What are the most effective ways to provide value and incentives to your analyst advocates?

1 What is an analyst advocate?

An analyst advocate is an industry analyst who is willing to publicly endorse, promote, or recommend your company, product, or service to their clients, peers, or media. Analyst advocates can help you increase your brand awareness, generate leads, boost sales, and enhance your reputation. However, not all analysts are equally influential, credible, or relevant for your target audience. Therefore, you need to identify and segment your potential analyst advocates based on their level of interest, engagement, and impact.

2 How to identify and segment potential analyst advocates?

Identifying and segmenting potential analyst advocates is the first step to creating an effective analyst advocacy program. To do this, you can use criteria such as the type and size of their firm, the scope and focus of their research, the quality and frequency of their interactions with you, the tone and sentiment of their opinions, and the reach and influence of their network. Based on these criteria, you can categorize your potential analyst advocates into Champions, Supporters, Neutrals, and Detractors. Champions are your most loyal allies who actively advocate for you, Supporters have a positive view but may not be vocal or proactive, Neutrals have a balanced view but can be swayed by new information or trends, and Detractors have a negative view and may actively or passively criticize or discourage you.

3 How to provide value and incentives to your analyst advocates?

The second step to creating an effective analyst advocacy program is to provide value and incentives to your analyst advocates. You should start by understanding their needs, goals, and preferences, tailoring communication and engagement strategies to motivate, interest, and satisfy them. Offer relevant and useful content and resources, such as white papers, case studies, data sheets, webinars, and demos. Invite them to participate in events and activities that showcase your products or services, such as product launches or user conferences. Recognize and reward their efforts and contributions with feedback or appreciation for referrals, testimonials, quotes, or mentions. Doing so will help you create an effective analyst advocacy program.

4 How to measure and optimize the effectiveness of your analyst advocacy program?

The third step to creating an effective analyst advocacy program is to measure and optimize its effectiveness. To do this, you must define and track key performance indicators, such as the number and quality of analyst advocates, the frequency and type of interactions with them, their sentiment about you and your products or services, and the reach of their advocacy. Additionally, you should analyze and evaluate the data collected from these KPIs to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Benchmarking your performance against competitors and industry best practices can also be useful. Finally, consider implementing improvements such as finding new ways to provide value and incentives to analyst advocates, diversifying your advocate pool, leveraging new channels or platforms to reach your target audience, or experimenting with different content formats.