Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing

This week, Kelsey LaBelle joins hosts Gianna and Maria to talk about marketing soft skills and returning to empathy in the workplace. Kelsey, who is the VP of Marketing at DomainTools, also shares how she works soft skills in her role at the company. Along with the emotional skills, Kelsey goes into creative ways to generate lead pipelines, why you should build trust with an audience, and shares the nuts and bolts of podcast production. Listen in for some deep talk on marketing—and lots of puns!   Timecoded Guide: [07:28] Wrapping uniqueness and empathy into marketing [15:26] Building lead pipelines with domain blooms  [32:00] Podcast workflow and process of production  [34:45] Can you be happy at work?   [36:04] Closing with the guessing game   ---------- Definitions:  DDoS: DDoS or DDoS’ing stands for ‘denial of service attack.” This is a cyberattack in which the perpetrator attempts to render a network resource unavailable to its users by disrupting the services of a host connected to the network.  SANS: SANS stands for SysAdmin, Audit, Network, and Security and is the world’s largest cybersecurity research and training organization. DNS: DNS stands for Domain Name System which makes the internet accessible by allowing the use of domain names. ----------- Links: Spend some time with Kelsey on Mastodon and Twitter @punsandrosess Follow Kelsey on LinkedIn. Visit DomainTools on LinkedIn and Twitter. Check out the DomainTools website. Tune into the Breaking Badness podcast. Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

This week, Claire Mckenna and Michelle Rawlings join us from BARR Advisory to talk about their roles and how they work with numerous people in the field to bolster their company’s goals. Claire is the senior writer and researcher at BARR while Michelle is the media coordinator. Together, they discuss communicating with SMEs, connecting experts in the field, and how they get everyone in their company involved with outreach through a curated media program.    Timecoded Guide: [06:09] Incentivizing SMEs and finding content [10:46] The Media BARR Program [14:12] Choosing content for the program [18:43] Challenges met with the BARR program [23:45] ROI on the Media BARR Program  ---------- Links: Follow Claire on LinkedIn. Spend some time with Michelle on Twitter and LinkedIn. Visit BARR Advisory on LinkedIn and Twitter. Check out the BARR Advisory website Go back and listen to our previous episode on recycling brand content. Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

Joining us this week is Chris Spellman, Senior Demand Generation Manager at SCYTHE. Chris has been in cybersecurity marketing for over six years and has also worked in marketing operations and analytics. Gianna and Maria ask Chris about his marketing expertise as they cover gated vs ungated content, demand gen, analytics, and much more. Also, listen in to hear about Chris’s fantasy novel trilogy that he authors with his wife!   Timecoded Guide: [06:49] Creative ways to generate demand [09:58] Gated or ungated content? [11:51] Big failure or success in cyber marketing [16:26] Where Chris does analytics [18:32] How Chris does attribution ---------- Links: Follow Chris on LinkedIn. Check out the Spellman Books website, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Keep up with SCYTHE on LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit the SCYTHE website. Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

Along with your hosts Gianna and Maria, this week we have Joshua Gonzalez joining us from Beyond Identity to talk shop in creativity. Joshua comes from years of experience as an actor on broadway and on screens—you may have even seen him on the Travel Channel! As the Media Producer, Joshua and his team put a twist on marketing at Beyond Identity and he shares some tips that you won’t want to miss. This is also the record number of times the word “corn” has appeared in an episode here: tune in to find out why! Hint: it has to do with creative marketing.   Timecoded Guide: [04:21] Applying an acting background to marketing  [06:59] How to sell a product with a story [11:05] Tips on pitching story ideas [14:29] Things learned while catering to a cybersecurity audience [25:47] Advice for companies taking on creatives ---------- Links: Spend some time with Joshua on Twitter. Check out Joshua’s memoir!  Tune in to Joshua’s podcast. Pictures of Joshua performing Midsummer Night’s Dream on broadway. Joshua and his team’s latest cyber ad music video. Visit Beyond Identity on LinkedIn and Twitter and on their website. Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.  

