With near daily news reports on major cyberattacks, it’s clear that cybersecurity is an issue of everyday importance. But when the news cycle is oversaturated with attacks (and the same tired advice about how to mitigate them), it can be hard for brands to break into the conversation. Despite having a credible POV or valuable story to tell, many struggle to prove the why now.
The trick, here, lies with storytelling strategy – and timing.
There are many elements to being a good storyteller – knowing your audience, using effective language, ensuring clarity – but one of the most critical, especially in a news cycle as rapidfire as cybersecurity, is understanding the right time to tell your story.
This can be as simple as just looking at a calendar. Each quarter there are “moments in time” that you can use to make your POV, product, or research more timely – and thus, more compelling.
Moments to Mark on the Calendar
As we transition to Q4, here’s what a good storyteller might lean on in the months ahead:
Sept-Oct: Quarterly Spending Forecasts
The Q3 to Q4 slide includes a lot of planning. Companies are looking at their expenditures, expected costs, and other considerations that help determine budget decisions ahead. For brands who want to speak to the value of cybersecurity tools, now would be the time, leveraging data on rising attacks at the time when CISOs are planning their 2025 budgets.
October: National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
This year marks the 21st National Cybersecurity Awareness month – a dedicated time to inform the public of the importance of cybersecurity. Brands can use this as a guaranteed point in time to engage with reporters planning to cover cybersecurity hygiene best practices, often in roundup style stories. They can also use it as a time to push out consumer-level messaging on topics like password security, phishing, and software updates.
November: 2024 U.S. Elections
In the U.S., presidential elections come but once…every four years. And in today’s digital-first world, the election landscape looks completely different than it did even 10 years ago. This provides an excellent moment for storytelling on new and emerging risks. Brands can share perspective on nation-state attacks, AI-generated malinformation, deep fakes and more.
November-Dec: Holiday Shopping & Travel
The holiday season is a hacker’s dream. Online orders are surging, travel perpetuates poor cyber hygiene, and practically anyone will fall for a smishing link about a package in transit. This is a great time for brands who track trends to put their research teams to work and develop storylines that address industries who may be targeted (think airlines, eCommerce, retail) and how consumers can be more security-conscious.
Dec-Jan: Predictions and 2025 Planning
Similar to National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the approaching end of year provides a consistent annual touchpoint with reporters. This moment in time lends itself to thought leadership POVs on the lessons learned from the past year, and what we can expect in the year ahead from emerging technology and accelerating threats.
Matching Data to Moment in Time Storytelling
These moments provide the necessary hook to get to the why now. In thinking about the why us, it’s important to consider what else can help cut through the noise. Data can be that brand differentiator. Numbers don’t tell the story by themselves, but the context in which they fit and the way they evolve over time do.
Planning ahead for these moments can mean looking back at existing research. Are there any YoY report trends to match to these moments? Is there time to run a survey ahead of a significant moment? What can the threat research team monitor for and when should they do it?
Data-backed insights are one of the best ways to add depth to a story, and keeping track of these moments in time allows brands to plan ahead on what data to get, and when to have it ready.
Molding Moments in Time to Your Needs
A good storytelling partner will help tell the stories that matter most to your brand at the right time. At PAN, we use our own data and analytics to measure impact and evaluate media conversations to make sure we’re striking the right mix of why now and why us throughout the year.
Start to strategically plan your storytelling with PAN’s experts. Let’s talk!
