If you’re in cybersecurity marketing, you probably work with copywriters. Maybe it’s an occasional thing, maybe it’s week in, week out—either way, there’s no shortage of cybersecurity copywriters to choose from.

Many copywriters are generalists. They claim they’ll quickly get up to speed on any company, product, or industry and be able to deliver high quality content from the outset. Others have a broad specialism like business technology and accept customers from a handful of related industries—maybe SaaS, IT services, and a few others.

When I started as a copywriter, I fell into the latter category. And it worked.

I’m a pretty techy guy, and I had a history in business IT, so it all went pretty smoothly—I never struggled to learn a new industry, product category, or customer. I wrote about IT Service Management (ITSM), telecommunications, networking, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, High Performance Computing (HPC), software development, and more… and I enjoyed it.

Until one day, when I picked up two new customers, both in cybersecurity. One was a compliance automation provider, the other was Recorded Future, now the world’s largest intelligence provider.

That’s when I discovered (by necessity) a third type of copywriter: The pure specialist.

The Specialist Cybersecurity Copywriter

Some industries are suited to generalist copywriters. Others aren’t—and I believe cybersecurity falls into this category.

When I started in 2013, I quickly noticed cybersecurity isn’t an industry that rewards dabblers. On one hand, my broad experience in business technology was a huge help—it’s hard to grasp cybersecurity without first understanding the systems and infrastructure it protects. But on the other hand, it was obvious I faced a huge task getting myself up to speed with the industry.

Now, I’m a perfectionist. I won’t even start writing until I’m certain I have a complete grasp of the subject matter. When I started in cybersecurity, I was spending days researching to earn a couple of hundred dollars… because there was no way I was turning in work I wasn’t 100% sure of.

In the years since, I’ve come to appreciate that—more than any other industry I’ve worked in—cybersecurity requires a copywriter to devote serious time and attention to understand:

• How different segments of the industry fit together
• Which product and service categories are related, overlapping, or in conflict
• The evolving regulatory landscape and how it manifests in the real-world
• Industry buzzwords (what they really mean and how they’re misunderstood)
• The underlying principles of cybersecurity and why they’re important
• The needs, frustrations, and expectations of different buyer personas
• The pain points of different buyer industries, like healthcare, financial services, and hospitality

This is not something you can pick up in a few days or weeks. But I don’t need to tell you that—if you’re in marketing for a cybersecurity company, you’ve lived (or are currently living) your own version of this journey.

More than any other industry I know—even technical industries like telecommunications, networking, and software development—cybersecurity rewards a specialist.

Why Work With Me?

I’ve put in the work to call myself a specialist cybersecurity copywriter.

Over the years, I’ve spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours researching for cybersecurity copywriting projects—including books, articles, podcasts, expert interviews*, and paid courses—which in turn has enabled me to produce:

• 30+ white papers and ebooks
• 20+ case studies
• 10+ research reports
• Dozens of product and data sheets
• Content for over a dozen cybersecurity websites
• Hundreds of articles for blogs, journals, and industry news sites

…plus a whole lot of executive bios, checklists, webinar scripts, infographics, web pages, and full websites for (at the time of writing) 38 different cybersecurity companies.

In this industry, I’ve also:

• Advised MSSPs and startups on complete rebrands
• Produced brand new messaging for long-established cybersecurity companies
• Developed complete content strategies for small and large companies
• Helped founders articulate their offering to customers and investors
• Supported sales teams with a wide range of enablement content
• Written ABM content that measurably improved conversion rates

…and I don’t believe I could have done these things if I hadn’t devoted the last nine years of my life to becoming a specialist cybersecurity copywriter.

*I’ve been extremely lucky in this regard—I’ve had the chance to speak at length with industry legends like Tony Sager and Kathleen Moriarty (CIS), Jon Boyens (NIST), Levi Gundert (Recorded Future), Robert E. Johnson III (Cimcor), Sergio Heker (Internet and CS pioneer), Scott Alldridge (ITPI), and many, many more.

Need a Cybersecurity Copywriter?

Not every company in the industry needs a specialist cybersecurity copywriter. If your offering is simple or your budget is tight, a copywriter with a broader focus—so long as it’s related to business technology—might work out just fine.

But if you want to produce powerful content that engages, persuades, and converts cybersecurity buyers, you should consider hiring a specialist.

And if you’d like that specialist to be me, reach out today and I’ll be happy to discuss your needs.