2021 Survey Insight: Challenges by Funding Size

Nov 9, 2021 | 2021 State of Cybersecurity Marketing Survey

Making B2B more B2C

Becoming more customer-centric isn’t just something you say. Talking the talk means reaching the business buyers on their terms and with their terms. Just like the B2C approach, cybersecurity marketers need to bring the business buyers into the fold by reaching them on multiple channels, making the user experience seamless, and having a strong brand personality, creating the right brand personality. Sure, a strong cybersecurity posture means saving a prospect company money, reputation, and brand. But business buyers who also have a stake and high interest in building the right security ecosystem don’t know, and sometimes don’t care, about the jargon.

Taking the creativity and personality focus of the B2C approach is one way to move beyond the saturated landscape and the uninterested CISO ICP. Looking different is the other uphill battle, and cybersecurity marketers started taking a more creative approach, throwing the dark spectrum of colors, binary code background, and the famous locks or shields into the digital trash bin. 2020 opened the gates to creativity that has pushed the envelope on the traditional marketing strategy, with no events in sight, marketers had no choice but to adopt the unbeaten path.

Survey results show those with bootstrapped startup budgets had an even steeper hill to climb when trying to stand out. Catching the attention of analysts is usually outside their means, and the success of gaining media hits organically is scarce. Marketers feel as though if they don’t have news on a breach, or a strong opinion on a recent breach, it’s usually a freezing cold shoulder from reporters and influencers. 

Biggest Challenge by Funding Size (206 responses)

  • Bootstrapped with No Plan to Raise Funding: It is Difficult to Differentiate / Crowded Category (40%)
  • Bootstrapped with Plans to Raise Funding: It is Difficult to Explain Our Technology (40%)
  • Pre-Seed / Seed: It is Difficult to Differentiate / Crowded Category (33%)
  • Series A: It is Difficult to Differentiate / Crowded Category (43%)
  • Series B: It is Difficult to Differentiate / Crowded Category (47%)
  • Series C: It is Difficult to Differentiate / Crowded Category (26%) and It is Difficult to Explain Our Technology (26%)
  • Series D: It is Difficult to Differentiate / Crowded Category (24%)
  • Public Company: It is Difficult to Differentiate / Crowded Category (35%)
  • Not Sure / Prefer Not to Identify: It is Difficult to Differentiate / Crowded Category (34%)

Read more blogs from the survey here or download the report here.