Analyst Relationships

What are your recommendations for influencing analysts if there is no MQ in your category?

4 answers

Product manager at Playvox • November 3

You can identify other documents produced by Gartner in the segment in which you work and contact the analyst who produces them. MQs do not exist when there is no variation between vendors in each qua

4 Saves

Sahil Sethi

Senior Vice President, Product Marketing at BetterUp | Formerly Klaviyo, Qualtrics, Microsoft, MckInsey • November 4

MQs and waves aren's static and evolve over time as new categories emerge and old categories get consolidated or unbundled away. Analyst firms like Gartner, Forrester, IDC know this and their analysts

2 Saves

Daniel Kuperman

Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • December 20

The MQ, or "Magic Quadrant" report is what Gartner calls their comparative report for specific markets. Each major analyst firm has their own comparative report (Wave, Marketscape, etc.). The existenc

2 Saves

Shideh Rahmanian

Senior Product Marketing Manager at AppDirect • February 21

1) Be realistic: how many other competitors are there in this space? A MQ is meant to show the main players and their market share. If the category is too nascent then it might not make sense to publi

1 Save

Product Marketing

What's your best practice for making sure competitive, personas, and market research info is always up-to-date, moving from product marketing to sales materials?

14 answers

Abdul Rastagar

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • May 7

This really requires a dedicated effort and should be owned by Product Marketing. Different industries change at different paces – in some cases, a quarterly review process is needed, in other case, i

44 Saves

Roopal Shah

Head (VP) of Global Enablement at Benchling • May 18

Your CMS (content management system) should have some sort of archiving parameters in place that should remind the PMM team when things get stale. With that said, all the reminders in the world won't

70 Saves

John Hurley

Head of Product Marketing at Notion • February 3

Align on needs and get buy-in on the program from key stakeholders upfront, otherwise, you will just be reactive and the expectations will be that every request is handled and every asset is up to dat

51 Saves

Daniel Palay

Head Of Product Marketing at 3Gtms • March 30

In the "real world" this is a function of whose responsibility sales collateral is. If it's product marketing, the answer is simple: Supply new collateral when it's time for an update. However, if pro

22 Saves

Charlene Wang

Vice President & Head of Marketing at Fin.com • April 7

There's two parts to keeping all the above content up to date, including content creation and content delivery: Content Creation: This is all about capacity planning of the Product Marketing team on

30 Saves

Kevin Garcia

Head of Product Marketing at Retool • June 24

Make it jointly owned. Your team will (almost certainly) not grow as fast as sales, success, support, etc. Even talented PMMs struggle to keep these things relevant and useful for every season of the

9 Saves

Rajendran Nair

Vice President Product Marketing at Medallia • July 20

This really depends on your product and industry. Let me outline a framework with four elements: The customer perspective The competitor perspective The technology perspective, and The marketplace p

11 Saves

Jessica Scrimale

Senior Director of Product Management at Oracle • August 17

This is tough, but you can prevent foundational PMM assets from going stale by having (1) defined processes (e.g., establishing which components of your market intelligence are most important to updat

11 Saves

Alex Lobert

Associate Director Product Marketing, Creator Promotion at Spotify • March 16

I'm big on updating information based on actions that need to be taken / decision that need to be made. When it comes to market research and personas, clarify what decisions you need to make based o

17 Saves

Nikhil Balaraman

Senior Director Product Marketing at Roofstock • March 21

Starting with the customer insight is always the #1 job of a product marketer. Ideal customer profile, target verticals, buyer personas, etc these are things that aren’t going to change on a weekly or

11 Saves

Jennifer Kuvlesky

Director of Product Marketing at Snow Software • November 16

The good news is sales people notice when materials are out of date, and will let you know it is time for a refresh. :) Joking aside, here are some proactive tips on how to keep materials up to date.

