Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing

Episode Summary: Maria and Gianna are joined this week by Tyler Lessard, Chief Marketing Officer at TechnologyAdvice, for a grounded look at how cybersecurity and B2B buying behavior are shifting and what that means for marketers trying to break through the noise. The conversation centers on preference marketing and why buyers are forming vendor shortlists earlier than ever, often before any formal evaluation begins. Tyler shares insights from TechnologyAdvice’s research on how younger buying committees, particularly Millennial and Gen Z decision-makers, rely less on legacy analyst models and more on trusted external channels like creators, newsletters, niche communities, Reddit, and peer-driven influence. The discussion wraps with a takeaway for marketers planning: TechnologyAdvice’s Cybersecurity Marketing Handbook, built to help teams identify where influence actually lives and how to show up there with intent. About Tyler Tyler Lessard is the Chief Marketing Officer at TechnologyAdvice, where he focuses on research-led perspectives on buyer behavior and helping cybersecurity and B2B marketers navigate how influence and trust are formed today.  He works closely with marketing teams across the industry, drawing on TechnologyAdvice’s portfolio of enterprise IT and cybersecurity media brands to identify where buyers research, who they trust, and how preferences are shaped before formal evaluations begin. Follow Tyler on LinkedIn.  Links & Resources: 3 Trends that will Redefine B2B Marketing in 2026 Cybersecurity Marketing Handbook TechnologyAdvice Subscribe & Review: 👉 Enjoyed this one? Drop us a quick ⭐ rating or review, it helps more cyber marketers find the show. 📩 Questions, feedback, or want to be a guest? Email: podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com  Follow the Hosts: Gianna Whitver on LinkedIn Maria Velasquez on LinkedIn Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. You can join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, on our main LinkedIn page, our Instagram page, or our podcast LinkedIn page.  See you in the next episode!

Episode Summary: We’re starting 2026 with a topic every marketer claims to love until they’re actually in it: rebrands. Gianna sits down with Alicia Di Vittorio, Head of Brand & Corporate Marketing at Silverfort, to talk through what a real rebrand looks like when you’re doing it inside a fast-moving cybersecurity startup. They get into the actual messy parts: getting execs aligned on positioning, figuring out who’s allowed to give input (and who isn’t), redesigning a logo way later than anyone wants to admit, and trying to keep the team creative while the production backlog is eating everyone alive. It’s honest, funny, and painfully relatable for anyone who’s ever opened a RACI chart in desperation. If you’re planning a rebrand this year, this episode will either make you feel seen… or slightly afraid. Both are useful. About Alicia:  Alicia Di Vittorio is the Head of Brand & Corporate Marketing at Silverfort, where she leads the company’s brand, communications, AR/PR, content, and creative strategy. Before Silverfort, she drove corporate marketing at DataGrail and helped launch Stairwell out of stealth as Interim CMO. She’s led multiple rebrands across fast-moving cybersecurity startups and has the scars (and wisdom) to prove it. Follow Alicia on LinkedIn.  🔗 Links & Resources: Silverfort – Identity Security Platform https://www.silverfort.com Subscribe & Review: 👉 Enjoyed this one? Drop us a quick ⭐ rating or review, it helps more cyber marketers find the show. 📩 Questions, feedback, or want to be a guest? Email: podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com  Follow the Hosts: Gianna Whitver on LinkedIn Maria Velasquez on LinkedIn Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. You can join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, our main LinkedIn page, our Instagram page, or our podcast LinkedIn page.  See you in the next episode!

As we take a brief end-of-year pause for CyberMarketingCon and holiday chaos, we’re bringing back one of 2025’s most replayed and requested episodes. Consider this your chance to revisit the insights you loved or catch an episode you might’ve missed. Episode Summary: This week, we’ve got an extra special guest, Joe Aurilia, Jr., SVP of Operations at Cyware. Joining Gianna and Maria to talk more about the art of scaling, automating, and just plain getting stuff done. Joe takes us on a ride from being Cyware’s first U.S. hire (aka "the guinea pig") to building and overseeing every corner of operations from legal and IT to rev ops and marketing ops.  We chat about how to spot and fix the messiest processes, why RevOps is the unsung hero of the GTM engine, and what happens when contracts, people, and data collide. Joe also drops gems on internal sales/marketing for change management, and we close out with his dream career as an ice cream shop owner. Plus: purple dashboards, auctioneer aspirations, and a serious stance on free sprinkles. 🔗Links & Resources Mentioned: Cyware Asana Cybersecurity Marketing Society CyberMarketingCon25 🔔 Subscribe & Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps us grow and brings you more awesome guests! 📩 Got feedback or want to be on the show? Email us at podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com  Be sure also to follow our hosts on LinkedIn: 👉 Gianna Whitver 👉 Maria Velasquez Thanks for tuning in. Remember, every Wednesday, we drop a new episode guaranteed to knock your SOCs off. 😎

