With technologies like AI and the blockchain bound to evolve in the coming years, cybersecurity thought leaders who can advocate for best practice will remain in high demand.
Those who address anxieties around emerging technologies and improve public confidence will benefit from greater trust, stronger relationships, and long-term success.
However, while social media and blog posting are effective avenues to promote thought leadership, executives benefit most from media coverage in a reputable publication in terms of credibility and the size of audience executives can reach.
In this article, we cover five of the best cybersecurity media outlets to pitch to, the key trends, and a few of our own tips to help executives secure high-quality coverage.
The Information is an award-winning San Francisco-based tech publication with over 475,000 monthly C-suite subscribers.
It was founded in 2013 by the former Wall Street Journal media and tech reporter Jessica Lessin, who built a career reporting on Silicon Valley.
The publication covers a wide variety of tech news, with technical, in-depth, data-driven analysis concerning deals, financial reports, and brand-new technologies and services.
Of late, much of its content has focused on the AI race.
With many stories investigating the developments of Open-AI, Nvidia, and Google, there are numerous opportunities for commentary that executives can tap into.
While executives may struggle to pitch their own articles, considering the publication’s content is heavily editorially led, journalists remain keen to interview experts.
In our view, if a well-established executive reaches out to the publication with a fresh perspective on a recent deal or hardware trend, they have a good chance of securing coverage.
Executives should also consider pitching to the publication's various events since they allow audiences to put a name to a face and see how much executives care about the issues they speak about.
The Information's most recent event has been in search of women in tech, media, and finance, opening the door for female executives looking to set themselves apart, network, and even attract investment.
However, when executives pitch to these events, they must share multimedia content showcasing their speaking ability to convince organisers. Otherwise, it's unlikely that they will fare well against other candidates.
Dark Reading and Cybersecurity Dive are led by Informa, a publisher with various tech brands under its wing. It's been reporting on the tech scene since 1998.
Whereas Dark Reading is more technical out of the two publications, offering hands-on, in-depth content for practitioners and experts, Cybersecurity Dive focuses more on the business implications of high-level cybersecurity strategy.
With this in mind, Dark Reading is best suited for CTOs, CISOs, and other technical executives who can share insights on the latest tools, hands-on tactics, and innovative solutions to prevent cyberattacks.
Pitches for Dark Reading should include technical case studies, research findings, and new innovations that resonate with the publication's audience.
Meanwhile, Cybersecurity Dive is best suited to CEOs or COOs pitching about the impact of cybersecurity investment decisions and how senior management can address any risks.
Both publications are highly pitchable, with in-depth guest articles and corporate press releases regularly accepted.
Guest articles allow executives to delve deeper into specific issues, while press releases help a company promote its strategy, innovative ability, and point-of-difference.
Plus, both websites are well-designed and rank well on Google News, which is great for visibility.
Executives should also consider Informa's yearly events, which can be found here, in addition to the Dark Reading Confidential podcast, which launched earlier this year.
Dark Reading Confidential regularly analyses real-world data breaches and ransomware attacks to advocate for best practices. More importantly, it always features new guests.
Podcasts are a great way to connect with audiences on a more conversational level and provide deeper insight into who an executive is as a person beyond their corporate image.
In fact, research shows that most podcast listeners trust their hosts more than any other medium.
Infosecurity Magazine is ranked among the top industry publications for global cybersecurity coverage.
It also specialises in producing webinars, white papers, podcasts, and events, offering numerous opportunities for executives to promote themselves.
Of these opportunities, Infosecurity Europe should not be missed. It is the ideal opportunity to reach over 13,000 industry professionals, making Infosecurity worthy of an executive's media list alone.
In terms of editorial content, the publication covers various topics across all sectors, from application security to identity access management.
More importantly, Infosecurity regularly accepts interviews and longer-form opinion articles.
While opinion articles are valuable, we suggest that executives focus on pitching an interview in the first instance since they can appear much more genuine to audiences.
This is because interviews allow for more detailed insights. They also give a journalist license to deviate across various issues, which can even lead to multiple pieces of coverage.
Most importantly, interviews allow executives to strike in-person relationships with journalists, which is essential to build a powerful thought leadership profile.
The publication even outlines how executives can pitch to it, which shows how open they are to experienced industry voices.
Executives need to focus on a timely topic.
They must craft a compelling hook.
Their main argument needs to be explained clearly.
Supporting evidence must always be used.
There are many other important considerations, but all are relevant to any pitch an executive sends.
Upon securing coverage in the publication, executives are also given a bio on the Infosecurity website detailing their experience, current activities, and all articles they have written for the outlet, which is ideal for SEO and credibility.
Though Forbes isn’t inherently a tech publication, it is a well-respected outlet that has existed for over 100 years, covering all sorts of issues, including cybersecurity.
In a recent survey, the publication ranked fifth among US audiences as the most trusted global news outlet.
To secure coverage in Forbes, we advise against paying to be a Forbes council member to have your articles published. Not only is this costly, but it significantly impacts credibility.
We also suggest that executives pitch to Forbes contributors rather than Forbes staff.
In our experience, contributors are usually more receptive to ideas since they cover topics they are genuinely passionate about and specialise in.
Because of the number of contributors writing about various issues for Forbes at any given time, executives have endless opportunities to contribute to industry debates.
When Googling “Forbes cybersecurity”, we found seven different global contributors specialising within the field. With more research, many more can be found.
Executives should explore these avenues and prepare a deep media list noting various topics and trends that contributors cover to offer follow-up commentary or a new story entirely.
The more executives know about different contributors, the better this will come through within their pitches, and the more likely they will receive a positive reply.
Consider extensive reading of each contributor’s content.
Follow each contributor on LinkedIn.
Engage with multiple posts to improve your visibility.
Note their work within your pitch.
While securing coverage in Forbes may seem like a long shot since demand is so high, doing your utmost to stand out will make a huge difference.
Lastly, cybersecurity executives must pitch to nationals. They are always looking for industry voices to unpack complex terminology and offer practical advice to the general public.
As the world becomes increasingly digitalised, the demand for cybersecurity executives will become even more profound.
Besides, when an executive secures coverage in a national, pitching to new publications instantly becomes much simpler.
If you’re based in the UK, you might consider pitching to The Times or The Evening Standard, whereas in the US, you could pitch to The Washington Post or USA Today.
Though it can be hard to squeeze your comments in with these publications always having a competitive schedule, in our experience, we’ve found that by making initial contact, nationals will often get back to you at a later date.
However, we recommend that executives ensure their pitches have a strong subject line and a punchy body of text to make them quick and easy to read.
Journalists who write for nationals are often considered the most time-poor and regularly bombarded, so it's crucial to be aware of that.
This is why executives must spend considerable time on media training to perform as best as possible during an interview and protect their media relationships.
Having a bank of national journalists you can depend on is like gold dust, so it's imperative to say the right things and avoid burning any bridges.
To discover more about media pitching, read our best practices guide here.