As a VP of Marketing or CMO in the B2B tech world, you understand that industry market influencers wield tremendous power in shaping market perceptions. If you offer B2B Technology solutions to customers in segments like energy, cybersecurity, or manufacturing (to name just a few), a mention in a Gartner report or a shout-out from Wool Mackenzie or a well-respected influencer can significantly elevate your company’s profile and your industry awareness.
But simply investing in analyst relations or signing up for an influencer’s services isn’t a silver bullet. In fact, without a strategic plan, those costly public relations firm services and industry analyst subscriptions may yield little to no ROI. To truly harness market influencers for thought leadership and awareness you need a structured engagement program. And if you execute well, you will get highly credible content that is excellent for use by your demand generation and lead nurture team in email campaigns.
In this blog, we share a strategic perspective on making analyst and influencer programs successful. We’ll explore three critical strategies for maximizing impact: choosing the right analyst partners, preparing meticulously for every briefing, and setting goal-oriented, measurable engagement plans with a plan for measurement at regular cadences. These insights, drawn from 10Fold’s industry experience and our recent analyst strategy work, will help ensure your analyst and influencer engagements drive real business results.
1. Bigger Isn’t Always Better: Choose Analyst Partners Strategically
When it comes to analyst relations, many marketing leaders assume that hiring the largest firm (or the most famous industry guru) will automatically deliver value. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. The truth is not all analyst firms are alike, and the biggest name isn’t always the best fit for your needs.
Your job is to identify which market influencers partners have true influence over your target market and align with your business objectives. In other words, focusing on the wrong analysts can waste time and budget, while a lesser-known firm that deeply engages in your niche might move the needle more.
Do your homework: Thoroughly research potential analyst and influencer partners before you invest. Evaluate all firms on a defined set of criteria and apply a scoring methodology to rank them. For example, consider factors like:
- Audience reach and relevance: Does this analyst firm reach the specific buyers or industries you care about? How many buyers do they reach that might be interested in your solutions? Does a target influencer provide their follower demographics?
- Deliverables and services: What exactly will you get from the engagement (reports, webinars, advisory hours)?
- Credibility and influence: How trusted is the firm’s research? Are your competitors or customers citing them? As importantly, are the market influencers in a deep relationship with one of your competitors?
- Cost vs. impact: Will a pricey subscription with a top-tier firm yield more ROI than a targeted project with a boutique analyst that is highly favorable towards your Company and / or solutions? Annual reports the Gartner Magic Quadrant or the Forrester Wave have a heavy influence on marketing decision makers. However, if you don’t qualify to be included, buying subscription will not assure your spot in the report.
By evaluating each analyst or influencer on these kinds of criteria, you can objectively pinpoint the partners most likely to amplify your message. This strategic selection process ensures you focus on high-impact partners rather than just the “big names.” The result: an analyst/influencer roster tailored to maximize your B2B tech awareness and credibility, while getting the most bang for your buck.
2. Preparation Is Everything: Turn Subscriptions into Value
Subscribing to an industry analyst’s services or hiring a star influencer won’t automatically produce results. The value comes from how you engage with them. Every briefing, inquiry call, or consulting day included in your contract is a golden opportunity — but only if you prepare meticulously. Too often, vendors fail to make the best use of briefing time, and many analyst meetings fall short on delivering content that an analyst finds meaningful.”
To avoid this, treat each analyst or influencer interaction as a mission-critical presentation, not a casual chat or a generic sales pitch.
Start by equipping your spokespeople with the intel and tools they need for a successful briefing. This means: set clear goals for the meeting, research the analyst’s coverage areas and past commentary, consider the insights and criticisms they may have offered your company in the past and develop a customized deck that speaks directly to that analyst’s interests. Don’t recycle your standard sales presentation – instead, tailor the storyline to focus on industry problems, insights, and solutions that the analyst cares about (while subtly reinforcing your value prop). Brief your team on the analyst’s background: Are they focused on trends and big-picture strategy, or more interested in technical details? Have they given your company feedback before? Knowing this lets you anticipate questions, avoid missteps, and engage the right spokesperson.
