Analyst Relations (AR) is one of the best tools every IT company can leverage. It provides critical and essential information for a company’s future success, and when used properly, can make or break a company’s reputation and revenue stream.
So why is AR always on the back burner? Quick Answer: Because very few of us understand how to use it properly.
Example: Often, IT vendors will be in the process of running a PR product launch and halfway down the line suddenly remember to incorporate an AR component, and at this point, it’s too late. Including AR activity that late in the game will only result in a lackluster outcome and usually frustration for both the vendor and the analyst. Analysts must be engaged weeks, if not months, prior to a launch in order to provide useful feedback to executives and positive references to the press. But the main goal should always be to align them with your strategy so that when your customers start calling, they are positioning you in the best, most competitive light.
Whenever PR is getting involved in media relations AR should be two steps ahead. AR must preempt all PR media activity in order to garner useful information that can be used to strengthen a launch and drive positive analyst references that customers rely on. Here are a few ways to best utilize analyst relations in the capacity of a product launch:
- Message testing – Analysts are ideal sound boards when it come to message testing. They are objective listeners that aren’t “drinking the company Kool-Aid.” They offer insight that might otherwise have been overlooked by executives and AR managers. When tasked with compiling messaging for a launch, set up an inquiry with your top analyst in that space and run the positioning by them to gather their thoughts and see if the company is offering honest objective content.
- Press Release review – This is a great opportunity to engage with analysts and get their feedback without actually booking an inquiry or briefing. It allows your client’s product information to be seen by the analysts and enables them to provide valid feedback based on what they are seeing in the industry and among competitors. Send the analysts the press release as a “preview” of your news and ask them to review it and provide feedback.
- Inquiries – Inquires offer a unique departure from briefings. Rather than information flowing from your client to the analyst, an inquiry allows the analyst to lead the conversation and provide input on a situation or industry trend. When setting up an inquiry, your client submits three to four questions they have and then allows the analyst to address each of them during the inquiry.
- Pre-briefings – Analysts that follow your client and especially the product being launched are the ones you want to target for pre-briefings. Pre-briefings allow three things to happen. First, they offer interaction with your executive and the analyst and allow your executive to speak freely about the product without the pressure of knowing that every comment is being scrutinized and reprinted. Second, it offers your client the chance to provide all the details they want about their product in the exact light they want it discussed in a research note. Third, it gives the AR manager a chance to gauge the analyst’s attitude toward the announcement and decide whether he/she would be a valuable reference to offer press once the press briefings take place.
Analysts provide an objective, educated, informed opinion on your clients. Whether it be comments during a product pre-briefing, feedback on message testing and press releases or customer insight from inquiries, they are always useful resources to take advantage of. AR on its own is a valuable tool when it comes to learning about an industry, learning about competitors and making big product and revenue decisions. And when integrated with PR, it is a powerful tool used to create a convincing, credible story for potential customers and media outlets.
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