Market Your Cybersecurity Expertise.
The cybersecurity industry has undergone enormous growth and will continue to do so. Expenditures for on cybersecurity services and products are predicted to $1 trillion through the year 2021.
Many IT service companies are jumping on the cybersecurity bandwagon. If you want to convince prospects to use your services, you must find ways to stand out from the others.
Standing Out from the Crowd Isn’t Easy to Do.
You have a lot of competition. In response to the high demand for IT security, new cybersecurity companies are joining the market every day. Standing out from the crowd isn’t easy to do. However, there are some strategies you can use to reach your audience.
Whatever you do, it’s important to be truthful when marketing your capabilities. Some exaggerate what they can do, and lose the credibility of their clients when they’re found out. Don’t be tempted to do this. In the end, the companies that succeed are the ones that honestly communicate their value. Do this and you’ll have long-term success.
Define Who Your Target Audience Is.
Though it’s easy just to target CIOs and CTOs, others will be interested in your cybersecurity services. The CEO will often be the final decision-maker, and other C-level executives may also be involved in the decision-making process. Try reaching out to them whenever possible, and remember these tips:
Develop Your Message with Education in Mind.
There’s always a lot of material to share. With new cyber threats coming to light every day, you should strive to educate your audience about the risks they face. If your prospects truly understand what these could do to their business, they’ll be more likely to contact you for help.
Many organizations are so focused on their day-to-day operations that they don’t prioritize cyber security until they’re affected. You must market in a way that it creates a sense of urgency for your prospects, and stresses the importance of prevention and being proactive, rather than reactive.
Many CEOs and C-level executives aren’t aware that just one successful cybersecurity incident can negatively affect their business. Educate them about the need for a preparedness plan and IT risk assessment—And, what could happen if they aren’t vigilant.
Here are some tips to remember when developing your message:
- Don’t exaggerate your capabilities. If your cybersecurity services only stop 99% of attacks, don’t say it blocks all attacks.
- Use educational data. Use informative data in your marketing messages to create a sense of urgency and help your prospects better understand the need for action.
- Make it easy for them. Be sure they can easily access your content to educate themselves.
- Always end with an action item (to contact you).
Determine What Marketing Strategies to Use.
The following are a few suggestions —
Free Cyber-Security Webinars
Webinars are a great way to educate your prospects. Send out printed and email invitations to your prospects, and promote them on LinkedIn and Facebook.
When holding a live webinar, make sure you include time for Q & A so attendees can ask specific questions or voice their concerns. Post your webinars on your website when completed. You can still accept viewer questions from your recorded webinar— Simply ask them to contact you in an email, by phone or in a chat session.
The Q & A part of the webinar will provide you valuable information for content to further market your cybersecurity services by writing and distributing marketing pieces, blogs and articles. This will address your target audience’s biggest challenges.
Content Promotion
Take the information you glean from your concerned webinar attendees and write content marketing material to solve these concerns. Write about the importance of cybersecurity, what could happen if a business lacks proper protections, and what these protections are.
To ensure your content is unique, include:
- Case studies about how you solved a security issue for a current client.
- Customer stories and testimonials in their words.
- Educational blogs and videos.
- Downloadable educational materials like white papers and e-books.
And always link back to your landing page that tells how you can solve their cybersecurity issues, with information about scheduling a complimentary IT risk assessment.
Email Promotion
Whenever someone contacts you (or vice versa) whether it’s in person, over the phone, or via your website, always capture their email address and other contact information.
To nurture these prospects, you need to reach out to them in various ways. Email marketing is a good way to do this. However, you must offer something of real value or your emails will end up in the trash bin.
The first thing to address is your subject line. If your recipient isn’t “grabbed” by the subject, they won’t open your email.
Here are five tips to remember when writing subject lines:
- Consider the goal of your subject line.
- Use straightforward, honest (not clever or witty) subject lines.
- Consider every word you choose. Make sure they won’t be recognized as spam. (You can research this online.)
- Keep your subject lines short.
- Don’t use ALL CAPS.
Offer something of value. This will convince your recipients to open your email. Such as:
- Offers for a free trial of your services.
- A link to an educational blog about cybersecurity.
- Downloadable e-books and whitepapers about IT security.
- A digest of relevant articles and links that exemplify the importance of cybersecurity.
Always include your contact information and information about your expertise.
Note: Time is of the essence when using examples about others who have been negatively affected by cybercrime. For example, when government agencies, financial institutions, stores, etc., are in the headlines because they’ve been hacked. Fear typically prompts action. You can use these negative stories to your benefit.
Email marketing is an effective way to stay connected to prospects and leads. Monitor your responses. Don’t inundate their inboxes, and be sensitive about how often you contact them. Once a month is probably enough.
Paid Advertising
To promote your content marketing consider using paid advertising. When you combine the two you’ll have a robust marketing campaign.
Consider using social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook for your paid advertising. They provide value at an affordable price.
Need Help with Your Cybersecurity Marketing?
We’re experts when it comes to marketing MSP businesses. Let our marketing gurus help you reach your prospects and turn them into clients. Contact Ulistic at 716.799.1999 or info@ulistic.com
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