9 Saves

Daniel Kuperman

Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • December 20

You have to establish a cadence of updates for different assets, which will vary based on how they are used and your market dynamics. Personas don't change often, so revisting them every 6 months migh

19 Saves

Madison Leonard 🕶

Product Marketing & Growth Advisor at | Formerly ClickUp, Vanta, DreamWorks Animation • January 18

Talk with at least 1 customer a week and you'll never be surprised by any changes! I like to follow Gartner and Forrester for changes in the market, as well as keeping a pulse on new PLG companies who

2 Saves

🤘 Dejan Gajsek

Co-founder of Grow+Scale at Grow + Scale • February 17

Outdated information is almost worse than having no information since you might be making decisions from data sources that are no longer relevant or valid. To make sure this doesn't happen to you, c

1 Save

Product Marketing

What are common mistakes that you see product marketing teams make when starting a VoC program in their company?

6 answers

Ajit Ghuman

Director of Product Management - Pricing & Packaging, CXP at Twilio | Formerly Narvar, Medallia, Helpshift, Feedzai, Reputation.com • May 5

I have been a Product Marketer since 2013 and have built numerous VoC programs back when I worked at Medallia. For one, generally speaking, PMMs don't always own the VoC program. That being said, t

20 Saves

Abdul Rastagar

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • May 7

I think the biggest mistakes with starting a formal VOC program are 1) to do it without truly knowing what the goal is, and 2) to not secure CEO-level buy-in. If you don’t do the first one, then how w

36 Saves

2 Replies

Alex Lobert

Associate Director Product Marketing, Creator Promotion at Spotify • March 16

The two biggest mistakes I see are (1) not having a clear goal as to what you want to learn from customers and how this will inform product / go-to-market strategy, and (2) not truly prioritizing or r

13 Saves

Nikhil Balaraman

Senior Director Product Marketing at Roofstock • March 21

I think the easiest thing to miss when setting up Voice of Customer programs is alignment cross-functionally on the purpose of these programs. As product marketers, it’s easy to drive towards your goa

4 Saves

Jennifer Kuvlesky

Director of Product Marketing at Snow Software • November 16

The most common mistake I've seen in developing VoC programs is thinking too narrowly about the customers' voice. Often, VoC programs start with marketing or customer success with the goal of obtainin

3 Saves

Madison Leonard 🕶

Product Marketing & Growth Advisor at | Formerly ClickUp, Vanta, DreamWorks Animation • January 18

Not getting enough feedback from stakeholders on missing value. VoC programs are amazing when implemented well, but if they are created in a silo or without solving a problem then it will not get th

3 Saves

Product Marketing

How have you historically sourced people to interview while developing personas?

Especially if you don't have any customers that fit the bill my current plan is to assemble a list of possible titles and have my virtual assistant company prospect for and find contact details for them then probably send out a survey to validate if they're the right people to talk to and reach out individually to the ones that fit the bill.

8 answers

Greg Hollander

VP of GTM & Strategy at Novi • December 20

If you’re looking for specific titles, I think the approach you laid out makes sense. The screener survey is super important for making sure you’re find representative folks to talk to (based on you

29 Saves

Madelyn Newman

Director of Product and Customer Marketing at CallRail • June 15

Respondent.io is great tool for this - you can target specific job titles in any number of industries and weed out interviewees based on a survey. We typically ask things like company size, job functi

30 Saves

Daniel Palay

Head Of Product Marketing at 3Gtms • March 30

First things first, I believe that a representative sampling of non-customers can actually be a better source of information than current customers, so you're in a good position there. However, I woul

19 Saves

Vanessa Thompson

Senior Director, Product Marketing at Twilio • December 2

Based on your question detail, it sounds like you are targeting some specific persona details. If you have the time and capacity to take the approach you described, then it's a good way to do it. The

17 Saves

Hila Segal

VP Product & Customer Marketing at Observe.AI | Formerly Clari, Vendavo, Amdocs • May 31

If you're going after a whole new market, consider using services like G2G where you can provide the desired profile including industry, companies, titles, and areas of expertise. Then you'll get sche

7 Saves

Sherrie Nguyen (she/her)

Director of Product Marketing at Indeed • July 28

This is a great approach. It's best if you get as specific as possible to identify prospects (ie. country, company size, verticle/industry, job title) and get clear on where you want to focus. I shar

