2026 WINNER · CYBERSECURITY STARS AWARDS
Connect Marketing · Cybersecurity PR & Analyst Relations
Best Cybersecurity Marketing Agency
Overview
Connect Marketing is a PR and integrated marketing agency built specifically for B2B technology companies. We work with cybersecurity vendors at every stage, from companies coming out of stealth to billion-dollar brands, and we deliver the kind of work most agencies promise but few actually execute: PR, analyst relations, executive thought leadership, messaging and positioning, content, social, and digital, all run by senior people who have been doing this for decades.
Our partners average 30-plus years in tech marketing. There are no junior account executives pitching media, ghostwriting a CEO's byline, creating a campaign strategy or managing Gartner briefings. The same people who pitched the work do the work. That is a primary reason a boutique shop like ours can compete with global agencies on output quality and beat them on speed.
Cybersecurity has been a core practice for Connect since the early days of the industry. Past and present security clients include Aventail, BeyondTrust, Blackpoint Cyber, CA Security, Internet Security Systems, Caldera, Checkpoint Software, Corsa, CyberFOX, DigiCert, F5, GitGuardian, IceBrg, Infoblox, ISYX, Key Labs, LockStep Systems, LogiKeep, Mobile Automation, NetVision, NeuShield, ServiceNow, Simeio, Sophos, Symantec, Symark, Tempered Networks, TippingPoint, V-One, and 360 Privacy. We currently work with 16 active clients across cybersecurity, networking, AI/automation, and enterprise software.
Key Capabilities
Connect runs a full 360-degree program for security clients. The capabilities below are the ones cybersecurity vendors hire us for most often:
- Public relations. Media strategy, pitching, and placement across security press (Dark Reading, SecurityWeek, CSO, The HackerNews), channel media (CRN, MSSP Alert, ChannelE2E), tier-1 business press, and trade.
- Analyst relations. Briefings, inquiries, Hype Cycle and Magic Quadrant positioning, and category creation work with Gartner, Forrester, IDC, EMA, and Omdia.
- Executive thought leadership. Ghostwritten bylines, op-eds, keynote development, and LinkedIn content calibrated to each executive's voice (we keep documented voice profiles for every spokesperson we write for).
- Award programs. End-to-end management of submissions to CRN, MES, MSP Today, Globee, AI Breakthrough, Cybersecurity Excellence Awards, and others. Seven award wins for CyberFOX in six months is a recent example.
- Content and messaging. Messaging architecture, positioning, surveys, research reports, case studies, white papers, and video.
- Strategic consulting. M&A readiness, launch strategy, category creation, and crisis communications.
- AI-assisted execution. We have built a fleet of internal AI agents and Claude-powered skills that handle research, draft generation, analyst transcript summarization, coverage tracking, and reporting, which is how a small senior team punches above its weight.
How we are different
Most cybersecurity vendors choose between two bad options. Global agencies have the full capability set but staff accounts with junior people, run slow, and bill heavily. Boutique agencies have experienced people but narrow capabilities, PR-only, or content-only, or AR-only, so the vendor ends up stitching three or four agencies together.
Connect has the broad capabilities of a global agency and the senior staff of a boutique. The partners pitch the work and run the accounts directly. That structure is what lets us deliver, for example, a six-month media launch program, a parallel analyst program, a thought leadership program for the CEO and the CRO, and an active award pipeline, all under one roof, with the same people who scoped the work executing it.
Three things specifically separate us in the cybersecurity space:
1. Cybersecurity is a core practice, not a vertical we dabble in
We have been writing for, pitching for, and briefing analysts on behalf of security companies for 30-plus years. Our senior team understands the difference between PEDM and enterprise PAM. We know which Dark Reading editor covers identity and which one covers cloud. We know which Gartner analysts care about MSP-led security and which ones don't. That domain depth is the difference between a pitch that lands and one that gets ignored. We know what stories are green-lighted and reporters trust our value and are loyal to our relationships.
