Advice from Gartner on Gartner

I went to the Gartner Conference this week in Tel Aviv and the last session was on "How to work better with Gartner". I would say that the best advice was:
1) To use inquiries more often and get the value of : getting the analysts attention on specific issues; establishing your point of view on individual issues; receiving specific info on your messaging, competition, product development, etc.
2) Dont send more than 20 slides in a presentation for an analyst (if they are really interested you may not get past the first two)
3) Practice the briefing in advance to a critical audience
I also made some suggestions--that they should open the communication lines more, for instance, ie. run a blog for AR issues, etc.
The most interesting session at the Conference was actually on the Media Industry which seems to be making the most dramatic changes that will affect our lives.
An example: Dove uploaded a movie on YouTube rather than pay several million dollars for a TV ad, and generated 3x more traffic to: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat4.asp?id=6909 than their Superbowl Ad. This will probably do a lot to revolutionize the advertising industry, at least in the U.S....

Bigger is not always Better

My contact at Datamonitor believes that the biggest benefit will be that now they will be one of the "big boys".
However, bigger is not always better.
The article in Bloomberg also talks about whether Datamonitor is worth the price paid but the real test will be if Informa can rebrand the group to bring more value to their customers. If they want to compete with Gartner, the value is not just about better or more information but whether they can influence the buy side as Gartner does which is still Gartner's biggest differentiator and it isn't about size, it is about brand.

A New Entity in the Analyst World

Comments on the move by Informa to buy Datamonitor/Ovum/Butler.
I will check my sources at Datamonitor and get back to you on this.
What do you think?

How to improve Analyst Perception

The author talks about how AR is meant to influence the analyst's perception; the analyst's opinion is not based only on reality or whether the product/solution is actually good, but rather how he perceives the product/solution to be.

He uses 3 areas of AR: Contact, Value and Reputation and advises AR personnel to either increase interactions, upgrade the training for briefings and/or redo the messaging if any of these areas are weak.

The "Creators" of the Positioning terminology for Marketing

I can't talk about positioning without mentioning Al Ries and Jack Trout's books written over 20 years ago:

"Positioning: the Battle for your Mind" was chosen by Advertising Age as one of the 75 most important moments of the last 75 years.The concept that sparked a revolution. Before the launch of "positioning" by Al Ries and Jack Trout, advertising was viewed as "communications." You studied your product or service and then decided which ideas or concepts your advertising should try to communicate to your prospects. But in today's overcommunicated society, that approach no longer works. There are just too many products, too many companies, too much marketing noise.Start with the prospect. Positioning turned the process upside down. Instead of starting with the product, you start with the prospect. You ask yourself what open hole exists in the minds of prospects. And then you try to fill that hole with your brand. If there are no open holes, then you need to reposition the brand that already occupies a position

The second book is "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing". One of my favorite laws is Law no. 4, the Law of Perception which says: Marketing is not a Battle of Products: it is a Battle of Perceptions.

The Law of Perception says that in the battle between products, perception is more important than reality.
People tend to think that the best product will win. However, as Ries and Trout say, "Marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions." Sometimes the best product does not win.

The Law of Perception is just one more reason why small ISVs need to get specific as they choose their competition. Don't try to create a "better" product. That strategy is too vague. Instead, try to create a product which is better for a specific group of people with specific problems that are not being solved very well by others. That specific group of people will perceive your product as the best.

ARmadgeddon: AR 101 series: selling the value of AR

This article gives some good strategies to improve the value of your analyst relations and to improve the Perception of value in your organization. Some info to use when asked "who are you and why do you need budget, aren't you like PR and don't you just shmooze with analysts?"

72% of technology buyers use analysts opinions when short-listing products
45% of them have added in a vendor because of an analyst's recommendation, while 42% have removed a vendor on analyst advice
1/3 have consulted analysts
2/3 say they're influenced by analyst reports

ARmadgeddon: AR 101 series: selling the value of AR

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