Cyber vendors need to focus on education, communication and collaboration (Guest blog by Say Comms)
According to analysis completed earlier this year, there are over 1,800 organisations offering cybersecurity services or solutions in the UK. In such a crowded market, it can be challenging to cut through the noise and stand out to potential customers.
This cyber awareness month, the ‘noise’ will be even greater so cyber vendors must identify the best way to communicate their USPs (Unique Selling Points). This year’s campaign also falls at a time where budgets are tight and cost pressures are mounting for all organisations irrespective of their size. Yet the need to be secure is still increasing, given that Gigamon (a leader in deep observability) found 95% of global organisations experienced ransomware in the last year. With the number of security threats and attacks growing exponentially, the need for cybersecurity has never been as paramount. To help organisations deploy their defensive strategy, cyber vendors need to position themselves as trusted advisors – being both authentic and strategic in their communications outreach.
Prioritising investment
It’s essential to remember that companies emerging as ‘winners’ in the years to come are those that continue to invest in areas such as communications, PR and marketing. As we’ve stated, the world of cybersecurity is incredibly competitive, and with the threatscape ever-expanding the market will only become busier.
Ultimately, the 1,800+ cybersecurity services and solutions providers are targeting the same prospect pool. It is only with insight that organisations will be able to distil what matters most to their target audience and generate the most appropriate communications programme. Working in collaboration with a comms partner, it’s possible to identify the exact pain points of potential customers, understanding their buyer personas, and what it is they care about. From here, companies can create a narrative that both resonates and communicates how their services/solutions solve these issues. And this narrative needs to segue into everything: internal communications, marketing to current customers, social media and thought leadership.
Authentic comms that prioritise education over promotion
Once investment for PR and comms is secured, a key strategy for success is prioritising authenticity and education to support the market in this increasingly challenging cybersecurity threat landscape. Rather than solely delivering sales and product pitches, organisations need to demonstrate their expertise and become industry thought leaders.
This education can be in the form of by-lined articles that tackle key industry issues. Market reports can also provide extremely useful insight and shine a light on issues. However, for these reports to be truly beneficial, organisations need to identify angles that offer new knowledge and provide educational data. Finally, commenting on industry events – from recent legislation to new strains of malware – can be a good way to showcase technical expertise to prospects. This media commentary can also extend to insight on cyberattacks, but organisations should avoid ‘ambulance chasing at all costs. Instead, they should only comment if they have genuine advice and guidance to offer that will benefit readers from falling victim to similar attacks.
A trusted advisor every month of the year
By educating the market on how to reduce risk and collaborating with communications experts to solve the cyber issue together, vendors will become much-needed, trusted security partners. The easiest thing to do, and often a knee-jerk reaction to a tough economic climate, is to axe PR and marketing budgets. However, by removing your communications engine, your external profile rapidly diminishes – a big mistake for organisations that want to stand out, though one less thing for your competitors to worry about. Communications needs to be viewed as a valuable investment, an asset to your organisation, and not merely a cost to the bottom line.
Help to shape and govern the work of techUK’s Cyber Security Programme
Did you know that nominations are now open* for techUK’s Cyber Management Committee? We’re looking for senior representatives from cyber security companies across the UK to help lead the work of our Cyber Security Programme over the next two years. Find out more and how to nominate yourself/a colleagues here.
*Deadline to submit nomination forms is 17:00 on Tuesday 18 October.
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