A fellow freelance marketer in a Slack group I’m in asked me for some advice about breaking into the cybersecurity niche. I thought I would share my suggestions here in case they are helpful to any of you.Build your general industry knowledge a little each dayOne of the problems with the cybersecurity space is that there is a lot of noise. It can be a bit overwhelming. But I do think it’s important to build some general knowledge about what is happening in the industry. KrebsOnSecurity is one...

A fellow freelance marketer in a Slack group I’m in asked me for some advice about breaking into the cybersecurity niche. I thought I would share my suggestions here in case they are helpful to any of you.Build your general industry knowledge a little each dayOne of the problems with the cybersecurity space is that there is a lot of noise. It can be a bit overwhelming. But I do think it’s important to build some general knowledge about what is happening in the industry. KrebsOnSecurity is one...

Sometimes, it’s necessary to decouple what’s happening around you from what you’re doing at work. This is especially true in sales and marketing, both of which require showing up and grinding every day to be successful. But some days are different. This morning I woke up to the news that Russia had invaded Ukraine. Even though my direct ties to both countries are limited to a handful of work colleagues, I feel upset. I’m upset about this specific situation. But more broadly, I’m upset by how ...

Sometimes, it’s necessary to decouple what’s happening around you from what you’re doing at work. This is especially true in sales and marketing, both of which require showing up and grinding every day to be successful. But some days are different. This morning I woke up to the news that Russia had invaded Ukraine. Even though my direct ties to both countries are limited to a handful of work colleagues, I feel upset. I’m upset about this specific situation. But more broadly, I’m upset by how ...

​Grammarly is the AI copywriting tool with which I have the most first-hand experience. I’ve been using it since late 2017. Since then, it has analyzed over 4 million of my written words. When I first tried Grammarly, I immediately found it far superior to the built-in grammar checkers in applications like Word and Google Docs. But for the first several years I used it, user experience issues would often get in the way. To Grammarly’s credit, they tried a bunch of things to provide ubiquitous...

​Grammarly is the AI copywriting tool with which I have the most first-hand experience. I’ve been using it since late 2017. Since then, it has analyzed over 4 million of my written words. When I first tried Grammarly, I immediately found it far superior to the built-in grammar checkers in applications like Word and Google Docs. But for the first several years I used it, user experience issues would often get in the way. To Grammarly’s credit, they tried a bunch of things to provide ubiquitous...

We’re still in the “training wheels” phase of applying AI to sales and marketing. But it’s already unlocking value in significant ways. One of the biggest for me is learning about buyer pain points and behavior at scale. As I’m sure many of you know, there is now a whole category of “revenue intelligence” products that record your sales interactions and use AI to derive insights. The one I have the most experience with is Gong. They’re blowing up. Like Super Bowl ad level blowing up. These se...

We’re still in the “training wheels” phase of applying AI to sales and marketing. But it’s already unlocking value in significant ways. One of the biggest for me is learning about buyer pain points and behavior at scale. As I’m sure many of you know, there is now a whole category of “revenue intelligence” products that record your sales interactions and use AI to derive insights. The one I have the most experience with is Gong. They’re blowing up. Like Super Bowl ad level blowing up. These se...

If you’re someone who works with me, you may have noticed that I ask to record our Zoom calls more often than I used to. There’s a reason for this. While I can’t justify the cost of a revenue intelligence platform like Gong for my small shop, I made up my own poor man’s version. Here’s how it works.Download and install Descript. (There’s a free version.)Hit the record button on a Zoom call and pick the “Record on this computer” option.After the Zoom call ends, drag the video file that Zoom sp...

If you’re someone who works with me, you may have noticed that I ask to record our Zoom calls more often than I used to. There’s a reason for this. While I can’t justify the cost of a revenue intelligence platform like Gong for my small shop, I made up my own poor man’s version. Here’s how it works.Download and install Descript. (There’s a free version.)Hit the record button on a Zoom call and pick the “Record on this computer” option.After the Zoom call ends, drag the video file that Zoom sp...

One of the things I love about being a consultant is that I get to work with way more cool people and companies than I would if I were in a full-time role. Some of them are even so cool that I’m tempted to pursue a full-time spot on the team. But I’m not going to do that. You might want to, though. So when I see interesting cybersecurity sales and marketing jobs, I’ll share them. I’ll focus on the ones that meet these criteria:Nice peopleCool companyI can make a warm introductionMoving forwar...

One of the things I love about being a consultant is that I get to work with way more cool people and companies than I would if I were in a full-time role. Some of them are even so cool that I’m tempted to pursue a full-time spot on the team. But I’m not going to do that. You might want to, though. So when I see interesting cybersecurity sales and marketing jobs, I’ll share them. I’ll focus on the ones that meet these criteria:Nice peopleCool companyI can make a warm introductionMoving forwar...

