ThreatMetrix Data-Based PR Campaign

Background

ThreatMetrix is a fast-growing integrated cybercrime prevention solutions provider. With solutions serving a global customer base across a variety of industries, ThreatMetrix helps companies prevent unauthorized access to Web and mobile applications, protect sensitive data and secure transactions against account takeover, payment fraud, identity spoofing, malware and data breaches.

The Challenge

ThreatMetrix wanted to increase its exposure among U.S.-based e-commerce vendors and position itself as the leader in cybersecurity prevention, an increasingly worrisome problem for online businesses. Its primary objective was to raise awareness about its TrustDefender Cybercrime Protection Platform and become the top-of-mind cybercrime solutions provider for online businesses.

The Solution 

Walker Sands worked with ThreatMetrix to cultivate a strategy that utilized its existing data to produce valuable, relevant observations about the prevalence of cybercrime, spotlighting ThreatMetrix’s insights in key U.S. target markets.

An extensive study carried out by ThreatMetrix looked at nearly a billion transactions made by e-commerce merchants, where each transaction was scored with a fraud risk of low, medium or high. Walker Sands leveraged this data and ranked the top 150 U.S. cities based on their percent of high and medium risk transactions, formulating stand-out messages that positioned ThreatMetrix as the leading solutions provider in the cybersecurity field.

To streamline the findings for media outlets, Walker Sands condensed the ranking into a top 10 list of U.S. cities for fraud origination. A content marketing and media outreach strategy was designed to place the news in media, trade publications and local outlets.

Walker Sands’ outreach extended to all 150 cities in the study, with personalized pitches to local publications that included each city’s specific ranking.

Walker Sands found that the top 10 cities for online fraud origination were:

1. New York
2. Atlanta
3. Chicago
4. Los Angeles
5. Omaha
6. Dallas
7. San Francisco
8. Houston
9. Washington D.C.
10. Lexington, KY

The Results

Walker Sands’ campaign garnered immediate interest in top-tier and trade media, resulting in more than 75 placements. Key features include Chicago Tribune, peHUB, Reuters, MSNBC.com, Internet Retailer, Security News Daily and other outlets.

In addition to print media outlets, the campaign captured hyperlocal interest, with local broadcast television coverage by NBC, CNN, ABC, and CBS. The study was also covered by local radio programs.

Web traffic to ThreatMetrix’s website significantly grew because of Walker Sands’ PR execution – more than 91 percent from the same time period during the previous year, with an increase in referrals by 87 percent.

Awareness of ThreatMetrix increased considerably, and the campaign received international recognition from ThreatMetrix board members in Australia, who saw the coverage and acknowledged the reach and media efforts to the CEO.

As a result of the increased awareness achieved by the PR campaign, ThreatMetrix was named to The Wall Street Journal’s “Next Big Thing” list of the top 50 venture-capital-backed companies in the U.S. The ranking was compiled by VentureSource out of more than 5,900 candidates. Key criteria for the ranking include fundraising success, recent growth in the company’s value and the track record of its founder and board members.