There are two kinds of people in the analyst and analyst relations world. There are those who are polite, professional, and genuinely helpful. And then there are the ones who go further. They remember your name the next time they see you. They ask about the thing you mentioned six months ago. The relationship continues between the formal meetings. Both kinds exist, and both have value. But the second group is rarer, and the conversations you have with them are different.
The people who build that kind of rapport tend to be the ones who have been doing this long enough to know that the work is the relationship, not just the output of it. Erin Singleton and Melody Brue are both firmly in that camp. OGs, in the best sense. Deep knowledge, long experience, and a genuine interest in helping the community around them get better at this.
I had them both on the Talking Headless Show, part of the Playaz Production Network, to mark one year since Paul Greenberg handed me the keys to the show. Erin heads analyst relations at Adobe and has been building that program for 22 years. Melody is a VP and Principal Analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy and a former CMO, which gives her a vantage point that is genuinely uncommon. Here is what stayed with me.
Circle back when you act on feedback
This was Erin's advice and it stuck with me. When an analyst gives you feedback and you actually do something about it, go back and tell them. Most AR teams never do this. The analyst shared a perspective, the vendor took it on board internally, and that is where it ends. The loop never closes.
Going back to say "we heard you, here is what changed" is one of the most credible things you can do. It demonstrates that the engagement was genuine, not performative. Over time, that kind of follow-through is what separates vendors analysts trust from the ones they treat as briefing appointments.
When you publish something, reach out directly
If you publish anything about a company, whether it is research, a blog post, a case study, or a mention in a broader piece, do not expect the AR team to discover it on their own. Send them an email. Flag it directly. The analyst relations community is managing a large number of vendor relationships simultaneously, and even the most diligent among them will miss things.
A direct note takes thirty seconds and removes all the friction. It is also a natural reason to be in touch that does not feel transactional, because you are giving rather than asking.
Communicate early and often, not just when something is launching
Melody was clear about this. Quarterly briefings used to feel adequate. They no longer are. AI is moving fast enough that a vendor's story can shift meaningfully between one briefing cycle and the next, and analysts who are not being kept current have to work harder to stay accurate when they write or speak about a company.
The vendors that get the most out of analyst relationships are the ones that communicate early, before a product ships or a strategy shift goes public, and often, not just when there is an event on the horizon. Bringing analysts along on the journey gives them context that makes every subsequent conversation more useful for everyone.
"Early and often is the best way to deal with analysts. And I think that's even more so now with the speed of things and the velocity with AI and agentic." — Melody Brue
Briefings should be two-way, not just information delivery
One mistake Melody sees AR teams make is treating briefings as information delivery sessions. They push content, share decks, walk through announcements, and then move on. But they are not actually asking for feedback.
The best AR programs route analyst input back into the business. It is not about getting a favorable placement or ranking. It is about using the analyst's perspective to inform product and strategy decisions, and then, as Erin noted, closing the loop by showing what changed as a result.
Melody also flagged something specific and practical: stop sending press releases as the primary communication. The best AR teams are translating announcements into brief, structured notes that tell an analyst what happened, why it matters, how to learn more, and who to contact. That format respects the analyst's time.
The rise of independent analysts is changing the landscape
Both Erin and Melody touched on this. The traditional large analyst firms still matter, especially for enterprise purchase decisions. But independent analysts and boutique firms are growing in influence, and they have, as Melody put it, quite a big megaphone. AR programs built only around the major firms are already missing a meaningful part of how buyers are forming their views.
The practical implication is that the list of relationships worth building is longer than it used to be. And the approach has to be more relationship-centric across that broader landscape, not just the inquiry cadence from the big firms.
Category boundaries are blurring and that changes the conversation
There was a genuinely interesting exchange near the end of the episode about whether we are moving toward a category-less world. Melody pushed back on the framing slightly. She does not think categories are disappearing. She thinks the definitions of each category are broadening. A contact center analyst today has to understand conversational AI, customer experience platforms, and AI governance, not just contact center technology.
For AR teams, this has a practical implication. The story you tell about your product can no longer be confined to the category you were founded in. Analysts are going to ask about AI, security, governance, and how your product fits into a broader ecosystem. The companies that brief well on those adjacent dimensions are the ones that show up as credible when the analyst sits down to write.
Erin and Melody are a fine example of what it looks like when someone has been doing this long enough to do it generously. Worth watching if you work anywhere near the space where vendors and analysts meet.
Sources
Bellamkonda, Shashi, host. "What a Best-in-Class Analyst Relations Program Actually Does." Talking Headless Show, Playaz Production Network, 2026.