Analysts who blog versus Bloggers who analyze

By Carter Lusher, Strategist
Last week’s Forrester Analyst Relations Council Panel on “Analyst Relations 2.0″ was fun and interesting. There was quite a bit of diversity of opinion on the panel with KCG’s Bill Hopkins playing the self-described anti-blog/anti-Web 2.0 curmudgeon and Dana Gardner from Interarbor Solutions way on the other side playing the pro-social media [...]

Teradata’s Katherine Knowles talks about her broader focus on third party influencers

One of the sharpest thinkers about analyst relations (AR) is Katherine Knowles, long time AR honcho for Teradata. When Teradata was spun off from NCR last fall, Katherine got an interesting new title: Director of Third-Party Influencers. One of the intriguing aspects of this change is how Katherine includes academics into the mix of influencers.
In [...]

“Media training” does not, I repeat, does not prepare one for the analysts

Had a great meeting today at a software company where the subject of preparing spokespeople for interacting with industry analysts came up. Before the I chance to say anything, the head of corporate communications - a very smart gentleman with a heritage in PR – immediate piped up that tradition media training is not useful for preparing [...]

Have you noticed any change in Forrester’s direct influence in IT purchases

SageCircle has received several reports lately from AR managers who perceive that Forrester’s direct influence on IT purchasing decisions seems to be going down. These perceptions are based on reports from their sales organizations that Forrester is not being referenced as often — or at all — as a source of information or advice by IT managers. [...]

Homework – Gather Background Information: the Magic Quadrant & Tech Vendors [part 3]

It is critical for AR to thoroughly research a particular Magic Quadrant and its history. Even AR staffs that have been working with Gartner on a MQ for a long time could benefit from doing a little digging into the background of the MQ in order to separate reality from faulty memory and myth.
 SageCircle Technique: 
Check [...]

Common Mistakes: the Magic Quadrant & Tech Vendors [part 2]

For a variety of reasons, communications and IT vendor AR and executives make a number of mistakes concerning the Gartner Magic Quadrant (MQ) and how their companies should react to it. Decision makers at IT vendors need to take a step back and carefully consider the appropriate level of effort to put into “moving the [...]

Don’t Obsess, Don’t Ignore: the Magic Quadrant & Tech Vendors [part 1]

Even with the blogosphere and other forms of social media, Gartner’s Magic Quadrant remains the IT market’s most highly visible piece of commentary. Because the Magic Quadrant impacts billions of dollars of corporate IT purchases, some IT vendor executives put too much emphasis on “moving the dot” which drains resources from the overall AR plan. [...]

The SageCircle post you have been waiting to see

I’m sure this is an announcement that all of our faithful readers have been eagerly waiting to see. [drum roll please] We are pleased to announce that we have updated our brochures and services pages. Excited? Oh, you have not exactly been sitting on the edge of seats waiting for this? Oh, well.
Seriously, the tabs [...]

THE TOP 5 Common Mistakes that Analyst Relations Programs Make

5.  Vendors approach analysts with an undifferentiated message and lack of thought in their vision and strategy.
Downside – why should an analyst pay any attention to a boring, me too vendor, especially if the market is crowded and fragmented?
4.  Vendors use the same approach used for all analysts and all firms. Some firms have very [...]

Presentation Tip: Watch out for the notes on PowerPoint slides

If you send industry analysts PowerPoint files of your presentations, do make sure that you review the text in the Notes section of each page. You’ll want to delete any text that is inappropriate to give to the analysts. This is a step that is easy to miss and which will give you great heartburn. [...]

New AR job postings: Informatica and Interwoven

Informatica

Director of Analyst Relations
Redwood City, CA
Contact: mlusher [at] Informatica.com

Interwoven

Senior Manager, Analyst Relations
Tracking Code:

The value to team collaboration – The ROI of an Analyst Relationship Management System [part four]

This is the fourth in a series of posts that will explore the resources required and the advantages gained in using a formal analyst relationship management (ARM) system.  In this post we investigate how these systems can enhance collaboration.  Other posts will explore metrics and look at the values that can be obtained.  Your comments [...]

IDC lays off eight analysts and 15 additional staff

Tips started coming into SageCircle last night. Over the last twelve hours we have identified five six of the eight analysts. Out of respect to the analysts we will not publish the names.*
In an e-mail exchange with SageCircle, IDC Corporate Communications Director Michael Shirer released the following statement:

On May 20, IDC reduced its U.S. headcount by 23 [...]

