Many cloud security companies believe themselves to be Software as a Service (SaaS) firms, when they actually have a field-sales journey. A good marketing plan will include not only a channel-mix and a budget plan that reflects this, but sales enablement and product pricing too.

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Forty-one percent of investors and analysts say they are now extremely concerned about cyber threats. Every business needs cyber security solutions – barriers to purchase arise from poor audience setting and too much focus on data.

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The job of a marketing plan is easy when these barriers are addressed. Read on to understand how to alleviate and avoid these issues and strengthen the strategy your cloud security brand adopts.

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Our full market guide, “Cloud Security 2020: Barriers to Growth” includes many more ways that your cloud security brand’s growth is being stunted – and how to overcome them.

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The idea of tech brands being too sales led – with little marketing activity – is more common than you think. Many brands attempt to beat the traffic and solely focus on launching products as fast as possible.

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On the other hand, some in the cloud security industry throw communications out into the world and do not measure the impact of their efforts.

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It’s crucial to get these three areas of business aligned in one plan – or each department will run of fin its own siloed direction.

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When the direction is consistent, the content needs to work. And this is because the C-suite are disengaged.

Your target audience primarily consist of CIOs and CISOs, so your marketing strategy should not be tailored for anyone else. Going in cold is almost impossible – especially because no CIOs’ roles are the same – but with the right research and communication marketing can help.

It should be known that a relationship trumps any marketing channel, but a strong professional relationship often arises from innovative communications.

And this is where analyst validation comes in. Analysts are the influencers of the B2B world and will often be the biggest stamp of approval to get customers contacting you, as opposed to the other way around.

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Eighty-four percent of buyers say industry analyst reports impacted decision making, and 83% cite private analyst consultations as a toppurchase driver.

Many analysts also have league-table like reports, such as the Gartner Magic Quadrant or Forrester Wave Report. These reports are usually produced in very specific market segments and it is worth researching the different options to see where you best fit.

If your brand doesn’t have a route to achieve – or enhance –their brand’s analyst validation, paid-for marketing materials will prove a lot less impactful. This is because analysts already have a relationship with the buyer, and they need to be introduced to you.

So, a combination of an engaging marketing strategy, alongside a plan to garner analyst validation, will be the route to the marketing success of your cloud security brand.

Download our full guide here to learn what else is in your brand’s way, and what your brand needs to do to grow.

It’s a bad industry habit to use technical, complicated language to sell cloud solutions. Cloud security products are complicated and technical innovations, but for the most part, the customer does not care about that one bit.

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The cloud security market is set to be worth $12.2B in 2023. With such a saturated online market, your messaging has never mattered more. A website visitor or a blog reader isn’t going to wait around to decipher what distinguishes you from your competitors.

Read on to learn how to clarify your message and offering, and download our complete guide, “Cloud Security 2020: Barriers to Growth”, to discover more obstacles that may still be in the way of your cloud security brand.

As a cyber security company, it’s likely you’re using too much jargon. You might have even made an effort to not use jargon, but with such a fast-moving industry, there’s new terminology every year and most don’t keep up like you need to.

A lot of the time, jargon can be a way of demonstrating expertise. But technical language often comes across as a tool to “cloud the fact they (you) can’t succinctly articulate the value they bring to the industry”.

For many cloud security brands, a lazy messaging strategy – or no messaging strategy at all – leads to USPs with two flaws: (a lack of) clarity and originality.

Avoiding this means investing time and resources. It’s a big strategic step to make, especially when a lot of your competitors aren’t doing this.

A sign of success when clarifying your brand’s messaging is consistency. In the cyber security industry, companies are complex- different members of your team play very different roles. So, making sure everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet is difficult.

Although it’s difficult, it’s necessary. It means simple brand guidelines, creating a corporate culture worth talking about and maintaining distinct digital channels.

Every employee telling the same story encourages brand trust, referrals, strong customer relationships and improves the ability for your brand to be talked about online and off.

Good copy can translate that to your prospective customers, and good management can have your team translating this too.

When selling security products, clarity is king.

Download “Cloud Security 2020: Barriers to Growth (And How To Overcome Them) here to learn more.

As a security provider in 2020, brand trust is paramount. Customers have many reasons to doubt a tech company’s claims and if your brand does not make a conscious effort to validate these claims, you will suffer.

And with the current saturation of the cloud security market, it’s not enough to just offer a security solution. The average cost of cyberattack is £20,000, and 60% of SMEs hit close down within six months.

Every brand needs to convey that their cloud security product could save a business. Communicating that uniquely is the challenge.

Read on to discover how a cloud security company can improve their brand. While you’re at it, download our full guide, “Cloud Security 2020: Barriers to Growth”, including this and other obstacles that your brand can overcome to generate more sales.

Al Young notes the difference in how brands treated customers in the past, “when I started in this business, brands tried to entertain. If you made people laugh, you could pretend you were their mate and that was success.”

We’ve moved from entertainment to trust. A trustworthy brand is worth way more, especially in security, to businesses looking for a cloud solution.

In 2020, 77% of B2B buyers do not talk to salespeople without doing their own research. Most will start their research on social media – yet B2B brands widely disregard it entirely.

This sounds like old news, but it should be stated – a healthy digital footprint is not desirable but necessary – social media engagement, a distinct tone of voice and a strong visual brand all contribute to creating trust.

Our guide’s third barrier to growth outlines it as simply as possible: “Your Brand is Weak”. It’s not just about product features or previous clients, it’s about the strength and clarity.

CMOs are starting to realise this; 33% put brand strategy as one of their top three 2020 priorities, a big jump from last year.

Cloud companies are more inclined to prioritise brand strategy simply due to a lack of tangibility. There’s more trust required and its harder to get back if lost.

A bad reputation will typically create barriers but for most it can be faster to flip a bad story. KFC ran out of chicken and managed to spin it into good PR. Working in the security industry, however, means one bad customer experience could prove irreparable.

View your cloud security brand image as an ornate vase. The painstaking time and effort took to build and shape reputation and include the necessary detail could all be gone with one drop.

Keeping the vase from smashing is down to how well you prevent a drop and how quick your catching reflexes are. Focus on customer experience – currently overtaking price and product as a key brand differentiator and a main driver in cloud solution purchases.

Show how positive your customers’ experiences have been. Leverage potential clients with a look into how pain-free the whole process will be and if your product is up to scratch, you’ll see word-of-mouth referrals go through the roof.

Click here to download our guide – “Cloud Security 2020: Barriers to Growth (And How To Overcome Them)” – to read more on how to grow your brand.