Marketers of Technology
00:00:00 · Joe Cicero, Andres Figuera
[00:00:00] S0: Anytime you wanna sell more to a client, get out the whiteboard and start drawing it out. Let the client tell you what they need and turn it into some nice proposals because you co created it with the prospect. We have such a great conversion. Ad[00:00:19] S1: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Marketers of Technology. My name's Andres Figuera, and this show is brought to you by Front Lines Studios, Silicon Valley's leading podcast production studio. If you're looking to launch your own show, we offer a full podcast as a service experience. You just show up and host, and we handle everything else. And with that said, let's dive into today's episode Because today, I'm here speaking with Joe Cicero, chief marketing officer at Security Risk Advisors, partners for upgrading your humans, security processes, and tech stack for the agentive AI world. So, Joe, it's a pleasure to have you on the show, man. How are you doing today? Oh, man. [00:00:58] S0: It's a busy day. It's our q four, so I think I'm running around a little bit trying to stay busy, drive sales, do whatever I can to win.
00:00:58 · Joe Cicero, Andres Figuera
[00:00:58] S0: It's a busy day. It's our q four, so I think I'm running around a little bit trying to stay busy, drive sales, do whatever I can to win. [00:01:07] S1: Oh my goodness. Yeah. And I can only imagine it's these times at the end of the year when everything's closing up that we really have to push it in order and push the pedal to get to where the company wants us to get and where we're wanna go. So totally understand you there, man. And Joe, just so that we can hit the ground running, would you be able to tell us a bit more about your background, how you became CMO at Security Risk Advisors, and, yeah, what Security Risk Advisors does in your own words?
00:01:31 · Joe Cicero
[00:01:31] S0: Sure. I started off as a classroom teacher in Rochester, New York. Fell in love with what technology was providing my students. They were underserved. 80% got free or reduced lunch, and the idea of putting a laptop in every child's hand was really a a game changer at the time. And from there, that led me into my path to education technology. Then I was at Microsoft for some time doing the development of Intune, and then I switched over to the Microsoft Security Stack, launching Defender Experts. Then I went to the partner space. I found Security Risk Advisors. They have an office in my backyard in Rochester, New York. I saw the stuff that they were doing and I said, my goodness, I think I can help you grow a lot faster by harnessing the relationships I've built within Microsoft and the expertise you already have. So Security Risk Advisors, known to many as SRA, is a professional services company, been around for about fifteen years, headquartered out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We do everything from red teaming, which means that people pay us to break into their stuff, to blue teaming. They help us improve their security. And then we have a a service line called Scalar, and that is our managed security operations, everything from an XDR type environment to vulnerability management. If you're familiar with like the mythos story that was popular earlier in this year, helping our customers respond to that, and then just protect them on a daily basis from new and emerging threats.
00:03:07 · Andres Figuera
[00:03:07] S1: Okay. And Joe, in terms of marketing for a company from... Of this style, how has it been generating demand for what you guys do?
00:03:16 · Joe Cicero
[00:03:16] S0: You know, I... Sometimes it's like, wish we were a product company because then we could sell a box. Hey, go and buy this box off a shelf. I'm gonna link you here. Go put the item in your cart. And then all we have to do is flood the storefront and we'll have a conversion rate. For professional services, it's a little bit harder because everyone wants that bespoke connection, that bespoke solution to what their problem is. And especially when we're talking about cybersecurity, there's a lot of sensitivity around. If I share with you my problems, I'm sharing with you my vulnerabilities. And that doesn't happen in a go to the storefront and click a button. That's relationship building, that's several meetings, that's several points of contact. Obviously, brand gets you in the door, Word-of-mouth, someone knows who you are, but there's still that sniffing each other out, trying to figure out, do I trust you and can you serve my business? And then once that's agreed upon, it's then coming up with that bespoke solution. So we try to come up with cookie cutter solutions, but ultimately, every customer is a little bit different, and as a professional services customer or a professional services company, we have to come up with that and build that out. And that makes the marketing a little bit more challenging because it's not just, hey, buy this, it's let's get in rooms with decision makers and have long conversations and long sales cycles.
00:04:41 · Andres Figuera
[00:04:41] S1: No. And cybersecurity is a very precarious space because it's as you mentioned, like you need to be able to generate trust and when somebody's gonna tell you their flaws or their weaknesses, it's like, am I exposing myself to a company that could just take advantage of that? But then to that point specifically, Joe, do what has worked best for you in order to generate trust with these companies so that they use your services that you provide.