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A Sounder Approach to Influencing Industry Analysts January 2003 The most prevalent method that most technology marketers employ to communicate with industry analysts leaves a lot to be desired. The influence this important channel holds over technology markets is not to be underestimated. The most visible analysts at the most prominent advisory firms can influence end user organization buying decisions on a daily basis, and can mean the difference between a vendor making the short list for evaluation or not. "Analyst relations" as defined is typically the purview of public relations. Yet typical AR programs don't have the best interests of most marketing strategies at heart. This isn't entirely the fault of public relations practitioners, who in the majority of cases work hard to serve their clients. Rather, it's that PR folks only have so much time (or money in the case of retained agency staff) to fulfill their media objectives. Smart enterprise tech marketers need to move beyond this typical first line of offense in reaching tech analysts, or at the very least extend the good work of PR across the organization at a deeper level. PR, and its parent corporate communications, listens to analysts for what's important to them - namely, signs of market evolution, heads up on emerging trends, and acceptance of positioning messages. Good aims all; but hardly in service to the needs of the entire organization. Second, the interaction method most employed by PR is the "vendor briefing" - the lowest and least interactive of the multiple analyst interaction levels. The result is very little useful and concrete feedback from the analyst audience, unless you consider monosyllabic responses and "yes, the press can call me" to be deep validation and advice. A sounder, deeper approach is to move industry analyst strategy out of purely the promotional realm. A truly robust, highly influential approach takes into account the needs of product marketing, sales management, partner/channel marketing, customer marketing, and C-level executives. The result of wider participation in the analyst dialogue can include feedback informing future product definition, emerging user requirements, ripe partnership opportunities, innovative sales tactics, and market perceptions of competitors. Often these nuggets are heard in a briefing, but seldom heeded. The typical PR approach to analyst relationships is as a means to an end. Analysts are most often regarded as a stepping-stone to later success with the press - as third party validation for the importance of a vendor's news or positioning. Once the check mark is obtained, PR does little to loop its learnings back to product development or company management, if in fact they listened on behalf of those constituencies at all. I can almost hear my esteemed PR colleagues objecting already, but the truth hurts. PR professionals need to start regarding analyst relations as it does investor relations - as a specialty requiring specific expertise. Successfully navigating the naturally skeptical tech analyst landscape requires some understanding of what is valued by them. Analysts rate vendors, and vendors should seek validation from analysts, in three critical ways:
If a given analyst scores a given vendor highly in each of these three areas, they can become a powerful rainmaker with key decision makers at the vendor's prospects as buying decisions are made. Gaining their support can actually reduce a vendor's sales cycles in the field. Most vendors spend some money with analyst firms as part of their go-to-market strategy. But if the entirety of the analyst budget sits in the PR line item, that is a mistake. There are methods of milking value from the right (i.e. "most influential") tech analysts in a given market space without having to commit tens of thousands of subscription dollars. Graduating from the "vendor briefing" to deeper interaction levels take less investment than you may think. The six level of analyst interaction are:
By leveraging as many of these styles of interactions as the marketing budget will allow, a vendor's entire organization can reap the benefits. And PR will be pleased as well, when they see the results in stronger presentations, research-driven proof, and possibly more "ink" from fully engaged analyst targets. As industry analyst budget grows, outreach can be added in key verticals or international markets. When handled correctly, a sound analyst strategy can result in the vendor actually setting the agenda in its market. Then the challenge of managing analyst subscription contracts for the highest possible return on investment begins! Find out more about INFLUENTIAL's Analyst Relations Services Home | Approach | Services | Background | Clients | Contact | News | Also Influential | Buyer2Brand Blog |
