Bospar Employs Strategic PR to Help Cybersecurity Client Break Out in a Crowded Field
NordVPN is a cybersecurity software company offering virtual private network (VPN) services.
But it wanted to be known as so much more.
In its quest to transcend its VPN service offerings and establish itself as the definitive voice on digital privacy and security, the company called on Bospar, which has a wealth of experience providing PR services, content creation and social media support for cybersecurity clients.
Challenge
This client faced a highly competitive landscape. In a cybersecurity market with a crowded field, technical features and pricing alone weren’t enough to differentiate the brand.
The cybersecurity company needed to:
- Establish thought leadership beyond VPN functionality
- Position executives as cybersecurity experts for mainstream and trade media
- Drive awareness of emerging digital privacy threats
- Create ongoing media relevance beyond product announcements
- Build brand authority in cybersecurity conversations
But what could we do to make sure we stood out among all the rest?
Strategy
In assessing the market, Bospar recognized that the cybersecurity space was dominated by enterprise-focused brands. Our public relations professionals understood that left a gap for a consumer-focused voice that could translate complex security concepts for everyday users.
We also understood that journalists love data and need a why-now reason for their coverage.
So, Bospar’s team of cybersecurity PR experts developed a multi-faceted strategy centered on original research and proactive expert position. We collaborated with the client to develop original surveys on cybersecurity topics. The veteran content creation team at Bospar crafted press releases revealing the research, and we timed the announcements to align with security awareness events and the news cycle. Meanwhile, our public relations team created media pitches including the compelling statistics and insights to approach journalists with data-driven stories.
The PR campaigns addressed 148 distinct cybersecurity topics, including Americans’ privacy, cryptocurrency risks, metaverse security and social engineering. We were sure to include topics with seasonal relevance, providing holiday scam warnings and privacy awareness activations.
During the first phase of the campaign, we established the client’s research capabilities on high-impact topics including data examining Americans’ digital footprint concerns, and we used that to launch the Delete Yourself campaign. We also shared with the media our research investigating security risks in digital currency adoption and manipulation tactics targeting consumers.
To further establish the client’s cybersecurity authority, we served up data-infused commentary about breaking news on major cybersecurity incidents, privacy awareness events and a wide variety of topics across emerging threats, IoT and streaming privacy. Our pre-packaged quotes made it easy for cybersecurity journalists to plug the commentary into their stories. In some cases, the compelling commentary prompted reporters to request interviews with the client.
The client’s subject matter experts were ready to make the most of these interviews because our public relations team had already done comprehensive spokesperson media training.
Campaign Results
The cybersecurity public relations campaign Bospar developed and executed was a hit!
The Delete Yourself survey became flagship research for this Bospar cybersecurity company, generating 97 individual media placements and establishing our customer as the authority on digital privacy concerns. The research revealed compelling statistics about Americans’ digital footprint anxiety, providing media with newsworthy data points and expert commentary.
Bospar also positioned this client as an early voice in metaverse security, generating 49 media placements on virtual world privacy before the topic became mainstream. This early positioning established this Bospar client as a forward-thinking authority on emerging digital threats.
Overall, our PR efforts generated more than 1,000 media placements in 865 unique media publications within 18 months, reaching 12.8 billion unique monthly visitors and positioning the client’s executives as go-to experts across 148 distinct cybersecurity topics.
That included coverage in top-tier media outlets such as Bloomberg (Jake Holland, Jacquie Lee and Robert Iafolla reporting), Fox News (Brooke Crothers reporting), HuffPost (Pooja Shah reporting), U.S. News and World Report (Ed Oswald reporting), USA Today (Marc Saltzman reporting), VentureBeat, The Washington Post and ZDNet (Larry Dignan reporting).
Our strategic PR also led to this betanews article (Ian Barker reporting) and this TechRadar feature (Anthony Spadafora reporting) detailing the client’s unique research and subject matter expertise. We secured this interview for the client’s digital privacy expert, which the Digital Journal published (Tim Sandle reporting). PR garnered this GOBankingRates article containing expert insights from the cybersecurity company on how to protect yourself from social security scams. We crafted commentary from the client’s co-founder and secured placement for it in this IT World Canada predictions piece (Howard Solomon reporting). We also secured coverage for this cybersecurity client in VMblog, CW39 Houston and many other outlets.
