Why an AR measurement program is important

One of the consistent findings that appears when we conduct an Analyst Relations Diagnostic™ is that more emphasis needs to put on the AR measurement and reporting program. Either the vendor does not have a formal measurement program or little effort is put into an official measurement effort. If you are in this situation here are a few reasons why you should consider implementing a formal AR measurement program: 

• You can’t manage what you don’t measure
  • Manage the team against the plan
  • Maintain the mix of interactions
  • Focus the effort on your key influential analysts
  • Allocate team and individual resources
• There is an ongoing need to justify your AR activities
  • Prove ROI
  • Show analyst impact on revenues
  • Demonstrate positive movement on analyst opinion
  • Track team performance against objectives
  • Obtain and maintain executive support
• On-going intelligence
  • Collect opinions about your company and your competitors
  • Identify problems to be corrected urgently
  • Gather insights on analyst activities
  • Monitor analysts’ unfiltered opinions and perceptions
  • Observe competitor activities

SageCircle Technique: 

• Develop an AR strategic and tactical plan that puts as much emphasis on results definition and measurement strategies as it does on activities
• Cross-link desired results with the ability to measure progress. If a result cannot

Where do social media metrics fit into an AR measurement program? [Practitioner Question]

Question: Are social media like blogs and Twitter something we should be measuring or is it too early yet? Where does social media fit in a measurement scheme?

 If your analysts are using social media, then including those sorts of metrics in a measurement program is really not optional. In this case we are putting social media on par with published research, press quotes, and activity counts as something worthy of measuring. While a 140-character tweet does not have the impact of a Gartner Magic Quadrant, it can provide useful information that should be added to the data mix.

Social media has elements of both operational metrics and performance metrics. Some example uses include:

• Operational
  • Unfiltered opinions feed into plans and briefings
  • Activity insights feed into interaction calendars
  • Tweets and blog comments by AR to an analyst fulfill top-of-mind touches requirements
• Performance
  • Tonality tracks analyst opinion movement
  • Mentions of company, products, and competitors with opinion can track changes in perception

Social media metrics complement other sources of data. For example, social media can complement Spoken Word Audits because social media-based conversations between analysts and end users are often personal, unfiltered, and

AR Measurement – Moving beyond operational metrics

Within one week, we received inquiries from two different AR-savvy clients about the measurements and metrics they should employ to track activities and benchmark progress against stated goals.  Both clients realized their existing measurement programs – primarily focused on counting AR activities and written research and press quote mentions – were not capturing the full picture of AR activities and effectiveness.  Therefore, the clients were unable to communicate effectively AR’s impact on sales to executives. 

First, before diving into what measurements and metrics to track, clients need to define performance vs. operational metrics.  Performance metrics measure AR’s progress against strategic results such as trends in analyst opinions by market, product, etc. or number of sales opportunities supported by the AR team.  Operational metrics, on the other hand, measure AR’s utilization and productivity against plan.  Some examples include briefings, inquiries, roadshows, summits, etc. and volume of analyst research publications tagged and monitored. 

Second, clients must examine the company’s overall performance goals and then define the AR goals needed to achieve these objectives.  For example,

Defining “Operational Metrics for Analyst Relations”

Background:  When building AR measurement programs, AR practitioners must distinguish between performance and operational metrics.  Performance metrics help AR teams measure progress against strategic goals while operational metrics measure utilization and productivity against plan.   

Operational metrics measure AR’s utilization and productivity against plan.  They primarily are internally focused and fall into one of three categories: 1) utilization and

Defining “Performance Metrics for Analyst Relations”

Background:  When building AR measurement programs, AR practitioners must distinguish between performance and operational metrics.    Performance metrics help AR teams measure progress against strategic goals while operational metrics measure utilization and productivity against plan.   

Performance metrics measure AR’s progress against strategic results.  They primarily are externally focused and typically fall into one of three categories: 1) Shape