Marketers of Technology
00:13:14 · Andres Figuera, Joe Cicero
[00:13:14] S1: No. But it's so cool that you have this relationship with Microsoft and you're helping each other out in your own ways, and it really has developed this whole, what's it called, ecosystem in which you can coexist in. And Joe, when I think of CSOs as your ICP, right, because that's your main type of client. If you reach out digitally or via the Internet to a CSO due to the nature of their work, aren't they a bit skeptical to just do things? So I feel like event led marketing must work for you guys, or is that something that you guys try out? [00:13:44] S0: We try some digital marketing. I don't think the ROAS on it isn't that great, but maybe there's so many touch points to get to transaction. For our webinars, we get some new customers from that. A lot of our existing customers attend the webinar and they're like, alright, oh, we want that new thing. Oh, talk to us about that. Great for growth. But you're right, for new client acquisition, it's going to those trade shows or those industry specific trade shows. Right? Not just a conference of 40,000 people trying to get to that conference of a 100 decision makers that are... That care about cybersecurity, getting them into the room and being with them for three days to share a coffee, visit the booth, watch us present on something, and maybe that starts a conversation, and then over the next twelve months develop it. Because it is a very skeptical group, and that's good. We... Of all groups to be skeptical, that's when we want to be skeptical.... [00:14:39] S1: As they should be. Right?
00:14:39 · Andres Figuera, Joe Cicero
[00:14:39] S1: As they should be. Right? [00:14:40] S0: But once... Again, once we earn their trust, then we're in. Right? Then... Long as we don't do anything to jeopardize that, that it's just continuing to serve. It's a high acquisition cost, but the retention's high as well. [00:14:54] S1: No, I can only imagine. And I have no doubt that SRA does not jeopardize those types of relationships because I know it is really sensitive guy. Because I have spoken with other companies that that their ICP are CSOs, and I feel they are some of the hardest people to get to because they're also super technical and a bit harder to market to them specifically. So getting in the same room, being able to shake their hand, look them in the eye and say, I'm a real person that wants to help you out. Must... It must take you miles even more more so than just some meta ads or something like that. But when it comes to digital marketing or just marketing via the Internet, do you have any campaigns, Joe, or anything that you've tried out that really worked out well besides the webinars for at least cross selling or upselling, but anything to gain new clients or generate demand?
00:15:40 · Joe Cicero
[00:15:40] S0: One of the ads that always works and it's like this slippery slope, is anything that tells someone they're doing it wrong. I don't know. Like, that seems to be the highest click rate is if we say, you're doing data storage wrong. You don't understand security pipelines. Your SIEM is costing you way more than it should. Like, for some reason, that's the one people click. And to me, that seems like I read it as that's the most clickbait. It's easily an ad. Like, it's just skip it. But for some reason, those always perform well. And then anytime we're giving away stuff for free, hey, book us for this free consultation, book us for a free workshop. We're gonna... You're gonna pay to acquire a client no matter what, whether it's an event, it's a giveaway, it's a dinner, right? There's client acquisition costs. So rather than trying to keep them secret, why not just put up front and say, hey, we're offering some workshops around AI, and you reach out to us and we'll come on-site and give a free workshop. Now, have a high success rate. When we go on-site and we do one of those those free engagements, we always leave with additional scopes for new projects because we're building that relationship. We get out the whiteboard. Right? Anytime you wanna sell more to a client, get out the whiteboard and start drawing it out. Right? Draw out what they should be doing. Actually understand their environment and let the client tell you what they need, and just draw it out into a nice graphic, take it home, turn it into some nice some nice proposals, and send it over, and because you co created it with the customer, with the prospect, like, we have such a great conversion right there because we're truly partnering with the client.
00:17:26 · Andres Figuera, Joe Cicero
[00:17:26] S1: Exactly. Now, and by co creating it, they must feel like a part of it and that the product is working specifically tailored for them. [00:17:33] S0: It's Yeah. It's their plan. It's their proposal. Yeah. [00:17:36] S1: I like that. I like that. And it's so funny that you mentioned, like, the the articles that are most clicked on. But I... When I think of it right now, as you mentioned, I'm like, of course, if you're a CISO and you're supposed to have everything perfectly guarded for your company and it all needs to be right, if they're telling you you're doing something wrong, you're gonna be like, wait, what? Is this something that's jeopardizing my security? And then just click on it to see what's up. So it really is something that must tweak their curiosity at least. [00:18:01] S0: Yeah. The tenure for CISOs isn't really that great either. Right? If they have an incident, if something bad happens, it's really hard for them to stay in that current position even if it's not their fault. So the idea of I might be missing something. Right, it seems like their top job is to keep their company out of the newspaper. Right? Exactly. And if you're saying that they might down low. Yeah. Priority one, don't get in trouble. [00:18:25] S1: I love that, man. I love that. And Joe, now looking towards the future, what would you like to say that you were able to accomplish as the chief marketing officer towards the end of this year? That's already two months away, but let's just leave it at 2026. What would you like to say you were able to do, man?
00:18:43 · Joe Cicero
[00:18:43] S0: So many things have been monumental this year. I think the big one is getting my entire team focused on revenue metrics. A lot of times, a lot of what I think is old thinking around marketing is tracking impressions, brand visibility, marketing qualified leads, and not really tracing attribution all the way through to deal signed. And one of the things I've instilled with my team this year is if an event... If a deal comes in through an event, let's track it all the way through. Let's check-in with the sellers who are working to close that deal and offer additional support all the way through so that once that deal signs, we can then attribute that revenue to our efforts. And that's been... It's a change. Right, because usually marketing gets them in the door and then goes and gets more people in the door. I'm really getting my team to handhold all the way through. Now, obviously, sales takes over, but we're not walking out. Right? Marketing is gonna be there, and we'll celebrate when it's a signed deal, and we'll make sure CRM is updated so that we get attribution, so it's flowing into our Power BI dashboard so we can celebrate it. We wanna take it all the way through, whether it's from an event, a webinar, any digital advertising, we're going to continue to check-in with the sellers because we're going to... Those are quote unquote our deals. We source them and we want to make sure they're successful, and if they're not, we're going to learn from it, and if they are, we're going to do more of that event. So it's all signal and... But just seeing it in the terms of revenue versus activity.
00:20:13 · Andres Figuera, Joe Cicero
[00:20:13] S1: I love that, man. And it is true that sometimes marketing and more so in the past, was more about these vanity metrics about how many people saw you or how many people clicked on it, but it never really turned into a sale or conversion. And when it comes to marketing and sales, it is like a... What's it called? A tag team race where this marketing just passes on the baton. The the sales team takes it, and then they are just not interested anymore. But when you make it about revenue, and that is what you can attribute it in the end when the deal is closed, and that your team really deserves the credit as well, I feel it makes everybody work in a much more cohesive way. So respect for the... For how you're trying to do that, man, and I'm sure that you'll be able to because that really, I feel, leads to a much better team and a lot more conversions in the end. [00:20:58] S0: It feels like a team. Right? Because we're winning together. Like, when sales is celebrating, we're celebrating the same darn deal because we felt like we were a part of it and everybody gets to win. And that's... I think that's what keeps morale high.