Building an effective cybersecurity marketing strategy is a challenge distinct from the larger scope of B2B marketing. For one, the industry is growing quickly, creating a steadily increasing demand for cybersecurity services. Additionally, the subject of cybersecurity is technical and complex, requiring marketers with less experience to learn quickly. Audience mastery is a key element of successful marketing for cybersecurity, which includes tailoring messages to each of the six or more personas in an organization’s target audience. Cybersecurity content marketing must take into account both technical and non-technical readers to produce attractive, informative content that improves brand awareness and demand generation.
Address Technical Audiences with Informed Detail
Engineers, developers, and cybersecurity professionals are technically knowledgeable about the cybersecurity tools and services they may be seeking from your organization. For these personas, it is essential to provide in-depth technical details about your product or service. These cybersecurity experts seek resources that illustrate the effectiveness of your organization’s technology, such as demonstrations, technical webinars, and exemplary use cases. They are neither compelled nor affected by fear-based narratives and tactics; these experienced technical personas are already aware of the continuing rise and constant evolution of cyberattacks.
Instead, cybersecurity content marketing should tell a compelling story at a level of detail demonstrating the direct capabilities of your product or service. To produce this content, we suggest leveraging your customer relationships and subject matter experts. Talk to your best clients and document your successes with them to build a demonstration or use case. Ask your customer-facing staff to share insights from their experiences, and build a narrative for the problem your product solves. Your internal engineers and subject matter experts are excellent resources for fact-checking and technical detail; a conversation between customer service and engineering can generate unique, precise content to share with your audience.
In the United States, federally funded agencies like NIST provide guidance for best practices in cybersecurity. From systems like FedRAMP, which determines businesses are authorized to sell services to the federal government, to organization process maturity levels from CMMI, compliance standards are a key stake for technical cybersecurity audiences. To that end, your marketing strategy should account for its own compliance, making earnest claims and using disclaimers when necessary, and demonstrate understanding and proficiency in the relevant regulatory bodies for your organization.
Highlight relevant threats and concerns directly instead of leaning on fear-based language. Technically proficient readers have the knowledge to understand your encryption protocols, access controls, and threat detection systems; don’t be afraid to dive into the nitty-gritty. Not all content must be written, either. Webinars and video demonstrations are a useful tool for showing off what your organization can do in detail, if you have the resources and staff to produce them.
Market Differentiation Drives Non-Technical Cybersecurity Content Marketing
Some organizations are late to adopt cybersecurity best practices. Educational institutions and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may not have the resources for in-house security, instead opting for a managed security service provider. An effective marketing strategy educates business leaders about how cybersecurity protects their interests, using your organization’s value propositions as direct evidence. It should be simple for prospective buyers to understand what your product or service does, advises cybersecurity writer Ross Haleliuk. Identify a key problem for your customer base, and clearly explain how your product or service addresses the issue. This might take the form of a case study in partnership with one of your clients, or an article on use cases in your threat detection process. Whatever form you choose for your content, it should reinforce your company values and address your target audience’s concerns.
Showcase why organizations should care about your product or service by marketing to non-technical audiences. In order to tell the right stories, you must answer the right questions for each level of industry maturity, from C-suite executives to small business owners wearing multiple hats. Addressing Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) might highlight how your organization improves overall security posture with strategic solutions, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need the broader strokes of your security operations.
All business owners will be interested in risk mitigation; after all, when cybersecurity works, nothing happens. The risks in cybersecurity include the possibility of bad actors lingering for weeks or months, spying on your services (as in the infamous SolarWinds breach), as well as the real danger of leaked customer data and subsequent reputational damage. Effective cybersecurity content for non-technical personas focuses on solutions–how your product or service protects your customers from ransomware, for example, or the process your organization uses to identify breaches. Your customers themselves may be the best source of information in creating this content. Find a hero, and tell their story.
As with technical audiences, compliance to regulatory standards is important to executive personas. The penalties for failure to disclose significant breaches to a publicly traded or financial organization are determined by the SEC, and regulatory fines are an expensive budget line item for businesses of any size. As the cybersecurity industry grows, so do cyberattacks. It’s no longer a matter of if your organization will be targeted but when. How does your cybersecurity product or service contribute to your customers’ overall cyber hygiene? Do you perform regular penetration tests or educate your employees on the dangers of social engineering? Answering these questions in clear terms for your non-technical audience is one way to establish authority and build trust in your customer relationships.
Unite Security Solutions and Business Value to Address Target Audiences
In cybersecurity, an effective marketing strategy doesn’t necessarily mean creating in-depth content that only serves one audience; after all, to do the research and craft the material is a lot of work. Your marketing content can address both non-technical and technical audiences by including a clear description of your security solution and the value of that solution to businesses seeking to improve their security posture.
Case studies are an excellent material to develop in partnership with one of your customers. Collaborate with them to demonstrate return on investment in your product or service with measurable performance indicators, and supplement their experience with technical details from your subject matter experts. Or, you can film product demonstrations that live on your website, pointing security service seekers to information they can share with leadership. To stand out from the growing crowd, your cybersecurity content marketing materials should be brave, not boring. Stories of innovation, defense against attack, and protection from espionage are a compelling window into the intricate work of cybersecurity.
Ready to Unlock the Answers to Your Cybersecurity Content Questions?
If you’re planning your cybersecurity content marketing strategy around content that addresses technical and non-technical audiences, Content Workshop is here to help. Check out our e-book, Unlocking the Answers to Your Burning Content Questions, developed with the Cybersecurity Marketing Society. Or visit the Content Workshop website to browse our services and begin your journey towards useful, informative content that meets your target audience needs.
