How to connect with security analysts at events

Industry events such as RSAC, Infosecurity Europe, and BlackHat provide an excellent opportunity to engage with clients, prospects, and journalists, and they also offer a prime chance to meet influential security analysts.

Analyst houses play a pivotal role in the cybersecurity industry. They identify and disseminate key trends, assisting organizations in making more informed decisions about solutions. For cybersecurity vendors, analyst relations serve as an effective counterpart to PR and marketing by building brand awareness. Engaging with analysts can enhance your brand’s credibility and reputation, particularly if you feature in an industry report.

Understand your audience

Building and maintaining analyst relationships is not a one-size-fits-all process. Each analyst firm operates differently, and while it’s generally easier to establish relationships when you’re a paying customer, these relationships come at a cost. Most analyst firms will accept only a few briefings from non-customer vendors without a contract, so you must make the best of any opportunity.

Your pitches to security analysts should be sharply focused. Their time is precious, so try to convey why your organisation is worth their time quickly and efficiently. Highlight the challenges your products address that others don’t and the insights you can provide about industry trends. Add that this is a great opportunity to meet in person rather than through a call or video chat.

Come prepared

When you secure a meeting, ensure your spokespeople are thoroughly briefed. Be ready to conduct a live demo of your solution and bring along physical copies of any supplementary material. Security analysts want to delve into the details of your company and product offering, so the more prepared you are, the better.

The setting of the in-person meeting also matters. If you need to do a tech demo, is there a comfortable and quiet place at your booth? If it’s more conversation-led, have you considered booking a place nearby to eat? Asking the analyst if they have a favorite spot is a good ice breaker, and don’t forget to book ahead.

Stay in touch

After the event, it’s time to build on that relationship. Send a quick follow-up after the event to ensure they have everything they need, and keep in contact moving forward. Share developments they might find interesting, such as significant product updates and new research to keep them in the loop. A successful face-to-face meeting can significantly enhance your relationships, so make the most of it.

Insider insights from Jarad Carleton

Frost & Sullivan‘s Jarad Carleton emphasizes the importance of clear communication with security analysts. He states:

“The key is to tell the busy analyst the name of the company, the solution the company has, topic they want to talk about, and the executive’s name and title. All of those things help determine if we’ll take a briefing because we have to determine:

• If the topic area is included in our research agenda, is close to it, or if it’s in an area we are considering doing work in (but haven’t publicly discussed it).
• If the executive is in a role to make a briefing worth our time (do we feel he/she has the breadth of knowledge to answer most of our questions)
• Is the executive someone we already know from a previous company (an executive who we’ve had good experiences speaking with, or was the executive rude, arrogant, or unprofessional in any other way, thus wasting our valuable time)?

Analysts are like elephants; we remember executives who have burned us in the past. Many of us remember who treated us poorly and the stink of unprofessional behaviour follows those people across companies.

Executives who are rude and unprofessional to anyone in the analyst community are salting their professional fields for years into the future.”

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