What's Up with Tech?
Tech Transformation with Evan Kirstel: A podcast exploring the latest trends and innovations in the tech industry, and how businesses can leverage them for growth, diving into the world of B2B, discussing strategies, trends, and sharing insights from industry leaders!
With over three decades in telecom and IT, I've mastered the art of transforming social media into a dynamic platform for audience engagement, community building, and establishing thought leadership. My approach isn't about personal brand promotion but about delivering educational and informative content to cultivate a sustainable, long-term business presence. I am the leading content creator in areas like Enterprise AI, UCaaS, CPaaS, CCaaS, Cloud, Telecom, 5G and more!
What's Up with Tech?
Trust Building and Storytelling: PR Secrets for Cybersecurity Brands
Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com
Security conferences are notorious for their overwhelming noise – hundreds of vendors competing for attention, media rushing between briefings, and an endless stream of press releases hitting inboxes. How do cybersecurity brands actually break through?
My conversation with Ariel from PAN Communications digs into this exact challenge. With 30+ years in the cybersecurity PR space (and Ariel's 14 years with the company), Pan has mastered the delicate art of storytelling in an industry built on technical complexity. Their approach focuses on three critical elements: timing, format, and narrative. Rather than simply pushing client messages, they craft stories that tap into current trends like generative AI while demonstrating real-world impact.
Trust emerges as the central theme throughout our discussion. In cybersecurity's "zero trust" world, establishing credibility is paramount. PAN builds this through concrete data, customer success stories, and amplifying the executives behind the technologies. "People trust people," Ariel notes, highlighting why putting faces to brands drives engagement and demand. This strategy has yielded impressive results – helping one client generate 2,000 leads in six months post-rebrand, doubling site traffic for another, and delivering a 350% jump in conversions during an IPO.
The traditional media landscape continues to evolve, with influencers, podcasters, and platforms like Reddit and Substack gaining influence in cybersecurity circles. PAN adapts by conducting comprehensive audience audits and developing long-term influencer partnerships. Meanwhile, "AI fatigue" is setting in among journalists who now demand stories beyond the buzzwords – they want tangible outcomes and practical applications. As we wrap up with RSAC survival tips (comfortable shoes and portable chargers are non-negotiable), the lesson is clear: in cybersecurity marketing, authentic storytelling wins over hype every time. What story is your company telling?
More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel
Hey everyone, it's that time of the year. We're headed to RSAC in San Francisco, the cybersecurity event of the year, and I'm really excited to chat with Pan Communications, one of the biggest PR players in cybersecurity, to chat all things. Rsac, ariel, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm great Nice to be here, Evan.
Speaker 1:Well, nice to have you here. Haven't yet packed my bags. What about you? Are you ready for the big week?
Speaker 2:I think I'm ready to go. I have my comfortable shoes packed, so I'm my charger ready to go.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, let's start with introductions For those who aren't familiar with PAN. You know a little bit about your. You know quite long and storied history at PAN and you know there are a lot of agencies out there. But you do a great job in the security space in particular, helping cut through the hype and the noise and sort of owning thought leadership. Give us some history, if you would.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. Pan has a 30 plus year history in cybersecurity, so deep roots in the industry. I've been at Pan for almost half that time, about 14 years, which is hard Like I'm aging myself by saying that. But yeah, we're a brand to demand agency completely focused on B2B tech and healthcare, but, as I said, big focus on cybersecurity is a key area for us. Our roots are in PR. We also provide, you know, full range of integrated PR, digital content and creative services, with the goal of really delivering programs that are both strategic and measurable for our clients.
Speaker 1:Brilliant. So I've actually never worked in PR or marketing, despite being in this space as a kind of influencer, content creator. But when you know, when you're building a media strategy around such a huge event like RSAC, you know how do you get through the noise, what makes the campaign stand out from just the tsunami of noise at and around the show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, rsa is a very, very noisy, crowded event. You know everyone's trying to get their big news out there, so definitely a challenge. I think it's a combination of, you know, the right timing, the right format and the right story. So at Pan we really think of ourselves as storytellers first and foremost.
