It is a paradox, but true: the bigger you are, the more work it is to be in touch with your investors.

For unquoted companies it takes just unswerving courage, a bit of luck, a pukka business plan and good contacts, but once listed, you enter the brawling, competitive financial markets. You are swept into investor relations.

You suddenly have to become an astute communicator, a skilful juggler of insatiable media, institutional and retail investor relationships, a beady overseer of online investor strategies, a creator of dynamic interactive websites, and, worst, a loud participant in the unending quest to stand out from the crowd of other SMEs.

Companies outside the FTSE 100 have to work hard to convince institutional investors to look at their businesses. Investors research, perhaps, 400 stocks in great detail - but only a quarter get onto their Buy list.

They watch a company for weeks, months, sometimes years, and nothing happens as far as the directors are concerned.

The board gets fed up with investors coming to see them, it insists their share price is cheap, and the analysts just repeat they are committed to buying at the right time - just as much as selecting the right stock.

They assure you they study daily how the stocks are moving and that they are aware of how every company has its own pattern and even seasonality to its movements.

They add they are increasingly interested in small company portfolios; they note that while yesterday's small-caps were perceived to be locally oriented, family-owned businesses with no pricing power, in traditional sectors, illiquid and unprofitable, today's are the blue-chips of the future.

Diamond in the rough 

The investors promise they look to these to deliver benefits associated with alternative investments - higher returns and diversification. 

As the directors listen to their stories of looking for the diamond in the rough, they become convinced again that they need a strong and consistent story to match the investors' methodology, and that the board needs to present qualitative factors as much as numbers.

But what more to do - and how? If you can master four aspects of this challenge, you will be on your way. You will possibly be able to prove to the markets that your company is worth their attention.

Maybe you will even be able to call the shots. The first matter concerns a clear definition of your corporate objectives: where does the company want to be in, say, the next six months to three years?

Does it eventually want to raise fresh finance? To stave off a potential takeover? To sell? Second, who precisely are the current shareholders? The share register is the starting point, but it is not straightforward.

Worrisome beneficial owners can lurk under nominee names, and you may discover that a very small handful of institutional or private investors own a huge chunk of your company.

Investor wish list 

What type of shareholders might they be? What are their motives? Are they long-term holders or short-term traders - or indexers, smaller company specialists or vultures stockpiling for a takeover?

Third, compile your investor wish list. The house stockbroker can help and sell-side brokers and their sales teams, who are close to the markets and can target the right contact at, say, a buy-side firm in a specific city.

Sell-side players are researched by trawling the media for their quotes, and by checking competitors' investor relations departments and websites.

Corporate finance executives are also useful colleagues, and Nelson's directories provide investment managers' profiles, while Standard & Poor's has directories of registered mutual fund investment advisors, updated yearly.

These days, private investors are also important to consider. They are online, solvent, and investment-savvy.

Investment clubs, retail brokers and private banks are useful partners to reach them, especially decent-sized retail investors.

Fourth, communicate with these stakeholders. Usually, the chairman and chief executive do this, and in the US, chief executives are likely to take the entire activity upon them.