How industry analysts help product teams thrive

CCGroup’s insight reports consistently demonstrate that analysts hold significant influence on buyers. They are among the primary influencers in the awareness, shortlisting, and selection phases of technology buying journeys. This underscores the urgency for vendors to establish an analyst relations programme, as it can directly impact buyer decisions.

The benefits of an industry analyst relations programme don’t stop there, though. A well-structured programme benefits virtually all your business divisions, including product teams. An effective AR strategy provides valuable insights and benefits for product teams, from product validation to customer and competitor insights.

Market understanding

Industry analysts, through their constant interactions with customers, prospects, and competitors, gain deep insights into market dynamics, competitive landscapes, and the key challenges your customers and prospects face. An effective AR strategy equips product teams with these insights, enabling them to better understand market conditions, customer challenges, emerging technologies, and competitor strategies. With this knowledge, product teams are empowered to make informed decisions about product development, positioning, and go-to-market strategy.

Product and market validation

With their deep expertise and independent perspective, industry analysts provide vendors with invaluable feedback on solution capabilities and validation of product roadmaps. This expertise helps product teams assess the viability of their solution, offering valuable insights into market demand and customer challenges. By guiding product teams in refining their product strategy to better meet customer needs, analysts play a crucial role in enhancing product development. An effective AR strategy enables product teams to learn from these expert insights to hone their approach.

Product strategy

Analysts offer well-informed strategic guidance to product teams. While inquiry is generally considered the best tactic to learn from analysts, it is costly. An effective briefing programme, which can be a more cost-effective option, can also provide excellent insights to inform strategy if AR teams have good reporting practices.

Analysts’ deep understanding of the markets they specialise in allows them to identify opportunities, threats, and areas for differentiation. They also provide insights into industry trends, disruptive technologies, and regulatory developments that product teams must know about to stay ahead. By leveraging analysts’ expertise, product teams can enhance go-to-market, mitigate risks, and capitalise on emerging opportunities.

Credibility and visibility

Positive reviews or mentions in analyst content validate the value proposition of products for many buyers and increase credibility with customers, partners, and investors. Comparative analyst reports, like Gartner Magic Quadrants and Forrester Waves, are particularly influential on buyer awareness and are often used in shortlisting processes. Moreover, analysts frequently have extensive networks and platforms that not only amplify product visibility but also contribute to overall marketing efforts.

Collaborating with industry analysts provides product teams with invaluable insights that help them make the right strategic decisions. At CCGroup, we offer a unique and proven AR methodology that not only helps product teams capture and learn from analyst insights but also provides a competitive edge in supporting product strategy. If you’d like to learn more, please get in touch!