
Audience 1st
Welcome to Audience 1st. A podcast for tech marketers looking to break out of the echo chamber to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers. Every week, Dani Woolf is having brutally honest conversations with busy tech buyers about what really motivates them, the things they hate that vendors do, and what you can do about it. You’ll get access to practical information on how to build authentic relationships with your audience, listen to and talk with your buyers, and apply real customer insights to your strategies and tactics. You owe it to the world to unmute your mic. Are you ready?
Latest episodes

Dec 29, 2022 • 1h 10min
The Best of 23 Cybersecurity Buyer Interviews from 2022
Welcome to the last episode of Audience 1st for 2022! Wow, when I first started the show back in March, I created it as a tool for myself to better learn about the audiences that I wanted to engage and persuade.
Little did I know it would resonate so well with the cybersecurity community - both from the practitioner side and the go-to-market and business side.
So, I want to THANK all of my loyal followers, 700 strong and growing within the A1 community, and my awesoem guests, who took time out of their busy schedules to tell me the brutally honest truth.
Why? So that I and WE can get better at how we engage, persuade, and acquire and retain customers in this complex industry.
Alright, what’s this episode about? Well, these past 9 months have been one large curation exercise. I compiled the best nuggets from all 23 interviews with cybersecurity buyers. They did not hold back. And neither did I.
SO, enjoy this show. Thanks for a successful and fruitful 2022 and…..here’s to an even better '23!
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 700+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you and your go-to-market team:
1. Conduct a one-to-one interview with an existing or ideal customer and extract the most useful insights and recommendations for action.
2. Connect you with our CISO Panel to validate an idea, trend, message, service or product.
3. Plan and facilitate a customer advisory board (CAB) with your key customers to drive loyalty for your company's brand.

Dec 8, 2022 • 27min
Why Developing Training Programs & Community is Essential for Security Buyers | Jay Jay Davey
Vendors need to start building relationships.
Instead of looking at lead filters or lead generation.
They need to start integrating with the community a bit more.
And they need to start learning from the people on the ground, just building communities, essentially, because those communities are going to be filled with potential leaders of the future.
And if you can get really good relationships with them now, that's going to influence buying decisions in the future.
Brutally honest insights from Jay Jay Davey, SOC Client Lead, Chief Educational Support Officer, and Advisor.
In this episode, I had a conversation with Jay Jay about his challenges, goals, what vendors do that piss him off, and the alternatives.
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 700+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you and your go-to-market team:
1. Conduct a one-to-one interview with an existing or ideal customer and extract the most useful insights and recommendations for action.
2. Connect you with our CISO Panel to validate an idea, trend, message, service or product.
3. Plan and facilitate a customer advisory board (CAB) with your key customers to drive loyalty for your company's brand.

Nov 23, 2022 • 39min
Service-Based Mindset: The Missing Link in Cybersecurity | Dheeraj Pandey
Every time a vendor comes through the door, what they're looking at is just a closure of a deal.
After a project is delivered, feedback is something which is missing and which I think vendors can take advantage of.
Having frequent service evaluation calls or catch up calls with us so that they can serve us better is not only beneficial to security practitioners, but for the vendors themselves.
The industry moving in that direction, but currently this service-based mindset is largely missing in cybersecurity.
Rich insights from Dheeraj Pandey, CISO & Head of Organization at Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, India.
In this episode, I had a brutally honest conversation with Dheeraj about his challenges, goals, the value of community and peer to peer engagement, how to best leverage community as a vendor, what vendors do that piss him off, and the alternatives.
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 700+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you and your go-to-market team:
1. Conduct a one-to-one interview with an existing or ideal customer and extract the most useful insights and recommendations for action.
2. Connect you with our CISO Panel to validate an idea, trend, message, service or product.
3. Plan and facilitate a customer advisory board (CAB) with your key customers to drive loyalty for your company's brand.

Nov 4, 2022 • 1h 11min
How To Turn a CISO Into a Loyal Advocate | Building Relationship Capital Series
Customer advocacy and loyalty. Lots of people talk about how important it is.
Not many talk about how to actually successfully achieve it in the cybersecurity industry.
In this third (and last) session of the CISO + Sellers Mashup Series: Building Relationship Capital, we're going to uncover the methods to turn CISOs into loyal customers, not just within your organization, but throughout your entire career.
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 650+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you and your go-to-market team:
1. Conduct a one-to-one interview with an existing or ideal customer and extract the most useful insights and recommendations for action.
2. Connect you with our CISO Panel to validate an idea, trend, message, service or product.
3. Plan and facilitate a customer advisory board (CAB) with your key customers to drive loyalty for your company's brand.

Oct 27, 2022 • 1h 9min
How to Retain a Relationship with a CISO | Building Relationship Capital Series
You’ve established the first connection with a CISO.
How do you now retain that relationship?
In this second session of the Audience 1st CISO Sellers Mashup Series, Erika Eakins, Dmitriy Sokolovskiy, CISSP, QTE, Carlos Guerrero, Chris Roberts, and Dani Woolf uncover how to keep a valuable bi-directional partnership with CISOs without...well...screwing it up.
Resonate with Buyers: Discover how to communicate in terms that are important to cybersecurity buyers and your customers.
Establish Advisor Status: Learn ways you can demonstrate value to your customers to maintain a lasting and ROI-driven relationship.
Create Loyal, Long-Term Partnerships: Explore ways to increase your potential annual recurring revenue (PARR) by keeping your customers as advocates and loyal partners
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 650+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you and your go-to-market team:
1. Conduct a one-to-one interview with an existing or ideal customer and extract the most useful insights and recommendations for action.
2. Connect you with our CISO Panel to validate an idea, trend, message, service or product.
3. Plan and facilitate a customer advisory board (CAB) with your key customers to drive loyalty for your company's brand.

