Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing

Joining us this week is Chris Spellman, Senior Demand Generation Manager at SCYTHE. Chris has been in cybersecurity marketing for over six years and has also worked in marketing operations and analytics. Gianna and Maria ask Chris about his marketing expertise as they cover gated vs ungated content, demand gen, analytics, and much more. Also, listen in to hear about Chris’s fantasy novel trilogy that he authors with his wife!

Timecoded Guide:

[06:49] Creative ways to generate demand

[09:58] Gated or ungated content?

[11:51] Big failure or success in cyber marketing

[16:26] Where Chris does analytics

[18:32] How Chris does attribution

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Links:

Follow Chris on LinkedIn.

Check out the Spellman Books website, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Keep up with SCYTHE on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Visit the SCYTHE website.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

Along with your hosts Gianna and Maria, this week we have Joshua Gonzalez joining us from Beyond Identity to talk shop in creativity. Joshua comes from years of experience as an actor on broadway and on screens—you may have even seen him on the Travel Channel! As the Media Producer, Joshua and his team put a twist on marketing at Beyond Identity and he shares some tips that you won’t want to miss. This is also the record number of times the word “corn” has appeared in an episode here: tune in to find out why! Hint: it has to do with creative marketing.

Timecoded Guide:

[04:21] Applying an acting background to marketing 

[06:59] How to sell a product with a story

[11:05] Tips on pitching story ideas

[14:29] Things learned while catering to a cybersecurity audience

[25:47] Advice for companies taking on creatives

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Links:

Spend some time with Joshua on Twitter.

Check out Joshua’s memoir! 

Tune in to Joshua’s podcast.

Pictures of Joshua performing Midsummer Night’s Dream on broadway.

Joshua and his team’s latest cyber ad music video.

Visit Beyond Identity on LinkedIn and Twitter and on their website.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

This week, Wade Wells joins us to talk about being on the board of BSides San Diego, being a brand ambassador, and being on a podcast—all while also being a mentor and working his day job. Gianna and Maria ask Wade about his research workflow and why marketing to CISOs isn’t always the best route for leads. Tune in for a mini-lesson on what the “pyramid of pain” is in cybersecurity and to hear how Wade picked up some valuable cybersecurity marketing tips from working at In-N’-Out. 

Timecoded Guide:

[11:19] Searching for new products and evaluating them 

[13:06] The significance of POV (Point of Value)

[16:24] Marketing to the CISO’s team

[17:36] Integration and why it’s important 

[23:36] Wade’s favorite part about his job 

Researching new products

With the market being saturated with products, it can get tedious, sifting through everything online. Wade has spent a lot of time researching products and Maria asks him about his workflow. First, he says that he lists what they’re good and not so good at and evaluates from there. He goes through Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn and pings people about the product, seeking more information. Wade also evaluates through POV for every product and his company tests each one before they put it to use. 

 “So the first thing we'll do is we'll talk to them, we'll go through and understand: what does it do? How does it do it? ”

Why marketing to the CISO isn’t always the best route

Maria stresses to Wade that marketers are taught to seek out the CISO. Wade offers some insight into more effective marketing routes. In practice, Wade says that it’s often a team that will decide whether or not a particular product would be worth it in their company—and that the CISO just signs it off. So, often, targeting an audience made up of team members rather than only the CISO is a much more effective method of marketing.

“It may come down to they just do the check mark to okay, but if we're the ones in the trenches using the product every day, it better be us who really like it.”

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Links:

Follow Wade on LinkedIn.

Reach out to Wade at [email protected]

Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

Shaun Walsh joins today, offering a cybersecurity marketer’s handbook worth of advice in navigating job transitions in the industry. Shaun, a veteran in the cyber industry, is the Vice President of Global Marketing at SimSpace. We’ve all been there—and in today’s world within the cybersecurity industry, layoffs have come to be expected. In this episode, Gianna and Maria get fantastic and practical advice from Shaun, asking him about preparation for layoffs, how to transition between jobs, interviewing red flags, and more. Listen in to get the laydown on layoffs. 

Timecoded Guide:

[00:00] Start of episode

[05:51] Skill sets in anticipating layoffs

[11:30] Red flags indicating a possible layoff

[14:59] Layoff preparation

[18:24] How to handle layoff questions in interviews

[22:34] Red flags in joining a company

What are some skills we can equip ourselves with to quickly land another job?

