A colleague of mine asked me today how companies best engage with industry analysts in order to be successful – here’re are a few pointers. Please add your tips & tricks!
First, always remember, analysts must be useful for their clients, meaning you need to give them info that allow them to be useful to their clients. This will make them talk about your brand and products, recommend your products and services etc.
- Have a dedicated analyst relations program unless your company is tiny. Analysts are not press and they have different needs.
- Ask for vendor briefings for newsworthy items- analysts will gladly take relevant calls for product and corporate news (strategy, product roadmap, earnings, M&A, partnerships etc.).
- There can also be quarterly, semi-annual or annual check-up calls. For public companies that is easy: invite analysts to earnings calls.
- Press releases/emails – they’re fine but not half as effective as briefings.
- Annual vendor showcase events with an analyst program attached; ask clients to make themselves available for interviews. Pick up T&E.
- Run product webcasts; product demos; whiteboarding sessions
- Promptly answer inquiries and questions; quick response is key (even when the answer is, “I have to investigate, and I will come back to you tomorrow”); quick turn-around with the actual answer is even more important.
- Analysts appreciate candor and honesty, even when under NDA. Admitting to a weakness or shortcoming will make them respect you and think you’ve got things in hand. Spin and half-truths will do the opposite. Analysts are not press – they’re not looking for a scoop or to expose you.
- Use analysts to do research: market sizings/TAMs, market shares, forecasts, trends etc.
- Use analysts for independent, objective third-party go-to-market pieces. Whitepapers, surveys, infographics, analyst interviews, fireside chats, speeches
What else? Please add!
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