Involving the analysts - The need for early and often

Too often, communications and IT vendors wait until a few weeks prior to a major announcement to brief the analysts. This is a problematic practice for a number of reasons which we will investigate in future posts.  Perhaps the most important is that the advisory analysts are talking continuously to many people that fill many [...]

Are the analysts laggards or have startups neglected to brief them? [Startup Saturday]

Here is a comment from a blog that is representative on the attitude about analysts at major firms covering an emerging technology:
“…I think that the Social Revolution is being underreported by Gartner et al, because the enterprise world is a laggard …”
Or maybe the thought leaders and leading providers of an emerging technology market (in this case [...]

Analyst Hierarchy of Needs — Part two — Emphasis Changes Depending on the Situation

 The SageCircle Hierarchy of Analyst Needs provides interesting insights into the professional and emotional needs of analysts (see Part one). What makes this model powerful is the application of the Hierarchy to specific relationships. In the graphic to the right we illustrate that the level of analyst (see Know your analyst - Novice, Luminary or Sage) can [...]

Tuesday’s Coffee Talk is on how to handle potential AR budget cuts

 Unfortunately in times of economic uncertainty, AR is one of the marketing functions that often get targeted for budget cuts. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to chat with an AR expert and bounce ideas off your peers about this unsettling prospect?
The next SageCircle Coffee Talk is happening on Tuesday, April 1st, at 8:30 [...]

Analysts should let vendor AR teams know that they want AR blogs

It’s a classic chicken-and-egg situation: AR is not using blogs until analysts say they will read AR blogs, but analysts are wanting AR to start blogs but not asking them to which means AR postpones launching a blog… You get the idea.
Last week at IDC Directions in San Jose, analyst Rachel Happe (bio, blog, Twitter) [...]

Common mistakes made when using market share numbers from industry analysts

Market share numbers from the market research analysts can provide interesting insights into the direction a market is going. However, relying on the numbers alone without understanding how they are created or the assumptions that went into their research can lead to the wrong conclusions
There are a variety of common mistakes that market research consumers [...]

The value in the Analyst Relations Diagnostic™

One of the SageTools that SageCircle has devoted a significant amount of effort in building is the Analyst Relations DiagnosticTM. It represents such a significant research investment and a major advancement in evaluating AR programs that we decided to trademark it. In addition, it’s one of the coolest tools this long-time analyst has seen.
The AR [...]

Be Analyst Centric, not Company Centric

One of the greatest failings of inexperienced AR teams, and occasionally even seasoned AR professionals is not focusing on the analyst needs.  In a recent post about the Analyst Hierarchy of Needs we explained some issues of content.  However, schedule is also a major consideration.  Too often the AR plan is driven in the same [...]

Commenting on analyst blogs to build relationships with analysts on the cheap [Startup Saturday]

One of the challenges for startups is how to build relationships with analysts when they do not have a services contract. Because many analyst firms put the analysts behind a paywall, startups cannot call up the analyst for an ad hoc conversation. Yes, one can do some relationship building via briefings and informal interactions at [...]

Welcome Fortune readers

For those of you who are visiting SageCircle because you saw my quote in the Fortune article Web 2.0 gets down to business, welcome. SageCircle does a considerable amount of research on the use of social media within the context of IT industry analyst relations. You can find posts on this topic by clicking on [...]

Stay on top on what is happening in the analyst ecosystem by having a SageCircle strategist talk at your next staff call

The analyst landscape and AR trends are volatile
All aspects of the communications and IT industries are in a state of flux.  The industry analysts are not immune to the change, which drags AR along.  Issues like what is the impact of social media on AR, are the analysts still influential, what is the Fog of [...]

SageCircle’s “Analyst Hierarchy of Needs” - Part one

Why is it that some analysts are content with receiving a newsletter while other analysts always demand access to the vendor’s CEO? In this post we introduce a model that defines a hierarchy of analyst needs.  Application of the Hierarchy can help AR programs prioritize initiatives and focus communication and interaction strategies based on a [...]