Gianna picks Shaun’s brain on the best way to handle the limbo of layoff. What can we do in the meantime to get back into another job? Shaun says, first, to cope. He says it’s important to take the time to process what just happened and recognize that everyone overthinks and has their insecurities. Then? Shaun says to spend little time coping and to start thinking. He lays out some vital key self-questions and to analyze where to go next. In these moments of transition, Shaun also mentions that it’s perfectly okay to switch up the path a little bit. 

 “Sit down and say, ‘Okay, what do I want next? I've coped. Now define. Where do I want to go? What do I want to do next? What skill sets do I need to develop?" And then how do you build that?’”

How do you figure out what you want to do next if you have no idea? 

Here, Shaun says that the most important thing to do is to start with one big question: why do you work? From there, Shaun says, people can quickly get through that coping mechanism and get a clearer picture of what they should be doing next. Starting with “why” allows someone figure out how they can achieve that goal which can set them in the right direction. Understanding “why” might lead to some heavy introspection and some grief but it gives one a sense of purpose Shaun says, which can set up the next necessary, tactical steps to take. 

“We've all run marketing launch plans. We all know how to dissect something, but you got to know where you're going. And that would be the next piece of advice I'd give people.”

What are some red flags indicating that a layoff is coming?

In having the right tools to prepare for a layoff and the right mindset to transition to another job, how do you know when a layoff is actually coming? Shaun lays out three distinct markers of a potential layoff and where to look for them. First, if a company is public, listening to quarterly calls can give some indication of how the company is doing and if a layoff can be expected. Second, Shaun explains how watching section 16 officers can also indicate this. Third, Shaun says to talk to your SE’s. They’re the “truth tellers” of the business, he says. 

“Go make friends with the SE's because the SE's will tell you whether they're busy, whether the deals are happening, whether deal reg is coming in, whether or not they're doing enough demos or POCs. Every place I've ever been in, the SE's are really the clue to the future.”

When the signs are in the air, how do you prepare for a layoff?

Shaun lays out three different answers to the question. He says that even before anything could seemingly go wrong that it’s important to get experience in many different areas to create a portfolio that’s marketable for various jobs. He says that when you start to see those red flags to also activate your network early, dedicating time every day to identifying new possibilities in the job market. Shaun also says it’s a good idea to rehearse interview questions and do research on some prospective employers. He emphasizes how it’s vital to not get bogged down in the process, either—and to be sure to take some time for yourself. 

“Once you've done the base work, you've done your follow-up, you’ve followed the right protocols. Enjoy that time off. Don't let it get away from you—because it's a rare gift in and of itself. It's maybe not a gift you wanted. But it's one you should take advantage of.”

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Links:

Spend some time with Shaun on Twitter.

Follow Shaun on LinkedIn.

Visit SimSpace on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Reach out to Shaun at [email protected]

Check out the SimSpace website.

Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

Join Gianna and Maria for a crazy live episode with their very own audience at Cyber Marketing Con! Hear your hosts discuss the cybermarketing industry as they also try to say a few nice things about sales. Also, listen in to hear a few audience members talk about their roles in the industry. 

Timecoded Guide:

[00:00] Start of episode

[01:52] Welcome to Cyber Marketing Con

[07:59] Building rapport with sales

[11:47] Cyber marketing industry, hearing from the audience

[14:46] Interviewing CSO’s

[15:30] Closing out

Building a solid relationship with sales

While Maria was setting up for Cyber Marketing Con, she overheard conversations about marketers and salespeople working together. She found that trying to work out communication between the two roles is a pretty common theme everywhere and that many people are facing the same challenges in building solid relationships with sales. She emphasizes that, aside from bribing salespeople with cookies, automating as much of the process as possible between marketers and salespeople is important. 

“Automate as much as possible. I think I heard one time someone made a joke that salespeople would rather clean toilets than enter data into Salesforce.”

Onward and Upward

Maria discusses the theme of the first Cyber Marketing Con.

“We've seen some of the crazy ups and downs in our industry lately, lots of layoffs, lots of really weird signals, confusing signals on what's happening in the market. And so we're hoping that these two days that on the marketing team, we can come together and take a little glimpse of hope that it's probably going to be okay and we'll keep going together.”

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Links:

Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

This week on Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing, Gianna and Maria sit down with Nick Hayes, Product Marketing Manager at Crowdstrike. During the episode, Nick shares how he went from working as an analyst at Forrester to becoming a cybersecurity marketer. Nick shares how his experience as an analyst translates to his role as PMM as Gianna and Maria ask him fascinating questions. Learn more about being a PMM and listen in to hear Nick share some wisdom that, Maria says, you might not find anywhere else as a marketer. 

