The 3 M's that drive market performance.

These are typically broad aspects that share two key traits: (a) they aren't unique to you and (b) you can't control them.

A financial crisis, market-specific events, regulatory changes, economic data below expectations, commodity pricing, sector impacts -  these are all broad-spectrum items that impact your share price, but have nothing to do with you and for which you can do nothing to influence (though you can acknowledge them, as ASX:DRE does so here). 

Your job here is to (1) be aware (know what's going on to understand the impacts), (2) be prepared (these can be large swings, like oil price movements, and rocket up or down), and (3) take advantage (if your sector is hot, take advantage).

You need to know this, but you cannot influence this, so it shouldn’t change your day-to-day.

This is all about you and the business. When we talk about the 'company and the code', this is the company. 

Key hires, movements in revenue, international growth, product line development, drill results, medical trial wins - you name it. 

In an ideal world, this is the only pillar we want to be judged on. But that's not this world; more likely, it's closer to one-third of the outcome. If you optimise solely for this pillar, you'll leave a lot of value on the table. 

This happens when (1) good results get little to no traction, (2) good things happen, but you don’t tell the market, or (3) you get traction, but it reverts quickly (and then it looks like a pump & dump).

Micro is all about you and is (mostly) within your control. This is how you run your business.

D2I Marketing is amazingly powerful and definitely the easiest way to influence your share price. 

Like all marketing, though, there is no silver bullet - only a lot of lead ones: brand building, communications strategy, communications frequency, reach, acquisition, retention, and growth. 

It is beautifully influential, and is why a mining company can hit NOTHING after a 50% run up on anticipation, and its share price stays miraculously flat, or why a company can run out of cash simply because their business was undervalued and they couldn't raise as a result.

You should not be listed if you’re not willing to market your business. Direct to investor marketing, like traditional marketing, is everything you do to promote, influence, drive awareness, and communicate your story to the market - with the goal of getting more people to buy more stock. 

The tangible results of this are better liquidity, a better-than-alternative share price, and access to more capital when you need it.

It is the only factor that is entirely within your control, and therefore, something every company should invest in.