By Florie Lhuillierhead of cybersecurity, CCGroup
Working in the cybersecurity industry is like constantly training for a marathon. At first, you’re anxious but excited to try something new. Soon the challenge of what you have decided to do becomes very clear.
There aren’t many people you can count on to do this but yourself, the growing threat of having problems and injuries is very real and external factors such as bad weather and heat put obstacles to your training.
You also see more and more runners registering for the same event, which makes your goal of standing out and finishing in the top 10% even more difficult.
Today’s reality cyber security professionals can feel just as relentless. THE talent shortage The situation is worsening, geopolitical events and new technologies such as AI make cyberattacks more likely and increasingly sophisticated, while global economic uncertainty persists and new cybersecurity startups are making their appearance.
These cybersecurity marketing trends make the role of those responsible for promoting solutions extremely difficult, causing them to rethink their strategies. Let’s take a closer look.
The skills shortage is real
According to this report, British and American companies that reported a decrease in investment last year cited a shortage of talent as the main reason. Recent research by the UK government also found that 50% of all UK businesses have basic training. cybersecurity skills gap and more than 160,000 cybersecurity jobs were posted in 2023, an increase of 30% from 2022.
THE skills gap in the industry is real and will only continue to increase unless organizational resources are redirected to the security department for support or companies develop talent internally and train their employees through adequate training.
The surface of cyberattacks is expanding
The global economic downturn and geopolitical conflicts are also leading to an expansion of the attack surface. Pro-Russian hackers Western countries are launching politically motivated cyberattacks against Western infrastructure, while cybercrime groups are stepping up their efforts and knocking on more doors, especially those of smaller organizations. They also need to earn money, and even more so in a turbulent economic situation.
Technological advances such as Generative AI are another reason behind the increase in cyberattacks. Business and malicious email compromise attacks chatbots has deep fake phishing, the creation and proliferation of AI-based technologies hacking tools like WormGPT and FraudGPT lower the barriers to entry and democratize the execution of different types of attacks. This makes it even more important for businesses to stay on top of threats.
Significant investments are being made but challenges remain
Even as the world enters what experts call a “polycrisis” (inflation, climate change, war in Ukraine), the market for cybersecurity products remains vibrant – at least at first glance. The same report mentioned above shows that 78% of companies in the US and 58% in the UK have increased their investments over the past year.
Meanwhile, 81% of companies plan to work with new cybersecurity technology providers in the next 12 months. Companies are also identifying gaps in their existing cybersecurity solutions and looking for vendors that can better meet their needs, particularly around endpoint security, application security and fraud prevention.
Looking ahead, however, 37% of U.S. businesses expect to see a reduction in spending over the next 12 months. Similarly, 24% of UK businesses are expected to cut spending. The main reason on both sides of the Atlantic is that the change is in line with their income.
This means that cybersecurity vendors will need to double down on sales and marketing efforts and place even greater emphasis on the uniqueness and cost-effectiveness of their offering if they want to attract the attention of their buyers.
The supplier landscape is evolving
Finally, the proliferation of attacks, causing trillions of dollars in damage each year, also makes cybersecurity a significant market opportunity to seize. Analyst firm Gartner predicts that end-user spending for the information security and risk management market will reach $267.3 billion in 2026.
According to IT-Harvest, there are more than 3,740 cybersecurity vendors worldwide and new startups are created every day that want a piece of the pie, making the vendor landscape extremely competitive and dynamic.
All of these factors are forcing cybersecurity providers to re-evaluate their marketing efforts to engage and help businesses address a growing skills gap, manage cybersecurity threats, and limit or even eliminate their exposure to risks, thereby ensuring the resilience of their business.
Adapt cybersecurity marketing strategies
To do this, marketing teams must regularly analyze, adjust and adapt what they do to what’s happening in the market – from their overall strategy to new technologies, tools and trends.
Going back to the running analogy, marathon training can never be perfect, obstacles on the road are part of the journey. However, what is important is not what will happen, whether or not you will get injured or finish a race, but how you react to it and what you get from it.
As a marketer, you must first identify where you want to be in 12 or 24 months and where you are now. Do you want to increase your awareness or improve your tender conversion rate? Is your current channel and content strategy aligned with this goal? What you need is to take the time to sit down, ideally with a third party like a coach, and analyze what you did (or didn’t do) and what you could have done better.
A bit like when a race, despite all the training, doesn’t go as planned. Did you have the right equipment, clothing and fuel that day? Otherwise, make sure to adjust your strategy and program before the next one and adapt it to external factors. Only then will you have the best chance of success.
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