leader, you can not associate this message with an outdated logo with a website that rather expresses amateurism.
But why is it so important what you are communicating during this time? It is important because there are 4 critical messages that you must communicate to potential investors during this process:
- The company is going public – communicating for awareness and to generate interest amongst potential investors
- The company is trustworthy – communicating the reputation and the credibility
- The company is transparent – this is an essential condition to investors and needs to be portrayed as much as possible.
- There are no unknowns and doubts – communicating in order to assure and reassure the potential client about the sound investment. This is important in order to remove any decision barriers an investor might have regarding this investment.
Preparing IPO Communication should follow these steps:
- Brand Audit
- Drafting a Communication Plan and Strategy
- Create Deliverables for Communication and Key Messages
- Coordination of the Campaign Communication
- Campaign Monitoring
- Managing Media Relations
- Planning the launch event
- Market & Communication Monitoring
- Evaluation Report
