As a specialised Cybersecurity PR Agency, at Origin Comms we understand that the key goal of any cyber PR campaign is to obtain top-tier coverage for their clients. Having the best contacts in the industry is a helpful start, but is it enough to keep your PR campaigns optimised?
The world of content is in a state of constant evolution and the ability to formulate and optimise truly innovative, unique concepts is becoming increasingly difficult. That is why we have compiled our 5 key tips that have helped us as a PR agency in aligning our strategy to achieve the best outcomes for both us and our cybersecurity clients.
- Understand your audience
As simple as it may seem, the first step in any cybersecurity PR strategy should be to establish who your audience is. Gaining a deep understanding of who you are trying to reach and who you are speaking to helps us provide focus and direction in each piece of work that we produce. A good way to ascertain who you should be targeting is to create a marketing persona.
A persona is a semi-fictional model of your client’s ideal customer. (Side note – your client may already have this set up, so it is worth asking.) These personas help both put a face to your target audience and provide insight into the best means of communicating with them. We recommend creating 2-3 personas to cover the range of different people you will be aiming to reach.
- Educate
When you work in cybersecurity, the importance of practising safe online habits comes as second nature. However, people operating outside of the tech world are less in-the-know and may only associate cybersecurity risks with those that reach major news headlines. An issue for major corporations alone. In actual fact, 95% of cybersecurity breaches are due to human error and a lack of knowledge in how to act safely online.
As a cybersecurity PR agency, we use our platform to educate our target audience on the present threats that face the modern online community. We consider content marketing our best friend in this scenario. We utilise blogs, whitepapers, social content etc. to reach our audience and share our expert knowledge on the world of cybersecurity. This adds authority to our brand and can highlight potential failings in the audience’s current security stack. (Failings that can be remedied by our client’s platform.)
- Showcase your expertise
For IT teams, accurate information with regards to business cybersecurity protocols is a task laden with responsibility. A lot is on the line, and providing inaccurate information could potentially lead to large financial or reputational losses. Our clients need to know they are in safe hands with our cybersecurity PR agency and this boils down to trust.
Trust doesn’t accumulate easily. This is something that needs to be developed and nurtured over time. Showcasing your expertise is a great way to boost image, regardless of whether you are an industry stalwart or just starting out.
Providing easily digestible nuggets of accurate information explaining the theory behind a cybersecurity concept, or how one of our client’s products work is just one of the ways we engage with our audience. Tapping into real-life success stories in the form of testimonials or our client’s product provides an ideal line of communication.
Data-led content is a reliable PR strategy for showcasing expertise. Statistics, facts and figures communicate a deeper level of understanding and show that we are willing to go the extra mile in a traditionally statistics-led industry.
- Create a sense of urgency
Many still do not understand how much of a priority cybersecurity needs to be in the modern working world and one of the challenges of a cybersecurity PR agency is to depict its importance.
Utilising marketing personas, it is critical to develop a messaging format that demonstrates to your audience just how urgent it is that appropriate cybersecurity protocols are in place. As mentioned above, using statistics to add to the potency of your messaging is an effective means of doing this.
- Don’t rely on scare tactics
Although creating a sense of urgency is important, it is also important not to overstep the mark. Understand that using scare tactics to market your cybersecurity solutions can have a negative effect. Conveying urgency does not equate to scaring your audience. In fact, this can often lead to people feeling overwhelmed and prevent them from taking any action at all.
Whilst fear-based messaging will grab an audience’s attention, it won’t encourage them to focus on the solution. Instead, it will cause them to focus on managing their fear. Through a deep understanding of marketing personas, we develop a language that will speak to our audience through conveying the right message. We try to put a positive spin on our PR campaigns and offer reassurance through effective solutions, rather than fear mongering through cyber threats.
BONUS!
One final cybersecurity PR agency top tip – be bold. The cybersecurity market has become saturated with the same voices discussing the same things and standing out from the crowd has never been more important. With so much noise, it pays to be bold and develop different perspectives on issues. As a cybersecurity PR agency, we choose to help our clients find their niche and discover a unique avenue through which to shout about it to their audience.
At Origin Comms, we are a leading cyber PR agency with a wealth of experience in the industry. Through working with a variety of cybersecurity clients, we understand how to develop a unique and effective cybersecurity PR strategy to cut through the noise and reach a target audience. To find out more about how we can help you with your cybersecurity PR strategy, get in touch with the team today.