Getting heard in the herd

Blah blah, blah blah blah.

Ever feel like this is what they’re hearing? You talk but they don’t get it. You clearly lay out your strengths but don’t improve in the report. You think you’re relating well, but see no increase in recommendations.

Arghh! Frustrating.

I’ve been in B2B tech marketing my whole career. I know how to write. I know how to message. At least I thought I did. But bringing those skills into a briefing wasn’t enough. We were making some progress, but not enough impact. Then I started to get it.

Briefing an industry analyst seems like a pretty straightforward affair, until you look at it from their perspective. They hear from all your competitors, each trying to dominate, They hear from the up and comers looking to grab some of their mindshare. They hear similar stories all day long, all week long, all year long. Hundreds of briefings, hundreds of thousands of facts.

Please help them. Tell them a good story that they will enjoy and will be memorable. Don’t wait for them to recognize the so-whats and get it. Hit them over the head with a feather.

Analysts-- even the speed and feed guys-- need the customer story to make sense of the world. Looking at technology without understanding how it fills a need or delivers value is a bunch of gobbledygook, even to them.

So, I start with a story. I start with a real company. Tips I’ve learned:

• Don’t talk in corporate-speak about the company. Bring it down to an individual who’s faced with the human challenges we all are. They have to get things done, solve problems, bring value. They want to shine, no matter how shy. They have a career to worry about. Make them a person we can relate to. Give them a name. Becca.

• Give specifics of the company, too. Size, industry, region. This should represent the target you go after.

• Tell the analyst about Becca’s challenges, but don’t bore them with generalities they know. Bring those challenges to life so they can feel them.

• Show the analyst the landscape of existing solutions Becca has at her disposal and solutions she needs to solve this problem. Create a big gaping hole for yourself.

• Give her your solution and make her a hero. It’s about her, not you. You are in the background, helping Becca deliver value and shine.

• Show the results. Numbers are best. Analysts want proof points of the value a company realizes when adopting the approach your solutions represents. These numbers stick in the brain and make the story more real. This they remember.

Now we can tell them the details and talk about the feeds and speeds when we need to. And, why our solution is the best on the market for precisely this scenario. We’ve organized their brain so they know why our solution exists, where it fits and why we’re different.

Do it right, you’re golden. Do it wrong, you’re just one of the herd.

What has worked for you? Not worked? Please chime in.