What is
D2I marketing?

Direct-to-investor (D2I) marketing is a framework that allows public companies to effectively engage every investor at scale.

D2I marketing combines best-practice IR, capital raising processes, and digital marketing tools to give companies more control over their on-market performance and capital raise outcomes.

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Part 1. What problems does D21 marketing solve?

Investor engagement used to be simpler.

For decades, non-institutional shareholders were relatively simple to engage with. Outside of institutions, your register consisted of two primary investor types, "top shareholders" and "retail shareholders", and you only needed to engage your top shareholders to deliver on-market and off-market outcomes like better liquidity, upwards share price momentum, or successful capital raises.

"Top" shareholders.

Traditional investor relations focuses on a small portion (5% or less) of the registry that comprises “top” shareholders (high-net-worth individuals and institutions) who own disproportionate amounts of available stock.

  • By investing in strategies that attract, engage and convert your investors, you can apply forces to build momentum in your flywheel.

  • By investing in strategies that optimise your direct-to-investor marketing, you can remove frictions that slow down your flywheel.
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    "Retail" shareholders.

    Traditional investor relations ignores the majority (95% or more) of the registry that comprise of “retail” shareholders (individuals and everyday investors) who own individually small amounts of available stock.

  • By investing in strategies that attract, engage and convert your investors, you can apply forces to build momentum in your flywheel.

  • By investing in strategies that optimise your direct-to-investor marketing, you can remove frictions that slow down your flywheel.
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    Investor Relations knows effective shareholder engagement.

    Investor relations knows that the most effective way to build shareholder conviction is through direct engagement, and works particularly well with small quantities of top shareholders. It's an economically feasible way of influencing large amounts of available stock through a few investor relationships, and it looked something like this.

    1. Give your top shareholders the lion's share of attention with regular calls, letters and invitations to meetings like AGMs.
    2. Ensure they hold enough shares and voting rights by engaging them personally and building up their investor conviction.
    3. Leverage these key relationships into favourable outcomes like a healthy share price and raising capital with ease.

    A fixed amount of investor relationships to nurture meant that investor relations never needed to learn how to scale.

    But technology changed everything.

    An exponential rise in online trading, unparalleled access to investing resources, and unrestricted participation in investor communities has resulted in a rising influence of retail investors that public companies and their investor relations functions simply aren't able to effectively engage.

    A powerful demographic of retail investors are increasingly trading more shares, disproportionately moving share prices, participating in capital raises, and influencing shareholder votes. This created a new environment for public companies that resulted in the rise of intermediaries: brokers, advisors, and other service providers who would help public companies reach and engage retail shareholders.

    But this has had a limited impact: Investor Relations teams at public companies know that the most effective way to engage a shareholder is through direct, not indirect, communication. The intermediaries that represent companies are offering a less effective way to engage the market, and as a result, retail is seen as a puzzle that many companies simply do now know how to solve.

    Voting rebellion.

    In 2023, a record 13% of ASX300 companies received a strike against their remuneration reports, representing record numbers of shareholders voting against a company’s Board.

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    Retail driving liquidity.

    Not all retail is the same. Every register has a segment of shareholders who, whilst representing 24% of the register, are accountable for 49% of all trading value. We call this segment "the mid register" and they are increasingly influential on market cap, liquidity, and capital raise outcomes.

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    Retail can no longer be ignored.

    Retail investors look, think, and act differently to institutional and top shareholders. They have less technical knowledge, less capital, less time, and a stronger preference for less traditional channels such as video, forums, email, and short-form written content.

    For public companies, this rise in new breed of investor means that that effective investor engagement is no longer constrained to face-to-face meetings and handshake relationships.


    The good news for public companies is that the methods to broaden shareholder engage beyond your top 20 and disintermediate the middleman that exists between companies and investors already exist.

    It's called direct-to-investor marketing.

    Combining best-practice IR, digital marketing, &...

    D2I marketing is the same approach that online businesses use (direct-to-consumer marketing) when selling products online following the digitalisation of customers. It solves a similar problem that we can learn from in the listed place.

  • Direct access to your investors.
  • Integrated investor behavioural data.
  • Control over the investor experience.
  • Minimising costs with no intermediaries.
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    ...best practice capital raising processes.

    InvestorHub's experience with thousands of capital raises and 100+ clients allowed us to create an evidence-based set of best practices for public companies to scale their IR, effectively engage retail shareholders, and raise capital on good terms.

  • Increase the reach of your newsflow.
  • Increase investor conviction.
  • Increase the rate of shareholder acquisition.
  • Measure the impact of your IR.
  • Raise capital on better terms.
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    Part 2. How direct-to-investor marketing works.

