How to get the best out of your virtual agency
Time to read: 2 minutes
OK, so she gets out of bed for less than £10k. Here, Comms Crowd content writer Sandra Vogel sets out her virtual agency terms for keeping us all singing from the same song sheet…
Over the years, I’ve been commissioned by some of the biggest names in Tech, national newspapers, and some of the best-known technology websites. I’ve also worked with many small companies, mostly from a technology angle, with voluntary organisations, virtual agencies, and communications agencies. I’ve found good and bad clients across the spectrum. It’s not the size or sector that matters – it’s the approach and attitude of the client to using freelancers. Good clients support and nurture their freelancers; in particular, they get three important things right.
The agency is virtual; my time is not
If I say I don’t work Friday afternoons and weekends (I may make the odd exception), don’t expect me to be free to work. Similarly, if I am set to work for you, say, Mondays and Wednesdays, and you need to change the day, please give me a lead time. In return, I’ll only change our fixed days if absolutely necessary and give you as much lead time as possible.
Keeping me in the loop
If I’m contracted to work on a specific project, then knowing what’s going on with that project is helpful. Rather than just being asked, ‘Please do A, B and C this week’, it can be useful to know how A, B and C fit into the bigger picture and what others are working on. I appreciate that stuff will happen without me if I’m not in the office full time. But it’s useful to be briefed on the bigger picture. Not just because it makes me feel like part of the team (it really does) but because I can take wider points into account in my work. Even extra-busy clients that fall into my ‘love to work with’ group manage this.
Paying on time at the agreed rate
It should be unnecessary to make this point, but sadly it’s not. Renegotiating rates downwards during a contract or paying late is simply not on. Freelancers are working for a living. They are not volunteers. You’ll soon get called out, and word will get around. In exchange for paying on time, I will deliver on time. And if there’s a chance I’ll be unable to do that, I’ll let you know well in advance.
Now, there’s circularity in this. You treat me well; I’ll treat you well. We’ll have a grown-up, professional relationship that we will both enjoy. Heck, I might even work for you on a Friday afternoon. Now and then.
Why engage with Industry Analysts?
Time to read: 2 minutes
Courtesy of Eria Odhuba, a founder member of the team and our resident industry analysts relations guru. Is it about what you know or who you know?
When engaging with industry analysts, tech vendors, and end users, they ALWAYS want to know what value they add. Also, whether they can provide guidance to help make crucial strategic decisions.
For some, the fundamental reason they engage with analysts is to get advice about how to position themselves better (vendors). Or, which vendor technologies to consider (end users) because they genuinely can’t do so themselves. They feel that analysts know more about certain aspects of the industry than they do.
When everything matches—i.e., connecting with the right analyst, finding the best time to engage with them during the product life cycle or decision-making process, executing as advised, and reviewing progress—we’re all happy and feel the whole process was worth it.
All this depends on:
1. The analyst adding to the knowledge that didn’t exist within the organisation. Or did exist but no one had a good idea how best to utilise it strategically;
2. The analyst uses their extensive knowledge of various technologies, implementations and case studies to provide impartial advice and proactively guide their clients.
Now, occasionally, we hear “I definitely know more about this industry than XYZ analyst, what value will they really provide? I will be the one educating them!”
Time is precious and it is understandable if someone doesn’t want to waste time talking to analyst they don’t feel are relevant to them. What people should always remember is that it works the other way round as well. Analysts don’t want to talk to people that are not relevant to their research areas or can’t provide valuable information they can use to help advise their own clients.
So if an analyst wants to speak to you, they may not necessarily know more about the industry than you do but they do want to know more about your company, technology, services, GTM strategy, etc.
It’s an education process
Though you may know what you are doing, you need to get the message out. So, educate the analysts and let them educate the market / tell people about the value you provide.
For a normal briefing, the question to ask is “what gaps in the analyst’s knowledge exist that I need to fill in?” instead of “does this analyst know more than me?”
For consulting / inquiry-type engagements, you can think differently. You want to make sure the analyst you talk to is providing you with the necessary advice related to messaging, market positioning, technology development, etc. What you are looking for is an independent opinion which, given the opportunities analysts have to talk to end users (about deployments) and vendors (about technology solutions), allows them to give actionable advice that you can use.
Sometimes, all they can do is validate what you already know or do. But it is important to have that validation so you don’t get caught up navel gazing. A reality check is always good.
