Benchmarking Doesn’t Stop Because We Are Talking About Annual Reports

Consider for a moment that you work for your friendly local widget manufacturer. You are considering whether or not you should produce an annual report this year. You begin the process by asking several questions, including:

-How do we use it?
-What information does it typically include?
-How popular is it?
-What other materials do we make available?

The fundamental question, though, is does producing a report make sense for us? And, do people still read them. My colleagues in investor relations produced a thought piece (PDF) yesterday citing some very interesting data that suggests that yes, people do read them, and yes it does make sense to produce one.

So if people are reading it, how do you get started? Well, benchmarking would be a good place to start. I’ve written here, and elsewhere about the importance of benchmarking. It should be where you begin all of your efforts whether they be developing a social media or investor relations strategy or something as tactical as producing an annual report. Here’s the problem though…XYZ widget manufacturer often feels the need to not only answer these questions but look at how companies like Dow Chemical, GE are producing their annual reports. If they are a competitor of yours, than it probably makes sense. But what do Dow Chemical, GE and local widget manufacturer have in common? Not a whole lot. So why should their annual reports? Benchmark against YOUR direct competitors. Know how YOUR end-users react to the report. Know what information YOUR readers find valuable. And, in the end, let Dow Chemical and GE be Dow Chemical and GE…

Anyway, how do you go about your annual report process? Does it begin with benchmarking?

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