Controlling the controllable

The cybersecurity vendor landscape is competitive. New vendors pop up every month. This demands a nuanced marketing and communications approach. Engagement with prospects and clients can be challenging, but when done right, it unlocks huge potential. 

While Resonance's research found that cybersecurity budgets are staying roughly the same this year, standing out from the crowd across your buyer's journey is critical for success. 

The Cybersecurity buyer

Cybersecurity buyers operate under a different set of pressures. With reputational damage, regulatory exposure, and operational disruption at stake, decisions hinge on trust, proven reliability, and confidence in a vendor’s ability to withstand an evolving threat environment. Marketing and sales strategies that fail to reflect these realities risk missing how security decisions are truly made.

• High Risk Aversion & Trust Dependency: security failures carry existential risk (breaches, fines, reputational damage). Buyers prioritise reliability, established vendors, and third-party validation (certifications, analysts, benchmarks).

• Deep Technical Scrutiny:  Buyers are highly technical and detail-oriented, expecting clarity on architecture, integrations, threat coverage, compliance alignment, and operational impact, not just usability or price.

• Complex, Multi-Stakeholder Decisions:  Purchases involve security, IT, compliance, legal, and executive leadership, resulting in longer, more deliberate sales cycles than most technology categories.

• Compliance as a Buying Trigger:  Regulatory requirements (e.g. GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS) are central to decision-making. Solutions must demonstrably support auditability, reporting, and legal obligations.

• Constantly Evolving Requirements:  Rapidly changing threat landscapes demand adaptable platforms, continuous updates, and a credible roadmap rather than static, long-term solutions.

• Strong Peer & Community Influence:  Trust is reinforced through peer recommendations, practitioner communities, industry forums, and shared experience, often outweighing vendor-led marketing.

Winning cybersecurity buyers requires credibility over promotion. Clear proof of value, technical depth, operational trustworthiness, and active participation in the security community.

Thankfully, here at Resonance, we have oodles of experience producing cybersecurity communications programmes. When creating these for our clients, we have one focus in mind - your clients and prospects. By placing them front and centre, marketing and communications programme deliver a greater return.

Our latest research provides a guided journey through the hearts and minds of your prospects.

Our number one recommendation - know your audience.

Read on to learn: 

• How prospects consume cybersecurity knowledge today
• Where prospects look for vendors in 2025
• The nuances surrounding prospects' internal decision-making
• The trends and challenges topping the charts

If you are a CMO, communications manager, PR manager or analyst relations professional, this is a read for you.

The cybersecurity Market in a flash

The cybersecurity market has entered a phase of rapid consolidation and expansion. Established players are acquiring specialist vendors, while new categories continue to emerge in response to an increasingly complex threat landscape.

This complexity is driving demand for holistic security platforms, often delivered by large, integrated vendors such as Palo Alto Networks. But this does not signal the end of smaller, specialist players. On the contrary, the market depends on a blend of scale and innovation,  broad platforms complemented by focused solutions that solve specific, high-impact problems.

Without this balance, the industry simply cannot keep pace with the speed and sophistication of modern threats.

The AI-lephant

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have become foundational to modern security,  powering faster detection, predictive analysis, and more effective incident response.

But this advantage cuts both ways. Threat actors are also using AI to accelerate phishing, malware development, and social engineering at unprecedented speed. While we’re still in the early innings, AI will continue to reshape the market. Marketers must be ready to respond as narratives, buyer concerns, and proof points shift.

Alongside this, the rise of managed security services (MSS) reflects a growing preference to outsource operational complexity, allowing organisations to focus on core business while maintaining strong security posture.

At the same time, tightening privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA are raising the bar. Vendors must not only claim security leadership, but clearly demonstrate compliance, governance, and trust.

Cookie-cutter won't cut it

In a market moving this fast, generic communications simply do not work.

While outcomes can’t be controlled, visibility and credibility can. Standing out in a crowded cyber market requires distinctive positioning, evidence-led storytelling, and sustained presence where buyers actually pay attention.

Thought leadership grounded in insight, proprietary research that creates its own news, and credible engagement with analysts and influencers are now table stakes, not nice-to-haves.

Our research, based on interviews with cyber decision-makers, shows that 40% of cybersecurity budgets are expected to remain flat this year. Crucially, where budgets do move, they are more likely to increase than decrease.

This creates real opportunity, but also intense competition for attention, trust, and relevance.

So the question becomes: where are those eyes actually looking?

Decoding Your Prospect's Info-Diet: Navigating Cybersecurity Consumption Trends 

Content across the stages: Knowing the buyer journey

When it comes to cybersecurity consumption habits, it is critical to understand that information on certain topics is consumed in different locations at different times in the buyer journey. To help you figure out where content needs to go at what point in the buyer journey, we’ve split this information into three buckets: information on cybersecurity issues and trends; information on products; and information to shortlist solutions.

