How to Create Value-Driven Content That Resonates with Cybersecurity Buyers | Andra Zaharia

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If you are too much in love with your product vs. how you help your audience solve a problem, you're going to be disconnected from the very people you're trying to reach.

Content. The fuel that drives demand today.

There is so much of it online.

Unfortunately, though, the mass majority of content in the field has left security buyers confused and distracted.

The problem that security practitioners find themselves in right now is that they’re bombarded with high quantities of content but also high quantities of higher-quality, product-centric content too.

So, how do we go back to the core and create content that focuses on the real problems we can solve for security practitioners so they have the ability to make good decisions?

In this episode, I had a candid and practical conversation with Andra Zaharia, creator and co-host of the Cyber Empathy podcast and cybersecurity marketing expert.

We discussed the challenges she faces as a content marketing professional in cybersecurity, stereotypes to battle in order to be successful in the field, questions to ask to deliver valuable content, and the framework she uses to produce content.

Episode Highlights

• We need cybersecurity literacy to be able to function in the world.

• Andra’s main challenge right now: finding other marketers who are genuinely interested in cybersecurity and pursuing a path to mature their understanding of how marketing actually serves people in cybersecurity.

• If you don't really love the mission itself, you're not going to be able to muster up the resources to make the effort of overcoming all of those limiting beliefs and challenges.

• Stereotypes Andra is challenging in cybersecurity as a content marketer:

  • Empty promises

  • Cybersecurity is all about technology

  • There is no place for emotional connection

  • People care about cybersecurity - you cannot assume that people instantly care about what you are doing, especially if you do not explain how you solve their real problems, not assumed problems.

  • Technical specialists are the only bearers of truth - security is a process; it includes feedback and inclusion from all sides.

• If you do not challenge these stereotypes as a marketer, you run the risk of wasting lots of resources, facing intense competition, and burnout.

• Andra asks a few, important questions to ask to clarify purpose and meaning that can be tied back to your content and messaging to deliver valuable content:

  • Who is it for?

  • What is it for?

  • When do they use this?

  • What are they comparing it to?

  • Why are we doing this?

  • Are our assumptions true?

  • Do people really want this?

• Questioning our hypotheses will give clarity and peace, which creates alignment in the team.

• Keeping content professionals siloed in your company is not going to help you make a meaningful difference and not having a documented process for how things tie back your principles to product and other functions in your business is going to lead to a lot of frustration and disconnection.

• The main framework Andra uses to develop content is the Jobs to Be Done framework, which gives you a way to understand the customer's context, needs, and triggers.

Listen to Andra’s podcast at: https://cyberempathy.org/

Follow Andra on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrazaharia/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndraZaharia

Interested in sponsoring an episode like this with your target buyer?

→ Reserve your sponsorship here. ($2,575)