Switchfast Data-Driven PR

The Challenge

With the upcoming launch of its MaxPro® Secure cybersecurity solution, Switchfast needed to find a way to stand out within the crowded cybersecurity space. The company turned to Walker Sands due to its knowledge of the market and cybersecurity media connections.

Through a data-driven PR program, Walker Sands needed to help Switchfast:

• Build awareness of the company ahead of its upcoming MaxPro® Secure service launch
• Gain credibility as a managed cybersecurity services company
• Reach its target audience of small business decision-makers

The Solution

Walker Sands needed to create general awareness around how cyber threats could affect small businesses, while simultaneously presenting Switchfast as a thought leader with expertise and experience in dealing with vulnerabilities. The ultimate goal? Decision-makers would see the value of implementing a suite of managed cybersecurity services like MaxPro® Secure.

Walker Sands knew a data-driven report would be just the thing to interest reporters and gain Switchfast the attention it needed, but first the team had to build a solid foundation for Switchfast with cybersecurity media. The team kicked off the partnership with executive profile pitching and contributed articles to elevate Switchfast’s thought leaders and increase brand awareness.

The Walker Sands team also took advantage of breaking news in the cybersecurity space to secure commentary from Switchfast’s thought leaders, further aligning the brand with current cyber threat news stories in key outlets like TechTarget. This meant obtaining interviews and demonstrating thought leadership in top-tier, small business and cybersecurity media throughout the campaign. All of this outreach allowed the team to build relationships with key reporters, laying the groundwork for successful future pitching.

To further establish Switchfast as a thought leader, the Walker Sands PR and content teams worked together to ideate and create a data report. With the ultimate goal of building awareness for the MaxPro® Secure service offering for small businesses, Walker Sands surveyed small business leadership and employees to determine disconnects and misconceptions in their current cybersecurity practices. The result was the creation of the report “Cybersecurity Mistakes All Small Business Employees Make, from Entry Level to the C-Suite,” with key findings including:

• 51 percent of small business leaders didn’t think their company was a target for cybercriminals.
• 38 percent of small business employees were concerned about their data due to their businesses’ cybersecurity practices.
• 31 percent of senior management employees shared the password to their work email with another co-worker. Only 18 percent of associates had.
• Passwords of senior management were more likely to contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII) (26 percent), compared to 19 percent of associates.
• 28 percent of senior managers had fallen for a phishing scam. Only 13 percent of associates had.

Following the launch of the report, Walker Sands capitalized on its close relationships with cybersecurity reporters to secure placements for Switchfast in top-tier and small business-focused publications. Switchfast was able to further demonstrate the need for better cybersecurity training and practices among small businesses, while showing how its products and services could relieve its SMB partners from that burden.

The Results

The concept behind the Switchfast data report resonated with reporters and helped lead to a total of 115 media placements throughout the PR program, with coverage in top-tier and small business outlets including:

• Entrepreneur: The Dark Web? Why Small Businesses Should Concern Themselves With the Threat.
• ZDNet: One in five employees share their email password with co-workers
• Dark Reading: Half of Small Businesses Believe They’re Not Cybercrime Targets
• The Register: SMBs: We don’t want to spoil all of this article, but have you patched, taken away admin rights, made backups yet?
• PYMNTS.com: Switchfast: SMB Employees Outperform Managers On Cybersecurity
• Small Business Computing: Blinded by Complacency: Too Many SMBs Lack Basic Cyber Security
• Small Biz Daily: Are Remote Employees More Productive?, Motivating Millennial Employees, Is New Tech Stressing Your Staff? and Other HR Trends You Need to Know

These placements not only helped Switchfast stand out in a crowded cybersecurity space, but also allowed the company reach and educate its target audience of small business owners on their need for cybersecurity solutions.

Further, Switchfast’s placements included 62 backlinks to its site, a key factor in generating leads, building awareness around its upcoming service launch and unveiling a need for SMBs to take cyber threats as seriously as a large enterprise would.