Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing

This week Gianna and Maria are joined by Benjamin Bohman, CTO and Founder of Stratishield AI. Benjamin has a background that includes cybersecurity engineering and evangelism, emphasizing the importance of understanding business outcomes in cybersecurity. Benjamin and the hosts discuss public speaking, the rising adoption of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity, his company Stratishield AI, and more!Episode highlights: [1:28] Benjamin shares Stratishield AI, a consulting firm he founded that demystifies AI for cybersecurity and business enhancement. [7:30] Be a business expert, not a technology expert! Why this is important when selling to IT & security. [9:42] Benjamin shares insights on reaching potential clients by understanding their needs, utilizing predictive analytics, and addressing relevant cybersecurity concerns. [13:47] Maria highlights the challenge many practitioners face in wanting to share their expertise in cybersecurity but feeling unsure how to do so effectively. [18:30] Benjamin talks about why there is a need for technical professionals to learn to communicate effectively with non-technical audiences. He also shares some personal experiences of his public speaking and tips on how to overcome nervousness. [29:30] Meet Atlas, an AI bot Benjamin has been developing to provide interactive product tours while increasing user engagement. You can learn more about Atlas here. Reach out to Benjamin: You can get ahold of Benjamin on his cell phone: (702) 374-7920 You can also email him at Ben@stratishield.ai Read Benjamin’s eBook on Leveraging AI in BusinessFollow Stratishield AI on LinkedIn!Be sure to also follow our hosts on LinkedIn:Gianna WhitverMaria Velasquez 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.

Mishaal Khan, a serial entrepreneur, author, security expert, and VC shares his journey, from growing up around computers to becoming a cybersecurity expert and author of the book "The Phantom CISO." Listen to hear insights from the security practitioner’s point of view on marketing, brand-building, and book-publishing!Episode highlights: [01:07] Mishaal’s early career beginnings and influences. [06:30] The Phantom CISO -  Mishaal's book and his approach to marketing it. [16:40] How Mishaal used malware, phishing, and ransomware to market his company.  [22:07] A look behind the promotion Mishaal used for his book, from the price to self-publishing. [24:15] The evolution of fearmongering in cybersecurity and the need for practical solutions. [28:40] More strategies Mishaal used to promote his book Episode Links:The Phantom CISOYou can catch Mishaal on LinkedInBe sure to also follow our hosts on LinkedIn:Gianna WhitverMaria Velasquez 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.

This week, we announce that the Cybersecurity Marketing Society’s Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing podcast is joining the CyberWire network, powered by N2K. Yes, you heard that right! In this episode, hosts Gianna and Maria are joined by Bennett Moe, Vice President of Content & Strategy at the CyberWire. The group discusses their excitement, the significance of the partnership, and its alignment with education and diversity in the cybersecurity community. Plus, they recap CyberMarketingCon 2023, talk about exciting upcoming announcements from both sides for 2024, and talk about Bennett Moe’s previous career as a cartographer. Below are some highlights from the conversation. [01:53] - Expanding Audience and Cybersecurity Community [06:30] Cyber Marketing Con 2023 Recap [08:51] What makes CyberMarketingCon unique? Providing a safe space for collaboration and diversity [11:43] Booths and Legos [13:44] Plans for 2024 Connect with Bennett Moe on LinkedInTo learn more about our new podcast partner: the CyberWire network, powered by N2K, visit their website or follow them on LinkedIn. Be sure to also follow our hosts on LinkedIn:Gianna WhitverMaria Velasquez 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.

This week Gianna and Maria are joined by Mitch Mayne, Cybersecurity communicator and incident responder. Mitch talks about his career journey, and his philosophy on storytelling in cybersecurity while weaving in an important conversation about mental health in cybersecurity!  Mitch's Non-Technical Beginnings:Mitch accidentally entered into cybersecurity while working at IBM. His combination of skills like marketing, writing, and incident response have helped him to succeed. In college, Mitch majored in communication, journalism, and political science. He later joined the tech realm, which led him down the path to cybersecurity. Philosophy on Storytelling in Cybersecurity:“Stop thinking that statistics tell your story,”Storytelling in cybersecurity should go beyond numbers. It's great to have facts but to speak directly to people, you need to tell a story that they understand. This is why Mitch highlights the importance of developing writing skills for cybersecurity professionals. CyberMindz and Mental Health in Cybersecurity:The conversation shifts some gears as the hosts and Mitch focus on the introduction to CyberMindz.org and its focus on the mental health of cybersecurity workers. CyberMindz identified 15 factors that contribute to stress for those working in cyber. Mitch also discusses coping mechanisms, including journaling, breathwork, and meditation. Get to know Mitch:Bio: 𝗜’𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗼’𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀. For the better part of the last decade, I worked directly inside a cyber services organization—not at a distance in a marketing team—alongside hackers, incident responders, and threat intelligence officers. That granted me a level of deep expertise often not accomplished by sitting in a marketing organization alone. I know first-hand what cyber services teams do, how they do it, and why they do it—because I’ve done it, too. That, in turn, allows me to tell their stories in a way clients not only understand but want to hear.  You can catch Mitch on LinkedInFollow our lovely hosts on LinkedIn:Gianna WhitverMaria Velasquez 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. 