Consider creating a pre-briefing checklist for every analyst/influencer engagement:
- Define the briefing objective: What do you want to achieve? (e.g., inform a report, get feedback, persuade the analyst of your vision)
- Research your audience: Understand the firm and the individual’s perspective. Tailor your content to their known interests, potential biases, or prior recommendations.
- Customize your presentation: Build a briefing deck or narrative that skips the fluff and addresses what the analyst is looking for. Use data and examples that resonate with their research. Keep the deck short so there is time for discussion.
- Coach your spokesperson: Ensure your presenter can deliver confidently and respond to tough questions. Practice if needed.
- Plan follow-up actions: Determine how you will capture feedback, answer any open questions, and keep the momentum going after the meeting.
Leveraging experienced support can make a big difference here. This is where partnering with the right public relations firm services comes into play. An agency seasoned in analyst relations (like 10Fold) can help develop compelling briefing materials, provide training for spokespeople, and even role-play Q&A sessions. Such preparation not only maximizes each briefing’s impact but also demonstrates to the analyst that your company is proactive and serious about the relationship. When you consistently execute well-prepared, insight-rich briefings, you’ll start to see those analyst subscriptions pay off in the form of better coverage, referrals, and influence – the real ROI you’re after.
3. Goal-Oriented Engagement: Set Milestones and Measure Everything
Any analyst or influencer program without clear goals is destined to flounder. It’s critical to begin every engagement with well-defined goals and tie them to measurable milestones in your analyst/influencer contracts. In practice, this means establishing upfront what success looks like. Are you aiming to be included in a Gartner Magic Quadrant or Forrester Wave within a year? Looking to generate a certain number of leads from an analyst-hosted webinar? Hoping for an influencer to drive a spike in website traffic or demo requests? Spell it out before you kick off the program.
Break down big goals into concrete deliverables and metrics. For example, if one goal of your analyst subscription is demand generation, align on a plan to co-create content (like an analyst-authored white paper or webinar) and set a lead target for that asset (e.g., 200 qualified leads sourced from the white paper download). If the goal is market credibility, maybe a milestone is earning a positive mention or quote by an important influencer that your sales team can leverage. Each goal should have a way to measure its outcome – and those metrics should be reviewed regularly. In fact, you’ll want to monitor the impact of each engagement against key metrics (such as webinar sign-ups, content downloads, report mentions, or website traffic lifts) to quantitatively assess ROI.
Integrate these milestones into your agreements with market influencers whenever possible. For instance, if you’re paying for a year-long analyst partnership, outline a timeline: Q1 market landscape briefing completed, Q2 joint white paper published (with X number of downloads), Q3 inclusion in annual industry report, and so on. This creates accountability on both sides – your team stays focused on hitting targets, and the analyst/influencer understands your expectations for tangible outcomes. It also lets you course-correct; if an approach isn’t yielding results by mid-year, you can adjust the strategy or reallocate resources to higher-value activities. The ultimate benefit is visibility: by tying engagements to business outcomes like lead generation, pipeline influence, or brand sentiment, you can justify the investment to your C-suite and continuously refine your B2B tech PR awareness strategy for maximum impact.
Conclusion: Plan, Engage, and Lead with Influence
In the fast-paced B2B tech arena, cultivating strong analyst and influencer relationships is a proven way to build credibility, drive awareness, and position your company as a thought leader front-runner. But, as we’ve outlined, the key is strategic planning. By carefully selecting the right analyst and influencer partners (instead of just the biggest names), rigorously preparing for every interaction, and anchoring each engagement to clear goals and metrics, you transform a scattershot PR activity into a powerhouse program that supports your business growth.
Remember, successful analyst relations and influencer programs don’t happen by accident – they are engineered. With a structured approach, your analyst engagements can yield invaluable market insight, third-party validation, and demand generation boosts that far outweigh the investment. And you don’t have to go it alone. Enlisting expert guidance (for example, from a B2B tech communications agency like 10Fold) can provide the frameworks and experience needed to elevate your program from good to great.
Join 10Fold for Security Never Sleeps 2025 at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on April 30 for a private luncheon featuring a panel of CISOs. We’ll continue this conversation about industry analyst and influencer engagement along with other topics key to your marketing programs.