    The D2I marketing methodology.

    It’s increasingly obvious that modern investor engagement hasn’t evolved at the same rate that investors have. The ability to effectively grow a public company by holding a few dozen relationships is lost to history, and the need to include retail engagement in an IR strategy is unignorable.

    Retail investors have a growing influence on your share price and trading volume. They also have a significant impact on capital raises, and InvestorHub data shows that effective retail engagement results in raises that cost less and perform better.

    Retail are also increasingly influencing the outcomes of shareholder votes in greater numbers.

    Public companies have been feeling the consequences of this disparity for a few years now, and know that they need to engage all investors (especially retail), but don’t know how in a commercially feasible way.

    In short, everyone knows the problem. D2I marketing is the answer.

    Engage all investors at scale.

    The goal of D2I marketing is two-fold:

    1. Engage every investor at every stage of the investor journey.
    2. Give companies the tools to scale engagement efficiently and measurably.

    (1) Understanding and owning the investor journey.

    What is the investor journey?

    Most investors don’t make a buying decision on a single announcement or interaction with the company.

    Instead, it’s more like a traditional marketing funnel (pictured right) which represents stages of the journey.

    Buying decisions are an outcome of an investor journey that’s progressed strategically over time through multiple interactions (e.g. announcements, emails, events) to create awareness and increase buyer intent, before converting.

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    You need to own this investor journey.

    Public companies should own and influence this investor journey but they don’t because of the intermediaries and “middlemen” who sit in the middle.

    Third parties distort messaging, add conflicting interests, and gate access to investors that should be yours to begin with.

    Examples of these middlemen include trading platforms and digital media websites. In both examples, these companies incentivise the investor to act outside of your company's best interests (i.e. trade and click through to other articles).

    Your company might start the investor journey by releasing the initial announcement or company update, but the rest of that journey (e.g. researching, buying, distribution, community) is handled by third parties, monetised, and owned by them.

    This distance between investors and companies is the default and it’s why most public companies don’t even realise that an investor journey exists in the first place

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    With that context, direct-to-investor (D2I) marketing is a methodology that public companies can use to remove the distance and market directly to investors without the friction and cost of intermediaries. This unlocks investor engagement and ownership at every stage of the investor journey to create a measurable impact on on-market performance and capital raise outcomes.

    (2) Give companies the tools to scale engagement.

    “But what’s the difference between IR and direct-to-investor marketing?”

    A great question, and it’s something we asked ourselves early when we established the direct-to-investor marketing methodology and our distinct roles in supporting public companies.

    To truly understand the distinction, we need to examine the evolving role of the investor relations (IR) function, both internally or externally, that public companies rely on now to build relationships with investors and engage the market.

    The role of IR in public companies is:

    (1) To ensure that the company is compliant with listing rules and regulations in its communications with that market.
    (2) To create relationships between the company and high-net-worth individuals, institutional investors, and now, retail investors.

    The rise of retail investors and their influence on share price has forced that second function to change, but it hasn’t happened in the right way. Most IR teams partially or fully outsource the role to third-party solutions that connect companies with investors (webinars, conferences, media appearances, email marketing tools, PR and ads).

    This lack of availability of the right tools leaves IR reliant on multiple piecemeal solutions with disparate data sources that limit impact and mitigate strategic input. Even worse, the majority of these ‘solutions’ only build indirect relationships with investors.
    What IR can currently do.Outsource the investor journey to third parties that only build indirect relationships without providing the data insights or tools to own the investor journey.
    What IR wants to do.Efficiently build relationships with all investors, provide measurable data, maximise impact on on-market performance, and drive better capital raise outcomes.

    Letting IR do what they want to do.

    With that context, direct-to-investor marketing lets your investor relations do what they want to do.

    If IR is a tradesman, direct-to-investor marketing is the toolkit that enables them to establish and scale their strategies to engage with all investors while building relationships efficiently, measurably and without a reliance on third party solutions.

    Summary - Engaging all investors at scale.

    That’s how direct-to-investor marketing works.

    It takes the main symptom that public companies need to address and breaks it down into two actions.

    (1) It enables public companies to remove the distance and market directly to investors without the friction and cost of intermediaries which unlocks investor engagement and ownership at every stage of the investor journey.

    (2) It gives IR the tools to efficiently build relationships with all investors at all stages of the investor journey. This reduces the reliance on piecemeal third-party solutions and allows IR to make a direct impact on better on-market performance and capital raise outcomes.

    Part 3. Introducing the D2I marketing flywheel.

