Another workday down. In the fast-paced world of analyst relations (AR), do you ever look at the clock and wonder, “Where did the hours go?”
Of course, it’s very likely you know where they went. But were they spent on the activities you wanted and needed to accomplish that day? On strategic initiatives and campaigns likely to move the needle — and move your program and the business forward? Or did manual and somewhat menial tasks (must-dos… but alas, so tedious!) encroach on your productivity?
Maybe it’s time to reset priorities and get a little help, in the form of automation. After all, as Merv Adrian, principal of IT Market Strategy (formerly with Gartner and Forrester), puts it: analyst relations is “a people job — about connections, dialogue and the exchange of value. Making time to do more proactive relationship-building and outreach is critical… If AR is spending too much time chasing metrics, looking for information about analysts and building briefing books laboriously by hand, then time spent with analysts gets sacrificed.”
We can all probably relate! AR pros, no doubt, want to spend the bulk of their time building relationships with analysts; they’re in analyst relations, after all. But other time- and labor-intensive tasks still pile up and need to get done. And in small AR programs, especially, there’s little opportunity to delegate or spread the load. Small programs are common ones; the Institute of Influencer and Analyst Relations (IIAR>) reports that more than three-quarters (76%) of AR pros belong to AR teams of five or fewer people; 43% are a team of one. How can programs like these (and large ones, too) recoup time and get the job done — operational and strategic aspects alike?
“Automation is the great equalizer,” Merv notes in a must-read whitepaper. He quotes many AR pros who use AR software to “punch above their weight” and “ensure their story is heard.” Learn how software, such as ARchitect, enables AR professionals to automate, expedite and improve the quality of what Merv defines as “5 key tasks AR must focus on”:
Identifying and tracking analysts and their output
Managing and documenting analyst interactions
Driving communications programs around events and products
Internal communications, training and preparation for company spokespeople
Measuring the impact of analyst relations and documenting it
By enhancing productivity and shaving off hours on activities such as these, AR teams can accomplish more, get increasingly strategic and perform at their best. And as the clock ticks down toward the end of the workday, they’ll feel increasingly satisfied about how their hours were spent.