Timecoded Guide:

[05:01] Becoming an internal marketer and shifts Nick made in his new role

[10:15] Day in the life of a PMM at Crowdstrike

[13:07] Operational Hygiene

[16:03] Balance between internal and external marketing

[18:53] Future of product marketing

What was the biggest challenge to overcome moving from analyst to internal marketer?

Nick shares how he had to go from being an adviser to meeting many new challenges as an internal marketer. He says that, while marketers and analysts have a lot in common, marketers align to business objectives differently than analysts. Instead of writing reports, for example, Nick says that marketers have to come up with plans to generate leads and hit specific metrics while defining certain performance goals. 

“In some cases, especially at the startups that I worked at, it was a lot more of ‘you need to define what those metrics and what those performance goals are.’ So that's really, I'd say the biggest challenge, but also something I was kind of looking to do, I wanted to see that, I wanted to experience that.”

What do you wish could happen in the future from an analyst and security vendor relationship standpoint? 

Nick highlights the analyst/vendor relationship here, saying that both roles can learn a lot from each other. In a way, Nick says that vendors and analysts fill in gaps for one another, learning vital information from their colleagues who serve as subject matter experts in their respective fields. As for the future of this dynamic, Nick says that marketers will often brief analysts once, thinking that as long as the presentation is perfect, no more work needs to be done. Nick says this changes by following up with analysts after presentations while fostering an ongoing relationship between the two roles. 

“You can learn a lot if you are in the right mindset as an analyst. And I think that two-way, that back-and-forth interaction that you have between the vendor and the analyst, you can be a really positive push and pull.”

What’s a day in the life of a PMM at Crowdstrike?

Working for Crowdstrike as a PMM is different every day, Nick says. He says that, at the company, they’re dealing with a good problem to have: they’re growing too quickly. The company is a product of its own success as it became public in 2019 and has continued to grow exponentially from its founding in 2011. Nick says that the company has had to evolve quickly as it has rapidly hit certain benchmarks. Amid the growth, Nick has had to ensure good visibility within the company as he’s worked to make sure that products are understood and fit within the broader context of what Crowdstrike does. 

“A lot of the ways in which your company is producing and performing at that level, you have to evolve quickly to adapt as your company reaches these, you know, amazing benchmarks. And in some ways, when you are just continually successful, you're somewhat a product of your own success, right?”

What is operational hygiene? 

One of the things that Nick emphasizes is important as a PMM in operational hygiene. Gianna asks what that is and how, as a PMM, Nick ensures that the hygiene is operationally sufficient. Nick shares that operational hygiene is asking this: how do we do things more consistently and how do we make sure there’s documentation to support the repeatable workflows that we’re doing? In a product launch, for example, good operational hygiene means finding out what the launch looks like, who should be involved, and what the steps are. He says that, ultimately, it comes back to MOps and demand gen while ensuring that things stay consistent. 

“It's thinking about how we actually understand our business from a demand gen perspective, and being able to slice and dice data and tag it in different ways so that we can be nimble and the data support and can be used and fits a number of different product teams within the company.”

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Definitions: 

IPO: IPO stands for initial public offering, which is when a company goes on the stock market, making stock shares available to investors for the first time.

MOps: Standing for marketing operations, MOps refers to the functions of ensuring that marketing activities and business objectives align, overseeing and planning campaigns, optimizing people, and managing brand compliance. 

Demand Gen: Demand gen is a term that encompasses an activity in marketing that drives brand awareness and interest in a service or product.

Links:

Keep up with Nick Hayes on Twitter and connect on LinkedIn.

Follow CrowdStrike on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Visit CrowdStrike’s website.

Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

In this episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing, Gianna and Maria speak with Russel Wurth, the Vice President of Marketing at Defy Security. Russel takes Gianna and Maria through his path of going from development engineer to cybersecurity marketer. Russel also dishes out some valuable wisdom on B2B marketing. Listen in to hear why mindmaps are better than Google docs, eight-minute presentations are better than hour-long lectures, and why Groundhog Day is the best movie for marketers.

Timecoded Guide:

[01:33] Russel’s start as an engineer and transition to marketing

[07:22] How to shift marketing thinking for B2B marketing

[09:33] Organizing messaging structure for customers

[13:28] Defy Security and the role of the company

[17:08] Pushing back on traditional marketing presentations

How did you get into the role of VP of Marketing?

