Seven Tips for Your Sustainability Report

June is the month of weddings – and Sustainability Reports. Either you have just started, finished or are in the midst of your report. Wherever you are, here are seven tips that will improve your relationship with your audience and your company.

1. Try something old and something new. Print is old. Web is new. Consider using both by creating a complete sustainability report using an interactive internet format and printing a short summary of the report. Segments of your audience will want full details, full explanations and plenty of data. They will want to be able to search for issues by key words or go deeper into specific areas. Other segments of your audience will be looking for an overview of your key programs, highlights and will want something they can hold in their hand or distribute to customers. A designer experienced in both web and print can produce both a web and print report and provide value by coordinating the two.

2. Tell us how you met. Couples at a wedding often tell us how and where they met and what they liked about each other. Your report should do this too. Explain where you are in your sustainability journey, how you got there and where you are going. Summarizing the history of your progress lets your audience know your company is moving forward and helps manage expectations. For example, if your audience understands you are working on protocols to collect certain data, they will be more likely to understand why you don’t already have that data.

3. Dress it up. Make your report special. Good design, clear type and use of charts and tables will help your audience understand the information better. Links to more details, the ability to search by key words and interactive elements will be appreciated by your audience. The firm you work with can recommend economical ways to make your report highly engaging.

4. Write your own vows. Think about the most important sustainability initiatives your company wants to communicate and then highlight these. Set out your own strategy even if it differs from the standard sustainability measures. After all, your company is unique and your goals are your own. Use standard sustainability indicators as your guideline but customize them for your company as needed.

5. Make a commitment. Audiences want to know what the future holds. State your goals, timetables to reach them and report progress along the way. Too many companies are commitment-phobic. Be both cautious and courageous when explaining what your company can achieve. If you either over or under promise you’re suggesting you aren’t serious.

6. Seal it with a KISS – Keep It Simple Smartie. Make this the new take on the old acronym. Use simple words, straightforward design, easy-to-follow charts and diagrams. Make use of photos and graphics to add information, content and define sections of the report. Use links only as needed. Try to reduce complexity not add to it. A designer experienced in working with sustainability information will be able to offer suggestions on how to simplify presentation of information.

7. Think forever. Even if you only publish a web-based report, someone will be keeping track. What you say in your report will exist forever. So check your facts and figures carefully. Create an audit trail and keep good records. For example, your firm may reevaluate and change goals or programs as time goes on. You want to have a clear record of how the original goals were set and what information has changed.

Like a marriage, your sustainability report is a big step. The difference is you get to do it all again next year!

Here are ten tips to help you build an effective online strategy. Incorporate two or three items into your plan each quarter and you’ll end the year with an online strategy that puts your firm and fund websites to work for you.

1. Increase Traffic Turn a volatile market into your advantage: Nervous clients are thirsty for more frequent updates and that presents the perfect opportunity to drive traffic to your site. Let people know that you will be posting more frequent updates to your websites with a simple note, mailed with your quarterly and interim letters or with an email that links directly to your sites’ new content. Also consider adding RSS feeds to your sites.
2. Keep Content Relevant and Current Post brief, weekly market overviews. Ask questions. Be candid. Take responsibility for your performance and judgment and always let clients know what you’re doing to help them achieve their financial goals. Be direct with clients about poor performance, but don’t dwell on the downside. Instead focus on strategy and what you’re doing to turn things around. Keep offering documents such as fund prospectuses up to date – it’s not just a regulatory requirement, it also shows that the firm is ‘on its toes’.
3. Build A Website Content Strategy Invest in a content management system (CMS) and develop a content strategy. Designate a content management editor/writer to update content regularly and keep it relevant to your branding and service message. Add time and date to your firm home page or NAV to your funds’ to remind visitors that the sites are not static and encourage them to return often.Of course, make sure any time-sensitive information is updated promptly.
4. Post Webcasts & Videos Give your firm’s experts a voice: do a webcast once a month in which your partners, fund managers or analysts talk straight to investors about what’s going on in the market. Post a market overview video on your home page and provide podcasts and transcripts.
5. Be Accessible Put a personal face on your firm by using quotes, high quality photograhy and video of the partners to illustrate their philosophies, strengths, achievements and service offerings. Tell real stories if possible.
   
6. Differentiate Your Firm Highlight the firm’s investment philosophy, process and expertise; use engaging visuals, graphics, animations and content to differentiate your performance and investment approach from others. Post Lipper and Morningstar ratings on your homepage.
7. Add PR to the Mix Good PR in the financial media often leads to increased sales. Talk to the news media and add press and video to your site. Write white papers and post them. Develop good relationships with journalists: this is key to gaining presence in the financial media and visibility with your existing and potential client base.
8. Don’t Forget Compliance Is your exciting new content permissible? Your compliance team will let you know if the content can be published on your site or not. You want to leave enough room in your schedule for your in-house compliance officer or external compliance firm to review content.
9. Optimize Your Website SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization and many fund managers think it’s irrelevant to their online strategy. Your clients won’t be searching for an investment firm online but they (or their representatives) may Google you if your firm or fund has been recommended to them or if they are considering meeting with you. Your firm’s Google search results are a real-time snapshot of your firm’s online reputation. Google searches should lead to your own published content first, not something appearing on someone else’s website. Optimize your site for search engines.
10. Build Brand Equity Lastly, your company’s image and brand matter. Make sure your value proposition shines through every detail of your firm and fund websites, from your logo, tagline, imagery and color scheme to the description of your firm’s investment approach and process.

The investment you make in your website communication strategies today will help calm nervous clients and increase your firm’s visibility. When investors start getting back into the market you want them to think of your firm first.