Writing an RNS release is stressful.
For one thing, the news needs to be shared urgently. It’s why it’s the ‘regulatory’ news service after all. Good or bad, it’s your responsibility to share it with the market so investors can make an informed decision.
Trouble is, writing something that could potentially have a huge impact on your share price in a very short space of time is hard.
It’s hard because the very nature of an RNS means that often much of the context is hidden in the fine detail or is often lost completely.
There’s also all the technical jargon you kind of need to include for things to make sense. But at the same time, including too much of the technical jargon can do the opposite: for many readers, your RNS ends up making no sense at all.
It’s a tightrope we’re sure you’ve tiptoed on many times.
And that’s why we spend a lot of time working with our clients to help them get a better handle on writing an RNS release under pressure. In fact, depending on the support each client needs, in some cases we’ll write the RNS ourselves, consulting closely with the client and their compliance and legal team.
Of course, there are a lot of different elements to consider when it comes to writing an RNS and a lot of different ways you can make sure you’re communicating the best version of events as you can.
But there is one thing that we would advise you to think about above everything else.
If you do this above all else, it will make writing the rest of the RNS a lot easier. And you’ll end up with something that is a lot more coherent, logical, and generally readable for any investor.
What is the one thing you should thing about?
It’s this:
What does this news mean for the investor?
It seems like such an obvious thought, but when you’re under pressure to get news out and you get lost in the technical details, it’s so easy to forget.
Of course, an RNS release is news. It’s not a piece of marketing, and we’re not suggesting you should be trying to sway or influence an investor.
Instead, it’s about approaching the writing of the RNS from a more human point of view. Rather than sitting there with a busy pot of complicated facts and trying to ‘disseminate’ them in a timely manner…
Just stop.
Think about the market.
Think about your existing investors.
Think about potential new investors.
And think what that busy pot of facts means for them.
When you do, you’ll notice a slight change of perspective in your thinking.
Rather than getting bogged down by the details, you start think about the news you’re trying to share from a much simpler angle.
By thinking about how it affects an investor, it allows you to be much more direct and helps you highlight the key technical elements you need to explain to communicate the news in the most effective way.
As we mentioned before, there are other important elements to consider when it comes to writing an RNS, but if you think first and foremost from the point of view of an investor, it will help guide your thinking so that you produce a much stronger release.
That said, if you’d like to talk some more about how we might be able to help you with your RNS releases, don’t hesitate to get in touch.