Rewiring IR and corporate communications 

As AI becomes an increasingly common gateway to corporate information, investor communications are taking on a new role: helping shape how companies are interpreted before investors – and other stakeholders – even reach the corporate website.

That was the central theme of our recent breakfast event with IDX. While AI framed the discussion, the conversation centred on a broader question: how can companies build investor communications that are authoritative, accessible and trusted in a rapidly evolving digital landscape?

Here are seven takeaways from the morning.

1  Treat your Investors section as a destination, not a document repository

AI may provide the first answer, but investors still visit corporate websites to verify information, explore your investment case and access reporting. In fact, IDX shared that visitors arriving via AI citations are four times more likely to convert than traditional organic traffic, making them some of the highest-intent users of a corporate website.

Rather than treating the Investors section as somewhere to archive documents, companies should see it as the place where authority is built, and investment decisions are supported. 

2  Write investor content for wider audiences 

Annual reports, governance information and financial results remain essential for investors and analysts, but they're increasingly being read by much wider audiences, including journalists, prospective employees and AI tools.

That makes investor content one of a company's richest sources of factual, structured information. Rather than viewing reporting purely as a compliance exercise, companies should think about how it contributes to the wider corporate narrative and helps explain strategy, performance and long-term direction. 

75% of decision-makers have researched a product or service
after reading a single piece of thought leadership.
- Edelman

3  Publish before someone else fills the gaps

Generative AI can only work with the information available to it. If companies don't explain their strategy, performance or position clearly, other sources inevitably will.

Around 70% of AI citations rotate every two to three months, reinforcing that visibility isn't fixed. Publishing complete, consistent and up-to-date information across owned channels is becoming an ongoing reputation management exercise, not something reserved for reporting season.  

4  Build pages, not just PDFs

One of the strongest practical messages centred on accessibility. Rich online summaries of annual reports, performance data published in HTML alongside PDFs and clear information architecture all make content easier for investors to navigate, and easier for AI tools to understand.

Examples from companies including Bosch and Nestlé demonstrated that improving the presentation of existing content can be just as valuable as creating new material. 

With around 35% of website traffic now coming from bots,
now is the time to rethink how investor information is presented

5  Bring your investment case to life 

An investment case shouldn't be buried inside an annual report.

The strongest examples showcased companies that dedicated space on their websites to explaining why the business is an attractive long-term investment, complementing financial disclosures with clear strategic context. Others tackled contentious issues directly, helping investors understand not only performance, but the decisions behind it. 

6  Put your experts in front of your company

AI increasingly favours identifiable expertise over anonymous corporate messaging, and investors do, too. 

During the event, Edelman's finding was cited: 75% of decision-makers have researched a product or service after reading a single piece of thought leadership. Executive commentary and expert insights therefore have an increasingly important role to play, helping companies explain strategy, demonstrate accountability and build trust beyond statutory reporting. 

We recently wrote an article on the creative formats you can adopt to get senior leadership involved in your content strategy.

7  Good investor communications should be future-ready

The fundamentals of investor communications haven't changed, but expectations have. Investors increasingly expect digital experiences that are clear, engaging and easy to navigate, and AI is accelerating that shift.

With around 35% of website traffic now coming from bots, now is the time to rethink how investor information is presented. From interactive investment cases and HTML reporting to executive-led content, the organisations that embrace innovation while maintaining credibility and transparency will be best placed to earn trust in an AI-driven world.