What to do when analyst firms lays off analysts

SageCircle has learned that IDC has initiated a round of analyst layoffs. At this time the exact number of staff and coverage is not known. AR teams need to hope for the best for their favorite IDC analysts, but plan for the worst.
Of course, layoffs impact real people with families and obligations. Often AR people [...]

SageCircle announces the Analyst Relations Wiki, a tool to help AR teams be more efficient and effective

[May 20, 2008] Silicon Valley. SageCircle announces that the firm is launching a wiki (an on-line encyclopedia) covering topics of interest for the analyst relations (AR) professional. The goal of the SageCircle Analyst Relations Wiki is to make AR professionals more effective and efficient by making new and classic SageContentTM and SageToolsTM available in an [...]

Steps for AR teams for starting with analyst blogs

Welcome members of Forrester’s AR Council. Here are those steps A through F that I rattled off at the beinging of the panel. I also put in links to directories of analysts blogs and Don Bulmer’s blog. If the session ran out before we got to your question or you want more depth, leave your question [...]

Welcome back Cisco Analyst Relations blog

Cisco’s AR Blog has been quiet for four months since Skip MacAskill departed as AR director. That was too bad, because it was a good blog with interesting information. So it was nice to see a new post by Terry Anderson, VP of Corporate Communications. What I thought was especially interesting was her statement that she [...]

Getting value out requires putting effort in – The ROI of an Analyst Relationship Management System [part three]

This is the third in a series of posts that will explore the resources required and the advantages gained in using a formal analyst relationship management (ARM) system.  In this post we review some best practices in using a system.  Other posts will explore metrics and look at the values that can be obtained.  Your [...]

AR-Sales Partnership case study – Using a teleconference to raise Sale’s awareness of the analysts and improve AR’s strategic standing

Who: Director of Analyst Relations at a mid-sized enterprise software vendor
Situation: The vendor’s previous CMO would not permit AR to interact with Sales so there was no outreach to the field on analyst impact and how to leverage positive analyst commentary. After a change in both the CMO and AR director positions the situation changed. [...]

Threatening analysts with canceled business if they don’t change draft research is rarely effective, often backfires

I saw this tweet in response to Best practice for responding to analyst draft research:

Good grief, threatening to cancel business or syndicated research contracts if an analyst does not change their opinion is not a smart approach to “influencing the influencers.” In fact, it may even backfire.
First, it does not make business sense for an analyst [...]

Who is attending the Forrester AR Council meeting next week? IT Forum?

SageCircle strategist Carter Lusher is heading to Lost Wages on Monday to attend the Forrester events. If you are going to either IT Forum 2008 or AR Council meeting and would like to meet, please let Carter know.  Carter will be on the “Analyst Relations 2.0″ ARC panel at 10 AM on Tuesday the 20th and attending the IT Forum [...]

Best practice for responding to analyst draft research

This best practice comes from guest contributor Gerry Van Zandt (Twitter handle), AR manager with HP Services.
Often (as you know) analysts will provide drafts of research notes or event-reaction pieces to vendors to review for inaccuracies.  You have a limited opportunity to provide a response or comment and need a process for action. Here are [...]

How does one become an analyst? [AR Practitioner Question]

At a recent client meeting we got an interesting question: How does a person become an analyst? Is there certification? A test?
At this time the requirements for becoming an analyst consist of ownership of a laptop, cell phone, business card and an opinion. A website and / or blog are nice, but not required. There [...]

So, have you started planning and executing your Fall Symposium campaign yet?

Hmm, let’s see, Gartner’s Fall Symposia series kicks off on October 12 with Europe, Japan and Australia following through mid-November. That is what, five months away? I’m sure that many folks are thinking that there is plenty of time to worry about educating the Gartnerians.
Alas, if that is your impression then you will not like [...]

Incorporating social media into your measurement program

A critical success factor for best-in-class analyst relations (AR) programs is an appropriate measurement program. A measurement program can help AR managers demonstrate the business value of AR, generate information to improve day-to-day operations, and harvest intelligence valuable to the Sales organization. As social media matures into a regular part of the business communications environment [...]