The Ultimate Guide to Cybersecurity Marketing

Cybersecurity marketing is tough.

Getting to grips with complex technology; ensuring your content is technical yet reader-friendly; keeping on top of trends; finding the right audiences for your content: these are the challenges that cybersecurity marketers face.

On top of those, as a cybersecurity marketer you have a duty to educate your audience on the latest developments in cybercrime, and how to defend against them.

But on the other hand, thanks to these challenges, really good-quality cybersecurity lead generation and marketing stands out. The sector is full of great opportunities for unique, meaningful marketing content – and plenty of ideal placements for that content.

In this Ultimate Guide to Cybersecurity Marketing 2025, we'll cover: 

The Importance of Cybersecurity Marketing 

B2B cybersecurity is a huge and growing sector: complex and ever changing. Everybody in business needs cybersecurity, but positioning your solution as the best of the many options available is where it gets complicated. 

As well as the competition, it can be tricky to convey to customers and potential customers the threats they might face from lack of security.  

Modern technology users tend to take their cyber safety for granted. They assume their systems are up to date, and lack knowledge about new methods of phishing, new ransomware models, and DDoS attacks that have made their old systems obsolete. 

Reaching those potential cybersecurity leads, and educating and informing them, is a major component of B2B lead generation for cybersecurity. 

The State of the Cybersecurity Market in 2025

As we move into 2025, BeyondTrust predicts another period of rapid evolution for the cybersecurity market.

The growth of AI means it’s faster and easier for hackers to generate phishing emails and malware, but on the other hand, new defense tools that use AI and machine learning to detect and respond to security threats are springing up.

BeyondTrust also predicts quantum computing will, within the next 10 years, challenge the cryptographic models that most of modern cybersecurity is based on.

Meanwhile, ICAEW says that ransomware attacks are getting more sophisticated, and ‘ransomware as a service’ is a lucrative criminal sector.

A business’s people are still its cybersecurity weak link: basic security hygiene continues to get overlooked, says IAEW.

Let's not forget the additional cybersecurity risks created by the 2020 pandemic, including increased use of the cloud, employees working from home, and disparate technologies needing to work together, which continue to challenge cybersecurity businesses.

On top of these trends, communicating the changes in technology to cybersecurity buyers is harder than ever. How can you convince a small B2B company that their entire network could be wiped out with just a single sophisticated phishing scam, or that they could lose tens of thousands of dollars through a ransomware attack? 

As a cybersecurity marketer, you know what the security threats are. But the cybersecurity professionals you need to reach don't necessarily know them. Keeping these people up to date, and showing them there's a need for your product, is a major part of your remit. 

5 Cybersecurity Marketing Challenges (And How to Overcome Them) 

Reaching cybersecurity decision-makers can be challenging for several reasons. Here's a brief summary of the main challenges, and how you can deal with them: 

1. Limited time and attention.

In a growing market, with lots of competition, and continual developments in the industry, cybersecurity professionals require both trusted resources and carefully targeted, continuous marketing to ensure they stay educated in the sector. But they only have limited time to do this portion of their job. 

What you can do: Ensure your cybersecurity content marketing efforts are hitting the right places. The constant need for new information in the industry gives cybersecurity marketing teams a fantastic opportunity to provide a ready supply of useful content -- but you have to make sure that content appears in the places your target audience are looking. 

2. Distrust/data privacy concerns.

Security-conscious audiences are particularly wary of which businesses are contacting them, and who's handling their data. The need to be transparent is paramount. 

What you can do: Use a cybersecurity lead generation agency that's absolutely see-through in the way it handles customer data. If they can't show you the entire process of how they generate and nurture their leads, don't trust them!

Be wary too of any cybersecurity marketing agency that promises fantastic results using AI. It's the Garbage In, Garbage Out concept: If the data source can't be trusted, no amount of AI will make it more reliable.

3. Complex buying processes.

The cybersecurity needs of a business are not usually handled by just one person -- and buying committees are growing across the tech sector. 

Decision-makers and influencers can vary greatly per company and stretch across multiple departments, such as IT, Finance, Marketing and even HR depending on your tech solutions.

What you can do: Use an Account-Based Marketing (ABM) approach to work out which roles within each company you need to target, and use various sources -- such as Headley Media's full suite of technology content libraries -- to hit the right people. 

4. Technical focus.

Many cybersecurity decision-makers are technical professionals who may be more focused on technical specifications and details than on marketing messages. Marketers need to be able to communicate the value of their products in terms that are relevant and meaningful to these technical audiences. 

What you can do: Use cross-departmental knowledge from your business, including upper-level management, Sales and Customer Care teams, to ensure your content and messaging are genuinely useful and non-patronizing. This is particularly important if you're planning to gate your content for content syndication -- it needs to have value.

