Ok, before jumping into this blog post I probably need to add a little disclaimer.

We love analysts. Analysts are awesome.

They cut through the corporate BS and give vendors unparalleled insights into the market. If you’re a martech brand and you don’t yet work with any analysts, exit this blog and go hire Wildfire’s analyst relations (AR) team immediately. Seriously, do it now. Analyst reports hold a lot of sway with procurement departments and AR is still a huge part of any sensible martech comms mix.

Right, disclaimer over. Now let’s talk about the issue at hand…

Stop sucking up to analysts!

We get it. You want to be including in their Waves, Quadrants, Pyramids and every other polygon-themed report out there. And sure, rebranding with analyst-friendly terminology can help with your wider AR strategy, but it’s terrible for your marketing.

The terms that analysts use don’t always reflect the way your audience thinks or talks, so letting your brand messaging be led by what you write in analyst reports is a recipe for disaster.

You need to separate the two: Let analysts tell your story in their own way, but focus your messaging around what customers expect from you.

Far too many martech brands approach analyst relations the way they used to do SEO — keyword stuffing their marketing with messaging and buzzwords, just to win favour with analyst firms. Not only does this mess up the rest of their marketing comms, it doesn’t even work as a strategy for AR. Analysts aren’t idiots, they’ll know if you’re just ticking boxes to try and win their approval.

With that in mind, here’s a better idea.

If you really want to be seen as a “Visionary” and a “Leader”, then the best thing you can do is start acting like a visionary and a leader.

Listen to what your customers need. Make it your business’ objective to fulfil that need. Shout that objective from the roof of your marketing department, and then (and only then), tell analysts what you’ve done. Industry recognition follows hard work, not the other way around.

This blog post is an extract from Wildfire’s “Why martech brands suck at marketing” ebook. Want to learn more about how your martech brand can get noticed? Download the full guide for free!