So, do analysts always know more about an industry than you do? No they don’t! But by carefully identifying and approaching the right analysts, you can engage with those (paid or not) that are driving conversations or have an impact on end user technology selection because someone somewhere finds their output valuable enough to engage with them.
Their independence, means people will be more open to them than to you, is something to take advantage of. So don’t ignore the newer / younger analysts – they could be your biggest advocates in years to come.
B2B technology PR: Piggybacking on the headlines
Time to read: 2 minutes
How to ‘ride’ a current news story to raise your client’s profile…
When you choose to work in B2B technology PR, most of your career is spent pitching to trade press and freelance journalists who specialise in the same area. Unless you work for a megabrand like Microsoft or IBM, you won’t have many opportunities to pitch to the national press.
OK, let’s rephrase that – nothing’s stopping you from pitching to them. However, you’re unlikely to get much response unless your client’s invented a computer processor that isn’t based on silicon or found a solution to climate change.
Linking to the headlines
There’s a useful tool to add to your PR kit bag: link your story to something already making the headlines. Suddenly, your client becomes relevant to mainstream media.
Critical to success are speed and relevance. The link has to be genuine, and you need to act fast. If you spot a link, you can be sure another PR professional has, too. But if you get it right, you open up a whole new conversation for your client.
How we made it work for Elliptic
Elliptic specialises in blockchain security and analytics. The firm is a founding member of the UK Digital Currency Association (UKDCA), which provides input to a government consultation on digital currencies. Earlier this year, we thought the consultation results might be announced as part of the upcoming budget.
This was an ideal opportunity to link Elliptic to a topic with extensive print and online coverage. Journalists analysed every last detail of the Chancellor’s speech—assuming that digital currencies were included.
So, we wrote a short alert to inform key media about the potential announcement and outline why Elliptic could provide expert commentary. We listened carefully to the Chancellor’s Budget speech the following day, but there was no mention of digital currency.
However, an online search led to the supporting papers for the budget, and there it was – the Government’s recommendations on how it proposed to make the UK a world leader in digital currency. We quickly followed up with our key media, providing a link to the announcement and offering comments.
The results exceeded all our expectations
Interviews with the FT and the Guardian and several requests for written comment resulted in 15 coverage items. This included City AM, the Independent and the Wall Street Journal. Our client was delighted, and so were we.
Opportunities like this don’t come around very often. It’s important to be aware of what’s making the headlines, think creatively and look for new and unusual ways to link your client to a story.
It may be straightforward. For example, when a former colleague was working on a campaign against workplace bullying for a leading trade union, and bullying in the Celebrity Big Brother house hit the headlines. A few media calls later, the client was on Sky News explaining what an individual should do if he or she is being bullied.
But even if it’s a more tangential link, remember that journalists have pages to fill daily and may look for a different angle to keep the story alive.
Why shouldn’t you be the one to provide it?
Engaging with industry analysts on social media
Courtesy of Eria, our resident analyst relations guru, we look at engaging with the industry analysts via social media channels:
Things were easy in the ‘good old days’ of analyst relations. If you wanted to know what analysts thought about technology, markets or vendors, all you had to do was read their reports. Or, occasionally, get it direct when they spoke at events.
With so many channels for information exchange now, AR teams have their work cut out tracking analyst opinions. This is even more difficult considering all the ‘disruptive’ analyst firms that have sprung up over the past five years.
Many analysts don’t just rely on reports, inquiries, and speaking engagements to engage with their audiences. They use social media so naturally that there are significant opportunities to interact with them meaningfully. Analysts who use social media successfully don’t see it as a separate project/strategy from what they do. It is simply part of a multi-faceted approach to engagement, which fits in naturally with everything else they do, including paid engagements/products.
How to engage with analysts across social media
- First, we must understand that we have moved on to a time when social media is seen as part of normal day-to-day activity. For many, it is now simply a channel to engage with followers and/or communities where information sharing, recommendations, and online reviews are fundamental to decision-making.
- You’ve missed the boat if you still need to meet to decide whether to have a social media strategy. You have to realise that it can’t simply be a case of following analysts on Twitter. A well-executed and comprehensive AR program will include many traditional elements (i.e. briefings, inquiries, speaking engagements, white papers, etc.) but will also have adequate resources to track analyst conversations on social media.
