Marketing Wisdom

Was speaking with an analyst the other day about a new product for a company that I am consulting with. When my client and I got in the car to drive back to their place of business, I heard the usual & typical statement “We really don’t need analysts, they don’t sell our product or even influence the sales of our product. This is a waste of money.”

I have heard this statement from various clients and bosses for 20 years now countless times.

Why DO we need an analyst? What value can they bring a company?

Here are just some of the many points that an analyst can bring you and your company – remember something, ALWAYS step back and look at the big picture – i.e. the world in which we live and do business.

1) Does your company want recognition in the market? Many CEO’s and CMO’s have said “We already have it; we have customers who know that are products are the best and that’s why they buy from us”.  How many times do we read in the weekly and monthly business journals about the huge amount of information that is out there and how companies can’t even begin to sort through all the information that is relevant to them? Yes, almost weekly we see a story on knowledge management of one sort or the other. But, companies do read analyst reports and often find out about a new product, a new company, OR a new use for an existing product.

At one company, I fought and fought to do an analyst tour, and of course the CMO saying that we didn’t need to do it (see above). I was able to do the analyst tour, and because my company was now being mentioned by analysts, customers that my company hadn’t even thought about or KNEW about started calling on them for business.

2) Many companies want to build their brand and get brand recognition. Analyst’s, by placing your company name or product name in their reports, give instant credibility to your company and product. Remember, this is FREE (besides the cost of the hotel and flight to meet with them). You cannot get a bigger bang for the buck then having an analyst talk about you.

Remember something, a Press Tour will get a mention of your company or product in a story (either paper, magazine, or webzine), but, they are writing about now and won’t write about it again until something new comes from your company. An analyst, if your company or product is affecting the world, will continuously write about the company and product. Even if you don’t meet with them again for another year.

NOTE: Of course, you must keep up a dialogue with the analyst during that year. Let them know what your product is doing and how the company is going to affect its customers. An email or phone call will suffice.

There are many other reasons to meet with analysts and do the tours. These are just two of them, and I’m sure that some of you think that there are more important ones out there (which there are), but, think, sit back, and always look at the big picture.

In parting words, I met with a Gartner analyst one time, who said, sounds great, but, come back to me when you have sales. The next week, I called her and told her how we had just locked in a three year deal with a major supplier. The analyst put out a report on our product and how it is going to affect sales in the market sector that we were trying to penetrate. You CANNOT BUY that kind of coverage. (And because of this report, we locked in two more multi-million dollar accounts.)