Cybersecurity Trends

How decision-makers typically get information about cybersecurity trends

Our research of 200 cybersecurity professionals shows that cybersecurity and technology news sites are the most popular source to keep up with the latest cybersecurity trends. And let's face it, there's a lot to keep on top of.

Dedicated news platforms focusing purely on cybersecurity and emerging tech are seen as the most valuable and credible source of insight.

Professional networks and industry analyst reports also scored highly. Leveraging peer perspectives and market analysis likely provides useful context and different lenses through which to interpret cybersecurity developments. The high position of these sources clearly shows IT leaders appreciate external validation and expertise in their day-to-day.

LinkedIn Lags: Why Cybersecurity Pros Crave Credibility Over Quantity

Comparatively, social networks like LinkedIn score lower than specialist publications and networks. While LinkedIn provides a huge volume of content, the data shows cyber professionals prefer more niche and targeted thought leadership to filter meaningful insights from the noise.

LinkedIn's lower score compared to specialist sources can also be attributed to concerns around trust and credibility. In the cybersecurity field, where the stakes are high, professionals prioritise information from highly credible, specialised sources known for their authority and accuracy. 

Overall, there is a clear preference for specialty cybersecurity coverage over generalist sites and content distribution platforms. 

Trends today

What decision-makers see as the hottest topics for the coming year

AI: Riding the Wave Without Wiping Out

Unsurprisingly, AI tops the charts as the trending topic for the industry, followed by Zero Trust security models. It is also the topic decision-makers are most interested in learning more about in the next six months.

Understand what your prospects consider the most pressing topics and - IF* relevant - ensure you are part of the conversation. 

[*The IF here is key. If you don't have an authentic need to discuss a topic, don't do it. It'll hurt your brand if you are just seen as bandwagoning.]

Don't get caught out by buzzword bingo

How can you differentiate and begin to move beyond the buzzword? Your approach needs to be multifaceted. You need to engage in the latest conversations while staying clear of generic AI announcements. You need to delve deeper and focus on specific applications of AI within your cybersecurity solutions or important themes like regulation. Importantly, you need to bring it back to how it is going to help your clients, customers, and prospects. This showcases your expertise and avoids the trap of repetitive, uninformative rhetoric. 

Where do you start?

• Always bring it back to why? Why should anyone care about this? Importantly, why should your customers, clients, prospects care? What impact in the near and long term will this have on their industry? What impact will it have on business in general and society at large?
• Leverage creative storytelling: Find new ways to talk about the topic. Luckily as a broad term, AI is moving so quickly that as long as your eye is on the news cycle, finding an innovative approach won’t be too difficult. 
• Thought leadership needs thought leaders: Engage with the experts at your organisation. Find those with an interesting or new viewpoint you can leverage. 
• Incorporate humour and creativity: Inject humour and creativity to make AI-related content more engaging and memorable. The secret sauce to engaging with your target audience is engaging with them as a human. 
• The proof is in the pudding: Always back up what you say with social proof.

At Resonance, we are experts in helping organisations do just that. 

Information on products

In cybersecurity, knowing where decision-makers look for answers is critical. Buyers use different sources at different stages, and understanding these patterns helps comms and marketing teams put the right messages in the right places. Our latest survey shows how cybersecurity decision-makers research products and services.

Search comes first
Traditional search engines remain the primary starting point, used by 53% of respondents. Strong SEO and clear, helpful content are still essential for visibility.

Media and events shape early understanding
Industry publications and webinars follow closely at 53% and 51%. PR and virtual events play a major role in building awareness and educating the market.

Analysts and conferences build trust
Trust matters in cybersecurity. Analyst reports and rankings influence 50% of buyers, while 43% rely on industry conferences. Authority and peer validation carry real weight.

Owned content supports decision-making
Nearly a third of buyers turn to vendor whitepapers, case studies and blogs. Practical, problem-led content helps move prospects from interest to intent.

AI is emerging as a research tool
Sixteen percent already use tools like ChatGPT to explore options. This points to a growing shift towards AI-led discovery.

A broad mix still matters
Email, social advertising and print all play supporting roles, reinforcing the need for a balanced, targeted channel mix.

One final point. Researching a problem is not the same as choosing a vendor. Visibility opens the door, but credibility and trust close the deal - and that's what Resonance's programmes are designed to support.

Shortlisting solutions

The criteria decision-makers use to shortlist cybersecurity solutions for further evaluations

It’s no surprise the data reveals pricing and cost-effectiveness carries influence when it comes to shortlisting solutions. Cybersecurity leaders face the same commercial realities as everyone else – value is imperative even when protecting critical assets and data.

With media coverage bottoming out, followed closely by case studies,  it’s a clear indication that when moving from the awareness to consideration stage the game changes. Your best chance as a marketer is to gain influence with analyst-focused outreach. 

While headline elements like features and compliance dictate early selection, compelling analyst relations, customer evidence and media visibility offer ways cybersecurity comms teams can showcase credibility and technical excellence to give their solutions an edge. The art is in crafting solution stories that resonate.