4 Saves

Jennifer Kuvlesky

Director of Product Marketing at Snow Software • November 16

I think your plan is a good way of moving forward. If money is no object, you could obtain a panel, and do a survey, and then contact those who seem to fit the profile for a deeper interview. I've u

3 Saves

Madison Leonard 🕶

Product Marketing & Growth Advisor at | Formerly ClickUp, Vanta, DreamWorks Animation • January 18

This all depends on your company stage and customer size. In the early stages (less than 50 customers), I would honestly try to talk with all of them. Offer free coffee, a heavy discount, or whateve

5 Saves

Product Marketing

What analyst activities actually help reinforce your brand differentiation vs are expensive and produce little ROI?

4 answers

Anthony Kennada

CEO at AudiencePlus • January 28

It may be a controversial pov, but my perspective is that the analyst community is getting disrupted by DTC user review sites like G2, TrustRadius, and the others. Customer voice is just as powerful a

70 Saves

Hila Segal

VP Product & Customer Marketing at Observe.AI | Formerly Clari, Vendavo, Amdocs • May 31

Analysts will not endorse any vendor directly. Your goal with AR is to help shape their POV about the market, especially if this is a new category and ultimately get well positioned on MQs and Wave re

9 Saves

Tracy Montour

Head of Product Marketing at HiredScore • July 29

I recommend creating a more high-level analyst stategy that outlines your actual need for analyst partnerships. Once you and your stakeholders are aligned on the need, you need to carefully select ana

2 Saves

Daniel Kuperman

Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • December 19

Spending more money with analysts won't guarantee a good placement in a Quadrant or Wave. I've seen companies mistakenly spend money on: - Buying more seats or licenses than they actually need; - Sign

7 Saves

Product Marketing

What can we do if there's no Wave or MQ for our category?

4 answers

Christine Tran

VP, Product Marketing at Quantum Metric • July 28

This is the situation we're in right now. Our AR program is three years old and it's an ongoing initiative to identify and vet the right analysts, build relationships, and education/inform/influence t

15 Saves

Chris Glanzman

Director of Product Marketing & Demand Generation at ESO | Formerly Fortive • August 2

Treat it as a category creation opportunity! Analyst firms have their place, but they can also hamstring your creativity when it comes to positioning your offering and differentiating from competitors

5 Saves

Nikhil Balaraman

Senior Director Product Marketing at Roofstock • March 21

Honestly, this is a GREAT problem to have. If there’s no Wave or MQ for your category, then all the more reason for you to be in the top right quadrant once one comes out :) The first thing I would r

7 Saves

Daniel Kuperman

Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • December 20

As I mentioned in the other answer, even if your market does not have a comparative report such as a Wave, Quadrant, Marketscape, etc. it doesn't mean you should not engage with an analyst firm. These

3 Saves

Product Marketing

Can you share your tips on making a great analyst briefing deck?

I'm about to make my companies first analyst briefing deck. I've made them in the past but want to make a really kick ass one this time around.

6 answers

Steve Feyer

Product Marketing Director at Eightfold • January 10

Afraid that this is a confidential item I can't share---sorry! A few thoughts though about how we do this well (and I have to credit a colleague, Michael Dunne, who does this work and is an exceptiona

27 Saves

Abner Germanow

Senior Director Product Marketing at Oracle • September 26

I've been on both sides of the table. Before you set pixels to powerpoint... #1 - What questions do you have for the analyst to help validate or refute your assumptions about the market? #2 - Can y

35 Saves

Christine Tran

VP, Product Marketing at Quantum Metric • July 28

I covered the basic flow of an introductory briefing deck in another question. I'd be happy to connect with you 1-1 to walk through yours and share a bit of mine :) Find me on LinkedIn! I've found 3

25 Saves

Dana Foster Chery

Vice President, Marketing at Samsara • February 8

The best analyst briefing decks that I've either seen or helped build are not filled with marketing messaging. They clearly layout what analysts typically care about, which could include the following

35 Saves

Nikhil Balaraman

Senior Director Product Marketing at Roofstock • March 21

I think the mistake here is making it too long. I’d suggest an inverse triangle approach, and keep it short depending on the length and purpose of your briefing, probably no more than 5-10 slides. My

14 Saves

Daniel Kuperman

Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • December 20

While briefing decks may vary, I believe there are a few key elements that you should consider to make it a 'kick-ass' deck: - company overview - solution overview - competitive landscape - customer p

9 Saves

Product Marketing

What role should a customer advisory board have in influencing your product roadmap, and why?

