February 22, 2010 by buzzmethod
I recall a while back that a colleague asked me to help him fill a position of senior consultant in his team. I put the word out among my contacts and quite quickly had a couple of really excellent CVs to forward on, which I did.
A couple of weeks later, having not heard any news, I checked in with my colleague to see if he’d followed up with the candidates. He hadn’t.
When I asked why not, as both really did seem a potentially excellent match for the job, he replied “Job protection, Dom, job protection.”
The firm I was working for didn’t interview either candidate, my colleague’s team continued to underperform and in that one sentence, all my professional respect for him went up in smoke.
I don’t understand why people don’t realise that they need to recruit the best people. In the example above, it wasn’t a question of the candidates wanting too much money, or even of being too senior – their experience matched the job spec, which is why they sent their resumes. The problem was that the incumbent team leader knew that he wasn’t as good as he should be and didn’t want to be found out.
The reality is that if you hire brilliant people and coach them properly, you will bask in their glory. Oh, and in a competitive market, the business should benefit, too.
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Posted in Bad practices, Work | Tagged bad practice, employment | 2 Comments »
February 19, 2010 by buzzmethod
Level 3 part 1: How Vendors Leverage Analyst Subscriptions
EFFECTIVE ANALYST RELATIONS REQUIRES SUBSCRIPTIONS. There, I’ve said it. In capitals. Feel free to disagree with me, but please allow me to explain where I’m coming from…
In the world of ICT, analysts are a unique influencer, not only do they interact with multiple audiences, but also, in many cases, it is possible to pay to have access to their research and, with certain firms to the analysts themselves, through an analyst subscription.
You don’t need analyst subscriptions to do AR, but it helps. A lot. In fact I’ll go further than that: if your AR team doesn’t have access to at least one relevant analyst subscription, it has one hand tied behind its back.
I recently debated this last point with the AR lead of a global comms agency. He reckoned I was talking rubbish and gave examples of some great results he achieved before his employer started investing in analyst subscriptions. “So, now you’ve got subscriptions, would you give them back?” I asked. “Well, no…”
In this post we’ll look at how ICT vendors leverage subscriptions to promote their company and their technologies. I’d like to consider PR/comms agencies separately.
Continue Reading »
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Posted in Analyst Relations Basics, Analyst Subscriptions | 4 Comments »
February 18, 2010 by buzzmethod
Apologies for the delay in posting the third part of this series. I’ve been hassled by several people (thanks Tris, Agi, Ludo, Dan…) to put my money where my mouth is, so I’ll get down to it and finish writing it up ASAP.
It’s not as though I’ve been completely lazy – I’ve been signing up clients and delivering services to them! It’s always a challenge to find the time to write up thoughts and experiences, while concentrating on running a business and making sure that clients are happy (and that invoices are paid).
Still, I agree that I’ve been a wee bit lax, so it’s time to get writing again!
EDIT: 19th Feb – I cheated and posted the first half of part three… the next post will be the juicy bit.
Posted in Analyst Relations Basics | Leave a Comment »
November 27, 2009 by buzzmethod
Before I get started, I’ve had quite a bit of offline feedback about the first post in this series – while I’d prefer people to post comments here, you can’t have everything in life!
One in-house AR who used to work in PR pointed out yesterday that for some IT firms, even getting on the radar of the industry analysts is of value, so perhaps I was a little harsh. While I accept his point, I contend that unless the initial awareness-raising is followed up with a systematic engagement programme, even a light one, it’s of very little real value in the longer term.
Which leads me nicely into today’s topic:
Level 2: AR as a Two-Way Conversation
Although it may not be obvious at first glance, this is a quantum leap from AR as PR.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Analyst Relations Basics | Tagged Analyst Relations Basics, AR as a conversation, Level 2 Analyst Relations | 3 Comments »
November 11, 2009 by buzzmethod
I’ve had several conversations about Industry Analyst Relations (AR) with AR professionals over recent months and I know that some of my views are a little contentious, but that’s all the more reason for me to publish them.
Can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, right?
When explaining AR to non-practitioners (and some practitioners, too) I generally start by establishing that the discipline is most mature within information and communication technologies (ICT) even if it is an approach that can largely be applied to other sectors. That’s why you find in-house AR teams within the marketing/PR/corp comms departments of tech and telecoms companies1. In the agency world, too, AR usually lives within the Tech PR team. Actually, I believe that this can damage the perception of AR and comms agencies might consider making a clearer distinction.
The reason AR is so well established in ICT is that there is an army of industry analysts whose job it is to research and analyse ICT markets (if you want a potted history and pretty good summary of the industry analysis landscape, you could do far worse than read the opening chapters of “Influencing the Influencers” by Bill Hopkins and his friends at KCG).
Analysts come in various flavours, each with different requirements but all sharing a need to communicate constantly with market players so that they can advise their clients who include buyers of and investors in ICT.
I generally contend that AR programmes can have three levels of sophistication. Today I will look at the most basic (and ineffective) level and I’ll follow it up with a discussion of more advanced AR over the next couple of days.
Level 1: AR as PR
Continue Reading »
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Posted in Analyst Relations Basics | Tagged Analyst Relations Basics, How not to do AR, Level 1 Analyst Relations | 4 Comments »
November 11, 2009 by buzzmethod
Rather than make readers endure the quality of the video I took while attending the launch of Mark Kobayashi-Hillary’s new book “Talking Outsourcing” on October 1st, I’ve removed it and am replacing it with a link to the video made by the video team at South Bank University where the launch was held.
Cut into three sections, the first part of Mark’s presentation can be found here, the second part here and the final section here.
An summarized version of the entire presentation can be viewed on Mark’s YouTube channel here.
Unfortunately, I am still experimenting with this blog module and have not yet worked out how to embed videos into the body of an entry, hence the links.
It’s a very entertaining talk in which Mark uses a series of unusual visual techniques to drive his points home.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Posted in Globalisation, Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, Outsourcing, Talking Outsourcing | Tagged Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, Outsourcing, Talking Outsourcing | Leave a Comment »
October 1, 2009 by buzzmethod
Congratulations to Peggy O’Neil at the Institute for Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) for making the certification exam a reality – others were involved, but it was Peggy’s energy and persistence that made it happen.
Duncan has already posted about the new exam and my thoughts largely echo his.
It is very positive to see a cross-industry move to create standards within AR, especially given its persistent image as somewhat inaccessible within the related fields of marketing and public relations. Hopefully, the exam will go some way to demonstrating that AR is not so much a ‘dark art’ as a systematic approach to engaging with an influential set of advisors with a view to helping to increase sales.
A word of warning for people who are thinking of taking the exam – having seen some of the sample questions, my advice is to prepare thoroughly!
Edit: Peggy has written an introduction to the test.
Posted in AR Certification, IIAR | Tagged Analyst Relations Certification, Analyst Relations Test, AR Certification, AR test | Leave a Comment »
August 20, 2009 by buzzmethod
Check.
First client in place? Check.
Website up and running? Check (even if it’s a temporary site).
Email accounts working? Check.
There seem to be a hundred little things to do in order to get everything up and running for Buzz Method Ltd. Soon I’ll be able to focus on client work. Hopefully very soon.
I’m going to make an effort to write up my thoughts on ‘corporate communications’ in today’s world. After all, that’s why Buzz Method came about, so it’s a logical subject for this blog.
Posted in About, Company Formation | Tagged 1st blog post, Company Formation, Incorporation | Leave a Comment »
