Creating a PR Strategy for Cybersecurity: Keys for Success
By Shannon Van Every, director
The cybersecurity vendor landscape is crowded and competitive, making it tough for companies to differentiate themselves. There are nearly 6,000 cybersecurity vendors in the industry, and each one typically has more than one offering.
Yet there is plenty of demand for these solutions. Cybersecurity budgets continue to grow, driven in large part by the ongoing demand for remote worker technologies and cloud security. Gartner estimated that spending on information security and risk management will total $172 billion in 2022, up from $155 billion in 2021 and $137 billion the year before.
Because of the increasing level of competition, the right technology public relations strategy is vital to stand out from the crowd.
Rising above the crowd
Many businesses take a scattershot approach, competing in well-defined industries with marginally better offerings. As a result of their inability to differentiate from the competition, some vendors attempt to hop from one category to the next.
Here are two guidelines we’ve found useful with our clients’ strategies:
- Identify what sets you apart from the pack. That means you’ve got to be able to differentiate your offering – both from a technology and business value perspective – from your competition.
- Create a winning messaging strategy. Savvy tech PR firms excel at this. We specialize in showcasing industry knowledge and leadership. An effective tech PR agency like ours can work with your existing brand message or start afresh to build the optimal strategic narrative and positioning for your brand.
Three keys for success
The first step in launching an effective cybersecurity PR strategy is to build thought leadership in your industry. You can create the kind of impact that makes both your subject matter experts and your firm go-to experts by consistently publishing content in reputable publications.
Maintaining a digital and social media presence is a second critical component. Because security influencers and reporters are so active on Twitter, social media listening allows us to stay on top of events such as data breaches and vulnerabilities as they happen.
Receiving third-party validation in the form of analyst reports, customer/partnership relationships and industry awards is the third element. Winning industry awards can help your company gain credibility and authority. It’s also a good method for showing off and validating all the amazing work you’ve done with customers without revealing their identities to the public. Client testimonials and case studies show how your solutions are helping real people solve real challenges. It’s one thing for you to promote the advantages of your solution; when someone else does likewise, it takes on a whole new significance.
How PR pros partner with your goals
We can’t stress how important it is to bring your PR staff into the process early on, particularly if getting media coverage is one of your main objectives. PR pros regularly interact with journalists, and they know what will pique their attention. To create a symbiotic relationship, PR professionals dovetail the needs of reporters with the needs and goals of their clients’ media strategy.
Working with a PR team in this manner will help to define how stories are presented to the media and ensure that the campaign is successful. The way stories are framed in the media helps to establish brand identity in the market, which comes from having a concise messaging strategy, as noted above.
In addition, targeted media coverage that strategically promotes your brand and stories in publications that your purchasing decision-makers read leads potential customers along the sales funnel.
One of our success stories involved a client who produced encryption keys. We re-built the company’s brand recognition and established the CEO as a banking security thought leader. We achieved our goal by educating the market through thought leadership pieces and by building a strong relationship with targeted media, resulting in the CEO becoming a go-to resource. In addition, we took the company’s solution on tour to the financial and security media. Our efforts with this client resulted in good publicity in selected top-tier media, such as the Wall Street Journal, and the CEO became a respected industry figure whom the press frequently consulted.
Partnering for success
Implementing an efficient PR strategy in the crowded cybersecurity space can help companies avoid getting lost in the shuffle. Increased thought leadership, analyst perspective, awards and events, social media presence and third-party validation are all possible with an experienced PR agency. Including a public relations team in your company’s go to market strategy can also help your brand create mutually beneficial ties with the media.
Want expert assistance to make your brand voice heard? Contact us today.