Speaker 2:I'm a former journalist. I think a lot of us think of ourselves like just obsessed with the story, right. So we stay really on top of the media landscape and use also a data-driven approach to see like what's coming, to help us figure out what's the right time to launch news, right, whether that's research that you want to kind of seed out before the show. If you have a product announcement you might want to put out, like right at the beginning of the show to get into some of those roundup articles. But I think just staying really on top of the news cycle is key and then also just telling a strong story. So making sure that you're not just pushing the client's message but wrapping it into a larger story that the media care about. Whether that's the serial agent, dick AI, is obviously going to be a huge topic.
Speaker 2:So figuring out how you tap into those trends and tell a real story that the media are going to care about.
Speaker 1:I love that so are going to care about. I love that. So trust is everything in cybersecurity. In fact, as you know, we have a term of art zero trust, trust, no one and nothing, and it's kind of the media world we live in today as well. So how do you help at Pan? How do you help brands build, you know, genuine trust and sustain that over time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great question. I mean trust, credibility and authority are just so important for startups especially. So we work really hard to build sustained visibility for our clients, so focusing on growing their awareness and visibility for their brand. So a few ways we do that. You know, sharing real data, I think, is really impactful. Sharing real world stories about the impact of their technology, whether that's you know customer stories or real world proof points.
Speaker 2:And I think the third thing is just amplifying the people behind the brand. I think people trust people right, and they want to see what real people have to say and see that there's a face to the brand. So we do a lot of executive thought leadership to really put a face to the brand and build that credibility and I think that ultimately helps build trust in the brand and then, as a result, drives more demand and interest.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. So let's talk my world of influencer marketing, podcasting, live streaming. I mean we're sort of non-traditional voices, not an analyst in the traditional sense.
Speaker 2:How is that changing the past year or so. I think that there's such an interest now in non-traditional media, whether that's influencers or traditional media who are launching newsletters or podcasts or moving to Substack. We've seen a big shift there, I think, driven by the political landscape but also just shifting media business models, by the political landscape but also just shifting media business models, right. So we're seeing a lot of our clients interested in how do they tap into that new media landscape. So we've done a lot of kind of audits of the space, looking into, you know, who clients, key customers or audiences are actually following, and that might not be just the mainstream media. It could be some of those influencers who are emerging. So we've been really focused there and especially in cybersecurity circles, looking at different platforms, whether it's Reddit or Substack, as I mentioned. Those channels are really impactful now.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that. It's amazing to see that evolution. And you know content creators and content creation is is key now and you know I've obviously been leaning into that for a decade. But you have so many interesting influencers. You know these could be analysts and employees within companies, on the ground floor, just talking about their day-to-day lives. What's working in that area for brands? What's the opportunity?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've done a large range of influencer activations for our clients, which has been really fun to just delve more into that space. We've seen that a lot of like the long term, like partnerships with influencers have been really impactful. So you know whether that's like so, a social amplification program, but we've done a lot with, you know, video content as well, Like LinkedIn, lives have been a lot of our clients, I think it's been.
Speaker 2:we've also partnered with influencers on like research reports and data just to lend some more kind of third party credibility to the data. I think has been really impactful. So, yeah, and I think you know working with influencers is all about like relationship building, just as we do with the media, right, so it's coming up with a story. I think you know working with influencers is all about like relationship building, just as we do with the media, right, so it's coming up with a story for them. You know, pitching them. It's been interesting to see that kind of confluence of like how we pitch the media and how we work with influencers is kind of similar.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that and you know AI is changing the headlines on the tech side in cybersecurity, but it's also changing the way you know companies are doing product launches and advertising and you know, changing the way brands are telling their stories, earning attention. I mean, it's really affecting everything. What are you seeing from your point of view on the AI side?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean. Ai has been reshaping cybersecurity on a number of levels, as you said the threat landscape is evolving really quickly, but then everyone's rushing to integrate AI into their solutions also, so I think the AI is just becoming a very crowded space right now to break into.