As we take a brief end-of-year pause for CyberMarketingCon and holiday chaos, we’re bringing back one of 2025’s most replayed and requested episodes. Consider this your chance to revisit the insights you loved or catch an episode you might’ve missed. Episode Summary: Tom Wentworth, CMO at Incident.io, got tired of doing the same stuff over and over, so he built AI agents to do it for him. Sales call summaries? Automated. Blog posts from discovery calls? Done in minutes. Battle cards? They update themselves. He’s wiring together Slack, Notion, Zapier, Gong, and ChatGPT in ways that help his team move faster without adding headcount or complexity. There are no big declarations, just real systems that save time and don’t annoy people. We talk about what’s working, what’s breaking, and how far you can push things without sounding like a robot. Also: cold plunges, prompt rage, and the Notion doc that’s 90 pages long. 🎧 Press play to hear how Tom stretches modern marketing ops with the right automation setup. Links & Resources Mentioned: ⁠Incident.io⁠ ⁠Gong⁠ ⁠Zapier⁠ ⁠ChatGPT⁠ ⁠Notion⁠ ⁠Slack⁠ ⁠Common Room⁠ ⁠Sanity CMS⁠ ⁠11Labs (Voice AI)⁠ About Tom: Tom is a high-growth SaaS marketing leader with experience across enterprise GTM and product-led models. He writes occasionally about tech marketing at⁠ tomwentworth.com⁠ and previously hosted the Scaleup Marketing podcast. Follow Tom on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Subscribe & Review: Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a ⭐ rating or review, it helps more marketers find the show. 📩 Questions, feedback, or want to be a guest? Email: ⁠podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com⁠  Follow the Hosts: Gianna Whitver on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Charles Gold on ⁠LinkedIn⁠  Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. You can join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on ⁠our website⁠, main ⁠LinkedIn page⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠ page, or podcast ⁠LinkedIn⁠ page.  See you in the next episode!

As we take a brief end-of-year pause for CyberMarketingCon and holiday chaos, we’re bringing back one of 2025’s most replayed and requested episodes. Consider this your chance to revisit the insights you loved or catch an episode you might’ve missed. Episode Summary: What do VCs think about your GTM strategy? This week, Gianna and Maria chat with Asad Khaliq and Mark Kraynak, two of Acrew Capital's founding members, about what it takes to build or break a go-to-market motion at an early-stage cyber startup. Asad and Mark share how Acrew was founded, why they’re so focused on cyber and data, and what they’ve learned from backing some of the most well-known names in the industry. From hiring your first salesperson to avoiding “we stop threats” messaging, they’ve seen it all and they’re sharing the good, the bad, and the surprisingly funny. About the guest:  Follow Asad on LinkedIn. Follow Mark on LinkedIn.  Follow Acrew Capital on LinkedIn or the website.  💌 Feedback or Wanna Be on the Show? Email: podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com  Follow your hosts on LinkedIn: 👉Gianna Whitver👉Maria Velasquez Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, on our main LinkedIn page, or on our podcast LinkedIn page, and keep up with us on Twitter. See you in the next episode!

Episode Summary: We’re back in Las Vegas for Part 2 of our live series from the ManageEngine User Conference, this time shifting from the conference floor to the hallways, lobby couches, and those slightly delirious late-night conversations fueled entirely by hotel coffee. Part 1 focused on how ManageEngine builds trust from the inside. Part 2 flips the perspective outward, bringing in three very different voices: an AI governance advisor, an innovation leader, and a veteran tech journalist, all wrestling with how AI, security, and trust are colliding across the industry. It’s a grounded, candid look at what people are really thinking about AI right now, far beyond the keynote slides and vendor hype. (And yes, all three guests happen to be named Alex. I promise we didn’t plan that.) Have a listen — this one hits a different part of the conversation. About Guests:  Alex Sharpe — Board Advisor & Cyber Governance Expert (Sharpe LLC) Alex works at the intersection of business strategy, cyber governance, and operational resilience. He’s advised Fortune 100 boards, taught resilience at NYU, and helped companies navigate everything from AI risk to major M&A events.  Alex Goryachev — WSJ Bestselling Author & AI Innovation Exec Alex helps companies make sense of AI, build innovation programs that actually work, and navigate the cultural side of transformation. He’s led AI and innovation efforts at Cisco, Dell, Amgen, and the California State University system. In this episode, he breaks down trust, safety, and why employees quietly automate half their jobs. Alex Williams — Founder & Publisher, The New Stack Alex is a veteran tech journalist and the founder of The New Stack, where he covers how modern software gets built and operated at scale. Before that, he wrote about cloud and enterprise tech at ReadWriteWeb and TechCrunch. 🔗 Links & Resources: Attend the ManageEngine User Conference The New Stack — Alex Williams’ publication: https://thenewstack.io Alex Goryachev — AI & innovation keynote site: https://alexgoryachev.com  Subscribe & Review: 👉 Enjoyed this one? Drop us a quick ⭐ rating or review, it helps more cyber marketers find the show. 📩 Questions, feedback, or want to be a guest? Email: podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com  Follow the Hosts: Gianna Whitver on LinkedIn Maria Velasquez on LinkedIn Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. You can join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, our main LinkedIn page, our Instagram page, or our podcast LinkedIn page.  See you in the next episode!

