Good evening to you all and welcome to all our new “C†level executives and IRO’s that have joined our resource company newsletter. I would like to extend a special greeting to all of you who stopped by our booth at the Conference. This was our second show exhibiting with Cambridge Conferences and you can expect to see us there for many years to come.
One of the most important things we continue to accomplish at the conference is surveying investors in order to better understand their habits and preferences. As most of you know, we surveyed investors at the PDAC and Cambridge Calgary Conference in March and posted all the important results on our blog for you to review here. Response to the surveys has been overwhelmingly positive from executives that have found the information incredibly helpful.
With more than 150 investors surveyed at the Vancouver conference, we were again able to extract some extremely valuable information that will be of great importance to all of us. The information will have different implications for each one of you, depending on your primary metal/mineral, market capitalization and online strategy. As such, though I’ve provided some tertiary comments following each of the results below, the final analysis will be your own.To this end, we’re happy to provide you with the following results:
Percentage of Small-Cap and Large-Cap Investors At The Cambridge Conference
- Small-Cap Investors – 93%
- Large-Cap Investors – 7%
Comment: Small-Cap investors are much more involved in their investments, with Vancouver investors taking the biggest interest. PDAC and Calgary Cambridge registered between 85 – 90%. As such, small-cap companies should consider means of continuing to communicate with them and motivating them beyond conferences and press releases. The small-cap investor wants to be engaged. Web 2.0 tools such as community and blogging should be pursued.
Metal Or Mineral Most Bullish On
- Gold – 58%
- Silver – 17%
- Uranium – 13%
- Moly – 6%
- Copper – 3%
- Zinc – 3%
Comment: Gold still dominates and significantly increased its leadership position at the expense of Silver, Uranium and Moly – all of whom having lost momentum since the March conferences.
Percentage of Investors That Use The Internet To Conduct Research
- All Investors – 98.5%
Comment: Both small and large-cap companies should take note of this extreme number, which is consistent with the last two surveys but continues to surprise us. A simple web page is no longer sufficient if you want to differentiate yourself from your peers and present a professional image to investors.
Percentage Of Research Into Next Investment That Is Derived From The Internet
- < 50% of Research – 12%
- 50% of Research – 22%
- 75% of Research – 17%
- 90% of Research – 34%
- 100% of Research – 16%
AVERAGE % OF WEB RESEARCH INTO NEXT INVESTMENT – 73.4%
Comment: The Internet accounts for 73.4% of the decision by small-cap investors to buy their next stock. The March surveys were even higher in the 78% range. The bottom line is that small-cap investors depend heavily on the web to find their next investment, so companies should take heed and significantly increase marketing and communications on the web to reach new investors. Search engines are the easiest and most effective method. In addition, tools such as webcasting and podcasting must be considered. In short, you need a Web 2.0 strategy.
Percentage Of Investors That Participate In Discussion Forums
- All Investors – 54%
Comment: Small-cap companies need to pay attention to this number. In the other surveys, the figures came in even higher from 63 – 65%. Though most CEO’s say “I don’t read forumsâ€, 55% – 65% of your investors and potential investors use discussion forums, so that kind of mentality just won’t wash anymore.
As such, you need to take control of your message by creating your own community. Otherwise, unscrupulous investors using unmonitored forums will have a greater impact on your message and, ultimately, your share price than you do.
For Those Who Do Not Participate In Discussion Forums, The Percentage That Would Participate If Quality Control Measures Were Implemented
- All Investors – 60%
Comment: This is incredibly significant as it indicates investors’ strong desire to collaborate online about their investments. The other surveys were even higher. Combined with the number of investors that already use discussion forums, 83% of investors use or want to use discussion forums to communicate further about their investments. This is consistent with the advent of Web 2.0 in which community and mass collaboration has exploded amongst professionals. For example, Linkedin has more than 12,000,000 business professionals from the world’s biggest companies using it to communicate and network.
Companies that adopt online community tools early will be the big winners in the end.
CONCLUSION
The AGORACOM survey at the Cambridge Resource Investment Conference in Vancouver, as well as, the previous surveys, has yielded highly valuable information that companies need to review, consider and act upon. AGORACOM has acted on this information and adopted many Web 2.0 technologies in both its marketing and communications efforts to now become the online IR firm on the continent. This summer, we are more than tripling our search engine campaign to attract both new companies and and new investors.
If we are putting our money where our mouth is, shouldn’t you?
Thanks and have a great day!
Regards,
George