Analyst Relations and Product Marketing

As product marketing, we love to wear multiple hats/roles. I empower my mentees and teams to discover the one thing that you love in product marketing and refine your signature skill. For me, it was positioning and messaging as I love storytelling and connecting the human element to our product/solution. This led to my first experience with Analyst Relations about 5 years ago and I have deep gratitude to my AR/PR and Comms folks for taking the step to build Analyst Relations together.

At every company (Fortune 500 to Startup), PMM success depends on how internal teams, leadership and external analysts value product marketing. In this session, I am sharing my lessons learned over the past 5 years on how to bring together product, sales and marketing leadership alignment with shared OKRs(objectives and key results) on Analyst Engagement.

Ask the right questions to get clarity on business priorities every quarter.

Q1. How do you engage with Analyst Relations today? Share your experience and favorite story.

My first experience was showing a demo for the Forrester wave to show our company/product value with customer usecases. This taught me how to think about what truly matters for the analysts and how to best showcase the customer painpoints and business value proposition.

Q2. Do you see a shift where Analyst Relations is increasingly sitting with PMMs, why do you think this is happening?

I have been blessed to have Analyst Relations within the Product Marketing team. It helps establish shared goals and priorities. I learnt everything from our AR expert and grateful for the trust and credibility we established collectively with the key analysts. Irrespective of whether AR is in Product or Marketing, as long as we can foster strong relationships, we are good.

Q3. Advice for a PMM undertaking managing analyst relations for the first time - What to do | What NOT to do

Establish a good relationship with AR/PR and Comms team. Learn from the leaders on what is the expectation and what is the desired outcome (aka OKR).

Try not to create disparate one-off conversations with analyst. Consistency is key.

Q4. Should every company have an analyst relations strategy? What are some of the key benefits?

100% - All companies need an analyst relations strategy. If you are not in the analyst radar, you might not exist in the customer’s lens especially for B2B enterprise conversations. Most customers look to engage with vendors in the top right of the Gartner MQ or Forrester Wave. And don’t limit your engagement to the reports/questionnaires. Create an ongoing cadence - quarterly even if its via email to keep the analysts updated on your product/portfolio evolution.

Q5.  Analyst Relations always feels like a drill for PMM from start to finish. A Gartner or Forrester questionnaire or any tier 2 analyst engagement is all hands on deck. Any advice on how to best engage with the senior leadership?

Most important is to bring the senior leadership into the process from Day one. Not at the last week when you have captured all the answers for the Gartner MQ or Forrester Wave or tier 2 analyst firm engagement. Reach out to all the teams - product, marketing, sales, customer success and business operations for all the data you need and plan multiple touchpoints/checkins.

Q6. What do you think the future holds for Product Marketing and Analyst Relations?

I am excited about the future collaborations to shape the industry perspectives and continue to be the voice of the customer and the market.

Checkout PMM Talks OnDemand to hear from Product Marketing leaders on how to best engage with Analyst Relations.