Cybersecurity Marketing: 4 Winning Pandemic-Era Strategies for Tech Marketers

Recent events have forced cybersecurity firms to reevaluate how they market solutions to potential clients. Now is not the best time to talk up the product with overt sales messages or annoying tech jargon, writes Edward Roberts, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Imperva. In this post, Roberts chalks out four key ways tech marketers can generate more leads by speaking to the customer’s pain points and educating them to emerge stronger over the long run.

It was late February, though it seems like years ago. Nearly 40,000 attendees flocked to San Francisco for RSA 2020, the world’s largest cybersecurity conference, to network and check out the 700 exhibitors and 500 sessions. There were signs of trouble – AT&T, IBM, and Verizon, pulled out of the event due to coronavirus concerns. But otherwise, the show went on as scheduled.

RSA conference would be the last major industry event before the coronavirus crisis sent the world into shutdown and, along with so many other changes, altered the cybersecurity landscape. The pandemic has made security an even bigger priority for organizations worldwide as they move more of their activity to the digital world and face a spike in threats from attackers trying to take advantage of the pandemic.

You might think that the pandemic’s strong relevance to cybersecurity has made it easier for companies in the space to market their products and services. But, as with everything COVID-19-related, it’s complicated.

First of all, the need to communicate the value of cybersecurity offerings and how they differentiate from competitors has become more acute than ever as worldwide IT spending tightens in a global recession. Security, which often was shielded from cuts in the past, may not always get a pass.

“Security will have to tighten its belt just like everyone else,” Paul McKay, a Forrester Research analyst, toldOpens a new window the Wall Street Journal.

Second, the pandemic has forced cybersecurity marketers to quickly reconsider many of their strategies, tactics, and messages to address the unique circumstances of the new normal.

As a product marketing leader at a large cybersecurity company, I’ve been thinking about what these changes mean for marketing teams. 

Learn More: 7 Critical Cybersecurity Strategies for Safe Return to Work

Here are four key ways tech marketers can pivot their strategies:  

1. In-Person Events Have Disappeared

Live events are popular in the cybersecurity industry, and not just major conferences like RSA or Black Hat but also the many smaller roundtables, customer events, user meetups, etc., that fill most cybersecurity companies’ annual calendars. 

These events are a primary mechanism for companies to generate leads and build relationships. And they’re all gone for now.

Marketers, who still must get their messages out to as many people as possible, have pivoted to virtual events (Black Hat will be entirely onlineOpens a new window in early August), webinars, and workshops. This is a big change, but it also yields new opportunities to get creative. With virtual events, the onus is higher to present compelling content that grabs participants’ attention and keeps them in front of their screens. With so many virtual gatherings across the industry these days, the eventual threat of burnout is high.

 One good solution is to think in terms of “snackable” podcasts, videos, and other relatively short-form vehicles. It’s a good way to get messages out without asking someone to spend two hours in a videoconference. 

Learn More: 8 Cybersecurity Gaps in Windows 10 That Hackers Can Exploit 

2. The “Fear Sell” is a No-No 

Fear-mongering was frowned upon as a selling tactic in cybersecurity before the COVID-19. In cybersecurity, the customer’s attitude tends to be, “Yeah yeah, I know we have a problem.” Preying upon emotions is an even worse move now – it looks like taking advantage of people who are already scared. The pandemic has driven home the point that marketers and salespeople shouldn’t browbeat customers about the danger of data breaches. 

Rather than an emotional argument based on fear, you need to soberly and factually point out the gaps in their cybersecurity defenses and why your product is best suited to close them.

3. Go Where the Opportunity Is 

Some industries (such as travel and tourism) have been slammed by the coronavirus emergency more than others (e-commerce). It simply makes sense to target marketing resources to the industry verticals that are in the best position to buy right now.

Learn More: Encrypted Traffic Is a Backdoor for Malware — Defend Your Networks Now

4. Focus on Use Cases, Not Just Technical Capabilities

This is another one that has been true for a while but whose relevance has intensified lately. Cybersecurity traditionally has been filled with acronyms and technical jargon. If people had the patience for that before, they certainly don’t during a pandemic when jargon meters are ultra-sensitive. 

This is a time for marketers to redouble their efforts on explaining how their offerings solve problems in clear terms.

By keeping these four dynamics in mind, cybersecurity companies can market their products in ways that are right for the times. And they might even find new energy, ideas, and methods that help them emerge even stronger over the long run.

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