It’s a precarious life for those who make a living marketing security services. The call could come anytime. From the product side or the C-Suite. I got together with

“Why aren’t we generating more awareness? Why does the media cover our competitors and not us? What can we do to create interest so that prospects know about us and include us in RFPs?”

Maybe it’s because your pitches aren’t creative enough?

Or they fail to understand how to engage the media?

Or they simply don’t give editors and reporters what they really want–and that’s something they haven’t heard before.

Consider these approaches:

1.  Fear sells and it’s a primary driver of media reporting. While the mass media is well aware of the Dark Web, they still don’t know enough and should report more on it to help protect their readers and viewers. What’s a cyber security firm to do? How about partnering with media on a story with a pitch that reads:

Subject: “We just did a Dark Web search on your three of your anchors, and what we found should scare you and your viewers.” 

The mass media–especially TV–loves it when their anchors or reporters personalize a story and put themselves in the shoes of their viewers. A smart PR campaign targets the media with that in mind, does the research and heavy lifting upfront and then offers to frame and work with them on the story.

2.  Crypto is all the rage. The media is desperately searching for clever ways to cover it and to engage and interest their readers and viewers in it. Cyptomining malware combines too big, fat scary angles to interest reporters with pitches like:

Subject: “How criminals are using your phone to make millions by mining bitcoins without you even knowing it.”

This angle brings to light an under reported threat that impacts general consumers and plays well to a wide range of media–everything from business magazines and TV news to popular magazines and morning network TV talk shows. A well constructed pitch that explains this threat and offers expert advice on protecting against it is exactly the kind of on-trend pitch the media jumps on.

3.  Make it contemporary. The very word NEWS comes from the root of NEW. The media loves to tie their stories to what’s happening in popular culture–even the trade and B2B media are open to the approach. Referencing entertainment, the news or pop culture provides a touchstone that immediately conveys meaning. Here’s a pitch that accomplishes all that and more:

Subject: “Liam Neeson they’re not. More companies are paying ransomware than trying to restore data from dated backup technologies.”

Where would you take your pitch from there? How about:

“So you think you’re a tough guy like Liam Neeson in one of those hookey kidnap thrillers? And you’re ready to fight back if someone should hold ransom over your data?

Increasingly companies are capitulating to data thieves and simply paying the ransom rather than from their own backup systems. Why? Many backup systems are simply too old and unreliable to…“.

So the next time you get that call questioning your PR strategy, remember, the media is often a willing partner in reporting on cyber security topics that impact the world. The key is to relate to the media on their terms, offering them creative angles that attract more viewers and readers to their online, print and broadcast properties. The undeniable pitch is for real and only limited by your own imagination and creativity or that of your PR partner.