Analyst Relations: The Most Undervalued Strategic Weapon in B2B Marketing

 

After 20+ years in marketing and six CMO roles across high-growth tech companies, one thing has become crystal clear to me: most companies are doing analyst relations (AR) wrong.

Too many execs treat AR like a checkbox on the marketing plan or see it as a “necessary evil” to get into a Magic Quadrant or Wave. I’ve even heard CEOs brush analysts off, saying “they’re all pay-to-play.” That kind of thinking? It’s not just wrong—it’s dangerous.

Because done right, analyst relations can be one of your most powerful strategic levers across product marketing, demand generation, category creation, and even exit strategy.

Analysts Aren’t a Nuisance—They’re an Extension of Your Team

The best analysts are deeply embedded in the market—they understand trends, buyer behavior, competitive positioning, and industry perception better than most internal teams do. They talk to hundreds of your customers and prospects. They know things.

And if you engage them properly, they become an extension of your product, product marketing, and demand gen teams. But you’ll never unlock that value with “normal” AR tactics—occasional inquiries, reactive briefings, and participation in evaluations like Magic Quadrants or Waves.

That’s a recipe for mediocrity. And in analyst relations, mediocrity doesn’t just mean missed opportunities. It means getting actively hurt by your competitors who are shaping the narrative for you.

The Cost of Neglect: You’re Not Just Ignored—You’re Outsold

If top analysts aren’t deeply familiar with your product, value prop, and differentiation, they fill in the gaps—with your competitors’ messaging. And when prospects come asking for recommendations, guess who gets sent to the shortlist?

You can’t undo that kind of damage easily. AR isn’t something you can “flip on” when a Magic Quadrant comes around. It takes time, consistency, and a real strategy.

The Blueprint for Analyst Relations That Actually Works

So how do you do AR right? Here’s the blueprint I’ve used to drive category leadership and exits in cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and employee experience:

1. Start With the Right Analysts

Identify the analysts who influence your buyers. For B2B tech with IT or security buyers, that’s often Gartner, Forrester, and IDC. Don’t ignore the smaller players like 451 Research—they punch above their weight and often influence the big guys.

2. Inquiries Are Your Secret Weapon

Use them. Relentlessly. Learn how you’re perceived. Learn how your competitors position themselves. Test messaging, get feedback, refine positioning. Inquiries are how you build relationships and drive insight.

3. Briefings Are Overrated (Until They’re Not)

Don’t treat briefings as your first move—they should be your final play. By the time you brief, you should already know what the analyst will say. You should’ve influenced their thinking through repeated, valuable engagement.

4. Build Real Human Connections

Analysts are people. Meet them in person. Host analyst days. Visit them. Grab coffee at a conference. Human connection builds trust and trust builds influence.

5. Bring in Your Experts

Don’t just send AR folks. Involve SMEs. Show the product. Run demos. Ask for feedback and loop it back into product development. Create a feedback loop that adds real value.

6. Surround and Reinforce Your Message

Engage smaller analyst firms to amplify your narrative. Big analysts read their reports and see signals. Share your news, wins, and big moves. Keep them in the loop.

7. Dominate the Magic Quadrants and Waves

By the time evaluations come, the analyst should already see you as a leader. The methodology matters—but only if you’ve laid the groundwork first.

8. Redefine and Own the Category

This is a multi-year effort. But it’s how you build durable competitive advantage. I’ve done this at HP (Intrusion Prevention), Kount (Identity Trust Network), and now at Simpplr in Employee Experience.

9. Build a Scalable Demand Engine

Analysts talk to enterprise buyers constantly. If you're one of the 2–3 vendors they recommend, you unlock a stream of RFPs and qualified opportunities that money can’t buy.

10. Position for Exit or IPO

Companies that dominate categories attract strategic buyers and go public. At Kount, our analyst-driven repositioning led to a $640M acquisition by Equifax. They still use the Identity Trust Network branding we created.

So… Are Analysts Pay-for-Play?

Sure, some are. But overwhelmingly, AR is a skill play. With the right strategy, consistency, and execution, the returns—in insight, influence, and revenue—are exponential.

Winning the Chaos: Lessons from the Battlefield for CMOs

A CMO’s Life Is a Battlefield

A CMO’s life is often a battlefield. We move between high-priority areas and activities daily—sometimes hourly.

One moment, we’re focused on pipeline creation, then we pivot to conversion, strategic messaging, PR, analyst relations, executive meetings, board meetings, team management, customer conversations, content, branding, regional strategies, partner relationships, online commerce, and the countless random requests from internal and external stakeholders.

 And then there are meetings. More meetings. And just when we think we have a handle on it all—unexpected crises emerge.