Oct 20, 2022 • 55min
How to Start a Conversation with a CISO | Building Relationship Capital Series
Shady or unclear outreach techniques, lack of soft skills, buyer difficulty to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The more cybersecurity vendors and technologies are created, the less effective communication techniques are and the stronger the disconnection between buyer and seller becomes, making it harder for buyers to trust sellers and purchase new tech.
In this first session of the CISO Sellers Mashup Series, we are going deep on how to start meaningful conversations with the people that you care about.
What's in it for you?
Understand cybersecurity buyers challenges & what will make you likable as a professional in the industry
Learn what it means to actively listen to your audience, what you should be listening for, and how to apply it.
Learn how to initiate conversations with cybersecurity buyers, what resonates with them, and what upsets them.
BONUS: Join us live to get the opportunity to ask the panel any questions you may have.
Thanks to our panelist:
Carlos Guerrero
Chris Roberts
Dmitriy Sokolovskiy
Erika Eakins
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 650+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you and your go-to-market team:
1. Conduct a one-to-one interview with an existing or ideal customer and extract the most useful insights and recommendations for action.
2. Connect you with our CISO Panel to validate an idea, trend, message, service or product.
3. Plan and facilitate a customer advisory board (CAB) with your key customers to drive loyalty for your company's brand.

Oct 13, 2022 • 38min
Why Community in Security is Your Weapon to Long-Term Business Growth | Cecil Pineda
Peer to peer and community is so valuable in the cybersecurity industry.
Buyers cannot just rely on vendors to tell them their product is “the best thing since sliced bread.”
It’s best to ask for advice because buyers’ peers have experience with tools and openly share them.
That feedback and those stories helps drive them towards a POC.
Because a POC is so limited. Buyers cannot identify the value and problems in a short 30-60 day POC.
Rich insights from Cecil Pineda, SVP/CISO for a Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Company.
In this episode, I had a brutally honest conversation with Cecil about his challenges, goals, the value of community and peer to peer engagement, how to best leverage community as a vendor, what vendors do that piss him off, and the alternatives.
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 600+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you and your go-to-market team:
1. Conduct a one-to-one interview with an existing or ideal customer and extract the most useful insights and recommendations for action.
2. Connect you with our CISO Panel to validate an idea, trend, message, service or product.
3. Plan and facilitate a customer advisory board (CAB) with your key customers to drive loyalty for your company's brand.

Oct 6, 2022 • 27min
The Power of Putting Your Audience First in Cybersecurity | Hacker Valley Studio
Dani Woolf, Founder and CEO of Audience 1st, brings her marketing expertise to Hacker Valley to talk about what’s broken in the marketer-buyer relationship. Dani’s tried and true methods of cybersecurity marketing involve clear messaging, authentic communication, and building trust in an industry where not trusting anyone is the norm. How can cyber marketers break through the negative stereotypes and show cybersecurity buyers that they’re authentic?
Time-coded Guide:
[00:00] Fixing the broken relationship between cyber marketers, sellers, & buyers
[04:58] Unrealistic marketing goals vs incorrect marketer perspectives
[10:23] Better conversations between marketers & practitioners with Audience First
[15:12] Connecting with curious cyber practitioners instead of dismissing them
[23:37] Advice for cyber marketers looking to start fresh with content
Visit the full episode page on Hacker Valley Studio here: https://hackervalleystudio.podbean.com/e/putting-your-cyber-marketing-audience-first-with-dani-wolfe/
Follow Hacker Valley Media on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hackervalleystudio/
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 570+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/

Sep 30, 2022 • 28min
[BEST OF] What Cybersecurity Pros Hate MOST About the Industry
In every episode I record with my guests, I ask them one crucial question:
"What do you hate most about the cybersecurity industry?"
In this episode, I curated the top answers for you. What's more, you'll get an understanding of what security practitioners, go-to-market teams, and cybersecurity vendors can do to alleviate some of these problems in the industry.
Who will you hear from?
[00:45] Joshua Marpet
[01:39] Limor Kessem
[03:43] Nick Ryan
[04:43] Tal Arad
[05:42] Leo Cruz
[06:39] Gary Hayslip
[08:05] Dmitriy Sokolovskiy
[09:29] Allan Alford
[12:39] Ryan Cloutier
[15:43] Joseph Carson
[17:09] Evan Francen
[21:19] Malia Mason
[24:08] Jenny Botton
[25:23] Ferd Hagethorn
[26:50] Chris Roberts
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 550+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/

Sep 23, 2022 • 37min
The Benefits and Concerns of Free Trials and POVs of Cybersecurity Products | Nick Ryan
Free trials and proofs of value are key factors in deciding whether or not to purchase a cybersecurity solution.
But there are concerns with them too.
CISOs and security practitioners have to be real smart and careful about which products they allow within their environments.
In this episode, I had a brutally honest conversation with Nick Ryan, Director - Enterprise Security, Governance, Risk, & Compliance (CISO), Baker Tilly US, about his challenges, goals, what vendors do that piss him off, and the alternatives.
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 450+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/
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