    The issues that created the need for D2I marketing.Retail investors are more influential than ever but difficult to engage with traditional IR practices.
    The outcomes D2I marketing needs to deliver.Engaging all investors at each stage of the investor journey and giving IR the tools to scale efficiently

    Understanding the D2I marketing flywheel.

    By combining our learnings from the (1) issues and (2) outcomes above, we’ve established a step-by-step framework that public companies are already using to implement direct-to-investor marketing strategies that optimise and scale their investor relations function to increase shareholder engagement.

    It’s called the direct-to-investor marketing flywheel.

    It's the collective strategy that public companies use throughout the investor journey to (1) attract potential investors, (2) engage consistently to build intent, (3) convert investor intent into investment, and (4) optimise the overall process with data insights.

    The flywheel is the framework that allows a company to own the investor journey.

    We’ve covered how potential investors don’t buy off a single interaction or update.

    Instead, they need to be nurtured through multiple interactions that form a strategic investor journey more akin to a traditional marketing funnel.

    By implementing strategies that generate awareness and build buyer intent, we maximise the likelihood of investor conviction that transforms into new buyers, capital raise participation and reduced selling.

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    D2I marketing strategies that compound.

    The direct-to-investor marketing flywheel is a visual representation of the direct-to-investor marketing strategies public companies are utilising at each funnel stage to progress the investor journey at scale.

    These strategies are represented as a flywheel because while they’re distinct, they complement each other to create value that compounds exponentially to scale far beyond the original input.

    We’ve structured these strategies such that the result of utilising these strategies are data insights and learnings that can be used to optimise your direct-to-investor marketing strategy as a whole, meaning the flywheel spins faster and gets better over time.

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    The D2I marketing flywheel.

    The distinct strategies for each stage that cumulatively form your D2I marketing strategy.

    Attract (Awareness)

    These top-of-funnel strategies focus on attracting potential investors and amplifying your reach and visibility in the market.

    See how Dreadnought (ASX:DRE) used D2I marketing to reach 16.5k investors.

    Engage (Intent)

    These mid-funnel strategies focus on building investor intent over the investor journey.

    Learn how Warriedar Resources (ASX:WA8) builds intent with investor newsletters.

    Convert (Conversion)

    These bottom-of-funnel strategies focus on transforming investor intent and interest into on-market or off-market buys.

    Learn how Altech Batteries (ASX:ATC) raised $15.8m using D2I marketing.

    Optimise (Learnings)

    These strategies focus on refining the effectiveness of your direct-to-investor marketing flywheel with data.

    Learn how Ananda Developments (AQSE:ANA) measured and optimised the impact of their D2I marketing with data.

    Part 4. Using the D2I marketing flywheel.

    The D2I marketing flywheel in action.

    So far, we’ve covered the (1) issues that created the need for D2I marketing (retail investors are more influential than ever but difficult to build direct relationships with through traditional IR practices that rely on intermediaries).

    We then outlined the (2) outcomes D2I marketing needs to deliver (engaging all investors at each stage of the investor journey and giving IR the tools to scale efficiently).

    We’ve just introduced the (3) framework that implements D2I marketing as a flywheel (attract, engage, convert, optimise) so public companies can own and influence the investor journey at each funnel stage.

    Now it’s time to put that all together and focus on driving effective shareholder engagement with D2I marketing strategies. Let’s dive into the direct-to-investor marketing flywheel with a step-by-step for each stage so that you can start building and implementing your own.

    (1) Attract

    These top-of-funnel strategies focus on attracting potential investors by amplifying your reach and visibility in the market by investing in uplifting company announcements, newsflow and access to the leadership team.

  • Funnel stageTop-of-funnel.
  • GoalTo attract potential investors through shareholder engagement at scale.
  • StrategyBy amplifying your reach and visibility in the market to differentiate yourself as more than just another code to trade.
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    (1) Step-by-step for D2I attraction strategies.

    The first direct interaction for investors is usually an ASX announcement. It’s traditionally a bland PDF or document that does little to help your strategy of attracting investors by standing out and establishing that initial connection. The interactive investor hub is an example of core infrastructure that transforms the first interaction into the start of an investor journey with these D2I marketing strategies.

    Capture the contact details of your investors.
    The interactive investor hub incentivises investors to provide their contact details through a streamlined signup flow by offering direct access to the leadership team in exchange. Here's what that flow looks like in action for investors on the ASX:DRE hub.

    Leverage your leadership team as an engagement asset.

    The interactive investor hub leverages your leadership team as an engagement asset through enhanced video and text summaries that can be added seamlessly to company updates and announcements. Here's how James Durrant from RareX (ASX:REE) leverages this feature to great effect.