Russell shares his background and transition into being the Vice President of Marketing at Defy Security. While working for a cloud startup company, Russel realized at a convention that there was something missing from the brand. It didn’t have to do with the colors or logo but with the messaging. After part of Russel’s job became communicating the brand, he gravitated towards marketing—and the rest is history. Russel says that communicating markitecture and technical information should come later, he found—and that, in marketing, you must be willing to adapt every day to changing problems and solutions.

“I realized it was more than the marketing we had experienced, which was, you know, logos and colors and some promotional items. It was 'what's our message? How do we get it out there? How does it resonate? How do we promote it through trade articles and analysts?”

What are some things that you did to turn this process from tech-focused to sales user-focused?

Russel says that to be a marketer, you don’t necessarily have to be a technical expert in the field. He emphasizes though that it’s useful to gain a grasp of concepts and language in the field to communicate better with clients. Marketers should understand some concepts enough so that they can easily explain them in a way that is easily understood. In other words, when selling to clients, Russel says that marketers should know enough about the field to carry out a conversation. 

“I think the more that you can draw from industry data that's out there, what's the competition doing? How are they messaging? How can you be different, unique—that's where I think that partnership with marketing on the product technology side really can create some great outputs that really get some fruits of that labor.”

How do we get engineers to learn how to explain their product, their value proposition, and the benefits of the product in a language that everybody else can understand? 

Engineers always experience marketing, Russel says. It’s translating the B2C marketing that we all know too well to B2B marketing that proves difficult. Most of the time, B2B marketing is less about appealing emotionally to potential customers and answering vital questions for their business. Russel continues, sharing that he has learned a lot from coaching engineers in marketing and by using the Socratic method, turns them into naturals at marketing. 

“It's different for a business buyer… they buy for different reasons. Sometimes there's an emotional aspect, but most of the time, there's an aspect of ‘How does this improve my job, my role, help me get promoted, help me get a raise, help the company do better?’”

Replacing Word docs with mind maps

Maria asks Russel to let us in on some marketing-messaging secrets. A trick up Russel’s sleeve? Mind maps. Russel says that, while using software like Google Docs and Word is okay, a much more powerful tool for the first presentation is the mind map. Using mind-mapping software, Russel workshops with a product team by showing them the visual elements and different moving parts of a presentation. In doing so, he’s able to lay the groundwork for the more technical presentations later on. 

“There's a further down the line where you need the proof of concept, the markitecture, the use cases, and the case study. So that mind map, especially now that you can share these tools very easily, it's very effective to share that in product with the product team and then iterate over that, after that kind of first workshop that you have with a few hours, laying some groundwork.”

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Definitions: 

Markitecture: markitecture, combining the words marketing and architecture, is technology or electronic architecture that serves the marketing process and is used for marketing purposes.

Links:

Spend some time with Russel on LinkedIn.

Check out Defy Security on LinkedIn.

Visit Defy Security’s website.

Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

Join us this week for another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. Today, we’re talking with Dillon Townsel, Head of Public Relations at Armis, as he takes us on a ride through his career journey. From Egypt and Afghanistan to IBM: Dillon tells the story of how he, like many others, unexpectedly found cybersecurity and ended up loving it. He also shares how he found himself teaching cybersecurity and emphasizes that knowledge in the field is not the first thing he looks for in employees. 

Timecoded Guide:

[02:15] Background as a musician, opening recording studios, and sales

[09:23] X-Force Red and working for IBM

[13:09] Working as a combat journalist and telling stories

[20:43] How to gain technical knowledge in the field

[27:40] Why Dillon could be a professor

Dillon’s technical background and the journey of getting there 

Dillon shares how his technical background in cybersecurity came in more towards the middle of his career trajectory. First, he tells how his technical knowledge fell like dominoes into more opportunities down the road. Dillon shares how his music background led him to learn the ins and outs of a recording studio which then led him to broadcast journalism in the military. He built on this, eventually going into security PR and then working on a team called X-Force Red at IBM. 

 “That was tough at times, right, I was out by myself, lugging around camera gear for . . . four or five days at a time. I learned a lot. Getting stories out of people and just going out and you've never met this person before. And your goal is to go out, meet some 21-year-old kid from Oklahoma, and find out what's interesting about maintaining a Humvee or working on military equipment—pulling the stories out of people.”