As a wise man once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

We strategize. We plan. But then reality hits—some moments are electrifying, others feel like a relentless onslaught. It’s easy to lose focus, chase the wrong priorities, or get bogged down in tasks that feel urgent but aren’t truly critical. The cost of misplaced focus? Missed opportunities.

Winning the Chaos: Lessons from the Battlefield

One of the best strategies I’ve learned to manage, survive, and dominate in the chaos comes from the military: Prepare. Train. Execute. Then, when the crisis inevitably hits—adapt and respond.

When chaos erupts, what’s the first move?

Address the biggest, most dangerous threat in front of you. Then move from there.

I love how Jason Redman, a former Navy SEAL and battlefield hero, explains crisis decision-making. His mindset is a masterclass in staying focused under pressure.

How This Applies to CMOs

1. Keep Your Eye on the Main Target

Most of the time, that means revenue and pipeline—new customer acquisition, expansion, and retention. Never lose sight of it.

2. Assemble, Uplevel, and Bond with Your Team

In battle, your team wins the war. It’s both about how AND who. Communication and trust are critical, not just within your team, but across partner teams like Sales, Product, Customer Support, and Finance.

3. Aggressively Build Brand

Think of this as your fortification and air cover. Brand-building doesn’t have to be expensive or flashy—it can be grassroots or highly strategic. But it needs to be intentional, consistent, measurable, and constantly optimized.

4. Arm Your Troops with the Best Weapons

This is where Product Marketing comes in. Sharp differentiation, powerful messaging, competitive intelligence, enablement tools—these are the weapons your team needs to win.

5. Establish Wartime Communications

Metrics and reporting, customer and partner feedback, competitive and social monitoring, analyst relations, press coverage—every data point matters. Analyze, act fast, and adjust as the situation evolves.

Deploy. Battle. Win.

But the fight never stops. The battlefield is never static. Competitors are always moving. Unexpected crises arise. And this is where Jason Redman’s advice is so crucial.

You must evaluate the battlefield constantly. When a critical attack comes, neutralize it—fast—so it doesn’t take you down. But be ready to fight on multiple fronts.

Like a pipeline funnel, personnel issues, and PR crises all hitting in the same week?  Prioritize. Assess based on gravity, impact, and outcomes. Execute. This is where your team and training make the difference. As the saying goes, “A gallon of sweat saves a pint of blood.”

Win the fight. Celebrate. Then take on even bigger goals.

What else is impossible?

200-Mile Bike Ride: Start As Individuals, Finish As A Team!

"We start as individuals; We finish as a team!"

That thought came at mile 199 of a 201-mile bicycle race, as I was getting close to the finish line in Port Hueneme, CA.

I finished a few minutes later, at 9:15pm, as a part of the team of people that I met earlier that day. Many of us started as individuals or small groups and became a team after 200 long, hot, grinding, and windy miles.

It is very similar to the business environment. 

We often start our jobs or projects as individuals.  We meet other professionals as we go.  We build teams that make the most impossible things become possible.  The ability to form such teams separates successful companies from the mediocre ones.

Just like riding 200+ miles in a single day.  What I realized that day is while hard projects (like riding 100 or 130 miles) can be completed through preparation and perseverance, much bigger projects require teamwork to complete.

Prior to that ride, I had completed 100-mile rides many times and 130-mile ride twice. But 200 miles were elusive.  I tried once and was not able to finish it, just to get a DNF (Did Not Finish) status.  It turns out that the missing ingredient was the team.  The team did it! 

The key things I discovered during my first successful 200 mile ride were that strong teams make the biggest difference in extreme situations by:

• Helping each other through situational difficulties, such as shielding against the wind to go faster with less energy spent
• Helping with directions when there are no pointers, it’s dark outside, and when many team members feel lost. One of the team members happens to have planned the ride better, the other one had a better app, and someone else knew that particular area from previous rides. 
• Mentally supporting each other when the going gets tough and the doubts start creeping in about the sanity of the project and the ability to finish

If you think about it, this mimics business challenges as well.  By working closely together, we go faster through overcoming extreme difficulties, we give each other mental support and find directions when we get stuck.  And then we finish and win as a team -- way ahead of a collection of individuals.

The feeling of an accomplishment was immense at the end of the race, similar to the one when you launch a product, or a web site, or close a partnership, or deal that seemed impossible just a few months ago.

The right team makes that crazy undertaking look normal.  With the right team, you push the limits even further, asking, “What else is impossible?”

Just to prove that point, I did another bike race 3 weeks later, to push my limits even further. I completed the STP (Seattle to Portland) ride in one day. 213 miles. 5,200 ft climb.  9,200 calories burnt.

And like in the first race, I started alone and finished as a team! It was much easier than the first time, faster, and more fun.  

And the best thing was that my family was at the finish line to celebrate with me!