Ten years ago 91 analysts and journalists went on record with their top gripes about vendor briefings and vendor PR representatives – in other words, “AR”. Jeffrey Tarter, then the mastermind behind Softletter, did the research and compiled the results. That report is still useful perspective for analyst relations professionals today. It’s one of the links I’m posting here, part of  what I call the AR historical archive.

For the last few years, I’ve housed this list at the IIAR‘s free Yahoo! community for analyst relations professionals. The IIAR plans to shut down that group in December. So I’m posting my archives here. The links are ordered by date.

The link to Jeffrey’s landmark report is at the end of this first section, Analysts on AR.

The second section (next post) puts the analyst business under scrutiny. It contains links to historical journalist and academic content investigating the analyst business.

ANALYSTS ON ANALYST RELATIONS (2007 – 1999)

ES Research Group 02-2007: “Working with Analysts” Free. Dave Stein blogs on analyst/vendor relations from both sides of the aisle

JupiterResearch 12-2006: “Lessons in Analyst Relations” No longer online. Free. Michael Gartnerberg blog post. Softly supports dedicated inhouse AR over other models. Original link:
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/gartenberg/archives/2006/12/lessons_in_anal.html

AMI-Partners 11-2006: “7 Ingredients for a Winning Analyst Relations Program” Free. Reprint of Laurie McCabe’s out-of-print Kensington Group article, at the ARmadgeddon blog

RedMonk 11-2006: “Interview with James Governor, RedMonk” Free. Interview transcript on Helzerman’s Odd Bits Blog; scroll down to “Analyst Relations 101” portion in particular.

Security Incite 11-2006: “Analyst Relations – Vendor Pet Peeves” and “Top 5 ways to piss Mike off” Free. Mike Rothman blogs on “a couple of other things that annoy me about dealing with vendors”. And, the top 5 things vendors do that they shouldn’t.

Forrester Research 11-2006: “Analyst Models Are Key To Briefing Impact” $. Research Brief. Accommodate market models used by analysts, to improve likelihood of a successful briefing. By Kevin Lucas.

Forrester Research 10-2006: “The Three Archetypes Of Industry Analysts” $. Research Brief. How To Identify And Work With Advocates, Strategists, Evangelists. By Ray Wang.

Forrester Research 8-2006: “Five Steps For AR To Improve Credibility With Product Teams” $. Research Brief. This report focuses on five best practices for earning credibility with product teams. By Ray Wang.

Forrester Research 7-2006: “How to get a briefing at Forrester” Free. Charlene Li’s candid blog post with personal and general perspectives.

Burton Group 3-2006: “Gartner: Speedtalk for 30 Minutes” Free. Guy Creese’s blog jabs Gartner, then explains 3 common mistakes dogging vendors attempting to brief analysts.

Gartner 9-2005: “This is Ground Control to PR Tom” Free. Andy Bitterer blogs on understanding analyst coverage to target the right analysts.

Enderle Group 11-2004: “Building a Vendor Advisory Council” Free. Rob Enderle’s whitepaper defining the goals, methods, and measurements for building a successful analyst advisory council for a supplyside company.

Saugatuck 7-2004: “Reviewing Vendor Analyst Relations Management” No longer online. Free. 3 common, expensive mistakes: not deeming AR strategic; spending too much money on research; using PR firms for AR. By B. Guptill. Original link: http://www.saugatech.com/151view.htm

Giga Information Group 4-2003: “Analyst Relations: In-House or Outsourced to a PR Firm?” $. Idea Byte. AR should be internally staffed, or at least centrally managed, by experienced personnel rather than outsourced to PR, and the factors driving this become more pronounced as the company grows in size and complexity. By Rob Enderle.

Softletter 10-1999: “The Decline and Fall of Public Relations” Free. 91 reporters, editors, and analysts share specific rants about vendor PR. Compiled by Jeffrey Tarter.