OK, now that we've defined our security buyer ensemble, let's talk about how a security startup with limited marketing resources can best engage the different players. At the risk of stating the obvious, the business decision-maker and the security architect are the two most important players. And yes, they're motivated by slightly different things. But in my view, your company's strategic narrative needs to resonate with both. The key ingredients that should be common to ...

OK, now that we've defined our security buyer ensemble, let's talk about how a security startup with limited marketing resources can best engage the different players. At the risk of stating the obvious, the business decision-maker and the security architect are the two most important players. And yes, they're motivated by slightly different things. But in my view, your company's strategic narrative needs to resonate with both. The key ingredients that should be common to ...

The first narrative instrument I mentioned in yesterday's message is a "major shift in the security industry landscape." This might seem like a tall order. But given how crowded the security space is, your startup won't have great odds of gaining traction without giving buyers a compelling reason to shift from the status quo. There are always big security waves to grab a piece of at any point in time. For example:Mitigating risks that existing security approaches miss (ransomware, w...

The first narrative instrument I mentioned in yesterday's message is a "major shift in the security industry landscape." This might seem like a tall order. But given how crowded the security space is, your startup won't have great odds of gaining traction without giving buyers a compelling reason to shift from the status quo. There are always big security waves to grab a piece of at any point in time. For example:Mitigating risks that existing security approaches miss (ransomware, w...

Something hasn’t been sitting right with me about the email I sent about buyer personas the other day. I still believe it. But I think it’s a bit of an oversimplification. So I’m going to take another crack at it over the next couple of days. I still don’t think creating cartoon caricatures of your buyers is a great use of time – especially for startups that need to keep marketing investments tightly focused. But I do think it’s critical to understand the buyer personas involved in the purcha...

Something hasn’t been sitting right with me about the email I sent about buyer personas the other day. I still believe it. But I think it’s a bit of an oversimplification. So I’m going to take another crack at it over the next couple of days. I still don’t think creating cartoon caricatures of your buyers is a great use of time – especially for startups that need to keep marketing investments tightly focused. But I do think it’s critical to understand the buyer personas involved in the purcha...

Once you find the right wave for your security startup, the real fun with positioning can begin. There are (at least) two schools of thought right now on the best way to position a company for growth.School 1: You need a far-reaching narrative that speaks to things like societal impact and culture in order to inspire customers and attract top talent.School 2: You need a narrative that puts immediate buyer pain points and desired outcomes front and center.Most branding agencies and storytellin...

Once you find the right wave for your security startup, the real fun with positioning can begin. There are (at least) two schools of thought right now on the best way to position a company for growth.School 1: You need a far-reaching narrative that speaks to things like societal impact and culture in order to inspire customers and attract top talent.School 2: You need a narrative that puts immediate buyer pain points and desired outcomes front and center.Most branding agencies and storytellin...

As I mentioned yesterday, your existing customers can help you understand your ideal positioning better than anyone else. But this only happens if you ask the right questions. One mistake I made repeatedly in the past is going into customer conversations with too much focus on validating my own ideas. I wasn’t truly trying to dig into the customer’s experience. My primary motive was to gather evidence that my ideas were correct. What I eventually realized is that the biggest “aha moments” fro...

As I mentioned yesterday, your existing customers can help you understand your ideal positioning better than anyone else. But this only happens if you ask the right questions. One mistake I made repeatedly in the past is going into customer conversations with too much focus on validating my own ideas. I wasn’t truly trying to dig into the customer’s experience. My primary motive was to gather evidence that my ideas were correct. What I eventually realized is that the biggest “aha moments” fro...

Marketing at a security startup is both an exciting and lonely place to be. If you’ve worked for a large security vendor before, you’ve seen firsthand how many people – and how much budget – it takes to compete for awareness in this market. But you usually don’t have any of that at a startup. What you do have is a bunch of well-intentioned colleagues with many ideas, many opinions, a bias towards action, and a general view that gaining marketing traction should be easy if you have a better pr...

Marketing at a security startup is both an exciting and lonely place to be. If you’ve worked for a large security vendor before, you’ve seen firsthand how many people – and how much budget – it takes to compete for awareness in this market. But you usually don’t have any of that at a startup. What you do have is a bunch of well-intentioned colleagues with many ideas, many opinions, a bias towards action, and a general view that gaining marketing traction should be easy if you have a better pr...

