On October 29th, Gilmartin Group hosted Investor Engagement 2.0: Building Momentum Beyond Conferences and Earnings, a discussion on how management teams can strengthen investor connectivity and visibility throughout the year. Moderated by Ami Bavishi, Managing Director at Gilmartin Group, the conversation featured Dan Cocks, Managing Director, Healthcare Equity Capital Markets at Barclays, and Kristin Hanley, Vice President, Healthcare Corporate Access Origination at Barclays. Together, they explored how companies can expand engagement strategies beyond traditional touchpoints and build durable, long-term impact with the investment community.
Redefining Investor Engagement in a Shifting Market
No single playbook works for every company. Effective investor engagement requires a nuanced, tailored approach rooted in each company’s unique shareholder base, capital needs, and stage of development. At a high level, public companies should focus their strategies around two key questions:
- Who will participate in the next capital raise?
- Who will buy stock in the open market?
Successful companies continually build visibility and demand well before they need to access capital. That means keeping investors informed of key milestones, soliciting regular feedback, and maintaining open, consistent dialogue with both existing and aspirational shareholders.
The Role of NDRs and Corporate Access in Long-Term Visibility
Non-deal roadshows (NDRs) remain one of the most effective tools for deepening investor relationships and shaping market perception. Each NDR should have a clear goal, whether it’s engaging new investors, reinforcing confidence after a data release, or reintroducing the story following management changes.
As Hanley emphasized, NDRs should always be a two-way street. Beyond presenting updates, they offer management the opportunity to listen, gather feedback, read investor sentiment, and refine messaging. Companies that approach these meetings with a deliberate purpose and clear narrative tend to convert engagement into tangible support during future financings.
Importantly, quiet or “closed” market periods can present prime opportunities for outreach. As Cocks noted, companies often see higher-quality engagement when they meet investors during less crowded times, when they can command full attention and build relationships without competing for bandwidth.
Striking the Right Balance in Shareholder Engagement
Finding the right cadence and composition of investor interactions is key. Over-engagement can signal desperation, while under-engagement can imply opacity. Management teams should aim for consistent visibility through conferences, targeted meetings, and thoughtful geographic or investor segmentation, typically engaging in a few key events per quarter while maintaining regular touchpoints in between.
The makeup of a company’s existing shareholder base should inform this approach. Companies with concentrated ownership or recent leadership transitions benefit from getting in front of investors early and often to reinforce confidence and continuity.
Data Discipline, Credibility, and Calibrating Expectations
In the current market, credibility is currency. Companies must align how they present data with investor expectations, sharing enough to inform and build trust without overextending or releasing updates that dilute impact. As Cocks shared, the most confident management teams understand the market’s hurdle for success and communicate accordingly.
Investors take note when companies do what they say they will do and then go beyond. Delivering on milestones, especially commercialization or clinical expectations, is one of the strongest signals management can send to influence market perception.
Engaging Both Hedge Funds and Long-Only Investors
While companies often default to courting long-term institutional investors, a balanced investor mix that includes hedge funds can enhance liquidity and broaden market reach. Hedge funds often act as daily buyers and can even serve as anchors in future raises. Ignoring them may limit both near-term and long-term opportunity.
The most effective IR programs engage all investor types thoughtfully, controlling the “why” behind each position rather than allowing market perception to be shaped externally.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls: Consistency, Clarity, and Composure
Messaging consistency and tone are critical. Canceling corporate access meetings or conferences should be handled with care, as investors often interpret such changes as live data. Likewise, engagement strategies that appear rushed or overly aggressive can backfire.
Maintaining an element of availability while preserving scarcity, being visible but not overexposed, helps companies project strength and stability.
Building a Year-Round Investor Engagement Plan
Both speakers emphasized the importance of taking a holistic, year-round approach to investor engagement. That includes coordination across internal and external partners, from IR and equity research to investment banking and ECM teams, to align outreach, messaging, and timing.
While in-person meetings remain the gold standard for building relationships, virtual touchpoints still hold value for keeping communication consistent and accessible. The key is finding the right balance between depth and reach.
The Takeaway
Sustained investor engagement is not just about filling the calendar with conferences and meetings. It is about cultivating relationships, credibility, and clarity over time. Companies that approach engagement as an ongoing strategic effort, not a reactive exercise, are best positioned to drive demand and achieve stronger outcomes when capital markets reopen.
Gilmartin has extensive experience helping companies strategize and execute on successful investor relations plans. Reach out to our team to learn more about how we partner with clients to strengthen investor engagement and build lasting visibility in dynamic markets.