    Establish yourself as the primary source of information.
    The interactive investor hub gives you control over the company narrative with the interactive Q&A feature that removes the need for third-party speculation and discussion from investors. Here's Bahay Ozcalak from Parkway (ASX:PWN) engaging directly with investors on the PWN investor hub.

    Create unique return value for investors.
    The interactive investor hub incentivises investors to engage with you directly by packaging direct access to leadership, exclusive value from video and text summaries, and primary company information in one easy-to-access platform for investors. Read about the full feature set and how you can leverage each solution here.

    Create a structured start to the investor journey.
    The interactive investor hub tracks the activity data of your investors with engagement analytics that aggregate the impact of your D2I marketing with insights to inform your engagement strategy. This is a core strategy that's used for attraction strategies and more broadly through the optimisation strategies that benefit the D2I marketing flywheel as a whole.

    (2) Engage

    These mid-funnel strategies increase shareholder engagement with a focus on building investor intent over multiple interactions by building active communications channels where you can engage directly with potential investors to progress their understanding and relationship with the company.

  • Funnel stageMiddle-of-funnel.
  • GoalTo engage potential and existing investors through shareholder engagement at high frequency.
  • StrategyBy investing in direct and frequent communication channels to build a consistent engagement cadence over time.
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    (2) Step-by-step for D2I engagement strategies.

    Public companies need to build buying intent deliberately over time but lack a cohesive set of direct communication channels, with third-party platforms adding friction while delivering indirect results. The interactive investor hub and communications hub are examples of core infrastructure that leverage direct communication channels to build investor intent with these D2I marketing strategies.

    Scale individual interactions into broad engagement.
    The interactive investor hub transforms individual investor questions into public engagement that benefits every investor you interact with through the feature for no added time cost. Here's how Warriedar Resources (ASX:WA8) answer investor questions publicly to execute this strategy.

    Scale any form of newsflow into direct engagement.
    The interactive investor hub enables public companies to utilise all of their newsflow with the activity updates feature that transforms non-regulatory announcements into a separate feed for investors. Here's how ECS Botanics (ASX:ECS) leverage their investor webinars as separate activity updates.

    Engage all your investors with efficient campaigns.
    The communications hub enables you to scale investor conviction with email campaigns that can send targeted engagement to specific investor segments while automating announcements and onboarding. Here's how Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) leverage email campaigns to repurpose and answer investor questions at scale.

    Maximise the impact and reach of your newsflow.
    The communications hub multiplies the reach of your announcements and updates with automated distribution that ensures important newsflow is automatically sent to your email list and social media. Learn more about the automation and scheduling features that save an average of two hours per campaign.

    Measure the impact of communication on behaviour.
    The communications hub gives you a clear idea of which distribution channels are most effective with announcement analytics that track the impact in real-time. This is a core strategy that's used for engagement strategies and more broadly through the optimisation strategies that benefit the D2I marketing flywheel as a whole.

    (3) Convert

    These whole-funnel strategies focus on 'optimising direct-to-investor marketing' by measuring the impact of your top, mid, and bottom-funnel strategies. Identifying improvements can increase the speed and effectiveness of your flywheel.

  • Funnel stageBottom-funnel
  • GoalTo convert buyer intent into investment and conviction.
  • StrategyBy identifying and capitalising on high-intent investors to deliver capital raise outcomes, maximise buyers and reduce sellers.
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    (3) Step-by-step for D2I conversion strategies.

    Your investors have the conviction to progress into a buying decision but you need data to identify this behaviour before activating it into a tangible outcome on market or through a capital raise. The registry-integrated CRM and raise hub are examples of core infrastructure that leverage data to identify, target and activate latent investor demand with these D2I marketing strategies.

    Monitor investors and intervene early to mitigate selling.
    The registry-integrated CRM identifies early selling behaviour and enables you to intervene early through the shareholder movements feature to minimise further sell offs or a complete sell down. This has a massive impact on liquidity which unlocks better growth and attracts higher conviction shareholders.

    Combine your shareholder and contact data into one source.
    The registry-integrated CRM combines investor hub and shareholder registry data into one simplified investor profile that makes finding, segmenting, and communicating with investors seamless. Learn more about the the investor profile and how you can use it here.

    Streamline the execution of your next capital raise.
    The raise hub converts your next capital raise into a seamless investor experience with smart allocation and a raise tracker that streamlines allocation, monitors bid in real time, and protects your post-raise share price. Here's how Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) raised $29.7m with an oversubscribed SPP supported by InvestorHub.