- More importantly, there will be a willingness to engage with analysts via social channels by sharing useful information or providing comments that add value.
- Understand how end users or key decision-makers use social media to help them engage with analysts and make purchase decisions. This is hard, really hard! Engagement within relevant communities can sometimes indicate views that end users have regarding particular technologies. Checking analysts’ reactions to these views is also important to understand what they think needs to be addressed.
- You have to accept that social media engagement with analysts will not necessarily result in their endorsement of your products/solutions. More often than not, you open yourself up for scrutiny and possible criticism. This means being prepared to address community concerns in real time to maintain credibility.
- The social media experience should give companies more information on the analysts they engage with and form part of the wider intelligence they gather about analysts, including their views on the market and trends they see.
We shouldn’t really be talking about social media for AR any more. We should consider it seamless, multi-channel AR. One where we curate information from multiple sources to build better pictures of analysts and develop mutually beneficial relationships.
When it comes to AR – does size matter?
Time to read: 3 minutes
Guest post: Eria Odhuba, analyst relations lead, asks whether company size matters when it comes to conducting an analyst relations programme.
Large or small everyone can make themselves heard
I’ve worked with every size of technology company – from mighty household names to hungry start-ups. While many may differ, the goal is still the same for their AR programmes – they want to ensure they are on the radars of relevant analysts covering their technologies. And, hopefully, fall into conversations analysts have with their clients.
Myth: Vendors must have large budgets to be on the analyst radar
For super large vendors, AR programmes are typically
multi-faceted (especially if different business groups need to
build a story that shows they are fully integrated, and where
the vendor needs to show growth in multiple markets).
More often than not, there are opportunities for numerous engagements with analysts. Occasionally, analysts are writing reports looking at key vendors and they need to keep in touch to ensure they represent the vendor properly. Basically, there are more opportunities to build comprehensive AR programmes that have an impact on the bottom line.
At the other end of the scale are the start-ups
Yikes, where do you start? Actually, you start by first finding out what you’re
passionate about and what problems you are looking to solve. You may not have
the budget larger vendors have. However, you’re doing something interesting
(hopefully) and touching people they probably don’t want to or can’t, and
improving your clients’ lives.
Crucially, you can be mavericks as you don’t have to defend vested interests or fight internal political battles that sometimes happen at more prominent vendors.
Working it
Whether you have large or small resources, certain basic principles apply to an AR programme’s success.
- Do homework on your messaging to make sure you are
absolutely clear on what problems you are solving and what solutions
you have to help clients. You really need to make sure there actually is a
problem you are solving. - Identify who actually needs your solutions. Ideally
(if you’re lucky), find out more about their decision-making process to see
how they use analyst research to select technology solutions. - Find out which analysts are covering the technology
solutions you provide. Track their research plans and speaking
engagements. - Use multiple communication channels, including social
media, to amplify your message and get people to follow what you say as you
drive or contribute to relevant discussions. If you’re a start-up – be
provocative. You have no time for timidity. - Take the plunge and speak to the analysts you’ve
identified. - Take on board their feedback and make sure they see you
address any concerns they’ve raised.
So, those are the basics. You really can’t do much more if you’re a smaller vendor simply looking to start engaging with analysts. That is a good start! You just need to be realistic about the frequency of interactions you have and the depth of programmes possible.
If you are a start up with 15-50 employees, you will not have the frequency and depth of engagements a mega vendor has, but you can still make waves. Analysts will speak to you if you accept that they will not promise quarterly updates or publish a report four weeks after meeting you.
Organisational challenges change as you and your budget get bigger
There are more opportunities for competitors to hit back at you. You must show you can continue to grow and defend yourself from all the FUD competitors throw at your clients or prospects.
Now, you can start thinking about more commercial relationships with the analysts—white papers, subscriptions, speaking gigs, or event support. Be sure any feedback is integrated into your internal market intelligence and that sales/marketing teams benefit from the enhanced relationships.
If you’re careful, you will have made sure you’ve used the interactions with analysts to identify who impacts your target market and can help you (without compromising their independence). While respecting the analysts and how they work, you can make better decisions about which paid engagements to plan for and how these help your wider marketing and sales teams to do their jobs more effectively.
PR the big question do you phone or email journalists?
Time to read: 2 minutes
To phone or email journalists? That is the dilemma. Here, our team shares its experience.
