If you are a public company and trying to decide what media you should be focusing on, then the answer is actually very simple: Dow Jones, Reuters and Bloomberg.

That’s it.

Other earned media exposure, wherever, is not useless in support of an investor relations program, but it represents a very inefficient way to make progress.

This simple strategy, on the other hand, owes its existence to the denominator problem, which is this: the amount of time investors have to consume messages is fixed while the amount of information, and now content, competing for their attention i.e. the denominator — is growing exponentially.

Numerically, it’s not a happy quotient.

Therefore, to grab the attention of investors, it’s best to focus on media outlets that are integrated, literally wired, into their workflow. Dow Jones, Reuters, and Bloomberg all have trading and portfolio management news solutions, and they sell them aggressively all over the world.

By focusing on these three media outlets only, you can deliver exposure to your prospects through a medium that he or she stares at for eight to 10 hours a day.

Hey, who doesn’t love a broadcast interview? But if you don’t have the time (and really, you shouldn’t), the best, most comprehensive alternative strategy is, thankfully a straightforward one.