Speaker 2:Similar to what you're talking about breaking into RSA conference. How do you break into the AI conversation? I think the media right now are looking for getting beyond the buzz of AI. They want to see what are the real world solutions. What are companies actually doing with AI? How is this actually shifting business or changing life for consumers? What are the real world solutions Like? What are companies actually doing with AI? How is this actually shifting business or changing life for consumers? So we're seeing a bit of AI fatigue from journalists and they're looking for that real, credible story of how does AI deliver real outcomes. So we've been working to, you know, just really build up that credibility for our clients, tell their real story of how they're using AI, how it's reshaping industries, how their clients are using AI. I think that's been key to really break through the noisy conversation.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and Pan, you do some really interesting work original research. You put out your own studies and content. Tell us about that and some of the efforts around the security space which I've read looked really interesting on your LinkedIn page.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do a lot of research with our clients. I think having real data is super important for getting into those stories. We're fortunate that some of our clients have excellent labs, teams or research teams that are pushing out data, which is great, but we also try to, you know, gather data points where we can to help bolster our media stories. So we have, you know, access to a great tool that lets us pull consumers in near real time, which has been awesome to kind of tie the security stories and up-level them to a more mainstream conversation, because security conversation really is mainstream right now, right Like business and broadcast press care about nation state threats, I think they more about terms like ransomware than they did even a few years ago.
Speaker 2:So we really use data to up-level security stories to that more mainstream audience.
Speaker 1:I love that and do you care to share any anecdotes or stories around some key clients you're working with or some examples of you know Pan's approach in action?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's hard to choose just one.
Speaker 1:Like favorite children right.
Speaker 2:Yes, right, just I guess a couple that come to mind. You know current and past clients. For Cara was an awesome brand we worked with. They've since been acquired by DigiCert, but we worked with them just after the company's rebrand and kind of relaunched them to the market and got visibility for them. A few kind of stats in six months we helped them generate 2000 leads and over 500 media hits. So coming out of that rebrand we thought was really impactful. Another exciting brand we worked with was Rapid7. We really helped them to reinforce their category leadership in cyber, did a lot around thought leadership and analyst relations and that really boosted their share of voice and doubled their site traffic, which was awesome to see. Voice and doubled their site traffic, which was awesome to see. And then, I guess one more, we worked with Weave around their IPO, as we talked about, just really helped them stand out in a saturated market, saw 133% increase in traffic, 350% jump in funnel conversions and that was really based on sharing smarter content.
Speaker 1:So a really you know thought leadership and content driven approach for them Fantastic. Well, I, like, you know statistics that are five or 10x.
Speaker 1:Those are always pretty impactful. So the event data is good as well. The event is coming up. You know I have a few of my favorite tricks and tips. I'll ask for yours, but you know mine is have a plan. I actually created a document with everything I've been working on and contacts, and all in one place. It makes things much easier. Wear comfortable shoes. I think that's number two and number three. Stay at an Airbnb. There's so many cool little spots around San Francisco. Avoid the big hotels. They're really overpriced and pretty boring. How about you? Any tips and tricks for the big week?
Speaker 2:The Airbnb tip is great. I'm going to remember that because the conferences hook up so quickly. Echo the comfortable shoes. Wear layers because you never know what's going to be in San Francisco and it can be freezing inside Moscone and bring, bring like a portable charger.
Speaker 2:My phone always runs out of battery and you're always trying to find somewhere to plug it in. So, yeah, and then I agree, just plan ahead, have everything in a document in one place so you have like your quick cheat sheet to reference. Oh, and bring a water bottle as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, hydrate, that's always key. I know you guys have a lot of events and I won't go through them all. In fact, I think many of them are already booked, so I'm not sure I want to send people there. But it's going to be an exciting week and you know we'll follow along at Evan Kerstel for lots of probably too much content, but also we'll be following your pages and handles.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks, I'm excited for the show.
Speaker 1:Likewise. See you there. See you everyone. Look forward to meeting you all. Take care, Bye-bye.