The new study ‘Security marketing strategies: influencing contemporary purchasing behaviour’ was conducted in partnership with Coleman Parkes Research. It looks at the state of security investments, what buyers are looking for and how communication channels and types of content influence vendor awareness and selection.

It found companies are making considerable investments in security with the cost of new security implementations in the last twelve months averaging just below £800k.

Analyst relations were found to be crucial to security vendors’ content strategies with 58% stating it to be the most influential in driving awareness.

Media outlets such as The FT and the Telegraph have previously been regarded as the peak of success for PR outputs, but the report shows the outcomes from media outreach is even to that of business tech publications. Security technology buyers rated both trade media and business higher than national media publications.

Owned content such as blogs, webinars and videos were identified as being influential but to variable extents when impacting vendor decision-making. Webinars and video for example were found to have at least double the level of influence as blog content.

These findings can help organisations in the security technology space to maximise brand awareness and customer engagement in an increasingly competitive market.

Florie Lhuillier, head of security at CCGroup, says, “To design and execute a marketing strategy that not only resonates with potential customers, but which fundamentally delivers tangible ROI, security vendors must uncover the who, what, where and how of buyer behaviour.”

CCGroup commissioned the research conducted by specialist B2B research agency Coleman Parkes Research. It interviewed 200 senior UK decision makers across sectors in companies with more than 100 employees and involved in major technology purchases over the past year