Imagine you want to buy a TV. You open your browser and search. You see 3 products listed on top:
- “50 inch, LED TV, Suitable for Home & Office”
- “No. 1 TV in India, 2-day Delivery, Best for Home Use”
- “3840×2160 HDR Display, 120Hz Refresh Rate, 8 Built-in Speakers”
Which one are you going to click? Obviously first one (trust me!).
Now, take that same test with your cybersecurity website content & copy, your product brochure, or your sales deck. Will someone click to read more about your security product or service? Will they even understand it in one go? Is your message about business outcomes or just a laundry list of features? Is it too technical? Is it even framed around what your target audience cares about?
If the answer is no… you have a messaging problem.
This isn’t another post about “10 things you must do” or the latest growth hacks. This is about what NOT to do when you’re marketing a cybersecurity product or maybe a service. Because what you don’t do often matters more than what you do.
And before we start, I must clarify that these rules are meant for startups and SMBs. Big enterprises like CrowdStrike, Proofpoint, Palo Alto or any other can get away with being messy because they have years of brand equity.
You DON’T. So here we go.
10 “Donts” of Marketing A Cybersecurity Product
Don’t Overload with Technical Jargon
If your homepage looks like a compliance auditor wrote it, you’ve already lost half your audience. Your buyer might not be a cybersecurity expert. Even if they’re in IT, they care about outcomes with high level feature insight like reducing breach risk, passing audits faster, avoiding downtime and not just technical specs. Here’s an example:
Bad Messaging: “AI-powered EDR with real-time ML-based anomaly detection across hybrid multi-cloud endpoints.”
Better: “Detect and stop threats with our AI-powered EDR Solution”
Why this kills your marketing: Too much jargon alienates decision-makers and slows the buying process. Combine outcome with understandable feature or product description. Speak human and save deep technical talk for demos and whitepapers or even further sections of your website.
Don’t Sell Only Through Fear (FUD Marketing)
Many security marketers default to: “Hackers are coming, your business is not safe, act now or lose everything!”
Yes, fear gets attention. But overuse makes you sound like a clickbait scam. Instead of just talking about the risks, balance with the positive impact like gaining compliance, winning big contracts, building customer trust.
Why this kills your marketing: Long-term trust is built on credibility and positive value, not just panic. Fear may open a door, but it rarely closes a deal by itself. And to be upfront, security is an expense, not a revenue generation machine.
Don’t Ignore the Actual Pain Points
Some companies sell by listing dozens of features without once connecting them to a real situation the buyer faces.
Example:
- Feature: “Granular access control” - So what?
- Pain point: “Avoid accidental data leaks by ensuring employees access to only what they need.”
If your pitch doesn’t answer “So what?” for every claim, it’s too far from the customer’s reality. Your marketing should answer what, when, how, for whom, where for every feature on the marketing list. Also, make sure to check which feature you chose to market. Don’t confuse default features provided by your competitors as your USP (Unique Selling Point).
Why this kills your marketing: Buyers don’t wake up thinking about “control granularity,” they wake up thinking “How do I pass this audit and keep my client contract?”
Don’t Skip Social Proof
Cybersecurity buyers are risk-averse. They won’t take your word for it, they need to hear from people like them. And yet, I’ve seen product pages without a single testimonial, case study, or logo wall. Don’t forget to
- Share a before/after scenario (even anonymized).
- Publish case studies
- Add industry certifications, auditor approvals, or compliance badges.
- Show results in numbers: “Reduced incident response time by 73%.”
Why this kills your marketing: Without proof, your product is just another claim in a noisy market. Try to get reviews on trusted platforms like Gartner and G2 from your clients or design partners.
Don’t Try to Market to “Everyone”
I have been there and done that. Trust me it’s confusing and produces no result. You are not oxygen, so don’t try to be. You’re not selling to “any company with endpoints.”
You’re selling to someone and that someone has a role, industry, and urgent problem. If you try to appeal to every business from a fintech startup or an e-commerce company to a defense contractor, your messaging will get diluted to nothing.
Why this kills your marketing: Specificity sells. Generalised “we do everything” messages don’t trigger action.
Don’t Market Only on Features
You can always find another vendor with similar features. What customers buy from you is outcome and experience, not just tools.
Example:
Instead of “Policy templates included” → say “Achieve SOC 2 audit readiness 60% faster with pre-loaded, auditor-approved policies.”
Why this kills your marketing: Features can be copied. But proved outcomes and service can’t be. It’s a trust game at the end.
Don’t Neglect Educational Content
I’ve seen cybersecurity startups put up just a product page and hope for leads. That’s not how trust is built. Educational blogs, compliance checklists, webinars etc. show you understand the landscape and can guide buyers, not just sell to them. B2B products are sold after multiple touchpoints.
When you are not using any cloud other than AWS, Azure or GCP, then how do you think your target audience will use your product?
Why this kills your marketing: In a trust-based industry like cyber, people buy from those who educate them first. Nobody knows everything and everybody is scared. There is too much ‘Third Party Vendor Risk’ involved (not kidding!).
Don’t Ignore Compliance & Legal Boundaries in Your Marketing
A security product that promises “100% breach-proof” protection? That’s not just a bad idea, it’s dangerous legally. Also, spreading sensitive incident details or naming hacked clients without permission is a recipe for losing trust (and maybe facing lawsuits).
Why this kills your marketing: Overpromising or mishandling sensitive information is a fast track way to reputational damage.
Don’t Forget the People Who Actually Use the Product
Too many pitches are aimed purely at the CISO or CEO, while ignoring the security analysts or IT managers who will install and use your solution daily. If your marketing ignores their daily workflow and challenges, expect resistance even if leadership says yes.
Trust me it’s not just women talking to each other, but engineers giving bad reviews after spending more than a month in integrations and onboarding.
Why this kills your marketing: Security tools live or die on user adoption. Ignore the end user and your renewal rates will suffer.
Don’t Hide Weaknesses or Oversell Capabilities
Cybersecurity buyers are skeptical and they should be. If you claim unrealistic capabilities, they will find out during proof-of-concept or after purchase.
Be transparent: talk about the limits too, but pair them with your unique strengths.
Why this kills your marketing: Overselling causes churn, damages trust and kills referrals.
Key Takeaway
In cybersecurity marketing, it’s not just what you say but it’s what you avoid saying (or doing) that builds lasting authority.
✅ Be clear, not complex.
✅ Sell outcomes with features, not jargon.
✅ Build trust with proof, not just claims.
✅ Market for your specific audience, not “everyone.”
If you avoid these pitfalls, your marketing will stand out in a messy, noisy industry and your audience will actually want to click that link on your website or your landing page, not skip over it.
If you want to know how we can help you market your cybersecurity products/services, reach out to us:
