The cybersecurity industry has a communication problem. Each day, innovative security solutions get buried under
Every day, new and exciting security products get announced in ways that make people’s eyes glaze over. Whether it’s too much jargon, too many buzzwords, or announcements that all sound the same, amazing tech is being done a disservice by inadequate messaging.
So, what exactly is the issue? Well, imagine a cybersecurity company spending months developing a genuinely innovative solution. The engineering team works weekends. The product team refines the user experience. The security researchers validate every claim.
The marketing team crafts an announcement that sounds exactly like every other security announcement ever written and promptly watches it vanish into the void of ignored messages.
The problem isn’t the products. The problem is how we talk about them.
Why Most Cybersecurity Announcements Don’t Catch On
They’re Written in “Security Speak”
Imagine you’re a CFO looking at this:
“Our patent-pending ML-driven behavioral analysis engine leverages proprietary algorithms to detect anomalous patterns in east-west traffic, enabling zero-day threat detection with 99.7% accuracy against APTs and sophisticated threat actors.”
What just happened there? Unless you’re a security professional yourself, your brain likely did one of two things:
- Immediately translated this into “something about security” and moved on
- Gave up halfway through
Security companies love speaking in security speak. Just as any other technical industry or profession tends to get complicated when explaining what they do, it’s a natural progression into technical jargon, acronym overload, and an assumption that everyone reading has a high level of understanding and an understanding of all the mechanisms at play.
The problem? Many of the people making or influencing security purchasing decisions don’t have this level of knowledge.
They Forget That Features Are Just Means to an End
Most cybersecurity announcements read like feature checklists:
- Real-time monitoring ✓
- AI-powered detection ✓
- Cloud-native architecture ✓
- Seamless integration ✓
But the problem is that humans don’t buy features. They buy outcomes. They buy peace of mind, regulatory compliance, protection from embarrassing headlines, and assurance that they won’t be the following cautionary tale at security conferences.
They Lack Concrete Evidence
Too many security announcements exist in a strange reality where threats are always “sophisticated” but never specific, solutions are always “robust” but never measurable, and benefits are always “enhanced” but never quantified. The result? A strange, abstract world where nothing feels real enough to act upon and where company branding becomes indistinguishable from competitors.
What to Do Instead: Making Your Announcements Work
Translate Complex Security Concepts Non-Technicals
The hallmark of actual expertise isn’t using complicated language. It’s finding ways to simplify complex things.
The “explain it to my grandmother” test is surprisingly practical. If someone outside the security field can’t understand your announcement, it’s not clear enough. This doesn’t mean dumbing it down; it means cleaning it up.
Instead of: “Our solution implements behavior-based detection with machine learning algorithms to identify anomalous patterns indicative of credential theft.”
Try: “The system learns what normal behavior looks like in your organization, so when someone starts accessing unusual systems, like an accountant suddenly downloading engineering files in the middle of the night, it flags it immediately.”
Create a translation cheat sheet for your entire product. For every technical feature, write down:
- What it does (technical)
- Why it matters (business outcome)
- How to explain it to non-technical people
Learn How to Write a Good Cybersecurity Press Release
Most cyber press releases are structured incorrectly. They start with company background, move to executive quotes, then technical details, and finally (if ever) understand why people should care. Here is a basic structure of how to write a cybersecurity press release:
- Headline (under 110 characters) – Skip generic “leading provider” language for something specific and compelling
- Opening paragraph – Most journalists read nothing else. Answer who, what, where, when, and why in 2-3 sentences.
- Body content – Replace vague “next-generation” claims with specific examples and credible statistics
- Authentic quotes – Make them sound like actual humans, not marketing robots
- Clear contact info – Don’t bury this critical information
As with any type of content, first impressions count. Journalists and busy executives don’t have much time on their hands, so they likely won’t read past your first paragraph if you haven’t given them a good reason to do so. So make your opener count by focusing on the problem you solve, not the technology you built.
Use Concrete Numbers That Actually Mean Something
Vague claims aren’t going to get you very far. People want to know the specifics. “Improved threat detection” doesn’t mean a great deal to people. “Reduces alert investigation time by 78%” does.
The point here is not to just throw numbers into your cyber press releases for the sake of it. The key is to focus on metrics that relate to business outcomes, not just technical capabilities:
- Instead of: “99.7% detection rate”
- Try: “Stops 99.7% of attacks before they reach sensitive data, preventing an average of $3.2M in breach costs”
Turn Technical Innovations into Business Stories
Here’s a good rule of thumb. Every security announcement should pass the “So What?” test. After each claim, ask yourself, “So what?” until you reach an actual business benefit.
- “Our solution uses machine learning.” So what?
- “It can detect anomalies that traditional tools miss.” So what?
- “It catches insider threats before data leaves your network.” So what?
- “It prevents the average $7.5M cost of a data breach and the associated regulatory penalties.”
If possible, try to include a case study or testimonial in your announcement, even if it’s short. Even a simple paragraph showing how a real organization used your solution to solve a recognizable problem adds a lot of credibility. You can also link to a longer version of the case study for anybody interested in seeing the results in closer detail.
To read more content like this, explore The Brand Hopper
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