How Thinking Outside the Box Earned Our Cybersecurity Client Nine Figures
Cybersecurity Client: A Brand-Led Performance Case Study
Project Overview
#1
Top ranking position
$100M+
Acquisition by global cybersecurity leader
100%
Keyword term and messaging published by acquirer’s C-Suite
| Industry | Cybersecurity |
| Value Provided | Category messaging, brand authority, market-dominating thought leadership |
Project Overview
Partnering with the right digital marketing agency is a critical business decision that involves so much more than scoring Google impressions, clicks, and conversions.
With the advent of AI, cybersecurity defense has never been more important. This case study displays how we helped our client “hack” the ultimate branding challenge—all the way to an acquisition deal worth over $100 million.
Read about the first leg of our journey with this client. It all began when they came to us with the need to regain their market voice. Once we earned their confidence and delivered solid results, the stakes became even higher.
Our Strategy
Our Strategy
Building trust in a partnership runs two ways. This was a unique moment where the ultimate strategy was to defy every traditional SEO play and trust the client’s gut instinct.
We had already been wildly successful in gaining them visibility in search results, but now they wanted us to secure top ranking for a term that didn’t even exist yet.
At the start of our partnership, the challenge was understanding the technical nuance and complexity of their field and all the terms used. Now, we needed to help define an entirely new term. Not only was there zero research on the topic to explore—there were literally no search results—and that was the client’s genius branding move.
With no search volume or competitor benchmarks, we worked on the messaging to create an entirely new category for our client to dominate.
Because of that two-way trust, we listened to our client, held to the plan, and delivered. To say their gut was right is an understatement.
Designing the Concept Behind the Term
Typically, working with complex subjects requires disciplined research. In this case, it was about architecting a niche category. We crafted authoritative content that defined the term and how it was the future of cybersecurity. We displayed the client’s expertise, vision, and presence in the cybersecurity community.
Unifying the Term with the Brand
For this bold strategy to work, the brand messaging had to make the client’s position in the community synonymous with the new term. This also meant owning a decision that would take months to prove its worth.
We executed through:
- Content that established our client as the authority on the new term
- Strategic linking, schema, and metadata tying that term to their industry
- Strong, clear messaging painting the term as the path forward in cybersecurity
Defining a new term and concept in a technical niche was a whole new experience in keyword strategy: Owning the narrative. Watching the masterstroke of this coordinated, brand-led strategy play out has been a milestone experience. It’s proof that there are multiple paths to success. In this case, great branding was more than theory: It was leverage.
Results
The Results
Mission: Accomplished.
#1 Ranking Position
By establishing authority, the acquirer holds the top position for the term as the dominant leader associated with the term, which is now being used throughout the cybersecurity industry as a result.
$100 million+ Acquisition
The acquisition reflects that the acquirer believed in our client’s vision of the immediate future, and proved you actually can place a price on the power of strong brand messaging.
100% Success: Passing the Torch
This is the most important takeaway: The acquiring organization used the term, the surrounding concept, and branding philosophy to establish themselves precisely as intended.
As a result, the acquirer and their C-suite are viewed as leaders in cutting-edge cybersecurity, using a term that has become an industry standard, and the entirety of the marketing goal carried forward with success.
The Real Lesson: Trust Is the Strategy
SEO can help you get seen. Category creation can land you the opportunity of a lifetime.
The strongest brands understand you need both.
At the start of our partnership, the client knew they deserved better than average digital marketing. We’re glad they trusted Big Leap to help prove the power of brand-led performance marketing.
Want to see what our team can do to bring clear, bold brand messaging to your omnichannel digital marketing? Great! Let’s talk.
Take a look at what we’ve done for great brands in other industries.
Here’s the thing about our SEO agency: We prefer long-term partnerships that are deeply rooted in trust. Before we dive right into this, we’d like to get to know you better, get a feel for your current situation, and talk about your marketing goals and expectations.
You can call us now, or we can meet over lunch. Either way, we’re excited to meet you.
