Everyone needs cybersecurity — from enterprise corporations down to small businesses. Any size company can fall victim to a cyber attack, and the results can be disastrous. The average cost of a data breach is $4.35 million with small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) seeing slightly lower, but still significant, costs of around $3 million per breach.
Luckily, businesses seem to be aware of the danger and are actively searching for protection. Just since June of 2022, nearly 14,000 organizations have expressed an interest in cybersecurity solutions across the TechnologyAdvice ecosystem. These organizations range from local government agencies to small mom-and-pop shops to large enterprises and everything in between.
And not only are there a ton of companies looking for cybersecurity solutions, but there are also a ton of individuals leading the search. In 2021 alone, there were around 4,100 unique job titles searching for software solutions for their organizations, according to TechnologyAdvice first-party data. That number is growing, with nearly 4,300 unique cybersecurity job titles looking for solutions in 2022. Vendors will likely see that number grow even further in 2023.
In a sea of buyers, how can you find your ideal customers? Some of this is easy to navigate because if you only target SMBs, then you can target company size during lead generation and advertising efforts and direct content topics toward SMB security. But if you’re targeting larger companies, this becomes more difficult. More people get involved in the buying committee.
While it’s tempting to market to directors and executives, they aren’t the only ones researching. TechnologyAdvice’s data shows everything from C-level executives to security analysts looking for solutions, as well as employees in finance and risk departments. Each of these buyers is going to have different preferences and pain points, meaning you’ll need to address each of them in your marketing efforts.
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Create Content in Different Formats
Here’s where personal preference comes into play for these buyers. Not everyone will read a blog or watch a webinar, so you have to create content in multiple formats to reach the largest potential audience. You must also consider social media marketing, digital advertising, and native ads.
Understanding Native Advertising & Why It’s Successful
Not only do you need to use different formals, but you also need to market across the funnel because not every buyer is going to follow the same steps. Some may start with a problem and work their way to a solution, while others may start with a shortlist and justify their choice based on the different problems they need to solve. By having top, middle, and bottom-of-funnel content available, you can speak to buyers wherever they are in their journey.
Speak to Buyers’ Needs
The more you talk about your brand and product, the less likely you are to resonate with buyers. Typically, buyers don’t really care about your product except for how it can solve their problems. Focus on buyer pain points and then position your offering as the solution, rather than spending too much time talking about the different features and benefits of your product.
For example, your buyers likely won’t care if your product performs automatic backups unless you first connect with them on the dangers of ransomware and the data they could lose if they experience a breach. Then, they’ll understand the need for automatic backups and how it can keep them from having to pay a ransom to get their data back.
Learn How to Address Diversity in the Buying Committee.
Make Information Easy to Access
While gating high-value information makes sense as a lead-generation tactic, buyers are unlikely to contact you or give up their email addresses for basic information. For example, unless your pricing is truly custom, don’t make a buyer talk to sales to learn what your platform will cost them.
Additionally, your website needs to be easy to navigate and should contain little marketing speak. For example, “digital transformation” is fairly vague and may not mean much to buyers unless you include extra information. However, “aggregating cybersecurity data into a single platform for higher visibility, automated remediation, and improved alerting” outlines clear benefits to using the platform and addresses pain points that the buyer is likely already facing.
Help buyers by Reducing Complexity in the B2B Buying Journey.
Meet Buyers Where They’re Already Researching
Buyers usually don’t go straight to vendors when they start their buying journey. Instead, they look to third-party sites for unbiased resources and help narrowing down a shortlist of vendors. As a vendor, you need to partner with these third-party sites to get your name in front of buyers sooner, allowing you to be top-of-mind when they’re ready to start talking to vendors.
TechnologyAdvice has an exclusive audience of over 100 million engaged technology buyers that come to our site to research products and solutions just like yours. We offer content, leads, and digital advertising all in one place, to help you surround and engage the entire buying committee with an integrated approach. To learn more about how TechnologyAdvice can help you meet cybersecurity buyers on their terms, contact us today.