Coping with annual reports on the web
The chocolate analogy
Anyone interested in attending our courses should note that chocolate is provided! But not for nothing. The cue is: what, if anything, do websites have in common with a box of chocolates?
Web content managers and designers find this difficult to answer objectively. Descriptions such as 'attractive', 'tempting' and even 'seductive' usually spring to mind. But arguably the most important similarity is 'choice'.
Offering visitors choice, through hyperlinks, is one of the main features of the web as a communication medium.
In print naturally readers can choose what, and how much, content they want to read. But, owing to high production costs and lengthy timescales, normally just one publication is made available for a mass audience.
Since web publishing is faster and more flexible, it is quite easy to provide different entry points and levels of information to suit different audience groups.
The mass audience of an annual report can be vast. It includes not just private shareholders and analysts, but institutional shareholders, journalists, employees and potential employees. Then there are potential investors, banks, creditors, partners, customers, suppliers, regulators, government agencies, pensioners — and more.
All have different backgrounds, financial knowledge and personal agendas.
The task of the professional communicator is to carefully research the needs of different target groups.
For example, people with more financial knowledge may want access to the full accounts. Those with less will prefer a short summary. Some will be interested simply in seeing how share prices have risen and fallen, while others would like to learn about the CEO's background — and so on.
If we provide a varied menu, individuals can 'self serve' what suits them best.
A well thought-out website is like an assorted box of chocolates — allowing people to choose and tempting them to come back for more.
Next: Tough objectives
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