Cybersecurity Company Videos

Video Content Engagement is Through The Roof


Marketers with extra budget crave video and place it high on their wish list. Video content is one of the highest-performing content types, and if produced effectively serves as a foundation for many other marketing assets.

We encounter a variety of cybersecurity company videos in our practice. Some are entertaining, others put us to sleep, and finally, a few unfortunate ones come off as arrogant, off-key, and disingenuous. They leave us with a negative impression of the vendor in question.


Proceed to Video Marketing With Caution!


We recently analyzed a vendor company video that made us doubt that particular internal marketing team’s capabilities. We won’t mention the name of the vendor out of professional courtesy. Instead, we’ll point out 4 reasons why we consider this cybersecurity company video a failure and what you, as a cybersecurity marketer can do to not repeat these mistakes. Finally, we’ll give a simple solution for effective cybersecurity video marketing.

The vendor in question provides a deep-learning technology that could detect malware. Their marketing video was 3 minutes long and had great music, photography, and an onslaught of characters: the co-founders of the company, the company CTO, clients, and even the CMO.


So what went wrong?


1. Vague Terminology


From the moment a cybersecurity company video begins, one must clearly state the company’s mission and vision in specific and concrete cybersecurity terms. B2B messaging should play on the emotions of the buyer but it shouldn’t try to woo them with smoke and mirrors. “We protect what others can’t find” sounds catchy but it’s arrogant and lacks any kind of specificity about the solution being marketed.


2. Weak Narrative


Having no structure and plot may work for a post-modern literary work but B2B cybersecurity company videos are selling physical products and services, there’s much more at stake. Not only do you need a problem and solution narrative as part of your video, but you also need to have a clear beginning middle, and end to your storytelling. In the video we analyzed, the vendor in question began the narrative by highlighting the power of their deep learning technology without taking the time to explain the pain points of polymorphic malware. Within the first minute of the video, you must state what the business problem is, in clear terms for the potential buyer.


3. Unclear Captions


Customer testimonials are very important and can enhance your cybersecurity company video. It’s important to put captions to explain who they are and what they do. A caption with the vague term “Top 20 Contender” can be confusing to someone not deeply familiar with the entire ecosystem. If the testimonial is from a company in the Managed IT Department (MID) Network space, state so. Never make assumptions and ensure there’s clarity.


4. Inappropriate CMO Cameo


A cybersecurity company video should not have the CMO boasting about how good the product is. This sounds self-serving and a bit arrogant. In the video, we watched the CMO stationed at his desk in some windowless room loudly exclaiming why his company was the best. Show don’t tell. It’s much more effective.

There are many more things we noticed that were wrong with the cybersecurity company video in question but these 4 topped our list and in our opinion are definite deal-breakers.


How Do You Avoid The Cybersecurity Video Marketing Trap?


The answer is quite simple. We recommend focusing on recording a live video interview with a subject matter expert.

The power of live interviews can’t be disputed. As part of building a content foundation, an in-person interview of a cybersecurity SME (carefully produced and executed) can cement business goals and precisely align them with content strategy.

Timing is everything and for content to be successful, it must not only keep up with market demands but also provide personalized insight not available anywhere else. Getting inside the minds of industry leaders can be accomplished by aligning the right questions and answers in a narrative that provides both the business problem and solution: essentially a perfectly crafted story.  


B2B Decision-Makers Want To Feel Like They’re in The Room


And like any good story, an in-person interview gets a life of its own and can be a perpetual asset. Developing an 8-minute interview is rich enough to re-purpose the core transcript text in as many as 4 blog posts, 10 social media engagements, 8 email communication narratives, as well as several animated explainer videos. For smaller marketing teams, this is a critical consideration as one can build a strategy to target leads as they move down the funnel with limited resources and time management.

Instead of trying to impress your audience with flashy graphics and background music, many B2B decision-makers are more impressed with a personal narrative that clearly explains how they can solve similar problems they are facing in their security organization.

Curious to see how we can produce a video interview for your cybersecurity company?