Why reporters call the wrong analysts

How many times have you seen an analyst quote in the press and wondered “well why did the reporter contact that analyst” or “if that reporter had contacted someone familiar with us we would have been more favorably mentioned”?
Reporters use a variety of sources to gain content for their articles and frequently quote analysts to [...]

Potential analyst inquiry topics for IT and communications vendors

SageCircle constantly recommends that communications and IT vendors take advantage of their inquiry privileges with analysts and actively work this activity into their interactions plan.  In last Saturday’s post (click here) we encouraged startups to use inquiry and suggested some techniques that are valid for all vendors.
Inquiries are a great way to stay “top of [...]

Doing unto analysts what they do unto vendors

In an example of how social media can turn the tables in the analyst ecosystem, Sam Lawrence (bio, Jive blog, Twitter), the esteemed Chief Marketing Officer for Jive Software (enterprise collaboration software), in his personal blog Go Big Always gives Forrester a B and Gartner a C- in Gartner and Forrester’s Report Card (so far). [...]

Waggener Edstrom just added three new positions to the AR Job Listings

Waggener Edstrom updated SageCircle about a number of changes. Readers can now find three new positions (2822, 2957 and 3201) listed in addition to the existing 3011.

You could end up buried deep in the “Niche” by insisting on being added to a MQ before you are ready

Gartner’s Magic Quadrant is probably the iconic piece of analyst research. With its visibility and status, it also has enormous influence on vendor sales opportunities, especially when it comes time for IT buyers to draw up the all-important vendor short lists.
Because of this influence on short lists, communications and IT vendor executives sometimes obsess over [...]

New feature - SageCircle’s Analyst Twitter Directory

Because analyst Twitter handles are not always obvious, SageCircle has created a directory of analyst Twitter addresses. You can find it in the left nav bar under “Pages.”
If you know of other analysts that are Twittering, please send their addresses to carter [at] sagecircle dot com.
Related posts:

Newbie’s Guide to Twitter

Adding Twitter or other micro blogging tools to [...]

The AR job listings page has been refreshed

The “AR job listings” (under Pages in the left navigation bar) has a new table format to make it easier to scroll through the openings. In addition, a number of closed jobs were deleted and over 20 new listings added.
If you would like to post a AR, market research or other related job opening for free, please send [...]

Startups, when was the last time you did an inquiry? [Startup Saturday]

Startups agonize about buying analyst services - influenced by the myth that analysts are pay-to-play - but then underutilize what they bought. As we always say, it is what you do with the contract that gets you the benefit, not the act of writing a check.
One of the biggest crimes is not using that retainer-based [...]

Informatica is looking for an AR specialist

Contact Madhu Manmadkar at
mmanmadkar@informatica.com or
(650) 385-5000.
Informatica is in Redwood City, CA

Not responding to analysts can lead to major issues

SageCircle believes strongly in ranking and tiering your analyst list and applying your resources in a reasonable and carefully thought out process.  By determining the relative importance and impact of each analyst you can decide how much of your available resource to allocate.  This allows you to give sufficient resource to the real influencers rather [...]

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

This oft-attributed quote to Mark Twain might sum up how the Motorola AR teams feels about a quote by an analyst in Motorola CMO out: Tried to save Razr, got cut saying that the entire AR team has left Motorola. “Wow!” I thought, “That is absolutely amazing!” Just to double check, I dropped the Motorola [...]

Will you get analyst opinions in a briefing if you are not a client? [AR seminar question]

Yes… if you give them a chance to actually speak and if you take the time to ask correctly.
There is a common (mis-)understanding that analysts will only provide opinions if you are a paying client of their firm.  So can you get their opinions during a briefing? For the most part, analysts are more than [...]

Research consumers need account maintenance, part two

Last week (see Part One) we spoke of how getting the maximum value from an automobile required a certain amount of ongoing maintenance and how analyst firm contracts were no different.  We suggested that research consumers create a multi-point checkup and review status with the firm’s Account Executive (AE) on a regular basis.  Each client [...]