2. Senior people do the work
When a cybersecurity vendor hires Connect, the partner who pitched the engagement is the partner running the account. There is no pyramid of juniors below a senior nameplate. Every byline, briefing book, award submission, and media pitch goes through hands with decades of experience. Clients tell us this is the single biggest reason they switched from a previous agency.
3. We have AI-transformed faster than agencies twice our size
Connect runs an internal AI transformation program covering operations, content production, analyst relations, and reporting. We have built dozens of Claude-powered skills and agents that handle research, transcript summaries, voice-calibrated drafting, coverage analysis, and award submissions. The result: senior people spend their time on judgment work, strategy, relationships, editorial calls, and the production work happens faster and at higher consistency than a traditional agency can match.
Case studies
BeyondTrust: From low visibility to category leadership in identity security
BeyondTrust partnered with Connect Marketing in 2016 to elevate the company from a relatively low-profile privileged access management vendor into one of the most visible and dominant voices in identity and access security. Over multiple years, Connect led a sustained PR, thought leadership, awards, and media strategy program that helped BeyondTrust consistently outperform every major competitor in share of voice and media quality.
The engagement focused on positioning BeyondTrust not simply as a PAM vendor, but as a leader in intelligent identity and access security. Connect drove aggressive media outreach, executive thought leadership, research-driven campaigns, rapid-response commentary, and category positioning across cybersecurity, channel, and business press.
The results were measurable and market-leading:
- Highest North American media score among all major identity security competitors: 44% Share of Voice.
- Outperformed CyberArk (21%), Delinea (27%), OneIdentity (5%), and TeamViewer (2%) in total competitive media score
- 359 total media articles in a single year, compared to 217 for competitors Delinea and 153 for CyberArk
- 210 trade media placements and 35 business press placements
- 17 award-focused placements, making BeyondTrust the clear industry leader in awards coverage (5 awards Delinea, 4 CyberArk)
- Dominated identity security coverage categories including news, interviews, product coverage, and solution-profile features
Connect also helped BeyondTrust operationalize a research-driven communications strategy and launched BeyondTrust Labs. Campaigns built around the Microsoft Vulnerability Report, identity threat trends, and rapid-response security commentary generated consistent media momentum and helped move the company into the center of identity-security conversations.
Connect also led crisis communications and media management for BeyondTrust during the high-profile BT26-02 vulnerability disclosure. The engagement required rapid coordination across executive communications, media relations, technical validation, and ongoing narrative management under intense industry scrutiny. Connect worked alongside the BeyondTrust security and communications teams to ensure accurate, transparent, and technically precise reporting throughout the disclosure process. Using internally developed AI-assisted monitoring workflows, Connect continuously scanned media coverage and social amplification for inaccuracies, incomplete technical details, and misleading interpretations related to the vulnerability and remediation guidance. The team responded in near real-time with corrections, clarifications, updated technical context, and direct reporter engagement to ensure the market received accurate information and remediation steps. This active monitoring and rapid-response strategy allowed BeyondTrust to maintain control of the storyline during a sensitive disclosure cycle and ultimately close out the vulnerability news cycle with effectively 100 percent accurate media reporting surrounding the issue.
The overall media program ultimately transformed BeyondTrust from a company with relatively modest market visibility into one of the most dominant media brands in enterprise identity security, with a sustained share of voice advantage over every major competitor in the category.
The value we get from partnering with Connect, versus doing all of our PR internally, is it that allows us to leverage their connections, their experience, and their industry knowledge. They keep us moving and keep us on task and handle so much of the busy project management work related to PR so that I can spend my time and effort focusing on being strategic.
--Stacy Blaiss, VP Corporate Marketing at BeyondTrust
CyberFOX: Five months of momentum in MSP security media
CyberFOX, a privileged access and identity provider for the MSP channel, came to Connect in October 2025 with effectively no media presence. Six months later, the picture looks very different.
