It’s 20 years since I wrote Influencing the influencers, an insight note published by Brodeur which discussed analyst firms, their business model and the benefits of analyst relations. It’s a lovely phrase, which Brodeur often reused. I was delighted to see developed by Wire The Market in 2003.
While my 2001 article focussed on the benefits of shifting analysts’ perceptions, Wire The Market also emphasized the value of insights. AR teams might waste a lot of time identifying exactly the right analysts, and might delay early insights that could shift the vendor’s strategy. As they put it: “Identifying which reports and analysts that are important to you is hard enough, but filing, sorting, understanding and analyzing the information therein is time-consuming and tedious. Often such tasks cut deeply into time that could be much more productively spent interacting with and influencing the influencers.”
Naturally, both the ‘outbound’ and ‘inbound’ benefits of analyst relations are important. However, Wire the Market were right the stress the benefits of quickly getting your hands dirty and listening to the analysts.