This week, Wade Wells joins us to talk about being on the board of BSides San Diego, being a brand ambassador, and being on a podcast—all while also being a mentor and working his day job. Gianna and Maria ask Wade about his research workflow and why marketing to CISOs isn’t always the best route for leads. Tune in for a mini-lesson on what the “pyramid of pain” is in cybersecurity and to hear how Wade picked up some valuable cybersecurity marketing tips from working at In-N’-Out.    Timecoded Guide: [11:19] Searching for new products and evaluating them  [13:06] The significance of POV (Point of Value) [16:24] Marketing to the CISO’s team [17:36] Integration and why it’s important  [23:36] Wade’s favorite part about his job    Researching new products With the market being saturated with products, it can get tedious, sifting through everything online. Wade has spent a lot of time researching products and Maria asks him about his workflow. First, he says that he lists what they’re good and not so good at and evaluates from there. He goes through Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn and pings people about the product, seeking more information. Wade also evaluates through POV for every product and his company tests each one before they put it to use.   “So the first thing we'll do is we'll talk to them, we'll go through and understand: what does it do? How does it do it? ”   Why marketing to the CISO isn’t always the best route Maria stresses to Wade that marketers are taught to seek out the CISO. Wade offers some insight into more effective marketing routes. In practice, Wade says that it’s often a team that will decide whether or not a particular product would be worth it in their company—and that the CISO just signs it off. So, often, targeting an audience made up of team members rather than only the CISO is a much more effective method of marketing. “It may come down to they just do the check mark to okay, but if we're the ones in the trenches using the product every day, it better be us who really like it.” ---------- Links: Follow Wade on LinkedIn. Reach out to Wade at wade@bsidessd.org Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

Join Gianna and Maria for a crazy live episode with their very own audience at Cyber Marketing Con! Hear your hosts discuss the cybermarketing industry as they also try to say a few nice things about sales. Also, listen in to hear a few audience members talk about their roles in the industry.    Timecoded Guide: [00:00] Start of episode [01:52] Welcome to Cyber Marketing Con [07:59] Building rapport with sales [11:47] Cyber marketing industry, hearing from the audience [14:46] Interviewing CSO’s [15:30] Closing out Building a solid relationship with sales While Maria was setting up for Cyber Marketing Con, she overheard conversations about marketers and salespeople working together. She found that trying to work out communication between the two roles is a pretty common theme everywhere and that many people are facing the same challenges in building solid relationships with sales. She emphasizes that, aside from bribing salespeople with cookies, automating as much of the process as possible between marketers and salespeople is important.  “Automate as much as possible. I think I heard one time someone made a joke that salespeople would rather clean toilets than enter data into Salesforce.” Onward and Upward Maria discusses the theme of the first Cyber Marketing Con. “We've seen some of the crazy ups and downs in our industry lately, lots of layoffs, lots of really weird signals, confusing signals on what's happening in the market. And so we're hoping that these two days that on the marketing team, we can come together and take a little glimpse of hope that it's probably going to be okay and we'll keep going together.” ---------- Links: Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