Hi is that the City desk? I have a lovely story about a new tractor that can be driven by a sheep dog…
When you work in public relations, your relationship with the media is crucial to your performance. You can be as creative as you like, but it’s pointless if you don’t generate coverage for your clients.
Having spent many years at various agencies, our team has had to do its fair share of pitching using phone and email. One key lesson is that every agency has its own attitude towards phone pitching.
The role of experience
Some ask for phone pitching experience and emphasise one’s ability to pick up the phone and sell a story. Others, particularly those with journalism experience understand the pressure journalists face and wouldn’t dream of bombarding them with calls. And then there is the individual’s preference – some prefer to get everything detailed via email, while others dread the silence you get from email pitches!
One of our team recalls working as an intern and phoning journalists from four pages of media lists downloaded from Gorkana. She sometimes wonders how this experience hasn’t left her scarred for life, mainly when a weary and aggressive journalist picked up the phone! However, occasionally, there was ‘the match’ that resulted in decent coverage, making the whole experience bearable.
The fintech approach to phone and email
Specialising in fintech PR, we talk to the same people all the time, and that gives us the advantage of knowing the stories they are interested in. It means selling in doesn’t feel like cold calling – but an exchange of services. However, even within this niche sector, most journalists claim they don’t want to be bothered on the phone.
Taking that on board, we know to be careful with who we are calling, there is more success to be had in placing an article when you know the journalist and have researched and learned all about them, than just hoping for the best.
So, who do you call and when?
Taking our experience and other PR pros who contributed to Sam’s debate on CIPR’s LinkedIn group discussion, here are some steps to help you establish that ‘phone relationship’ with your journalist.
Understand journalists are always on a deadline
Get to know their deadline. Better yet, plan and review their editorial calendar for the year ahead.
What is your story?
Does it match their criteria? Nothing annoys journalists more than PRs that pitch the wrong stories. Preparing a few points in advance helps you stay on track!
Be polite!
Ask if they have time to talk to you and keep it brief, just enough for you to gauge their interest. If they show interest, you can follow up. If not, be respectful and don’t bother them again.
Never waffle!
A hard learnt lesson! Know your story, precisely what you want to say, and why you are calling them and not another journalist.
Have an email pitch ready to send
And have it ready as soon as you come off the phone. Email will always fill in the details you missed out.
Having said that, it’s important to know everyone is different and should be treated accordingly, so keep notes and follow through.
PR for fintech: How to get a bank to put its name to a story
Time to read: 2 minutes
Throughout her career, Sam Howard has always maintained that providing PR for fintech companies isn’t rocket science. However, it is a bit tricky. Not only are you, the PR, the only person in the brain-chain without a PhD or three, which can leave you feeling perma-insecure; but also ‘tis hard to tell good stories if there are no good stories to tell.
Listening banks are great, but talking ones are my favourite
Actually, no news isn’t good news. But owing to the nature of the deals, it’s not unusual for a small or a start-up fintech to have just a few client signing announcements yearly. Those signings usually fall into three categories:
- The no comment: You may not mention the bank in any way, shape, or form. That is great; thank you so much for that one.
- The vanilla bean: You can prepare something, but the details are so vanilla and the quote so bland that it’s barely worth the effort.
- The never-never: You get the go-ahead on a Friday night, write it on a Saturday, get it signed off by your team on Sunday, and get it with the bank for approval first thing Monday morning. There, it will stay, stuck in the corporate food chain awaiting sign-off forever more, never to be seen again.
Five tips for getting a bank to sign off a press release
Over the years, working for a fintech start-up, then a fintech multi-national and then a fintech PR agency, these are the tactics I’ve seen work. It’s a bit of a team effort:
Incentivise your salespeople
To negotiate press as part of the contract. Cash bonuses for press releases and double again for a case study, seems to work well enough
Incentivise your bank
If they agree to do press, get dates by giving them a discount in the contract.
Stay close to your champion in the bank
Including during the sales process and the implementation. Work directly with them on the story, using them as the spokesperson, and ensure your story shows your champion as the pioneer they genuinely are.
Have the release written and ready to go
So that it can be slipped under the nose of your happy client the day everything goes live ahead of schedule and under budget.
Make the release hardworking and insightful
Tell the story of the partnership between your company and the bank. Do not dwell on what was wrong in the first place; be realistic. No bank will sign off a story saying, ‘Well, it was just chaos here till you guys showed up’.