5. Less technical focus!

On the other hand, lots of the people who manage cybersecurity in businesses aren't actually experts, but managing directors and office managers – particularly in the SME sector.

What you can do: This is where a strong ABM cybersecurity marketing strategy, where you are aiming different pieces of content at different individuals within your target account, comes in handy. Ensure you have a good mix of technical whitepapers and more layperson-friendly blogs and eBooks out there, and be aware of your audience for each one.

Which Cybersecurity Marketing Strategies Are the Most Effective? 

In our experience, the most effective methods of marketing and lead generation for cybersecurity companies are those that: 

• Take a very focused approach to building and reaching target audiences.   
• Use internally-generated content to reach those audiences. 

Below are some of our favorite cybersecurity marketing strategies to help you reach the right cybersecurity decision-makers.

2. Content Syndication Lead Generation 

Content syndication works well as B2B lead generation for cybersecurity companies because it allows you to find a bigger and more targeted audience for your whitepapers, eBooks and case studies. 

When cybersecurity professionals are looking for educational content, they often rely on content syndication platforms aimed at their sector. 

These content libraries allow them to easily find whitepapers for purchasing research – and the lead generation agency that owns the content library gets their content details in return, and tracks their activity, to deliver strong leads to their clients. 

You can enhance a content syndication campaign to get the best ROI. For example, you can: 

• Ensure every lead has downloaded at least two pieces of content.
• Get the lead generation company to assess each lead's budget, need and timeframe. 
• Include extra questions on your content download form, such as business size or when they last updated their security software. 

4. Surround-Sound Messaging 

You can combine your lead generation campaigns with display advertising, which increases your brand awareness during a cybersecurity lead gen campaign. 

A good cybersecurity lead generation agency will be able to place your advertising on relevant websites using programmatic advertising, so new leads are more likely to see your ad when they're browsing, which gives you the 'surround-sound' effect. 

B2B display ads are a fantastic advertising method for B2B businesses because they are finely-tuned towards your target audience. Display ads are a great example of demand generation, increasing the likelihood your brand will be noticed, and good cybersecurity lead generation companies are able to support ad campaigns with full digital monitoring and metrics. 

Cybersecurity Lead Generation – How to Generate High-Quality Leads in 2025

Lead generation is seen by many as a bit of a dark art -- and that's because the industry attracts a lot of shady players.

‘Cheap’ or low cost leads are a false economy: you may well spend less on your initial campaign, but you won't see any return on investment for a list of leads that just don’t convert. 

The trick is to choose carefully. If you work with a transparent, trusted  lead generation supplier, the results will speak for themselves.

Take a look at our Quality Lead Generation Checklist to help you when choosing a suitable lead generation agency. 

How to Generate High-Quality Cybersecurity Leads: An Example

Rose was recently recruited as Head of Marketing at Cyber Cyber Security, a start-up cybersecurity SaaS business.

Her first job was to create a Target Account List (TAL) of 200 businesses to target for her lead generation in 2025, using an ABM approach. She liaised with the sales team to find existing leads, as well as using install-based marketing tactics to identify leads using Cyber Cyber Security’s competitors.

She then invested in an ABM-enhanced Nurture Track lead generation campaign with award-winning Headley Media. First, Headley helped her expand her TAL to over 500 businesses, using lookalike audiences.

The Headley team then helped her to choose different pieces of content to publish across several of their branded content libraries. She chose:

• A technical whitepaper on a key feature of Cyber Cyber Security’s hero product for Cybersecurity Corporate
• An eBook filled with unique stats on malware, for Cybersecurity Corporate and also IT Corporate
• A case study on Cyber Cyber Security’s biggest client, an HR agency, published across Cybersecurity Corporate, IT Corporate and HRCorporate

This way Rose was able to target several members of the buying committee for each account on her TAL at once. Thanks to the Nurture Track campaign, all the Cyber Cyber Security leads she received were already in the middle of the marketing funnel when delivered, and ready to hear more from the business.

The campaign gave her valuable lead data and allowed her to add key individuals at her target accounts into her email flow.

With a good idea of which cybersecurity lead generation services you want to try, now's the time to find a reputable B2B lead generation agency, who will help you hone your strategy and put your content in front of the audiences that need it.

By feeding the education needs of this unique sector, you can draw attention to yourself as a useful mine of cybersecurity information – and a fantastic cybersecurity solution provider.  

Ready to learn more about what makes a great B2B cybersecurity lead generation company? Read our ungated Complete Guide to Technology Lead Generation, or download our FREE 2025 lead generation planning toolkit today!