Chris Cochran and Ron Eddings are two very special guests on this episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. Chris and Ron are from Hacker Valley Media, the producers and sponsors of this podcast. Gianna and Maria chat with them about successful content strategy and marketing in cybersecurity, digital marketing successes and failures, and they drop hints about what to expect in their workshop at Cyber Marketing Con 2022. Timecoded Guide: [01:51] Successful content marketing strategy in cybersecurity [05:32] Successes and failures in cybersecurity marketing strategy [15:01] Cyber Marketing Con workshop hints and teasers   What does a successful content marketing strategy look like in cybersecurity? Putting out content, including audio files, is just the beginning. You have to put out valuable content that’s not always looking to make the sale or fill the sales funnel. It’s also important to know that content strategy and successful marketing campaigns will change over time. You might be completely sold on your cybersecurity marketing strategy only to realize a few months later that you need to pivot. So putting out valuable content but staying flexible is key. “Everyone should have a content strategy. If you're in business, you have to do content. That's just the name of the game these days.” –Chris Cochran What are some successes and failures in cybersecurity marketing strategy? One of the biggest failures in content marketing strategy is when you’re trying to entice someone to come to an event but don’t give them any more information. The company tells the audience when and where but leaves out exactly what the event is about. That’s not enticing, that feels like the company is simply trying to fill out their sales funnel. They're not addressing pain points. One of the biggest content marketing strategy successes is giving value to your community. Yes, you need to think about business objectives. But if all you’re doing is selling, it’s not a two-way conversation with your audience. It’s an inauthentic ad campaign when it's not offering value. “So you have, whether it's a lead, whether it's me signing up for a demo, but I don't necessarily feel invited to this event, I feel invited to your funnel.” –Ron Eddings “We can also serve people instead of sell to them in order to really build that community, build that engagement with everyone that you're trying to speak to.” –Chris Cochran   What kinds of things can Cyber Marketing Con attendees expect from Chris and Ron’s workshop? Everyone wants to start a podcast, but not everyone will be successful at it. There are so many details to figure out, from platform to people to solutions to problems. Chris and Ron are going to help people learn how to start and submit your podcast effectively. And even more importantly, how to record and edit a popular podcast that actually has meaning and value to podcast listeners. You’ll learn the tips and tricks Chris and Ron didn’t know when they launched their first podcast. “I would say the thing that we're going to talk about the most, some might say that it's harder than it looks: making a podcast that has impact. I would say podcasting is more nuanced than it looks.” –Chris Cochran ----------  Links:  Get tickets for our upcoming Cyber Marketing Con 2022.  Spend some time with our guests Chris and Ron on their website. Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter. Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. 

Carol Meyers is an Independent Board Director, Advisor, and Investor. She has held CMO positions at companies like Rapid7 and LogMeIn, along with numerous consulting and advisory positions at cyber startups. Carol develops go-to-market plans that drive growth and strategy in businesses. In this episode, she shares her wisdom for building a successful go-to-market strategy…and career, covering inbound marketing, target audience development, start-up hiring, and career self-confidence.     Timecoded Guide:  [01:59] Struggles faced and advice for young women starting out in tech [03:28] Carol’s components of a go-to marketing plan [12:10] Who to pick for your team at a start-up [19:41] Ways to measure success [28:41] How advisory boards can be your cheerleaders   What are the ingredients of a go-to marketing plan? Carol says to have a solid plan, you have to have the resources and information prepared to best support your channels. If you are unable to tell your channels who you are and what you’re selling, then your business isn’t ready. It’s all about knowing your buyer; who they are and how you can solve their problem. It's also important to consider why they should choose you to solve it. Once you have a clear plan and ways to measure and test it, you will be better suited for taking the first step. “It's not that someone has to spend money to buy your solution, but they have to invest their personal time to evaluate your solution and to think about the problem that you're solving for them.”   What are the most important metrics to keep an eye on?  The most important metric is also the most obvious; that customers are buying and using your products and services. You might see your audience in varying stages that may not match the one you’re in. Be sure to look at all the stages of conversion. Some that are not on the traditional pipeline might get overlooked when they play a big part in lead generation. Carol reminds us to keep a sharp eye on micro-conversions; while they may not be counted in the pipeline, they can still play a huge factor in a sale or lead. “Your number one goal in marketing is you've got to be a part of revenue, you've got to be driving revenue.”   What is the role of an advisory board?  Carol explains that the role of an advisory board can look different from company to company. In her experience, a set of challenges are brought to the board, and then they present possible solutions and advice for that problem. There is also a one-on-one side to being an advisor, which is one of her favorite aspects. Talking through roadblocks and bouncing ideas creates a valuable and intimate relationship between advisors and company leaders. “Having a group of advisers around you and people who can even just be a cheerleader for you can be really helpful.” ______ Links:  Connect with Carol Meyers on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Grab your ticket to the Cyber Marketing Con 2022. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter. Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.  Additional resources: BlackKite Security, Security ScoreCard

