Contributing Author
Gary leads senior‑level analyst relations strategy and execution for technology companies preparing for launches, evaluations, and narrative shifts. With deep experience in AR strategy, competitive positioning, and briefing excellence, he helps organizations strengthen their analyst presence and drive measurable improvements in perception and business outcomes.
Gary Frazier
Analyst Relations Director
What Customer Research, Competitive Intelligence, and Analyst Relations Each Reveal
How to pressure-test your product’s market position before committing your go-to-market budget.
Your product team is confident. Early customers are interested. The technology works. Marketing has developed a compelling story.
Are you ready to launch?
Perhaps. But those signals may leave an important question unanswered: Does your market position hold up beyond the assumptions your company used to build it?
For CMOs and strategy executives, that question carries financial consequences. Category choices shape competitive comparisons. Positioning influences which buyers pay attention. Claims determine the evidence your team must provide.
AI adds another layer of uncertainty. A capability that appeared distinctive during development may be widely available by launch. Competitors may be changing their business models, while buyers are still deciding which capabilities deserve a separate budget.
Pressure-testing a launch requires several sources of evidence. Customer research, technical validation, competitive intelligence, message testing, and strategic Analyst Relations each reveal something different.
Start with the decision you need to make
“Validate our product” is too broad a research objective.
Leadership may need to determine whether to enter a category, prioritize a buyer segment, revise an AI claim, or invest in a broader platform narrative. Each decision requires different evidence.
Before choosing a method, ask:
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What assumption are we testing?
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What evidence would challenge it?
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What would we change if that assumption proved wrong?
Those questions help prevent research from becoming an exercise in collecting reassurance.
Customer research tests the problem and buying context
Customer interviews and discovery help establish whether a problem matters, how people address it today, and what might motivate them to change.
They can reveal differences between the user who welcomes a feature and the executive who controls the budget. They can also uncover adoption barriers that an internal team has underestimated.
The National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program uses customer discovery to help teams evaluate commercial opportunity, product-market fit, and business-model assumptions.
The executive question is: Are we solving a problem that the intended customer considers important enough to act on?
Customer evidence is essential. Its scope also matters. Enthusiasm from a small group of existing customers does not, by itself, establish how a broader market will categorize or compare your offering.
Technical validation tests delivery
Pilots, proofs of concept, and technical evaluations examine whether a product performs under defined conditions.
For an AI offering, relevant questions might include accuracy, reliability, integration effort, operating cost, and the amount of human oversight required.
The executive question is: Can we substantiate the outcomes we intend to promise?
A successful pilot provides evidence about delivery. Leadership still needs to determine how that performance translates into a differentiated market position.
Competitive intelligence tests the alternatives
Competitive intelligence examines the choices available to buyers.
Those choices can include direct competitors, broader platforms, internal development, and continuing with an existing process.
The executive question is: Why would a buyer choose us over the alternatives available to them?
Useful analysis goes beyond feature comparisons. It considers business models, routes to market, implementation requirements, and the possibility that a competitor will incorporate a similar capability into an existing offering.
Message testing tests understanding and response
Message testing helps determine whether an audience understands a claim, considers it relevant, and responds to it.
The executive question is: Can the intended audience understand our value and explain why it matters?
A clear message is valuable. But clarity alone does not establish that the underlying category choice or differentiation is sound. A company can communicate an incomplete strategic premise very effectively.
Strategic Analyst Relations adds market and category context
Strategic Analyst Relations connects leadership with relevant analyst research and perspectives, then helps translate that intelligence into decisions.
Its contribution is particularly useful when a company needs to examine:
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Whether its chosen category reflects how the market is developing.
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Which alternatives its positioning invites buyers to consider.
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Whether its differentiation addresses meaningful evaluation criteria.
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What evidence is needed to make its claims credible.
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Where its internal narrative diverges from external market perceptions.
Analyst firms offer research and, through appropriate services, guidance on buyers, competitors, and market developments. The relevance of that input depends on the analyst’s expertise, research coverage, and the question being examined.
A briefing and an advisory discussion serve different purposes. Gartner states that feedback is not the focus of a vendor briefing. Forrester also distinguishes briefing presentations from inquiry and advisory discussions intended for deeper questions and feedback. Effective AR respects those boundaries and selects the appropriate engagement.
The executive question is: Does our strategic position make sense within the market we are entering, and what might we be overlooking?
How the perspectives work together
Consider a hypothetical software company preparing to launch an AI product that automates part of a complex business workflow.
Early customers report meaningful time savings. Technical pilots support the performance claims. Message testing shows that “an AI platform for enterprise productivity” attracts interest.
Leadership plans a broad platform launch.
Further investigation introduces questions. Competitive research shows that established platforms are adding similar automation. Relevant analyst research and advisory discussions suggest examining whether buyers would evaluate this as a standalone platform or as a capability within an existing category.
That does not invalidate the product. It challenges the launch assumptions.
Leadership might narrow the initial audience, lead with a specific workflow outcome, strengthen evidence for a defensible advantage, or revisit the platform narrative.
Each research method contributes to that decision. The strategic value comes from interpreting the evidence together.
Turn intelligence into action
For CMOs and strategy executives, AR’s business value becomes concrete when it helps inform a decision: where to compete, which claims to lead with, what proof to develop, or which assumptions to revisit before committing resources.
That requires experienced judgment. Analysts bring different perspectives, and their views must be considered alongside customer evidence, technical results, and competitive realities.
AI can accelerate information gathering and comparison. Senior practitioners remain responsible for assessing relevance, resolving conflicting signals, and helping leadership decide what to do next.
Before your next launch, ask: Which assumptions have we tested—and which have we simply repeated until they felt true?
Continue the conversation: Beyond the AI Claim
Join Forward AR Experts on November 17, 2026, at 12 PM Eastern Time for Beyond the AI Claim: Building a Market Position That Stands Up to Scrutiny.
Through a practical composite case study, we’ll explore how strategic Analyst Relations helps companies examine assumptions, interpret market signals, and turn intelligence into clearer decisions.