    Identify and target high net worth and other investor types.
    The registry-integrated CRM and raise hub work in conjunction with high net worth investor identification that nurtures and maximises participation in capital raises like placement and shareholder offers. Here's how Altech Batteries (ASX:ATC) filled their shortfall placement by identifying and reaching out to existing high net worth investors.

    Measure and build your raise potential in real-time.
    The raise hub provides a real time measure of your next capital raise through the raise prediction tool that factors market dynamics and registry changes to estimate your raise potential. Learn more about the raise prediction and other raise features here.

    (4) Optimise

    These whole-funnel strategies focus on 'optimising direct-to-investor marketing' by measuring the impact of your top, mid, and bottom-funnel strategies. Identifying improvements can increase the speed and effectiveness of your flywheel.

  • Funnel stageWhole-funnel.
  • GoalTo improve the effectiveness of our flywheel.
  • StrategyBy reviewing your engagement tools and infrastructure to measure and identify improvements in your D2I marketing strategy.
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    (4) Step-by-step for D2I optimisation strategies.

    You’ve spent hours attracting new investors, engaging them through the investor journey and converting their attention into demand, and it’s time to utilise that data to optimise your next D2I marketing flywheel cycle.

    These are the types of questions you should keep in mind throughout the D2I marketing flywheel as the data will support the answers that influence how you approach your next strategy.
    Increasing the reach of your attraction strategies.
    What types of activity updates generate the most traffic?

    What’s the sign-up conversion rate for your company hub?

    What types of investor questions get the most likes?

    How often are investors asking questions on announcements?

    How often do investors ask more than a single question?

    Which forms of distribution result in the most traffic?
    Improving the impact of your engagement strategies.
    What kinds of investors are asking the most questions?

    What kind of email campaign has the highest open rate?

    Do targeted email campaigns deliver more results?

    How often should you engage with your investors?

    Which email campaigns perform the best or worst?

    What distribution channel gives the most traffic?

    Which distribution channel is the most efficient?
    Maximising the likelihood of your investor conversion strategies.
    Which investors are selling or buying the most?

    What investor segments need to be nurtured?

    How much latent investor demand do you have?

    How much capital do you estimate you can raise?

    How many high net worth investors do you have?

    How many are participating in your next raise?

    How did your last placement perform comparatively?
    You can answer these questions through the analytics and data features that are structured throughout the interactive investor hub, the communications hub, the raise hub, and the registry-integrated CRM.

    Part 5. D2I marketing examples and case studies.

    Stories of best-practice D2I marketing.

    Altech Batteries

    Learn how Altech Batteries consistently increase their investor reach and engagement with all investors to create demand that's activated during a capital raise.

    Read the full case study
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    Dreadnought Resources

    Learn how Dean Tuck (MD) and the leadership team deliver value to thousands of investors at scale, for the same time and effort as talking to a single individual.

    Read the full case study
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    SUVO Strategic Minerals

    Learn how the leadership team at SUVO leveraged key engagement tools to generate shareholder attention and maximise raise participation for their capital raise.

    Read the full showcase
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    A summary of D2I marketing.

    Here's what you've learned so far and the role that D2I marketing plays in investor relations strategies.

    What created the need?

    Retail investors are more influential than ever but difficult to build direct relationships with through traditional IR practices without relying on intermediaries.

    The outcomes it delivers.

    Engaging all investors at each stage of the investor journey and giving IR the tools to scale efficiently with bespoke strategies across all communication channels.

    How it works.

    A framework that targets each stage of the investor journey (attraction, engagement, conversion) to own investor relationships at-scale for measurable uplift in on-market performance and off-market outcomes.

    What strategies to use.

    A marketing flywheel of bespoke strategies that attract new investors, build investor intent, convert investor attention into demand and optimise your investor relations strategy.

    Public companies trust InvestorHub as their
    D2I marketing platform.

    Easy to use.

    For the first time, a platform has allowed me as CEO to interact, communicate and market to my own shareholders in a simple & easy to use way. I am very impressed with the product and have recommended it to other CEOs
    Iggy TanCEO @ ASX:ATC

    Measurable impact.

    InvestorHub has fitted perfectly into how we operate as IR professionals and has unlocked a whole range of efficiencies along the way. We now spend less time cobbling together various solutions, reach more investors, and have an easy way to measure our impact.
    Harbury Advisors

    Ran our own raise.

    "We had the confidence to run our own placement because we identified and engaged with our shareholders beforehand... that resulted in about 15% less dilution of the existing shareholders than would have been the case otherwise and saved us the best part of $100k worth of fees".
    James DurrantCEO @ ASX:REE

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