- 128 placements across channel, cybersecurity, business, and financial press
- 30-plus articles around a nine-figure funding announcement, with Connect owning the narrative end to end
- 53 percent share of voice against key competitors
- 13 executive bylines and exclusive interviews placed in CRN, MSSP Alert, Channel Insider, ChannelE2E, SecurityWeek, and MSP Success
- Seven industry award wins, reinforcing CyberFOX's positioning in PEDM and identity for MSPs
- Built recurring relationships with the channel media that matter most to CyberFOX's buyers
The work covered PR strategy, executive thought leadership for CEO David Bellini and CRO Adam Slutskin, voice profiles for both spokespeople, byline placement, the funding launch, award submissions, and analyst engagement.
When we brought on Connect Marketing, CyberFOX had essentially no media presence. Six months later, we’re at 128 placements, a nine-figure funding announcement picked up everywhere that matters to our audience, and seven awards our customers and partners can actually point to. What stands out most is execution. The senior team that sold us on their organization is the same team writing bylines, working the media, and driving our PR/AR strategy day to day. That’s rare in this industry, and it shows up in the results.
— Mark Sokol , CMO, CyberFOX
Blackpoint Cyber: Rapid response and category positioning
Blackpoint Cyber, an MDR provider building toward an integrated security platform, has worked with Connect on a series of high-stakes corporate communications including the announcement and ongoing PR for the CompassOne platform, issues/threats-based rapid response media opportunities, and an aggressive award submissions program focused on the channel and MSP-focused publications including CRN, MES Midmarket, and MSP Today. Connect runs the engagement alongside Blackpoint VP of Communications Kasia Kaplinska as an extension of the in-house team rather than an outside vendor.
Connect operates like part of our team, not a vendor on the other end of an email. They understand our category, they understand the channel, and they bring the kind of senior judgment you actually need. The work is fast, accurate, and on-message.
— Kasia Kaplinska, VP of Communications, Blackpoint Cyber
- The CompassOne launch generated 54 media mentions for Blackpoint.
- Blackpoint had zero analyst briefings before Connect. We've placed 96 since.
GitGuardian: Rapid response that made a client the named voice on a federal security story
GitGuardian, a leader in code security and secrets detection, partners with Connect on media relations, executive thought leadership, and award programs in North America.
In May 2026, a GitGuardian researcher found a public GitHub repo holding active GovCloud credentials and internal configs belonging to a federal cybersecurity agency. Automated alerts had gone out months earlier and nobody acted. The disclosure playbook stalled with a weekend closing in, and the real risk was a state actor quietly taking those keys to build persistence inside a government network. GitGuardian took it to Brian Krebs, who helped reach the right people. The repo came down in about 26 hours. Krebs published May 18.
Connect was pitching reporters by 3am MDT on the 19th, federal-policy reporters at CyberScoop and The Record, the breach desks at Dark Reading and SC Media, the fast-wire crews at TechCrunch and The Register, plus a researcher walkthrough video so nobody had to take our word for the technical detail. The result: roughly 70 articles in a few days, and GitGuardian as the named expert voice on the week's biggest federal security story. You can't build those relationships once the story is live.
Connect Marketing brings a level of cybersecurity knowledge depth that's hard to find. They know the press, the journalists, the analysts, but they also know how to turn complex technical topics like secrets security and non-human identity into stories security buyers engage with. They are a true extension of our team. — Carole Winqwist, CMO, GitGuardian
Why Connect Marketing for Best Cybersecurity Marketing Agency
Cybersecurity vendors don't need an agency that works on cybersecurity. They need an agency that lives in it. Connect Marketing has 36 years of doing exactly that, with senior people running the accounts, with case studies that show real outcomes (128 placements, nine Hype Cycle mentions, a new Gartner category, seven award wins in six months), and with an AI-transformed delivery model that lets a small team produce at a scale most boutique agencies can't match.
That combination, cybersecurity depth, senior execution, and AI-leveraged speed, is what Best Cybersecurity Marketing Agency should mean in 2026.
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