How can you facilitate effective communications between analysts and product manager stakeholders?
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Head of Product & Brand Marketing9 months ago
In my current role, leading product marketing teams involves regular interactions with analysts to identify key strategic themes such as market expansion or pricing changes. We conduct quarterly readouts for product teams, providing synthesized insights from analysts to guide decision-making. We also integrate a voice of the market process, prioritizing feedback from customers, partners, and analysts to align with our strategy. This structured approach ensures effective communication, informing product priorities and fostering transparency with stakeholders.Director of Marketing in Software9 months ago
Earlier this year, I went on a "listening tour" to learn from all of my product management and product marketing stakeholders what their greatest challenges were. Then, I took those challenges and scheduled inquiries with key experts on each topic in the analyst community. If able, I had the stakeholders join the analyst calls. It was a great relationship-building exercise, as well as a learning experience for all involved.Director of Marketing9 months ago
Amongst product management stakeholders I perceive there to be a fair amount of concern/mistrust with respect to how Gartner analysts will use the information that is shared with them. This in turn makes stakeholders reticent to openly engage. When introducing an individual to the engagement process, I emphasize that Gartner is under NDA with us and while they are vetting, comparing, and ranking products, they are really here to help us deliver and sell the best products we can. The second thing I stress is that being honest and straightforward is the best path of engagement. I liken Analysts to college professors who have seen so many students that they can generally spot when a student is lying or cheating. Similarly, analysts can spot when a vendor is overinflating their capabilities, which is not a message we want to send. With these factors in mind, I have had good success in bringing our teams into the engagement process. Director of Marketing in Software9 months ago
First, be a collaborator...you are not just pushing information to them. You should be a paying client and engage with inquiry calls to discuss relevant industry or market trends and issues.Second, take advantage of the NDA in place and divulge company-specific confidential information that helps them feel like an internal advisor. It is worthless to them to only share publicly available information...they can get that anywhere.
Third, carefully plan and practice delivery of briefings to the analysts--there should be very well rehearsed presentations, but also be open to discussion where you have to jump around the deck.
Director of Marketing in IT Services7 months ago
Facilitating effective communication between analysts and product manager stakeholders involves bridging the gap between internal and analyst languages. As an analyst relations professional, my role is to receive feedback directly from analysts and translate it into a format that aligns with our internal discussions and objectives. This may include summarizing reports, extracting key points, and presenting the information in a way that is accessible to various team members. Understanding individual preferences for data digestion ensures effective communication and enhances collaboration between analysts and stakeholders.