Exploring Underrepresented Cybersecurity Markets with Jake Milstein

Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing

Sep 27 2023 • 40 mins

In this episode, Jake Milstein, CRO, and CMO at Critical Insight, joins Maria and Gianna to discuss his unique perspective on serving underrepresented cybersecurity markets, the importance of establishing trust and personal connection with clients, and more.

To begin, Jake shares what makes his job different now that he has the additional role of CRO. One of his favorite parts about his unique perspective is that he can see operations through every step of the way, from the funnel and down the line to customer experience. His responsibilities include marketing, sales, and customer success. He finds that the best CMOs he knows are those who get involved in customer conversations and have a clear understanding of their product market fit. Jake spent 20 years in the journalism field of TV news broadcasting. He believes that where journalism and cybersecurity overlap is in their efforts to give people the facts to help them make educated decisions.

Next, Jake shares how Critical Insight came to focus specifically on the underserved cyber markets thanks to the experience of the company’s co-founders. They provide consulting services to help clients prepare for an attack, soft services to help detect an attack quickly, and the tools to respond decisively when an attack does happen. Hospitals in rural areas, for example, want a provider whom they can trust and have a personal relationship with. A major part of Critical Insight’s marketing strategy is showing up to conferences and events in these rural areas and following up with the people they meet there.

Then, Jake sheds light on how the company was able to scale at the rate it did by establishing personal connections and authenticity with the people it serves. He has found that showing up automatically makes you memorable by default. Any time a major national event occurs, Critical Insight hosts an urgent panel webinar in which they present the facts and then have a panel of experts discuss the topic. Before wrapping up, Jake and our hosts discuss the challenge of incorporating humor into cybersecurity. Finally, they engage in a fun guessing game to reveal what career Jake would pursue outside of the cybersecurity marketing field.

Links:

Follow Jake on LinkedIn.

Follow Gianna on LinkedIn.

Catch up with Maria on LinkedIn.

Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on our website, and keep up with us on Twitter.