Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing

Disinformation, Data, and... Romance Novels? A Conversation with Dan Lowden

Dan Lowden has a pretty incredible track record—12 startups and eight exits to count—so when he talks about building a marketing engine from scratch, people listen. In this CMO Confidential segment, Dan joins Gianna and Charles to talk about his latest challenge at Blackbird.ai: defining the "Narrative Intelligence" category and helping companies fight disinformation. They get into the real-world grit of going from leading a 70-person team back to being a solo marketer. Dan shares his "punch above your weight" playbook, including why he hired a former CBS news reporter to lead content and how he landed NATO as a marquee customer. Listen to this episode if you are looking to make a small startup feel like an industry giant, build deep analyst credibility without a "pay-to-play" budget, or understand the next big CISO blind spot in narrative intelligence.

The ROI of Recognition: How DataGrail Built a Brand Engine Through Awards

What happens when a "privacy freak" takes over customer advocacy? You get the DataGrail’s Data Privacy Awards Program, an industry staple that doubles as a masterclass in community building and product research. In this episode, Ian Phippen, Head of Content and Community Marketing at DataGrail, joins Gianna and Maria to pull back the curtain on running a high-impact awards program. Ian shares how they transformed a standard advocacy play into a mission-driven brand engine that attracts hundreds of nominations, of which only 40% are customers. Whether you're launching your first awards ceremony or looking for more human ways to connect with your technical audience, Ian’s insights offer a roadmap for marketing with integrity.

Why Cybersecurity Marketers Are Prime Security Targets

Cat Allen, Senior Product Marketing Manager at SpyCloud, brings a rare mix of technical grounding and ethical clarity to cybersecurity marketing. Her path into the industry was unconventional, shaped by psychology, hands-on technical training, and a deep interest in privacy, surveillance, and responsible data use. The conversation focuses on what it means to market security products responsibly, especially in an industry where marketers are frequent targets and data collection can quietly introduce risk. Cat shares how her technical background helps her bridge engineering and go-to-market teams while keeping trust, accuracy, and transparency at the center. The episode also explores tougher questions about workplace ethics, the limits of compliance, personal responsibility for data privacy, and the broader implications of AI.

How Cybersecurity Buyers Decide Before the Sales Conversation Begins

Maria and Gianna are joined this week by Tyler Lessard, Chief Marketing Officer at TechnologyAdvice, for a grounded look at how cybersecurity and B2B buying behavior are shifting and what that means for marketers trying to break through the noise. The conversation centers on preference marketing and why buyers are forming vendor shortlists earlier than ever, often before any formal evaluation begins. Tyler shares insights from TechnologyAdvice’s research on how younger buying committees, particularly Millennial and Gen Z decision-makers, rely less on legacy analyst models and more on trusted external channels like creators, newsletters, niche communities, Reddit, and peer-driven influence. The discussion wraps with a takeaway for marketers planning: TechnologyAdvice’s ⁠Cybersecurity Marketing Handbook⁠, built to help teams identify where influence actually lives and how to show up there with intent.

The Rebrand Reality Check: Inside Silverfort’s Identity Overhaul

We’re starting 2026 with a topic every marketer claims to love until they’re actually in it: rebrands. Gianna sits down with Alicia Di Vittorio, Head of Brand & Corporate Marketing at Silverfort, to talk through what a real rebrand looks like when you’re doing it inside a fast-moving cybersecurity startup. They get into the actual messy parts: getting execs aligned on positioning, figuring out who’s allowed to give input (and who isn’t), redesigning a logo way later than anyone wants to admit, and trying to keep the team creative while the production backlog is eating everyone alive. It’s honest, funny, and painfully relatable for anyone who’s ever opened a RACI chart in desperation. If you’re planning a rebrand this year, this episode will either make you feel seen… or slightly afraid. Both are useful.