Wondering how to identify which analysts you should focus the most efforts on? Ideally, the best path to a decision is to survey your company’s customers. Find out which analyst firms – if any – they consult before making purchasing decisions. You may be surprised by their answers.

Next, take a look at your competitors’ sites and inventory the analysts referenced. Make sure you look at any industry recognition pages, quotes spread across the website, webinars and sponsored whitepapers. And finally, take a look at the industry events and coverage you’re undoubtedly monitoring to identify which analysts are moderating sessions and frequently quoted in the media.

Unfortunately, sometimes you won’t have access to customers (or they may not exist yet). Then what do you do? Enter a great website that I’ve been using for the last few months: www.alltheanalysts.com. Think of it as a meta-search engine for all the large and small IT firms. You can search by specific analyst, firm or even topic area. I use the site to keep an eye out on competitive coverage. It also seems like an easy way to identify those smaller, niche firms that can very often prove to be the strongest evangelists.

Another perk of ATR’s site – they recently released an in-depth research paper called “Understanding the IT Analyst Landscape.” A line in the executive summary caught my attention because it echoed my opinion that end users don’t necessarily turn to the larger analyst firms when purchasing emerging technologies.

From the report’s executive summary:

“Successful implementation of analyst research requires a balanced understanding of the industry as a whole. ATA surveyed end-users of analyst research about their job function and the technology segments they specialized in to build a model of ‘mind share’ as opposed to simple revenue or market share for each topic. The findings indicate that end-users working in emerging technologies are less likely to use analyst research from larger firms. Gartner, Forrester and IDC all had below average ratios of users working in emerging trends and consumer technologies. This key data for 8 leading firms is examined in the context of current industry drivers of change.”

The report identifies the top technology segments by analyst firm. For example, Yankee Group’s top technology is listed as mobile and wireless while Forrester Research is associated with application development. Below is a chart mapping the Yankee Group’s strengths and weaknesses (click to enlarge).

The report also has charts for Aberdeen, AMR Research, Forrester, Gartner, IDC, Jupiter and Ovum.

I traded emails with Malcolm Ramsay about the methodology used for the report. He said:

“The charts are based on end user survey data. By analyzing end users specializations and the firms they used, we were able to compare this against the sample average to build up a picture for each firm. This was important as it shows the people that actually use the research. We then examine it within the context of the trends and themes in the industry in a more qualitative way and this is underpinned by data we have gathered from users on All-the-analysts.com as well as other available sources.”

Of note, while all-the-analysts.com is free, the report costs $595. Particularly for PR agencies that can share this information across numerous clients, I think it’s worth the cost.