David Brown is the Director of Global Partner Marketing for ZeroFox, a computer and network security company based out of Baltimore, MD. David has over fifteen years of experience in the international B2B marketing field. He joins us as we discuss partnership channel marketing. David believes it's a positive direction for businesses to go in the future of marketing. Timecoded Guide:  In this podcast, David covers:  [1:06] The breakdown and variables of channel partner marketing [13:36] Where your program partners are and what they need from you [21:24] Tactics to enlist new partners for small companies [35:19] How David’s early career prepared him for cybersecurity marketing   What is channel partner marketing? This fresh approach to marketing allows for a broader market and network, while also increasing revenue for the companies involved. When partnering with another company through channel partnership, both remain independent. They share the benefits of re-selling and distributing each other’s products. Not only that, the partners act as influencers for each other’s brands.   “Really, what we're looking at with partner marketing is working with another organization in order to amplify your sales and marketing capabilities.”   Why is channel partnership the future of marketing?  David thinks everyone can benefit from a channel marketing partnership, especially when it comes to inbound marketing. This may be his hot-take in the industry, but he has seen the growth and advantage of inviting other companies to endorse your products. With these channels comes influence, and David believes that influence is the new currency of business.   “And when the channel team in the partnership team is more integrated into sales, marketing, and product, it seems to be a lot more successful.”   How does this fit into sales? Your channels are out there building brand awareness, relationships, and networking. As they drive engagement up, leads will follow suit. It also gives the sales team more resources to get the job done. By creating a partnership program that works alongside your sales team, hitting target goals becomes much easier.   “My job, and people that I work with on the marketing team, is to take our limited resources and direct them at those partners that are starting to build that momentum and go out there.”  ______ Links:  If you have questions or want to chat, email David at dabrown@zerofox.com or message him on the Cybersecurity Marketing Society Slack! Find David Brown on LinkedIn. Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Grab your ticket to the Cyber Marketing Con 2022. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter. Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.  Additional resources: ZeroFox, Crossbeam, Cybersecurity Marketing Con, Forrester, Menlo Security, Tierra Security  

Joining Maria and Gianna this week is Clark Barron, the Demand Generation Manager at Nisos. He has a background in cybersecurity marketing, photography, and independent film, and is an avid gamer. Clark shares his unconventional ways of lead generation through websites. Every marketing campaign might feel like it says the same thing, but Clark defies the user’s expectations to bring in user interest and stand out in the field.   Timecoded Guide:  [05:48] Marketers are hackers of different colors [09:14] Campaigns that changed the game [15:08] How Clark tracks his unprecedented marketing campaigns [22:31] Communicating with leadership to try your ideas How can marketers apply this approach to messaging branding? Marketers have more influence and power than they often realize. The similarity between hackers and marketers is that marketers are gathering data in an ethical manner. Both are building personas, exploiting pain points, researching, and reaching vulnerabilities. Clark believes that is the power of choice to be good ethical marketers.  “Marketers, a lot of times, don't realize the kind of powers that they have, they have to make a choice to use them for good. That's the way I look at it.”   How have specific campaigns you’ve implemented changed the game? Clark started his process by evaluating voice and brand identity. He sat back and watched what others were doing. Noticing that all the cybersecurity websites were saying the same thing over and over, Clark decided to take action in a wacky way. He developed a marketing strategy that changed the game. “Subvert their expectations from the very beginning. They're expecting one thing, and they're getting something completely different. We know what they're expecting, but instead, what we're gonna do is, we're gonna say, ‘Enjoy a completely different cybersecurity landing page.’”    How do you have conversations with leadership to go along with these ideas? The first step is to have those conversations. If the CEO or higher-up doesn’t understand marketing processes, then you need to have those conversations with them. Long-term growth is what you should be working toward. Before you cast out the big campaigns, you have to have small wins so you’re better prepared for a marketing plan with bigger risks. “A lot of bigger organizations are not going to be able to do this. I have that level of self-awareness that I know that, however, what you can do is change the way you look at conversations with leadership.” ______ Links:  Find Clark Barron on his website or LinkedIn and check out his blog here! Follow Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn. Grab your ticket to the Cyber Marketing Con 2022. Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter. Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.  Additional resources: Nisos, PhishFirewall, DEF CON, Cybersecurity Marketing Society, Celeste