As a product marketer, how do you get your company into a Wave or MQ?

The first thing to do when trying to get your company into a Wave or MQ is to study the category and find out what the inclusion criteria are. If you don't meet the inclusion criteria right away, work with your product team on building out a roadmap path that allows you to qualify. Or if you have all the required product features but still don't meet it, see what other hurdles like revenue growth or number of customers you need to track to be able to qualify over time.

Once you are familiar with the inclusion criteria, start building a relationship with the lead analyst and secondary analysts. Start with an inquiry about the category or market and ask them about the inclusion criteria and vendors currently on the evaluation report. Keep up with regular inquiries to build rapport. Also make sure you are maintaining a steady cadence of update briefings, both about your company and your product. That way you will remain top of mind to the analyst. It's important to remember that you can do briefings even if you don't have a license/seat at the analyst company. You won't be able to schedule inquiries but you can at least do briefings.

If you are still not included in an evaluation report, reach out to the lead author and schedule some time to discuss why. Maybe there is an inclusion criterion you weren't aware of, maybe there was a misunderstanding on the analyst's part. Keep it light and don't get combative. You always want to be positive and friendly with the analysts even if they don't include you. Keep building the relationship and over time you will see success!