This seemed like too long of a side journey to take during yesterday’s recap of “Trillion Dollar Coach,” but the book got me thinking about how important it is for people who want to help others to reach out beyond their immediate orbit. The book’s descriptions of Bill Campbell reminded me of other powerful and generous leaders I’ve met during my career. They’re universally caring and kind to everyone in their orbit. It doesn’t matter if you’re the office cleaning person, the shuttle bus driv...

This seemed like too long of a side journey to take during yesterday’s recap of “Trillion Dollar Coach,” but the book got me thinking about how important it is for people who want to help others to reach out beyond their immediate orbit. The book’s descriptions of Bill Campbell reminded me of other powerful and generous leaders I’ve met during my career. They’re universally caring and kind to everyone in their orbit. It doesn’t matter if you’re the office cleaning person, the shuttle bus driv...

I’ve started playing around with a couple of AI copywriting tools that do more than Grammarly to actually generate copy. The ones I’m starting with are:​Jasper (formerly known as Jarvis)​Copy.ai​Here are some quick first impressions:They're very focused on simpler use cases like writing social media and ad copy (which I guess is not surprising).They don’t seem to do what I described in my bionic copywriting post yet.They're more focused on understanding the Internet at large (which ...

I’ve started playing around with a couple of AI copywriting tools that do more than Grammarly to actually generate copy. The ones I’m starting with are:​Jasper (formerly known as Jarvis)​Copy.ai​Here are some quick first impressions:They're very focused on simpler use cases like writing social media and ad copy (which I guess is not surprising).They don’t seem to do what I described in my bionic copywriting post yet.They're more focused on understanding the Internet at large (which ...

I recently finished “Trillion Dollar Coach” by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle. It’s been on my radar since it was released a few years ago. But one of my goals for this year is to be more helpful to others outside of my paid client work. So it seemed like good inspiration. The book focuses on the leadership and coaching techniques of Bill Campbell. He was a business coach to a bunch of people you wouldn’t think would need a business coach. People with names like Jobs, Page, ...

I recently finished “Trillion Dollar Coach” by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle. It’s been on my radar since it was released a few years ago. But one of my goals for this year is to be more helpful to others outside of my paid client work. So it seemed like good inspiration. The book focuses on the leadership and coaching techniques of Bill Campbell. He was a business coach to a bunch of people you wouldn’t think would need a business coach. People with names like Jobs, Page, ...

I’ve been thinking about the different purposes that B2B copywriting needs to serve in different situations. Most of the copywriting categorizations I’ve seen focus on what the company doing the writing wants to accomplish (e.g., SEO, conversion, etc.). I thought it might be interesting to view copywriting through the lens of what’s in it for the reader. Here are some categories I came up with:Engagement copywriting: Pique my curiosity in ways that make me want to learn more.Educational copyw...

I’ve been thinking about the different purposes that B2B copywriting needs to serve in different situations. Most of the copywriting categorizations I’ve seen focus on what the company doing the writing wants to accomplish (e.g., SEO, conversion, etc.). I thought it might be interesting to view copywriting through the lens of what’s in it for the reader. Here are some categories I came up with:Engagement copywriting: Pique my curiosity in ways that make me want to learn more.Educational copyw...

I spend a lot of time writing and talking about artificial intelligence these days. The security industry is awash in data. Too much for humans – or even fairly sophisticated algorithms – to make sense of. And AI is probably our best shot at leveling the playing field with threat actors. (They’ve been kicking our asses the last few years.) This also has me thinking about the potential applications of AI to sales and marketing. Sure, getting on a sales call with an expert solution seller and t...

I spend a lot of time writing and talking about artificial intelligence these days. The security industry is awash in data. Too much for humans – or even fairly sophisticated algorithms – to make sense of. And AI is probably our best shot at leveling the playing field with threat actors. (They’ve been kicking our asses the last few years.) This also has me thinking about the potential applications of AI to sales and marketing. Sure, getting on a sales call with an expert solution seller and t...

Most of what I do involves writing. I really enjoy it. But it’s also mentally exhausting – especially when the subject matter is complex. I can’t do it at a high level for an entire workday. There are some things I can do to optimize my performance, like get a good night’s sleep and get out for a little fresh air and exercise. But even on my best days, I hit an output and quality ceiling surprisingly early in the day. When I write, 80 percent of the value I provide usually occurs in the first...

Most of what I do involves writing. I really enjoy it. But it’s also mentally exhausting – especially when the subject matter is complex. I can’t do it at a high level for an entire workday. There are some things I can do to optimize my performance, like get a good night’s sleep and get out for a little fresh air and exercise. But even on my best days, I hit an output and quality ceiling surprisingly early in the day. When I write, 80 percent of the value I provide usually occurs in the first...