This month kicks off the 21st annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CAM). Over the years, the initiative has developed into a collaborative effort between government and industry to enhance cybersecurity awareness, reduce online risk, and create discussion of cyber threats on a national and global scale.
In recognition of this month, industries globally use this moment as a time to reflect and amplify their cybersecurity learnings. If you’re on the fence about whether you should activate on a Cybersecurity Awareness Month strategy, here are a few things to consider before getting started.
Thinking about earned media?
If your company is looking to get the most out of the month from a media perspective, consider a strategic and targeted earned media strategy to help build your company’s awareness and thought leadership. Cybersecurity Awareness Month offers a relevant and timely news hook for cybersecurity product launches and updates when executed thoughtfully. Consider tying the overall narrative of your launch back to the main purpose of the CAM campaign and exemplifying how it helps reduce cyber risk effectively.
Much of the press that covers cybersecurity is wary of the intermittent buzz and activations surrounding this month given that many companies leverage it as nothing more than a marketing scheme. So if it's thought leadership you’re looking to pursue, it's important to ensure you are offering new and unique perspectives or relevant data to the conversation as this will help you stand out from the crowd. Thinking about where your company’s expertise lies and how this can address the current challenges of today’s security landscape is also a helpful guidepost when determining what it is you’re aiming to say.
Maximize Owned Platforms
One of the most impactful ways to recognize this initiative with impactful outcomes is through your company’s owned channels. Whether it be through social media such as LinkedIn or X (formerly Twitter) or your company’s website via a blog, these are strong platforms to elevate your perspective and leadership while maintaining control over your narrative and messaging. Use and promote relevant hashtags to increase your content’s visibility Highlighting successful employee initiatives or spotlighting cybersecurity champions throughout your organization helps drive forward the important themes of the month while elevating the people behind the scenes.
Consider your Audience
When evaluating your brand strategy, it's essential to think about who your target audience is as cybersecurity awareness and education vary from industry to industry. For instance, tech companies’ security hygiene may far outpace their counterparts in the healthcare and retail industries given the nature of their business — their appetite for “cybersecurity awareness month” may be significantly smaller than some other industries. For example, retailers can look at their audience of customers, focus on ensuring consumers are keeping a close eye on their personal cybersecurity hygiene and protecting passwords, committing to cyber-safe practices online, and more. With this in mind, consider focusing your campaign on those industries that may not have a strong cybersecurity posture, and may benefit for this opportunity to rethink their best practices in this area.
Beyond Cybersecurity Awareness Month
As you consider the best path for your organization during this year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, ensure that your cybersecurity strategy does not start and stop here each year. Showing your commitment to cybersecurity consistently throughout the year is the best way to champion your company’s leadership in the field and stick out from the crowd.
One of the most impactful ways to combat cybercriminals all year round is through education. By sharing key learnings and findings from your company’s own experiences and research during Cybersecurity Awareness Month and throughout the rest of the year, your organization can help increase awareness and help make attackers less successful in their attempts.
Interested in learning more about how Highwire strategizes and advises clients to make the most of their cybersecurity assets? Reach out to us here —we’d love to connect!