Hannah Kirkman was in touch with an invitation to the IIAR breakfast meeting in conjunction with the Forrester IT Forum EMEA in Berlin next week. Â It’s an opportunity to find out about the IIAR (Institute of Industry Analyst Relations) and network with analyst relations peers. Â The informal breakfast meeting starts at 8:00AM CET on Wednesday, June 3rd at the … Read More
Analyst relations outreach: is the goal analysts or decision-makers?
Historically, analyst relations (AR) programs have been designed as a bridge between a technology company and the analyst community. As a result, AR programs have focused first and foremost on analysts, and only indirectly on prospects, customers and other decision-makers. Is it possible to reverse this program orientation? Bring it more in line with other communications strategies, such as social … Read More
Analyst relations at risk on 2 fronts
One of the challenges facing high tech marketing is how to update existing analyst relations programs, given the growing importance of more types of influencers. No one wants to lose valuable AR skills. Yet, companies want to realize better returns from these staffs and programs. This puts AR at risk on 2 fronts. The first is a matter of perception: … Read More
IIAR wants your vote on the analyst of the year
Jonny Bentwood was in touch with an invitation for you. He’d like your help in determining the IIAR’s “analyst of the year”. Technically, you’ll help determine more than one analyst of the year. They’ll name one worldwide, one for the Americas and another for EMEA. I suppose with enough votes Asia-Pacific could have an analyst of the year as well. … Read More
3 pioneers of next-gen analyst relations
To industry observers the situation seems clear: changes taking place in IT buyer decision processes require corresponding changes in how vendors deal with influencers, such as the industry analysts. However, the changes in tech decision-maker processes have been gradual and have varied greatly by market. Plus, critical aspects of buying decisions remain hidden from external view. As a result, few … Read More
More analyst layoffs add to analyst relations challenges
Following on the heels of layoffs at Gartner and AMR Research, comes word that Yankee Group and iSuppli also reduced headcount. Yankee Group CEO Emily Nagel discussed the reduction in the company blog. Meanwhile, there is word of a reduction at iSuppli, a firm that just recently acquired Telematics Research Group (TRG). This much consolidation in the tech industry analyst … Read More
What’s the corporate business value of AR?
Forrester Research’s Kevin Lucas raises a good question: what core corporate business value can your analyst relations program deliver? His point is that AR programs shouldn’t commit to delivering sales value unless there’s good reason to do so. As logical as that advice may sound, I don’t agree with it. Analyst relations programs can be designed to deliver on a … Read More
Blogs aren’t what they used to be
Duncan raises some good points about the evolution of blogs and microblogs (i.e. Twitter). Blogging is becoming the online publishing platform of choice in many industries, from politics to pharma. This has a couple of implications for influencer programs in 2009. Top of my list, is that 2009 should see the end of consternation over classifying influencers as “bloggers” or … Read More
Influencer marketing – get the basic ideas
You can ramp up quickly on some basic influencer marketing concepts and strategies thanks to webmasterradio.fm. Co-hosts Brandy Shapiro-Babin and Jiyan Wei conducted a lively interview with Influencer50 founder and president Nick Hayes last week. They covered good ground — who is an influencer, how influence works, why it’s important, plus some basic influencer marketing strategies. The podcast is part … Read More
Influencer marketing in the downturn
Economic conditions, cutbacks in marketing spending, and staff downsizing are top of mind with many of the tech marketers I’ve met over the last few weeks. One group that stands out as much more upbeat is the analyst relations community here in Silicon Valley. Many of the AR practitioners who gathered last week at an IIAR meeting told me that … Read More