Meant to be: Jumping into cyber at X-Force Red

After taking paternity leave, Dillon dove into cybersecurity, taking a job at IBM. He describes how, on the team, he looked for security vulnerabilities and emphasized that, at IBM, everyone is a customer. He shares why this took a lot of trust-building and how his team ended up getting media coverage for hacking into cars and exposing security vulnerabilities in nuclear power plants, among other things. Along with X-Force Red, Dillon also worked on Trusteer and mobile device management.

“I think IBM Security was probably my crash course. That was when I got the most exposure to the most diverse set of security projects that are out there—because IBM Security works on everything. And so the possibilities are endless.”

Boots on the ground stories in Afghanistan

Dillon takes us back to his time in Afghanistan and traces back where and how he learned to tell meaningful stories. Aside from getting senior leaders camera-ready and running a radio show, during his time in the service, Dillon had to learn how to tell stories on the fly. This, he says, prepared him for his future endeavors working in PR. Now, he takes his technical and journalistic experience, working at Armis Security.

“Especially when we were doing stuff with X-Force Red, we had to take those stories and figure out 'why is this important to the average person?' 'Why would my grandmother care about this piece of security research?' And so it was always about finding the human element and being able to tell that side of security because everything we do is eventually protecting regular citizens. So all of this stuff trickles down to them.”

Where do you see print fitting in today’s cybersecurity marketing?

Dillon says that, although the majority of his background is in broadcasting, print is necessary. He also mentions that he picked up a lot of copyediting experience throughout his career which has become quite valuable in his job. He says that his skill set has allowed him to review press releases, video scripts, and other writing. Dillon emphasizes that, in the end, little skill sets can go a long way throughout someone’s career—whatever job they find themselves in.

“In our world, telling a story in print is necessary, right? We must get our commentary and thought leadership into those articles, making the business press understand why security is important.”

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Links:

Spend some time with Dillon on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Visit Armis Security on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Check out the Armis Security website. 

Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

For this week’s episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing, we bring you Scott Shapiro, former Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft and the current Director and Global Head of Product Marketing at Secure Code Warrior. Scott takes us on his journey from working at a large corporation and smaller businesses to now plunging into the cybersecurity marketing space. Today, Scott also explains product marketing and how it merges with the cybersecurity field while emphasizing the value of creating a culture of learning at a company.

Timecoded Guide:

[2:38] Scott’s story and getting into cybersecurity marketing

[8:03] Role of Secure Code Warrior and business model

[11:31] What is product marketing? 

[20:49] Dividing up projects in a team

[33:53] Scott’s product marketing strategy

What is product marketing and what does it look like? 

Product marketing seems straightforward at the face of it—Gianna and Maria pick Scott’s brain on what ‘products’ are in the cybersecurity marketing space. Scott explains that at Secure Code Warrior, they split up into a growth and performance marketing team, an events team, and a comms team. Scott says that, while everyone may answer the question differently, his take on product marketing is that they seek to tell the story of value drivers and problem-solving through different perspectives. 

“My take on product marketing is all about, we have to create value, and opportunity as we bring products to market that meet our customer's and prospects’ needs.”

How are you accelerating your learning in cyber to feel more comfortable as a product marketer? 

Scott explains that often in the cybersecurity space, people need to work together in order to nail down concepts and jargon in cybersecurity. Scott says that this starts with character traits. Humility, curiosity, and hunger around learning are key, Scott says. Collaboratively, teams can work on learning different aspects of cyber to then come together and show each other the ropes. Instead of Googling, he says, ask a team member to guide you in the right direction or teach you what something is. This creates a culture of learning and growth, which Scott says he tries to implement in a business culture. 

“Each pyre is all about saying you don't want to be a know-it-all, you just want to be a learn-it-all. And that's that mindset of curiosity in just about every setting.”

How are you dividing up projects amongst your team? 

Scott says that, in product marketing, dividing in conquering is all in the name: some lean more towards the project side while others turn to marketing. Either way, at an early-stage company, you have to be comfortable on both sides of the house. With product, people work within inbound marketing, seeking to form deep partnerships with product management while those in marketing focus more on outbound campaigns, partnering with email marketers or your social media. Scott also mentions a third area which is sales and customer success organization. Scott says that you have to balance between these three areas as a product marketer.

“At the end of the day, happy employees are happy customers and a happy business.”