Episode Summary: We took the podcast on the road for this one. Gianna spent two days roaming the ManageEngine User Conference in Las Vegas,  mic in hand, slightly over-caffeinated, talking with the people who actually keep this massive IT management ecosystem running. This episode brings together conversations with the CMO, the team leading North America operations and partnerships, and one of ManageEngine’s longtime global channel partners. Different roles, different vantage points, but everyone came back to the same theme: trust. Not the buzzword version, the real kind, where meeting someone face-to-face finally puts a human behind the support ticket. And yes, Part 2 is on the way. We’ve got more interviews from the conference floor, including late-night influencer conversations and a studio-recorded session with the VP of Product. Think of this episode as the first half of the full story. About Guests:  Ajay Kumar — Head of Global Marketing, ManageEngine (a division of Zoho Corp.)Ajay leads global marketing across the entire ManageEngine portfolio. Haja Moideen — Head of North America Business, Operations & Strategic Channel Partnerships; Official Spokesperson for ManageEngineHaja runs the operations and partner ecosystem across the U.S. and Canada. Mohamed Abdelhay — Co-Founder & Business Development Director, SanaTech Global Solutions (ManageEngine Partner)Mohamed has been deploying, integrating, and selling ManageEngine products for well over a decade. He started in Egypt, grew his customer base one implementation at a time, and now runs SanaTech’s business development efforts from Los Angeles. 🔗 Links & Resources: ManageEngine User Conference (Las Vegas)ManageEngine product documents — full list of features, use cases, and technical specs.  Subscribe & Review: 👉 Enjoyed this one? Drop us a quick ⭐ rating or review, it helps more cyber marketers find the show. 📩 Questions, feedback, or want to be a guest? Email: podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com  Meet us at CyberMarketingCon 2025! Want to level up your cybersecurity marketing? Join us Dec 7–10 in Austin, TX, for four days of zero-fluff workshops, real-deal networking, and maybe the best BBQ meetup you’ll ever have. 👉 Snag your ticket now! See you in Austin, where the insights and vibes are hotter. Follow the Hosts: Gianna Whitver on LinkedIn Maria Velasquez on LinkedIn Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. You can join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, our main LinkedIn page, our Instagram page, or our podcast LinkedIn page.  See you in the next episode!

Episode Summary: This week, we’re sharing a special crossover episode originally recorded for ITSP Magazine. Gianna and Maria join hosts Sean Martin and Marco Ciappelli for an on-location conversation about how the Cybersecurity Marketing Society got started, why our industry’s buyers behave the way they do, and what makes cybersecurity marketing fundamentally different from every other field. They discuss trust, burnout, AI buzzwords, why buyers dislike being sold to, and how marketing teams can effectively demonstrate value in a saturated, hyper-technical market. You’ll also hear what to expect at CyberMarketingCon 2025, from hands-on AI workshops to a marketer-only CTF, and why the event has become a reunion for practitioners across the ecosystem. If you want a grounded conversation about real marketing challenges (minus the fluffy vendor vibes), this one’s worth your time. About Sean and Marco: Sean Martin, CISSP, is Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief at ITSP Magazine, a multimedia platform exploring the intersection of technology, cybersecurity, and society. He hosts their “On Location” podcast series and several other shows, blending deep cybersecurity insights with human-scale storytelling. Marco Ciappelli is Co-Founder and Creative Director at ITSP Magazine, host of its podcasts, and lead for their “At the Intersection” story platform. He brings branding, media, and societal insight to the conversation about cybersecurity’s broader role. 🔗 Links & Resources: ITSP Magazine  ITSP Magazine On-Location Podcast Series  Subscribe & Review: 👉 Enjoyed this one? Drop us a quick ⭐ rating or review, it helps more cyber marketers find the show. 📩 Questions, feedback, or want to be a guest? Email: podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com  Meet us at CyberMarketingCon 2025! Want to level up your cybersecurity marketing? Join us Dec 7–10 in Austin, TX, for four days of zero-fluff workshops, real-deal networking, and maybe the best BBQ meetup you’ll ever have. 👉 Snag your ticket now! See you in Austin, where the insights and vibes are hotter. Follow the Hosts: Gianna Whitver on LinkedIn Maria Velasquez on LinkedIn Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. You can join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, our main LinkedIn page, our Instagram page, or our podcast LinkedIn page.  See you in the next episode!