Keep the quotes real and relevant
Not an unadulterated and shameless plug for your company. This will make it easier to get a sign-off and more credible with the journalists you ultimately depend on to publish it.
What if you hit a wall and can’t get the bank to talk?
Rather than issuing a no-name press release, which reeks of desperation, consider going down the analyst relations route. Here, your client can freely talk about the project and its successes to industry analysts under the comfort of NDA.
Lessons learned in B2B social media management
Time to read: 2 minutes
A beginners’ guide to managing B2B social media channels.
Finding out B2B does not stand for Bunny to Bunny
Most of us in this game know how to use the main social media platforms, along with measurement tools such as Sprout and Hootsuite.
If your target audience is the average Joe and you are doing social media for B2C, you can share something witty with a reasonably attractive photo of your favourite product to generate likes and build up your followers. Growing up in the social media generation, I have seen many of my PR and marketing counterparts adopt different practices. And, of course, some are better than others. Some are simply laughable.
B2B social media management is different
We all know those who send mass messages to their families and friends on Facebook, asking them to like and follow a particular company. Sure, it could work if your company sells milkshakes that appeal to everyone. However, in B2B, your friend’s aunt, who works at Asda, isn’t really going to help you spread the word about the merits of enterprise-wide trading systems. In B2B, you must know your audience and really understand their issues.
However, I’ve learned that you have to work that bit harder with social media management in B2B. You must demonstrate an understanding of your market and its needs and, most importantly – interact with your niche.
Your objectives in B2B social media must go beyond creating a buzz for your business, and you need to work towards creating a credible platform that attracts power brokers and influencers. It is also important to remember that social media is more than a communication platform; it is part of your marketing, PR, customer services, business development and sales. Therefore, managing it in a way that reaches the right people and shares appropriate insights is vital.
Clients have to find you relevant and interesting to follow and engage with. Here are some tips I’ve picked to ensure your social media comms don’t sound like a broken record but resonate with those who affect your business’s performance.
Clear messaging
Identify and clarify what you want to say about your company and how you want to say it. This can help promote the services or the products you provide and your company’s values and mission.
A targeted audience
Know your industry’s leaders, current and potential clients, and anybody in your industry who is relevant to you, and ensure you connect with them.
Relevant talking points
Identify issues, trends and regulations that impact your audience’s business and share relevant news.
Platform consistency
Ensure your platforms are up-to-date and consistent.
Listen as well as talk
They say the best way to lead is to listen more and talk less, so tune into what your followers discuss and participate when relevant.
Subsequently, you need to put some performance measurements in place. Regularly track your progress and re-evaluate. By following the steps above, you are on the road to growing your B2B social media platforms organically and sustainably and ensuring ROI.
How the storyteller got her PR stripes
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll tell you how I – a storyteller – fell into PR
Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a very bored admin manager who worked for a software development company. She found her job excessively dull, and would spend much of the day quietly at her computer, writing short stories.
For some six months, she (barely) managed to perform her admin duties while working tirelessly on her craft. Soon enough, her stories started getting the literary recognition she desperately craved.
But then one day, the CEO (an entirely overly motivated individual, in her opinion), whom she’d mostly successfully managed to avoid, summoned her to his office. Her heart sank when she saw a sheaf of printouts on his desk. Not of the latest tedious project timelines, but varying drafts of her stories and poems.
She braced herself to be fired: what cared she? She would live in an attic, make a career move out of being miserable and thin, wear fingerless gloves and die a fine and beautiful death of consumption.
“These are rather good,” he said evenly
Momentarily thrown off balance but determined to remain on the offensive, she replied, “Well, if you can’t give me enough to do, I have to get through the terminable day somehow.”
“My fault entirely,” he concurred with a half-smile.
She glared at him balefully. Was he just passing time waiting for the HR lackey to come in and do his dirty work for him?
Apparently not. “So I was wondering if I might prevail upon you to apply your storyteller talents to writing a few stories about the company, our solutions and how we help our customers grow and so forth…”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” she interrupted, immediately seeing a flaw in his plan
“They’d be so boring: who would want to read those?”