Creating buyer personas is universally regarded as a product marketing best practice. And talking about them is a great way to signal to others that you’re a very sophisticated marketer. 😉 But here’s a controversial opinion: I don’t think they’re a great use of time at a security startup. Do you need to know your buyers? Of course. And it certainly doesn’t hurt to write up some composite representations. But I could write a set of security buyer personas that apply universally to 80 percent ...

Creating buyer personas is universally regarded as a product marketing best practice. And talking about them is a great way to signal to others that you’re a very sophisticated marketer. 😉 But here’s a controversial opinion: I don’t think they’re a great use of time at a security startup. Do you need to know your buyers? Of course. And it certainly doesn’t hurt to write up some composite representations. But I could write a set of security buyer personas that apply universally to 80 percent ...

When you’re positioning a startup, the voices you should listen to most are the early customers who love your product. This seems obvious, but startup leadership teams often look in many other directions first. The original vision of the founders. The “whale” prospects on the pipeline that you want to sell to. The things you think your next set of investors want to see. These should all certainly be inputs to your positioning discussions. But it’s easy to turn your startup sideways if you spe...

When you’re positioning a startup, the voices you should listen to most are the early customers who love your product. This seems obvious, but startup leadership teams often look in many other directions first. The original vision of the founders. The “whale” prospects on the pipeline that you want to sell to. The things you think your next set of investors want to see. These should all certainly be inputs to your positioning discussions. But it’s easy to turn your startup sideways if you spe...

I hadn’t heard of Chili Piper before yesterday, even though I recently researched their space and became a customer of one of their competitors. But they were the best example I saw of a company getting it right yesterday.Follow these links to the above post, another from their co-founder, and one from an employee. Obviously, it isn't realistic for every business leader to step up in this way every time a world crisis occurs. But speaking from the heart rather than just echoing your peer...

I hadn’t heard of Chili Piper before yesterday, even though I recently researched their space and became a customer of one of their competitors. But they were the best example I saw of a company getting it right yesterday.Follow these links to the above post, another from their co-founder, and one from an employee. Obviously, it isn't realistic for every business leader to step up in this way every time a world crisis occurs. But speaking from the heart rather than just echoing your peer...

I pay close attention to what up-and-coming marketers are saying and doing on social media and in various marketing communities. Partly because it’s really interesting. And partly because I’m terrified that I’m turning into a dinosaur. 😆 But I find it surprising how many marketers identify their specialization as “B2B SaaS.” Don’t get me wrong. SaaS is awesome. And there are marketing skills that apply to SaaS delivery models uniquely. For example, a product-led growth expert can add value t...

I pay close attention to what up-and-coming marketers are saying and doing on social media and in various marketing communities. Partly because it’s really interesting. And partly because I’m terrified that I’m turning into a dinosaur. 😆 But I find it surprising how many marketers identify their specialization as “B2B SaaS.” Don’t get me wrong. SaaS is awesome. And there are marketing skills that apply to SaaS delivery models uniquely. For example, a product-led growth expert can add value t...

As security marketers and sellers, we face a bit of a conundrum right now. The invasion of Ukraine legitimately increases the level of cybersecurity risk that organizations in North America and Europe face. Russia is one of the most sophisticated nation-stake threat actors in the world. They’ve also been probing U.S. critical infrastructure for weaknesses for the better part of a decade. Meanwhile, the Conti ransomware group has already made it clear that they are aligned with the Russian gov...

As security marketers and sellers, we face a bit of a conundrum right now. The invasion of Ukraine legitimately increases the level of cybersecurity risk that organizations in North America and Europe face. Russia is one of the most sophisticated nation-stake threat actors in the world. They’ve also been probing U.S. critical infrastructure for weaknesses for the better part of a decade. Meanwhile, the Conti ransomware group has already made it clear that they are aligned with the Russian gov...

One of the hardest things about building a career around startups is knowing whether you will be compensated fairly for your efforts. Often, early-stage startup employees accept lower cash salaries and bonuses based on the potential future value of equity. But there are so many variables that affect eventual stock option value that it can feel like you’re trying to beat house odds at a casino. Only you’re not just at the casino for a day. You’re spending years of your life and career there. E...

One of the hardest things about building a career around startups is knowing whether you will be compensated fairly for your efforts. Often, early-stage startup employees accept lower cash salaries and bonuses based on the potential future value of equity. But there are so many variables that affect eventual stock option value that it can feel like you’re trying to beat house odds at a casino. Only you’re not just at the casino for a day. You’re spending years of your life and career there. E...