AR Launch

 

Emerging tech vendors (startups and scaleups) need a special kind of analyst relations love. There is a tremendous amount of value to be gained if you know how to do it.

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Our Analyst Relations Launch program is designed to give you a fast start and tangible results as soon as possible. We start with a 6-8 week phase to build out everything you need for an impactful program. Then we start to execute with quarterly plans that flesh out all the components for success. We become a deep part of your team, working together to achieve recognition, coverage, mentions to prospects (leads), strong evaluations, and actionable insights - everything that makes analyst relations a strategic and powerful part of your business.

 

In the 6-8 week phase we do a whole host of research, coaching, and building to get your team ready.

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Some of our work in this phase:

• Deeply understand your business priorities and determine the value analyst relations can bring to those priorities.

• Research the analyst ecosystem in your space. We look from a variety of directions to 1) cast a wide net of all relevant analysts, and then 2) prioritize the most important and influential group.

• Research the predominant reports in your space. We’ll unearth evaluation reports, such as the Gartner Magic Quadrant or Forrester Wave, reports that mention up and coming vendors, and general trend reports where we can share our point of view on the market.

• Determine Share of Voice. We’ll pour through analyst content (reports, blogs, linkedIn) to identify what analysts are currently covering you and your competitors, and the overall SOV.

• Build your custom AR strategy with the tactics we will deploy and metrics that will guide us.

• Collaborate with you on a strong, impactful briefing deck. We’ll work together on the structure and messages that will impress the analysts. Then will test with 1-2 analysts to get feedback.

• Train and coach the spokespeople. We'll build a common understanding of who the analysts are, and why we are engaging with them. We’ll cover best practices of delivering a great briefing and review our briefing deck.

 

This phase results in our strategy and plan. Exactly what we’re going to do, to who, and why. We lay it all out and get aligned.

 

Execution plan. Now that we’re locked and loaded. The real work begins!

• Flesh out our execution program by quarter.

  • The topics we will share and discuss with them

  • Overall interaction plan (who we talk to about what)

• Carefully manage all interactions - from scheduling, through prep/coaching, facilitation, evaluation and finally follow up. You give us great spokespeople and we make them shine. We give specific feedback for continuous improvement.

• Regular monitoring

  • Weekly monitoring of all relevant analyst publications in your space, with competitors, and by top analysts.

  • We keep on top of research agendas for top analysts. This information is very hard to get and maintain (it changes all the time), but we give it our all!

  • Events and travel. We look for opportunities to connect with analysts in person, whether we are coming through town or participating at an industry event.

• Track results

  • Monthly status reports

  • Quarterly reporting and planning

• One to many communications. While we are going to stay hypervigilant on the top analysts, we want to use efficient methods to keep your name and developments in front of the larger analyst community. We do quarterly newsletters, and periodic videos or webcasts.

• Analyst perceptions. We are continuously managing analyst perceptions about your company. We gauge the interest and sentiment expressed in every call, and do yearly perception audits to gather more qualitative information. 

 

AR Support

Running an analyst relations program is not for the weak-kneed! It is a riotous challenge of big deadlines and stretched resources, followed by some calm (maybe?). We’re here to help!

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The Schaffer AR team is sharp, experienced and – especially important – quick learners. We can drop into any situation, assess what you need, and start making it happen immediately. Our commercial arrangements are super simple and flexible to suit your needs - hourly, weekly, monthly, or by the project. We make it as easy as possible for you to get the help you need, just when you need it, without headaches. You point, we shoot.

 

Some of our strengths:

• Briefing and inquiry management - everything from scheduling these meetings, setting objectives with you, prepping the spokespeople, facilitating, note-taking, and follow up. An especially interesting service we provide is to score the spokesperson’s effectiveness and rate the analyst’s response.

• Report management - Magic Quadrants, Waves, Marketscapes – we’ve done them all and much more. These reports put stress on the organization and require precise project management to smooth things out. We marshal the troops, enforce the direction, and crack the whip. We edit the input to put together a cohesive, strong submission.

• Spokesperson training - Our proven, short training program gives spokespeople the background they need to understand the overall program goals and mechanics, then provides best practices to make sure they are a star every time.

• Program reporting - Analyst relations is notoriously difficult to measure. We have proven ways to break down activity into meaningful accomplishments and show progress towards the big goals. In addition to basic program reporting, we look deep into the web to uncover the analyst’s true influence.

• Events - We’ve been there! A million details to do it right. Whether it is simply coordinating meetings at events you are attending… or organizing and running a full analyst summit they will love, we can provide the hands and minds to make it a memorable and effective event the analysts will love.

• Anything else? We’ve probably done it all in analyst relations and are ready to help.

 

AR Punch Up

For mature analyst relations teams that want to take their programs higher and farther, we provide the extra thought power, proven practices, and hands-on help you need.

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We pride ourselves on innovative approaches and results.

 

Some ideas:

• Report improvement - when all eyes are on you to lead your company to great outcomes, you can’t leave anything to chance. We feel fiercely that this has to be a year round, full court press. If you wait until the report launches, you’re playing catch up and it’s very hard to make a dent. We guide you through a year of analysis, goal setting, engagement plans, and advisory sessions that make you a shoe in. Best of all, no matter the outcome, you can ensure you have put the best possible foot forward, for yourself and to your leadership.

• Spokesperson evaluation and coaching - Once you have your spokespeople trained, there is a process to build their skills and confidence. We evaluate them in practice briefings, provide specific, actionable feedback, and provide the ongoing coaching that ensures excellence.

• Sales empowerment - not just enablement. Analyst relations has two halves to success: 1) you build the relationship to establish advocacy, and 2) you leverage this advocacy to grow your business in all sorts of ways. A big part of that is empowering the sales team. This goes way beyond leveraging a good MQ or Wave to proactively engaging analysts in must-win deals. It’s a complex, nuanced process. We train and coach your sales team.

• Insight management - Analysts are chock full of advice, feedback and recommendations. They consider it an honor when vendors seriously consider their insights. Unfortunately, in the day to day stresses of running strategy, products, partnerships, GTM, or messaging their insights get lost. We help you aggressively collect insights through inquiry, briefing, and research, share them with the powers that be, assign owners to evaluate the ideas, and run action plans to make things happen. It’s the best way to show impact from your analyst relations program.