“Ah, yes,” he replied with a mere smidge of a vindictive twinkle in his eye. “But it would be your job to make them interesting, tell a good story, engage the reader and whatnot. Then, maybe, you might talk to a journalist or two. See if you could interest them in writing their own stories about us…”
She looked at him aghast. Why, just the thought of it made her feel queasy. “PR! You want me to do PR??” How very dare he? ”I shan’t do it, I shan’t! You can’t make me!” she wailed.
“Well, no need to agree on the brief right now. Why don’t you have the rest of the afternoon off to think about it?”
She grabbed her papers from his desk and stalked with great dignity from his office, not trusting herself to speak.
And so it was that after a sodden gin review of her overdraft facility, our heroine reluctantly conceded that there were possibly worse things one could do for a living than being a corporate storyteller.
She’d just do it for a few months before she went and found herself a proper job. Or, at least had saved enough for a deposit on an attic and a pair of fingerless gloves…
And so, best beloveds, thanks to the thankless intervention of a remarkable CEO, I began my twenty-year, hugely enjoyable, and vastly rewarding career in PR.
Funny that now, ‘PR is all about telling stories.’ I thought it always was…
Can you have a non-commercial relationship with analysts?
Time to read: 3 minutes
Eria Odhuba, resident analyst relations lead dispels the most common myth about analyst relations – you have to pay them to play with them.
Analysts are paid to know, so what do you know?
“We have a problem with analysts,” I hear you say. “You have to buy analyst services to have a good relationship with them,” has got to be the most common phrase any analyst relations professional hears from colleagues.
Cynicism reigns when it comes to judging analysts, which reflects the way many of us might feel about the role they, and other influencers, have when recommending IT products or services.
Admittedly some are harder to engage than others if you do not have a subscription, but is that true of all Analyst Houses or is there a middle ground?Seven things worth knowing about analysts
A quick checklist to help you develop great relationships with analyst firms:
1) Good analysts prize their independence. In fact, their reputation hinges on remaining independent while advising their clients.
2) Analysts will NOT ignore you if you have something really good to talk about. Why should they? After all, you might be the trailblazer they identify and, in turn, get the kudos for predicting the disruptive influence you have on your target markets.
3) Analysts are human. They don’t know everything but, crucially, don’t have time to speak to every single vendor.
4) As they are human, you have to understand how they work, what they are working on, the timescales they have and the channels through which they provide advice.
5) To catch their attention, you need to provide really useful information using structured engagements over time to help them with their research, and make sure this fits in with their schedules. One off briefings are useless.
6) If you say ‘we are the world leading vendor providing modular, scalable solutions…blah, blah, blah’, just STOP. This means nothing. Tell analysts about specific and real problems you are addressing and let them tell people you are a leader.
7) They need to eat, pay mortgages and go for the occasional holiday. Separating how they make money and learning about various vendors so they can then advise their clients is something they all do – the best ones give disclaimers so you know exactly who their clients are.
So, what are analyst subscriptions all about?
Sometimes, you just need help with your lead generation and market positioning. Analysts who track various vendors in a specific market will know the ones that are doing well. Sometimes it is simply the technology or services that competitors provide which simply rock. Most of the time, they just have a good story that resonates better with clients than yours does.
Analyst subscriptions are, therefore, useful to help you position yourself better using the resources, advice and specific feedback opportunities you have available with individual analysts.
If you think it means analysts will say you are the best thing since sliced bread was invented, forget it. No analyst worth their salt will destroy their reputation doing so. Yes, you might get the Gartner Magic Quadrants and Forrester Waves, but these follow strict guidelines to maintain analyst independence (whether you agree with them or not).
Why don’t analysts want to talk to me then?
Just maybe, you don’t have anything relevant to add! Or maybe what you have to say is not relevant to their speciality.
There are too many vendors to track and a lot of output they need to plan for and deliver. Follow the steps above. Make sure you have a really good update or case studies to follow up with (even better if end users can talk to the analysts directly).
Will analysts stop talking to me if I don’t pay them?
No. They would ideally like to have you as a client (if they take on vendors as clients), but if you’re making waves in your market they still want to give advice to others that will help them make good purchase decisions.
So, be relevant but realistic about what analysts are looking for. They need information to help them build thought leadership positions. You can help them if you engage properly with them. They can also help you if you are honest enough to recognise you need advice to position yourselves better against your competitors. That is when analyst subscriptions come into play.
If you found this interesting you may also to peruse our analyst relations whitepaper which can be downloaded here.
