​Brittany Sterling is one of the best product marketers in the cybersecurity space. She also has a dark secret. She started her career as an SDR. I asked her a few questions about it. Most SDRs aspire to grow into more senior sales roles. Do you think more of them should consider a marketing career path?As an SDR, your interactions with marketing can be surface-level. There are more roles and disciplines than you may realize. You don't see a lot of the moving parts happening in the backg...

​Brittany Sterling is one of the best product marketers in the cybersecurity space. She also has a dark secret. She started her career as an SDR. I asked her a few questions about it. Most SDRs aspire to grow into more senior sales roles. Do you think more of them should consider a marketing career path?As an SDR, your interactions with marketing can be surface-level. There are more roles and disciplines than you may realize. You don't see a lot of the moving parts happening in the backg...

The feedback on yesterday’s video experiment was split down the middle, with about half of you sharing my enthusiasm and the other half feeling like it was too impersonal for senior security buyers to embrace. But consider this analogy. I’ve wanted to become better at cooking for a long time. So call me a highly motivated buyer of cooking lessons. There is an excellent chef (like 2x champion on “Chopped” good) the next town over who will literally come to my house and give me cooking lessons....

The feedback on yesterday’s video experiment was split down the middle, with about half of you sharing my enthusiasm and the other half feeling like it was too impersonal for senior security buyers to embrace. But consider this analogy. I’ve wanted to become better at cooking for a long time. So call me a highly motivated buyer of cooking lessons. There is an excellent chef (like 2x champion on “Chopped” good) the next town over who will literally come to my house and give me cooking lessons....

Data feels like gold when you’re a marketer or salesperson at an early-stage startup. Or to use a different metaphor, when you’re lost in the fog, data seems like the GPS you desperately need. But at many startups, data ends up being fool’s gold. Most early-stage startups are moving too fast – and are too understaffed – to have reliable data measurements in place. Look at the campaigns you have set up in Salesforce or your marketing automation system. (Go ahead, I’ll wait.) OK, now I’ll tell ...

Data feels like gold when you’re a marketer or salesperson at an early-stage startup. Or to use a different metaphor, when you’re lost in the fog, data seems like the GPS you desperately need. But at many startups, data ends up being fool’s gold. Most early-stage startups are moving too fast – and are too understaffed – to have reliable data measurements in place. Look at the campaigns you have set up in Salesforce or your marketing automation system. (Go ahead, I’ll wait.) OK, now I’ll tell ...

Storytime. Back in the early 2000s, I was a bright-eyed product manager presenting to an executive team about a new product launch. I was both clueless and excited, so when I was done spouting on about the then-fascinating world of “managed Internet connectivity” (not kidding), one of the executives said, “you need to give us the ‘ducks and bunnies’ version of this.” I still think of this whenever I’m about to jump down a rabbit hole on something. Fast-forward a decade to 2010. Forrester Rese...

Storytime. Back in the early 2000s, I was a bright-eyed product manager presenting to an executive team about a new product launch. I was both clueless and excited, so when I was done spouting on about the then-fascinating world of “managed Internet connectivity” (not kidding), one of the executives said, “you need to give us the ‘ducks and bunnies’ version of this.” I still think of this whenever I’m about to jump down a rabbit hole on something. Fast-forward a decade to 2010. Forrester Rese...

The answer is yes. They do it all the time. The total cost to attend Brown University is $82,670 per year. So a four-year degree will set you back $330,680. ​Here’s their SDR team. They’re crushing it. So while it might seem like I’m bashing SDRs in some of my recent emails, I’m not. I just think we need to shift their focus from attention-grabbing gimmicks to becoming enthusiastic and effective ambassadors for your business. The enthusiasm is often there. But SDRs don’t have the tools and su...

The answer is yes. They do it all the time. The total cost to attend Brown University is $82,670 per year. So a four-year degree will set you back $330,680. ​Here’s their SDR team. They’re crushing it. So while it might seem like I’m bashing SDRs in some of my recent emails, I’m not. I just think we need to shift their focus from attention-grabbing gimmicks to becoming enthusiastic and effective ambassadors for your business. The enthusiasm is often there. But SDRs don’t have the tools and su...

In yesterday’s note, I alluded to an opportunity we’ve all missed to give security buyers a clear and understandable plan for Zero Trust. That's not to say that there isn’t some great work being done by security vendors on Zero Trust. Many address very substantive aspects of it and do a great job of explaining how. The problem is that the end-to-end journey to a Zero Trust Architecture is so complex and organization-specific that no vendor wants to jump in with both feet. They want to se...

In yesterday’s note, I alluded to an opportunity we’ve all missed to give security buyers a clear and understandable plan for Zero Trust. That's not to say that there isn’t some great work being done by security vendors on Zero Trust. Many address very substantive aspects of it and do a great job of explaining how. The problem is that the end-to-end journey to a Zero Trust Architecture is so complex and organization-specific that no vendor wants to jump in with both feet. They want to se...

