What is AR? AR to be or not to be...

Analyst Relations (AR) is an essential marketing function of today's technology and outsourcing organizations.

This brief is for readers who are still unexposed to the marvels of this practice and aims at providing guide to the new joinees of this lively and most interactive profession.

AR has essentially evolved from the - more than a decade old PR function but with a distinct different focus of addressing a particular audience-a select few as against the mass as in the case of PR. The audience in this perspective is the industry research analyst community. These influencers are involved in almost all technology and outsourcing deal pursuits as the buyer community highly depends on the trusted advice and recommendation from them.
The business model of analyst firms work on the premise of conducting industry wide research and through this exercise build an intelligence which becomes relevant to all stakeholders of the game. Analysts gain first hand information both on the buyer and supplier side and with their presumed analytical skills, the analysts define the market potential, trends and future as well as recommend best business partners to build relationships with.

Hence, to enable survival in this competitive environment, every organization missions to build their capability and brand presence in this community in the anticipation that no prospective deal goes untapped and unheard.

The qualifiers of both PR and AR profiles however need to be dominant on the below mentioned traits:

• Excellent communication skills
• Good networking, relationship building skills
• In depth understanding of the audience mindset
• Understanding of the Operational model of the stake holders
• Knowledge expert of the offering

But with the evolving analyst landscape, an AR PRO now needs to understand the dynamics of individual analyst firms, the changing interest areas of industry analysts to ensure maximum capture of analyst mind share. Some firms still operate region wise some have gone global in the outlook and the way they conduct research. Analyst research priorities shift pretty often and the need to be abreast of these changes become essential to survive in the AR game.

The objective of all analyst interactions remains to ensure top of the mind recall for the brand.

Professionals who incline towards exploring this profile need to consider the fact that this profile is not as easy and straight forward as it seems. Also, the responsibility stake is high. So you need to be confident and smart to survive and capitalize on your skills relevant to this profession to bring value to your own career as well as to your organization. Yes, it is a recognized profession today and being part of this exciting profession I strongly urge those who like to live a high momentum life to come be part of it.

AR is still a lonely profession and any addition of community members would do wonders to progress to a new level.