Financial public relations help build companies the financial reputation they require. The aim is to transmit a transparent and truthful culture of the organization. On the contrary, capture the essence and achieve high credibility with society.
It is a critical area where public relations specialists have very complex tasks since the image of financial institutions and citizens will depend on them.
This type of public relations must be managed carefully. A financial institution provides credit or subsidy to the organization.
The target audience is characterized by being active. Seek information on their own and not merely consume information that companies and institutions send officially.
Opinion leaders and analysts stand out for broadcasting information to the public. Any company is interested in having a favorable opinion about the strategies and tactics.
It is worth mentioning that it is a big mistake to think that public financial relations could be managed without total transparency.
If you lie, society will end up knowing the truth eventually. The reputation of the organization in question would be damaged in a way that is almost impossible to recover.
Public relations in financial communications or with investors
Public relations has become a management discipline responsible for managing communication between the organization and its public.
Its purpose is to establish bidirectional communication links to satisfy the organization’s and its public’s needs and desires.
With PR through the systematic process, IPCE (Investigation, Planning, Communication, and Evaluation). Can fulfill the double role of the professional’s work (advisor and communicator).
Public financial relations are the area of public relations in which the public administration sets the objectives. These are aimed at finances that are based on the communication of information. In finance, many people decide to buy or retain the shares of their company.
It is possible to highlight relationships with investors and financial communications within financial public relations.
The first is the communication a company establishes with its investing public and the financial community—obtaining strategic opportunities to establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with shareholders. As well as other figures of the financial community, to maximize the value of the shares in the market.
Financial audiences
For a business enterprise, financial audiences are identified in four groups. Members of each group either invest the money or provide information to third parties who want to invest capital.
Among them are the financial communities (brokers, bankers, fund managers, and securities analysts). Also, current shareholders and financial journalists work with the media.
Every company produces an annual report since these are the main characteristic of financial communications. Preparing a report means strategic planning, and planning becomes a valuable communication tool for the company.
The preparation of these documents consists of four essential stages. The stage of conception is characterized by being the phase after an investigation.
Since helpful information must suit the needs of the company.
The execution stage is the stage of reporting the materials. They start with the company’s size and public and the expected useful life for the report.
The drafting stage is where the contents that will be carried out in the report are specified. Finally, there is the dissemination stage, which is proportional to the importance that the market has within it and the interest it has in the public.
The CSR report
The term “Corporate Social Responsibility” refers to the benefit of the quality of life of society as a whole. It promotes business conditions—this same part of the company’s organizational culture.
Banco Galicia was awarded in 2009 in the category of financial communication or with investors for their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) report.
The objective was to benefit the construction of common themes to favor external and internal links with the network generating social capital.
The business philosophy, in addition to communicating values, performance, and practices that, reflect the performance of the Bank.
To develop this report, contact was maintained with the sectors involved, and data and necessary information of great importance were gathered. Also, various meetings were held with the areas affected, as explained in the case.
The execution of the plan to carry out the report is through four stages. The objective is designed to carry out the set deadline of six months for preparing the report.
These plans were: the identification of critical topics to communicate, the definition of the business reporting model, the collection of information, the selection of contents by chapter, the drafting and subsequent validation of the drafts, and, finally, the external verification and publication of the same.
The organization used two tactics to fulfill these plans: The annual report and the social balance. On the other hand, another tactic emphasizes the financial report for investors.
Annual finance report
The Annual Report deals with an annual publication. Few copies and internal use that detail the accounting of the organization and the most outstanding activities. On the other hand, they must be deposited before the instances required by law.
This technique aims to inform and communicate directly to their audiences with intellectual, justifying, and reasoned messages.
The main objective of an annual report is to provide the most relevant information about the organization to a selection of internal and external audiences.
It is a technique linked to financial public relations and represents relationships with partners and shareholders. In contrast, the annual report can be the first impression that the organization has to present itself to external audiences.
Usually, the annual report also presents corporate information such as the entity’s organizational structure, the renewal of positions and managers, the evolution of shareholders, or the location of offices and branches.
It can also offer relevant data about the history of the entity. It can show the critical and constructive face of the result.
Each one of the actions that were programmed toward the employees or the community itself, taking stock of corporate social responsibility.
The evolution of CSR
The company should be attentive to its internal social plan and its impact on the external environment.
In replacement of the annual report, pr specialists began to use the social balance technique, understood as the public presentation of the goals and activities of the company oriented to the social good.
However, within the companies, the social balance proposes the following alternatives:
1) Refers to the annual report highlighting the accounting and social reports.
2) It refers to the social balance in which only the social report is highlighted.
3) Assuming that Corporate Social Responsibility is the evolution of the company, and it is the company that must “pass accounts” to society. It includes all the essential economic and social values, which must be the reference to be the subject of the public presentation.
The report, in general, maybe the product of a need to respond to a conflict or a situation of incomprehension. Thus, the financial report should follow the formulation of crisis communication indicators. Finally, it can be highlighted that this technique can obtain even better results with a digital format and Internet distribution.
