As a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or Analyst Relations (AR) professional, you're likely aware of the significant role that industry analysts play in influencing your market. The challenge often lies in identifying the analysts who truly matter to your business outcomes and how to strategically engage with them. That's where the AIIM (Analyst Influence, Impact, and Market Buy-in) framework comes in.
The world of analyst relations isn't a numbers game. Engaging with a large number of analysts without understanding their potential impact can lead to wasted resources and missed opportunities. Just as with any other marketing activity, AR requires strategic focus and targeting.
For AR to be effective, it needs to go beyond just maintaining relationships. The ultimate goal of AR is to shape market perception and drive business results. To achieve this, you need to understand which analysts have the most influence over your market, which ones have the most significant impact, and which ones the market trusts the most.
This is where the AIIM framework comes in, providing a robust, targeted approach for AR.
The AIIM framework is a data-driven approach to identifying the analysts that are most likely to contribute to your business objectives. The framework comprises three components:
By measuring these three factors, the AIIM framework allows you to score and rank analysts based on their potential to influence your market and impact your business outcomes.
To apply the AIIM framework, begin by identifying the analysts relevant to your market. Then, score each analyst based on their influence, impact, and market buy-in. This scoring is based on objective data such as audience size, engagement levels, citation frequency.
Once scored, analysts can be plotted in a three-dimensional bubble chart with axes for influence, impact, and market buy-in. The size of each bubble can represent the total score of an analyst, giving a visual representation of the overall importance of each analyst.
To align the AIIM framework with your marketing strategy, it's essential to map each element to your marketing funnel.
Awareness: Analyst Influence plays a vital role here. Analysts with high influence can help build awareness for your brand among their followers.
Consideration: Impact is crucial during the consideration phase. Analysts who can sway market behaviour can help push potential customers towards considering your product.
Decision: Market Buy-in is key in the decision phase. Analysts who have a significant market trust can indirectly endorse you, influencing the final purchasing decision.
The AIIM framework, when correctly applied, can provide a scientific, targeted approach to AR, ensuring your valuable resources are effectively utilised. With AIIM, you can identify the analysts most likely to drive your desired business outcomes and strategically engage with them to leverage their influence, impact, and market buy-in.
Remember, AR is more than just building relationships. It's about leveraging those relationships to shape market perception and drive real business results. So, equip your AR with the power of AIIM, and make your AR efforts more targeted, efficient, and impactful. To find out more about how you can maximise the value from your Analyst Relations investment, read our guide here.
Ready to take your AR strategy to the next level? We've got a free downloadable spreadsheet to help you kick-start your journey with the AIIM framework. With this tool, you can begin scoring and ranking your analysts based on their influence, impact, and market buy-in.
Download our free AIIM Framework Spreadsheet and get started on making your AR more strategic, targeted, and impactful. It's time to make your Analyst Relations drive real business outcomes!
The scoring for each area (Analyst Influence, Impact, and Market Buy-in) is determined by assigning specific point values to the different measures within each area. The point values can be determined based on your organisation's specific needs and priorities.
Analyst Influence (AI) Score (0-100 points): This can be estimated by measuring the analyst's presence across various communication channels and media.
Reach: Assign points based on the number of followers the analyst has on key social media platforms (0-50 points). For example, 0-10,000 followers is 10 points, 10,001-50,000 is 30 points, and 50,001+ is 50 points.
Visibility: Measure how often they are quoted or their work is cited in media (0-50 points). Rare mentions is 10 points, occasional mentions 30 points, and frequent mentions 50 points.
Impact (I) Score (0-100 points): This gauges the direct influence of the analyst on buyers and the marketplace.
Buyer Interactions: How often the analyst speaks to end users (0-50 points). Rarely involved is 10 points, sometimes involved 30 points, and often involved 50 points.
Assessment Influence: Based on a simple survey or rating from customers on how much the analyst's assessments influenced their purchase decisions (0-50 points). Minimal influence is 10 points, moderate influence 30 points, and high influence 50 points. Note, Resonance runs buying decision surveys to our clients' target audience and identifies the most influential analysts.
Market Buy-in (MB) Score (0-100 points): This represents the acceptance and support the analyst has in the market.
Referral Rates: Based on how often the analyst refers customers to your brand (0-50 points). Rare referrals get 10 points, occasional referrals 30 points, and frequent referrals 50 points.
Purchase Influence: The level of influence the analyst has on customers' purchasing decisions (0-50 points). Minimal influence is 10 points, moderate influence 30 points, and high influence 50 points. We use a number of ways to get this information, from ICP surveys to client and customer surveys.
Total Score (0-300 points): This is the sum of the AI Score, I Score, and MB Score.
Here's an example of a visual representation of the AIIM scores: In this example, the X-axis represents Analyst Influence (AI), the Y-axis represents Impact (I), and the size of the bubble represents Market Buy-in (MB). The total score is a combination of the three elements. This chart allows teams to quickly visualise and prioritise their analyst relationships based on influence, impact, and market buy-in.
By following the AIIM Framework and using these tools, you can effectively identify, assess, and prioritise industry analysts, ensuring your efforts are aligned with key stages in your marketing funnel.