
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

Sep 15, 2022 • 34min
How to Control the Message with Commander’s Intent During Cyber Crises | Limor Kessem
Everything that happens well inside your organization during a crisis-level cyberattack is good and dandy.
But what you're going to be judged on is how it looks in the media.
If you don't control that message and you don't say the things that you really want to tell your customers, then you're going to end up losing so much money.
So many problems are going to come from that response more than anything you're doing under the hood.
Brutally honest insights from Limor Kessem, Principal Consultant of Cyber Crisis Management, Author, Speaker and Podcaster.
In the latest episode of Audience 1st, I sat down with Limor to discuss and uncover:
How vendors and PR teams within those organizations can be more prepared to handle crisis-level cyberattacks and create more meaningful messages and experiences that impact their customers and the industry positively.
What a controlled message of a crisis looks like
Examples of high-profile breaches and how not to manage a crisis
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/

Aug 25, 2022 • 49min
Cybersecurity Buzzwords → Reality: How to Make Your Messaging Resonate at Conferences | Leo Cruz
Etiquette 101 for Vendors Next Year at Black Hat:
Lead with a genuine message.
Do not make false promises or claims.
Brutally honest insights from Leo Cruz, CISO at St. Joseph's School for the Deaf (and my new friend) 😎
I met Leo at Black Hat a couple of weeks ago and we recently chatted about the do's and don'ts at conferences like Black Hat.
In this episode of Audience 1st, Leo shares his experience at Black Hat USA 2022, the differences he saw this year vs. previous years, which vendors stood out to him on the exhibition floor, and what marketers can do to improve their booth game and messaging next year.
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/

Aug 19, 2022 • 25min
[BEST OF] What CISOs Love That Vendors Do
After I came back from Black Hat, I had some time to evaluate what vendors were doing on the exhibition floors and map that back to what I’d heard from my previous podcast guest.
Some analysis and episode cutting developed a beautiful creature of an episode:
The Best of What CISOs Love That Vendors Do.
What does that mean?
In every episode I ask my guest one critical question:
"What's one thing a vendor has done that has made you feel good?"
So, I've compiled a pretty sweet list of things that make CISOs and security practitioners happy.
Even if you don’t win on customer acquisition today, if you make people feel good, they’ll remember you forever.
It’s a win-win!
So, do me a favor, have a listen.
And, as always, apply those insights.
Join Audience 1st Today
Join 337+ cybersecurity marketers and sellers mastering security buyer research to better understand their audience and turn them into loyal customers: https://www.audience1st.fm/

Aug 5, 2022 • 46min
Cut the Bull & Focus to Speed Up the Cybersecurity Buying Process | Tal Arad
Cybersecurity buyers do not have a lot of time to review long RFPs with hundreds of pages. Instead, provide technical diagrams, high-level explanations, and a few slides that provide a focused message.
Buyers are going to read as little as possible to make a decision.
No one is going to read a hundred pages. They don't have the time and the capacity. No one can digest that.
So cut the bullshit and provide as much focused information as possible. That will really help everyone make a decision.
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/

Jul 31, 2022 • 42min
Why to Use the Compliance Framework in Your Messaging & Positioning | Gary Hayslip
I get the fact that you're talking about the offensive framework, but you should really talk about the compliance framework, which a lot of CISOs, unfortunately, have to live in. Show them that too.
In this episode, I had a brutally honest conversation with Gary Hayslip, Global CISO for SoftBank Investment Advisers & SoftBank Group International, 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/

Jul 22, 2022 • 60min
How a Cybersecurity Marketer Buys | The Buyer Centric Revenue Model Podcast
I've been interviewing cybersecurity buyers about why and how they buy for 4 months. The tables have turned. Nelson Gilliat, host of The Buyer Centric Revenue Model Podcast asked me how and why I buy.
In this episode of Audience 1st, Nick digs in deep to understand:
The methods that get me to look at a vendor or solution.
Platforms I trust to learn about new vendors or solutions.
How I learn about and research vendors.
The % I take a demo from marketing promotions.
The % split preference for getting information from marketing versus sales.
The preference for working with one salesperson versus multiple salespeople.
What turns me off and causes me to tune out.
And more!
Check out the Buyer Centric Revenue Model: https://www.linkedin.com/company/buyer-centric-revenue-model/
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/

Jul 12, 2022 • 33min
From Salesperson → Business Value Analyst: How to Help CISOs | Dmitriy Sokolovskiy
Dmitriy’s tenure as a CISO for the last four years has been a drastic transformation in the way he thinks about cybersecurity, specifically risk management, in general, and, more importantly, how that ties into the whole business flow of a company; not a technical entity, but a business in a company.
Words like:
Business value
Return on investment
Long term planning
…have a very different meaning to executives and the boards than what CISOs (techies) think.
How does a CISO present to their board without killing them with numbers?
And why are CISOs not getting help from the sales side - the people seemingly more attuned to business acumen than them?
In this episode of Audience 1st, I have a brutally honest conversation with Dmitriy Sokolovskiy, CISO of Avid, a Software Development company, about his challenges, how to build relationship capital, and tangible ways to help CISOs do their job better.
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/

Jun 30, 2022 • 34min
Building a False Sense of Trust vs. Trusted Advisor Status | Joshua Marpet
The way you build trust can take you in different directions:
Down a destructive path of ruined reputation or up a rewarding road of unlimited relationships and referrals.
What do you choose?
In this episode, I had a brutally honest conversation with Joshua Marpet, CEO of MJM Growth, about his challenges, goals, what vendors do that piss him off, and the alternatives.
Josh is an ex-cop, ex-fireman, ex-blacksmith, and ex-horse dentist (not a joke).
He has also worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, has advised the largest companies in the world, and runs conferences through BSides Delaware along with his wife and business partners.
He is also on the board of BSides DC and previously served on the board of BSides Las Vegas and Hackers for Charity.
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/

Jun 23, 2022 • 25min
Building a Hacker Mindset and Why It’s Important | Ferd Hagethorn
Building the community, building the right mindset, the hacker mindset is super important. Here's why.
Everybody's spread thin and it’s very difficult to train people to free time of security experts.
In this episode, I had a brutally honest conversation with Ferd Hagethorn, Director of Security Services at Planit Testing, about his challenges, goals, what vendors do that piss him off, and the alternatives.
Ferd heads the cybersecurity practice for Planit Global.
Planit is a quality assurance company operating in Australia, New Zealand, India and the UK.
This is where he defined and established the Security Testing practice and services clients both nationally and worldwide from windy and beautiful Wellington, New Zealand.
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/

Jun 14, 2022 • 38min
Are You Turning Off Buyers with Jargon and Geek Speak? | Jenny Botton
There are too many people who think that if you fall into jargon and start spouting geek speak that you're going to impress people.
In fact, the opposite is true.
In this episode, I had a brutally honest conversation with Jenny Botton, Head of Corporate Information Security at CCL, about her challenges, goals, what vendors do that piss her off, and the alternatives.
Jenny is interested in the human brain, human psychology and human behavior is a fan of crime and home and garden makeover shows, and has a secret desire to be a superhero and save the world.
That’s why she does what she does in her career as a cybersecurity practitioner.
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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