In this episode, Cybersecurity Marketing Leader and Former Security Researcher, Corin Imai, joins Maria and Gianna to discuss the individual contributor vs. head of marketing and influencer marketing relationships. Corin has been both head of marketing and an individual contributor (IC) throughout her career thus far. She initially joined Tromzo as an IC when the company was very young. From the time Corin joined, she was wearing lots of hats and constantly learning about different facets of marketing. She has found that being head of marketing usually does mean wearing a lot of hats, and that being an IC is her true passion. The pandemic showcased that the traditional marketing methods were just not working as well as they could be. Corin believes we need to get away from the coldness we treat relationships with if we want an organization to be a true partner to us. Her passion is aligned with how to influence that decision from top to bottom. Corin shares the successful approaches she has seen recently by organizations taking a softer approach to cybersecurity influencing. She believes that the fundamental shift in how we function as vendors will change how we are thinking about content as an industry. Organizations like the Information Security Content Creators Guild, Cybersecurity Marketing Society, and Indoor Labs are at the forefront of implementing fundamental changes. Building these influencer relationships takes time, advocacy, patience, and faith. Corin shares that it would be wildly beneficial for marketing teams to allow for times of reflection in the midst of our busy schedules and long to-do lists. She also shares tips for finding successful influencer partnerships. Finally, our guest and hosts engage in a fun guessing game to reveal what career Corin would pursue outside of the cybersecurity marketing field.   Links: Learn more about Corin Imai. 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.  

In this episode, Dean Pe'er, Head of Product Marketing at Entitle, joins Maria and Gianna to discuss his viral meme. Several months ago, Dean posted a meme on LinkedIn about admin privileges, which promptly went viral. Within four days of the meme being posted, it had acquired over 130,000 reactions, 4,000 LinkedIn page visitors, and two demo requests. The meme was created around the time that King Charles was coronated, so the content was timely. It contains a picture of King Charles in full coronation regalia, and the text reads, “When IT finally approved the admin privileges you asked for 30 years ago.” [view the posted meme here] During the podcast, Dean shares how he arrived at the idea for the meme. He realized how big of a deal the coronation was for so many people and decided it was an opportunity to do something that might resonate with people in the security industry. It took him about 25 minutes to find the picture, write the copy, and publish the post on social media. Dean discussed the fact that many companies may not allow an employee to post something so impulsively because they feel it is not brand-safe or consistent with their corporate voice. This, Dean identifies, is the largest gap between small startups and large enterprises. At Entitle, he did not encounter any hurdles, politics, opinions, or red tape regarding social media posts, and has been fully supported by the executive team at the early-stage startup. Dean shares advice for podcast listeners looking to get into the meme game. To make impactful memes, you should first find a topic that many people can relate to. If it’s too “salesy” or overtly focused on your own product or brand, it will likely not resonate with people outside of your organization. Timeliness is also important, as exemplified by Dean taking advantage of the major event of the coronation in his own work. Marketers won’t want to miss this episode, as Dean also sheds light on the best platforms for posting memes if you’re part of a small-scale startup like Entitle. Shifting gears, Dean explains his role of solo-marketer at the company. He finds that not having a team is challenging, but can also be rewarding. His challenges have been lessened by finding the best independent contractors within Israel’s small network. Finally, our guest and hosts engage in a fun guessing game to reveal what career Dean would pursue outside of the cybersecurity marketing field.    Learn more about Dean Pe'er. 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.

 In this episode, Andy Tzortzinis, product positioning and messaging mentor, joins Maria and Gianna to discuss product marketing. Andy’s introduction to cybersecurity was several years ago as the Director of Marketing for a small startup where he wore many hats. From this experience, he gained firsthand knowledge of how everything connected within the startup and was able to transfer that generalist skillset into other roles. He began to notice that product marketers were highly coveted and often retained within organizations despite regular layoffs of other marketing roles. Since he moved into the industry, Andy has become passionate about helping his fellow marketing professionals transition into roles that may be a better fit for their particular skills. Andy also shares about his journey from the roles of communication and director of marketing to becoming a product marketer. He found that the most difficult part of the interview process was convincing the interviewers that he was worth the risk because his experience as a generalist didn’t instantly translate into a product marketing fit (at least, not on paper). Andy unpacks the many different positions within the product marketing field. Recent cutbacks are causing those who remain to take on more responsibilities than ever before, so product marketing is becoming an increasingly more generalized role. Andy also shares a “hot take” that startups don’t need a marketing program, they first need a solid comms program. It takes a good comms program to build trust for your startup. If you can do that successfully, you can then bring a marketing person in to further develop the existing pipeline. Finally, our guest and hosts engage in a fun guessing game to reveal what career Andy would pursue outside of the cybersecurity marketing field.   Andy is open to chatting with people 1:1 about pivoting to PMM roles, you can reach out to him either on LinkedIn.   You can also catch up with our hosts here:  Gianna on LinkedIn. Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.   Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