No one vendor can address every aspect of Zero Trust, so I love the idea of an alliance-based approach that connects the dots for security buyers. ​The Spectra Alliance is the closest thing I’ve seen to this. It’s a partnership between Crowdstrike, Netskope, Okta, and Proofpoint, presenting a shared vision for Zero Trust. Here’s what I like:A multi-vendor approach is necessary, so it’s great that someone is at least trying it.They did a bit more than the usual Barney-style alliance press rele...

No one vendor can address every aspect of Zero Trust, so I love the idea of an alliance-based approach that connects the dots for security buyers. ​The Spectra Alliance is the closest thing I’ve seen to this. It’s a partnership between Crowdstrike, Netskope, Okta, and Proofpoint, presenting a shared vision for Zero Trust. Here’s what I like:A multi-vendor approach is necessary, so it’s great that someone is at least trying it.They did a bit more than the usual Barney-style alliance press rele...

I read and listen to a lot of business books. Some are great. Many aren’t. Most land in a middle ground of providing useful insights that could have been delivered as a few good emails or blog posts instead of a whole book. I’m going to weave in some quick takes on books that I think have some applicability to cybersecurity sales and marketing. Like this one… ​“Building a StoryBrand” by Donald Miller This is probably one that many of you have already heard of. There’s now a whole empire of tr...

I read and listen to a lot of business books. Some are great. Many aren’t. Most land in a middle ground of providing useful insights that could have been delivered as a few good emails or blog posts instead of a whole book. I’m going to weave in some quick takes on books that I think have some applicability to cybersecurity sales and marketing. Like this one… ​“Building a StoryBrand” by Donald Miller This is probably one that many of you have already heard of. There’s now a whole empire of tr...

OK, our first possible starting point for a buyer plan for Zero Trust is “A Practical Guide To a Zero Trust Implementation” from Forrester Research. Side note: This is paid research, but if you Google the title, you will find numerous security vendors willing to give you free access in return for a one-way ticket into their lead nurture hellscape. I’m a big fan of maturity models for positioning and selling security products. Security is never “done,” so helping buyers understand where they a...

OK, our first possible starting point for a buyer plan for Zero Trust is “A Practical Guide To a Zero Trust Implementation” from Forrester Research. Side note: This is paid research, but if you Google the title, you will find numerous security vendors willing to give you free access in return for a one-way ticket into their lead nurture hellscape. I’m a big fan of maturity models for positioning and selling security products. Security is never “done,” so helping buyers understand where they a...

OK, so here’s a quick recap of our mission from yesterday’s email. We want to give security buyers a plan (clinks beer glasses with Donald Miller) for Zero Trust Architecture. What building blocks do we have to start with? Here are three possible starting points that I think could be interesting to explore. I’m going to do a deeper dive on each, but here’s what I’m thinking: Option 1: “A Practical Guide to Zero Trust Implementation” by Forrester Research Forrester coined the term Zero Trust A...

OK, so here’s a quick recap of our mission from yesterday’s email. We want to give security buyers a plan (clinks beer glasses with Donald Miller) for Zero Trust Architecture. What building blocks do we have to start with? Here are three possible starting points that I think could be interesting to explore. I’m going to do a deeper dive on each, but here’s what I’m thinking: Option 1: “A Practical Guide to Zero Trust Implementation” by Forrester Research Forrester coined the term Zero Trust A...

OK, now that the marketing guy explained what Zero Trust is, let’s get into some ways to give security buyers a plan for it (that hopefully includes some of you). There’s a real danger that this could get boring in a hurry, so here’s what I’m thinking. Over the next few days, I’ll give you my quick take on what I like and don’t like about the three possible starting points I mentioned. I’m not going to regurgitate every detail, but I’ll try to give you the gist. Then, I’m going to make up a f...

OK, now that the marketing guy explained what Zero Trust is, let’s get into some ways to give security buyers a plan for it (that hopefully includes some of you). There’s a real danger that this could get boring in a hurry, so here’s what I’m thinking. Over the next few days, I’ll give you my quick take on what I like and don’t like about the three possible starting points I mentioned. I’m not going to regurgitate every detail, but I’ll try to give you the gist. Then, I’m going to make up a f...

Late last year, I hired a designer to create a new brand identity for my business. She had an interesting sales process. Before she would even get on the phone with me, I had to complete a fairly elaborate interactive form. It was a multi-step kind of thing that would branch in different directions based on my responses. At first, I was taken aback by this. It seemed like a lot of hoops to jump through for the privilege of giving someone my money. But as I worked my way through the form, some...

Late last year, I hired a designer to create a new brand identity for my business. She had an interesting sales process. Before she would even get on the phone with me, I had to complete a fairly elaborate interactive form. It was a multi-step kind of thing that would branch in different directions based on my responses. At first, I was taken aback by this. It seemed like a lot of hoops to jump through for the privilege of giving someone my money. But as I worked my way through the form, some...