The product marketing Venn diagram

In the episode, Scott holds up two circles with his hands, illustrating two sides of a business: personal goals and interests and business needs. The thread between the two is communication, Scott says, and the better that can be, the better you can strategize in overlapping the two circles to bounce around special projects. Scott says that this is how he builds a team of product marketers and does right by them while empowering them to grow their careers, making the business successful. 

“We all have things we want to grow into, and things that excite us that you might find boring that I love, or vice versa.”

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Links:

Spend some time with our guest Scott Shapiro on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Visit Secure Code Warrior on LinkedIn.

Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.

This week, hosts Gianna Whitver and Maria Velazquez sit down with Brittany Geronimo to discuss unique takes on reusing design content in a marketing design process. Gianna and Maria ask Brittany how she turns whitepapers and ebooks into eye-catching, marketable content in her position at BlueVoyant -- which offers internal and external cyber defense services. Brittany also guides listeners through her workflow explaining the unique ways she keeps pushing the boundaries with new and creative content in her field of cybersecurity marketing. 

Timecoded Guide:

[02:27] Repurposing whitepapers and ebooks for marketing

[06:04] How to imagine content assets as reusable from start to finish

[08:02] Gated vs ungated content in marketing assets

[14:47] Crafting a unique message while staying loyal to the brand

[17:28] Keeping consistent themes to tell brand stories 

How do you create a content asset that will engage an audience? Brittany explains her marketing strategy in how she takes any tier-one asset to then turn it into digestible and easy-to-follow, creative content. These assets could be anything from an eBook, a whitepaper, or a report. Brittany shares how she takes these large lumps of information and condenses them down into either LinkedIn infographics or carousel posts making them marketable and useful for people to follow. Each creative product relates back to which type of asset Brittany starts with while each final product circles back with an option to explore the subject further by linking the eBook or larger report. Brittany breaks down her process with marketing design ideas and how she goes from what she calls a “tier one asset” to a “tier two asset.”

“I think there's a lot of pressure sometimes to just put out as much content as possible . . . But I think taking a step back and saying okay, what do we have? What else can we possibly do with it? Then, you sort of end up with these nice buckets of content that's all related that you can then use in future campaigns.”

Brittany walks listeners through how she’s already thinking about how to make content more marketable as she looks through ‘tier-one’ material. Sometimes, Brittany is involved on the front end of the marketing design process and is able to shape tier-one assets in such a way that makes them reusable for more content later on. Also, it’s important to edit content and style it to fit the audience: reused content intended for a CSO will look different than content intended for someone on LinkedIn. Good design means knowing how to make content within the marketing design process that will catch the eyes of many different audiences. 

“if you think about repurposing at the beginning, you'll have more opportunity to do so as opposed to we already have this thing that's finished. It can be done both ways. But I think if you're thinking about it always, it really helps.”

Which type of content should be gated and what type of content shouldn’t be gated? What’s the overall best philosophy with gated content marketing? Brittany explains where and why she finds gating to be essential with certain types of content. She also highlights how she leans towards making content more accessible overall. Brittany also adds, through this philosophy, how she seeks to create a brand that others think of when they have a project in motion. 

“I personally lean toward less gating, because I think if you put up too many roadblocks, people are just going to abandon their cart, per se, or form . . . I personally don’t like to put up too many roadblocks.” 

How can someone make their message stand out but not abandon their brand’s theme? Brittany says that there is a balance and that it takes compromise—but that it can still be done. Big fast-food chains can afford to attract a high volume of attention through social media with crazy posts. This may not work for everyone but Brittany explains that brands can still think outside of the box while maintaining their company’s style. It’s also important to find themes and ways that an audience can consistently recognize a brand while continuing to find interest in the messaging. 

“There's a lot of stuff out there content-wise that people are getting just like hammered with all day, like on LinkedIn and other channels. So I think having a different look really makes you stand out . . . I think good design goes a long way.” 

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Definitions: 

Whitepapers: Whitepapers are business reports that include data and analyses making information presentable to a company.

Top-funnel/mid-funnel: Levels of audience to a brand or company and their awareness of the products or services—top funnel being those not yet aware of the company and the mid-funnel being those who have shown interest and might engage with the company. 

Gated/ungated: This refers to whether or not content is made available to an audience through paywalls or other selective processes: gated refers to content that is exclusive through a fee, etc. and ungated is content that is available and free to virtually anyone. 

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Links:

Spend some time with our guest Brittany Geronimo on LinkedIn

Like the BlueVoyant Facebook page

Visit the BlueVoyant website, and follow on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

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