After about 90 podcast episodes published on Breaking Through In Cybersecurity Marketing, we are walking down memory lane with our very first episode ever! Gianna and Maria are joined by self-proclaimed “accidental CMO,” Tyler Shields, Vice President of Product Marketing at Traceable. Tyler shares his three-step approach for building marketing programs at startups, establishing company culture remotely, setting realistic expectations with internal stakeholders when building community at companies, and why your company needs a “talking head.” Lastly, Tyler spills the beans on the true mastermind behind his Yeti swag and the marketing models and platforms he’s engaging in.    Key takeaways: 00:40  Bio 02:10  Tyler’s 3 step Approach for startup marketing 06:39  Remote working - communication is key! 09:54  Trust building and authentic leadership  11:06  Establishing company culture remotely 13:43  Accountability and teamwork  15:35  What’s in store for JupiterOne in 2022?! 18:18  Building community - foundation first   22:54  Setting realistic expectations  24:28  Spokespeople and “talking heads” 27:03  Favorite swag and the true Yeti mastermind 31:35  Product-led growth and establishing value 34:10  Social media, podcasting, and modern marketing models 35:41  Platforms - YouTube, Shopify, Slack, and the whole gambit! 39:01  Stay in touch with Tyler   Stay in touch with Tyler on Twitter and LinkedIn Connect with Gianna on LinkedIn  Connect with Maria on LinkedIn  Follow the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on Twitter or learn more at the Cybersecurity Marketing Society website. We are on hiatus after CyberMarketingCon and the holiday season. We will be back with everything fresh in January. Happy holidays everyone!

CyberMarketingCon2023 has wrapped, and we are so grateful for the support we received from our speakers, sponsors, volunteers, and attendees. The week was jam-packed with networking and education, from demand gen and AI to CISO perspectives and vendor solutions. Stay tuned for more conference content from our podcast, website, and social media channels.  In this episode replay, we are joined by the Founder and CEO of Audience 1st, Dani Woolf, who was also a speaker at CyberMarketingCon this year.  In this episode, Dani discusses her core marketing values:  Empathy  Trust  Loyalty  Creating meaningful, customer-centric experiences and identifying customer challenges and buying motivations while also being able to ask the right questions can transform your marketing efforts. Dani also shares the story behind the uncomfortable encounter that sparked a great friendship with a cybersecurity practitioner.     More on our guest, Dani:  Dani Woolf is a swimmer turned marketer. She has been applying lessons learned as a distance freestyler to B2B organizational success for the past 10 years. Dani's core specialty is in digital marketing, focusing on net new customer acquisition via digital channels - website optimization, SEO, SEM, social media, conversion rate optimization, and marketing automation. Dani currently serves as the Founder and CEO of Audience 1st. Get the book Buyer Personas: How to Gain Insight into Your Customer's Expectations, Align Your Marketing Strategies, and Win More Business by Adele Revella at Amazon or the bookstore of your choice! Stay in touch with Dani Woolf on LinkedIn and Twitter   Keep up with our hosts on their social media channels: Connect with Gianna on LinkedIn  Chat with Maria on LinkedIn  Follow the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on Twitter or LinkedIn, and learn more at the Cybersecurity Marketing Society website. 

Layoffs are always stressful. You can never truly be ready for it, but you have to pick up the pieces after it happens. During our podcast hiatus for CyberMarketingCon2023, we are replaying the “Life After Layoff With Amy Fair”  episode. Our hosts Gianna and Maria sit down with guest Amy Fair, Content Marketing Manager to discuss being laid off and how to navigate it in stride.  Gianna and Maria ask Amy about her own experiences being laid off as they approach the rarely-discussed but important topic. Amy dives into what it means to be laid off in the cybersecurity content marketing industry and how she has turned layoffs into new opportunities within weeks. In their conversation, Maria, Gianna, and Amy highlight the importance of networking and community, and how crucial it is to maintain lasting relationships in the content marketing industry. Amy shares how these connections can lead to amazing opportunities.  Timecoded Guide: [8:50] The value of building a network and maintaining a community [17:29] Using Slack in job hunting and making connections [23:21] The value of mentors and keeping people in your corner [25:48] Advice for those anticipating a layoff  Links: Spend some time with our guest Amy Fair on LinkedIn 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.