2020 brought more than COVID-19. It also brought a cyber-pandemic. The number of cyber-attacks grew exponentially, reaching as many as 4,000 in a single day!
This growth was fueled by the increase in remote working, among many other factors. Remember the Zoom security breaches? They were just the tip of the iceberg, but we all knew about them because we were “Zooming” every day, so everyone felt targeted.
IBM estimates the average cost to a business of a data breach is $3.86 million. All the statistics and the reports issues in the past few years have made companies of all sizes more aware of the need to improve their cybersecurity. In turn, this led to an increase in cybersecurity companies and cybersecurity products.
The cybersecurity industry is growing, which means that so is the competition within it.
For the past couple of years, Copywritech, the digital marketing agency I run, has been working with several companies in the cybersecurity space. We’ve created content strategies for them and implemented these strategies.
This gave us the opportunity to learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t in terms of content marketing for cybersecurity companies. In our experience, these are the 4 tactics that, if implemented correctly, work like a charm.
1. Blog Posts
I love this tactic because it’s relatively easy to get started with and it can bring results quite quickly. For our cybersecurity customers, we’ve created SEO-powered blog posts for each of the sales funnel stages:
- Top of the funnel – the prospect starts to realize they might need a cybersecurity product or expert. Topics like: “what is a phishing attack” or “cybersecurity tips for companies working with remote employees” are great for introducing readers to more delicate subjects.
- Middle of the funnel – the prospect already has some cybersecurity knowledge, they are certain that they need help in this area and they are looking for a partner with proven expertise. This is your time to showcase that expertise and you can do it with topics like: “what is an SQL injection and how to prevent it”, “best practices for mitigating DDoS attacks”.
- Bottom of the funnel — the prospect is ready to seal the deal. Topics like “X reasons to choose Y company for pen testing” or “how to identify the cybersecurity experts your company needs” work best. Of course, these posts can’t do everything on their own, so they need to be coupled with carefully-crafted CTAs to landing pages or in-depth content.
2. Whitepapers and Other Downloadable Types of Content
Nothing showcases your expertise better than an in-depth, premium piece of content. Throughout the past two years, our tech content writers have created dozens such materials, all published as gated content.
Why gated content? Because this gave our cybersecurity customers the opportunity to collect valuable leads that they later turned into paying customers.
Whitepapers and eBooks are excellent tools for both the middle and the bottom of the funnel. We are talking about highly specialized content (and very technical in this case), so you should never expect them to have as many “hits” as an entry-level blog post. But you should expect them to have a much better conversion rate than blog posts.
As for topics, there are two types of whitepaper topics that boost conversions:
- Proprietary methods/approaches to security. This type of material should describe something that is unique to your company. For instance, a new pen testing approach. This type of whitepaper is the last stepping stone before the actual conversion, so it’s ideal for bottom of the funnel leads.
- In-depth analysis of the industry/market. For instance, an overview of the skills gap in cybersecurity or an in-depth look at the most recent/best methods to mitigate a certain kind of attack.
3. Video Content and Podcasts
Videos and podcasts are great ways to appeal to a different kind of audience. Not everyone wants to read lengthy blog posts and whitepapers, so videos and podcasts are a great alternative for those who want to listen in on the run.
The best part about creating content in different formats is that you can always repurpose:
- A blog post or a series of blog posts into a video/podcast
- A podcast into a whitepaper
- A whitepaper into a series of videos
…and so on. My advice is to repurpose everything, as often as possible. Offering different formats for the same content or for similar content is a great way to get more out of your initial investment!
4. Case Studies
This is the bottom of the bottom of the sales funnel. Who’s reading the case studies? Potential customers who have your company on the shortlist! And your competitors, of course.
In-depth case studies, the kind that give specifics about customers’ results, are a goldmine. Along with video testimonials, they are the best way to convert leads.
A small caveat, though: case studies are a great tool, but they are also incredibly hard to get right. If you’re serious about using them as a conversion tool, you should always get someone who specializes in content marketing to help you create them.
A questionnaire sent to a customer who’s willing to help is a great start. But the e answers to that questionnaire can only be as good as the questions in it. No matter how happy to help the customer is, they are (most likely) not marketers, so they won’t know which of their solved pain points to emphasize.
This is why you should work with someone who’s done it before and who can identify a great angle and a great story. This will be reflected in the questions they ask, as well as in the way they edit the answers and create a flow for the entire case study.
Wrapping This Up
The cybersecurity industry is filled with opportunities right now and every study or research report you’ll look into will say the same thing: the importance of cybersecurity companies will continue to grow in the next few years.
If you want to leave a mark in this industry, this is your moment to start shining. Invest in content marketing as early as possible. The sooner you do it, the sooner your market share will start to grow.
Need help with content marketing for your cybersecurity company? My team of expert tech content writers and marketers is just a click away!
