Industry analysts can offer incredibly important third-party validation for many companies. Customers often use analyst reports from firms such as Yankee, Forrester, IDC, Gartner, Burton Group and Jupiter (among others) as purchasing guides, so it is critical that companies have strong relationships with these firms.

One of the most common mistakes businesses make is to manage the industry analyst community the same way they manage journalists. In fact, they are two very distinct – and very different – audiences.