Episode Summary: Gianna sits down and talks with Adam Vincent, founder and CEO of Bricklayer AI, about selling first and letting the market shape your message. After bootstrapping and shipping an MVP in summer 2023, Adam called (literally phone called) his way into product clarity and pipeline, then watched curiosity turn into urgency in Q2 2025. They get practical on where agents help today, so security teams finally use the tools they already pay for. You’ll hear: The words that make buyers lean in. Agents that handle alert triage, weekly intel briefs, and vulnerability prioritization. Meeting to SQO rising from about 30% (Q1 2025) to about 78% (Q2 2025). If you’re looking for buyer-tested phrasing, three practical agent workflows, and a simple outreach pattern you can run tomorrow, this episode is for you. About Adam: Adam Vincent is the Founder and CEO of Bricklayer AI. He’s spent his career building software that helps security analysts do their jobs better and has worn the hats: QA, engineering, and CTO. Early at Layer 7 Technologies, he built the federal practice across sales, marketing, and tech.  In his last startup, he says the team grew revenue from zero to $30M ARR. He founded Bricklayer AI, bootstrapped for about a year, launched an MVP in summer 2023, and runs founder-led sales while standing up marketing and sales leadership. Follow Adam on LinkedIn 🔗 Links & Resources: Bricklayer AI  ThreatConnect  Layer 7 (now Broadcom Layer7 API Management) Subscribe & Review: 👉 Enjoyed this one? Drop us a quick ⭐ rating or review, it helps more cyber marketers find the show. 📩 Questions, feedback, or want to be a guest? Email: podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com  Meet us at CyberMarketingCon 2025! Want to level up your cybersecurity marketing? Join us Dec 7–10 in Austin, TX, for four days of zero-fluff workshops, real-deal networking, and maybe the best BBQ meetup you’ll ever have. 👉 Snag your ticket now! See you in Austin, where the insights and vibes are hotter. Follow the Hosts: Gianna Whitver on LinkedIn Maria Velasquez on LinkedIn Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. You can join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, main LinkedIn page, Instagram page, or podcast LinkedIn page.  See you in the next episode!

Episode Summary: We’re back with another round of Cyber CMO Confidential, where Gianna and Charles ask the questions every cybersecurity marketer wishes they could ask their CMO. This time, Karl Van den Bergh, Illumio’s CMO, shares why he dropped the “ing” and became a Chief Market Officer. He unpacks Illumio’s shift from zero trust segmentation to breach containment, the fine line between AI innovation and AI nonsense, and why marketers need to stop selling and start representing the market. 🎧 Listen to the full episode for Karl’s take on authenticity, AI hype, and what it really means to market the market. About Karl:  Karl Van den Bergh is the Chief Market Officer at Illumio, where he leads global marketing for the company’s breach containment and Zero Trust Segmentation platform. With over two decades in enterprise software and cybersecurity, he’s known for transforming complex technology brands into clear, market-driven stories. Before joining Illumio, Karl served as CMO at Gigamon and DataStax, where he helped reposition both companies for modern, security-focused growth. His work centers on connecting product strategy to real market needs and building brands that lead with clarity, not jargon. Follow Karl on LinkedIn.  🔗 Links & Resources: Illumio – Learn more about the company’s breach containment and Zero Trust Segmentation platform. Subscribe & Review: 👉 Enjoyed this one? Drop us a quick ⭐ rating or review, it helps more cyber marketers find the show. 📩 Questions, feedback, or want to be a guest? Email: podcast@cybersecuritymarketingsociety.com  Meet us at CyberMarketingCon 2025! Want to level up your cybersecurity marketing? Join us Dec 7–10 in Austin, TX, for four days of zero-fluff workshops, real-deal networking, and maybe the best BBQ meetup you’ll ever have. 👉 Snag your ticket now! See you in Austin, where the insights and vibes are hotter. Follow the Hosts: Gianna Whitver on LinkedIn Maria Velasquez on LinkedIn Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. You can join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, main LinkedIn page, Instagram page, or podcast LinkedIn page.  See you in the next episode!