Product marketing owns the customer advisory board but product management owns the roadmap.

7 answers

April Rassa

Product Marketing at Cohere | Formerly Adobe, Box, Google • April 2

CABs are great. Customer advisory boards have several common objectives in mind, including:- To create champions for the brand- To validate product ideas and guide the product roadmap- To help shape m

40 Saves

Carolina Leon

Manager, Product Marketing at Sprout Social • April 8

It's best practice to create CABs with one specific business focus – and that focus could very much be to help inform your product strategy. The weight that member feedback carries depends on the mak

23 Saves

Abdul Rastagar

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • May 7

You’re describing a common situation. Customer advisory boards (CABs) represent an important channel for bringing VOC into your organization, not just for immediate product development but also to und

48 Saves

4 Replies

Uri Kogan

VP Product Marketing at OnPlan • March 3

A customer advisory board can be a great way to capture high level roadmap feedback from your most important customers. But to my mind, it's main value lies elsewhere: in giving your most important cu

16 Saves

Nikhil Balaraman

Senior Director Product Marketing at Roofstock • March 21

Customer advisory boards are great ways to bring product, leadership, and your customers face-to-face to really help everyone understand if what is being built will really solve customer needs. Along

4 Saves

Vishal Naik

Product Marketing Lead at Google | Formerly DocuSign • December 6

IMO, your roadmap needs to be representative of your company vision. And practically, your company's growth opportunities would come from customer expansion and new deals. So I'd advise that you lever

2 Saves

Daniel Kuperman

Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • December 20

A customer advisory board should be an imyportant source of validation of product vision and roadmap, but not the only one. The best customer advisory boards have a good representation of key customer

3 Saves

Product Marketing

I'm a product marketing team of 1 - what would you recommend as easy, every-day tools/actions that will help me understand our customers that little bit better?

3 answers

Nikhil Balaraman

Senior Director Product Marketing at Roofstock • March 21

Well first of all, it’s always tough to be a team of one. You are definitely going to have to ruthlessly prioritize and as a team of one, it can be easy to get stuck as the sales content/collateral &a

10 Saves

Hila Segal

VP Product & Customer Marketing at Observe.AI | Formerly Clari, Vendavo, Amdocs • May 31

Listen to sales/CS calls. As a team on 1 you can't be on every call but make it a weekly habit to listen to at least 5-10 calls (you can listen at 1.5 or 2x speed 😊). Be strategic about the calls you

12 Saves

Daniel Kuperman

Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • December 20

First, start with what you already have at your disposal, which will likely include: - written customer case studies or success stories - requests that customers have made in the past about product fe

11 Saves

Product Marketing

How do you measure and communicate progress for your analyst relations program, when it can sometimes take a couple years to see results?

4 answers

Christine Tran

VP, Product Marketing at Quantum Metric • July 28

This is a great question and top of mind for me right now. For your executives, their primary goal may be to get into a Forrester Wave or Magic Quadrant. Yes, that would be the ultimate win, but it

13 Saves

Nikhil Balaraman

Senior Director Product Marketing at Roofstock • March 21

Analyst relations programs are best run as a partnership between PR/Comms teams and PMM. The PR and Comms teams will be helpful in driving longer term thinking and time horizons. How do we start to in

5 Saves

Jeffrey Vocell

VP of Product Marketing at | Formerly Narvar, Iterable, HubSpot, IBM • August 4

Great question. First of all, make sure you set expectations up-front that results will take a while to see. Overall count the incremental wins, and show the milestones your crossing as a way to shar

3 Saves

Daniel Kuperman

Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • December 20

First, establish the goals for your analyst relations program. Think beyond the placement of your company in a 'Magic Quadrant' or 'Wave' type of report, and identify additional KPI's, such as: - numb

2 Saves