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B2B CYBER SECURITY

BUYER PERSONAS

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Instructions

Create a copy of this template or download it in order to make modifications.
Click “File”, and then Select “Make a Copy”, to work in Google Slides, or
Click “File, and then Select “Download As” to save as a PowerPoint file.

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Table of Contents

What Are Buyer Personas? ………………………..…………………………………… Page 4

What Are Negative Personas? ………………………..…………………………………… Page 5

How Can You Use Personas? ………………………..…………………………………… Page 6

How Do You Create Personas? ………………………..…………………………………… Page 8

Persona Sample ………………………..…………………………………… Page 11-15

Persona Template ………………………..…………………………………… Page 16-21

Cyber Security B2B Buyer Personas ………………………..…………………………………… Page 22-58

Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Persona ………………………..…………………………………… Page 23

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Persona ………………………..…………………………………… Page 29

Chief Information Officer (CIO) Persona ………………………..…………………………………… Page 35

Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) Persona ………………………..…………………………………… Page 41

General Counsel ………………………..…………………………………… Page 47

Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) Persona ………………………..…………………………………… Page 53

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What Are Buyer Personas?

Buyer personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. They help you understand your customers (and prospective customers) better, and make it easier for you to tailor content to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns of different groups.

The strongest buyer personas are based on market research as well as on insights you gather from your actual customer base (through surveys, interviews, etc.). Depending on your business, you could have as few as one or two personas, or as many as 10 or 20. (Note: If you’re new to personas, start small! You can always develop more personas later if needed.)

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What Are Negative Personas?

Whereas a buyer persona is a representation of an ideal customer, a negative -- or “exclusionary” -- persona is a representation of who you don’t want as a customer.

This could include, for example, professionals who are too advanced for your product or service, students who are only engaging with your content for research/knowledge, or potential customers who are just too expensive to acquire (because of a low average sale price, their propensity to churn, or their unlikeliness to purchase again from your company.)

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How Can You Use Personas?

At the most basic level, personas allow you to personalize or target your marketing for different segments of your audience. For example, instead of sending the same lead nurturing emails to everyone in your database, you can segment by buyer persona and tailor your messaging according to what you know about those different personas.

If you take the time to create negative personas, you’ll have the added advantage of being able to segment out the “bad apples” from the rest of your contacts, which can help you achieve a lower cost-per-lead and cost-per-customer (and see higher sales productivity).

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How Can You Use Personas?

When combined with lifecycle stage (i.e. how far along someone is in your sales cycle), buyer personas also allow you to map out and create highly targeted content.

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Awareness Stage

Consideration Stage

Decision Stage

Whitepapers

Blog Posts

Guides & Tip Sheets

Ebooks

Checklists

Videos

Kits and Playbooks

Webinars

Case Studies

Free Samples

Product Spec Sheets

Catalogs

Free Trials

Demos

Free Consultations

Estimates or Quotes

Coupons

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How Do You Create Buyer Personas?

Buyer personas are created through research, surveys, and interviews of your target audience. That includes a mix of customers, prospects, and those outside of your contact database who might align with your target audience.

Here are some practical methods for gathering the information you need to develop personas:

Interview customers either in person or over the phone to discover what they like about your product or service.

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How Do You Create Buyer Personas?

Look through your contacts database to uncover trends about how certain leads or customers find and consume your content.

When creating forms to use on your website, use form fields that capture important persona information. (For example, if all of your personas vary based on company size, ask each lead for information about company size on your forms. You could also gather information on what forms of social media your leads use by asking a question about social media accounts.)

Take into consideration your sales team's feedback on the leads they are interacting with most. (What types of sales cycles does your sales team work with? What generalizations can they make about the different types of customers you serve best?)

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How Do You Create Buyer Personas?

HubSpot customers: You can create and manage your personas within the Contacts tool. Right click here, then select Hyperlink > Open Hyperlink to learn more!

Customers and non-customers alike: You can use the following 5-slide template to organize your persona data.

First, we’ll walk you through an example, then we’ll leave you with some blank templates so you can get to it!

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PERSONA SAMPLE

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Sample Sally

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BACKGROUND Job? Career path? Family?	Head of Human Resources Worked at the same company for 10 years; worked her way up from HR associate Married with 2 children (10 and 8)
DEMOGRAPHIC�Male or female? Age? Income? Location?	Skews female Age 30 – 45 Dual HH Income: $140,000 Suburban
IDENTIFIERS Demeanor? Communication preferences?	Calm demeanor Probably has an assistant screening calls Asks to receive collateral mailed/printed

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Sample Sally

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GOALS Primary goal? Secondary goal?	Keep employees happy and turnover low Support legal and finance teams
CHALLENGES�Primary challenge? Secondary challenge?	Getting everything done with a small staff Rolling out changes to the entire company
WHAT CAN WE DO …to help our persona achieve their goals? ...to help our persona overcome their challenges?	Make it easy to manage all employee data in one place Integrate with legal and finance team’s systems

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Sample Sally

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REAL QUOTES About goals, challenges, etc	“It’s been difficult getting company-wide adoption of new technologies in the past.” “I don’t have time to train new employees on a million different databases and platforms.” “I’ve had to deal with so many painful integrations with other departments’ databases and software.”
COMMON OBJECTIONS Why wouldn’t they buy your product/service?	“I’m worried I’ll lose data transitioning to a new system.” “I don’t want to have to train the entire company on how to use a new system.”

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Sample Sally

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MARKETING MESSAGING How should you describe your solution to your persona?	Integrated HR Database Management
ELEVATOR PITCH�Sell your persona on your solution!	We give you an intuitive database that integrates with your existing software and platforms and lifetime training to help new employees get up to speed quickly.

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PERSONA TEMPLATE

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Name of Persona

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BACKGROUND Job? Career path? Family?	Job Career Path Family life
DEMOGRAPHIC�Male or female? Age? Income? Location?	Gender Age Income Location
IDENTIFIERS Demeanor? Communication preferences?	Demeanor Communication Preference

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Name of Persona

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GOALS Primary goal? Secondary goal?	Primary Goal Secondary Goal
CHALLENGES�Primary challenge? Secondary challenge?	Primary Challenge Secondary Challenge
WHAT CAN WE DO …to help our persona achieve their goals? ...to help our persona overcome their challenges?	What we can do point 1 What we can do point 2

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Name of Persona

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REAL QUOTES About goals, challenges, etc	Quote 1 Quote 2 Quote 3
COMMON OBJECTIONS Why wouldn’t they buy your product/service?	Common Objection 1 Common Objection 2

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Name of Persona

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AFFILIATIONS & GROUPS Which Linkedin Groups are they likely to be affiliated with? What professional memberships do they have? Which annual conferences do they attend?
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS THEY READ
TYPES/FORMAT OF INFORMATION �THEY LIKE MOST White Papers, Infographics, How-to articles, trend reports?

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Name of Persona

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MARKETING MESSAGING How should you describe your solution to your persona?	[Type in your marketing message]
ELEVATOR PITCH�Sell your persona on your solution!	[Type in your elevator pitch]

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CYBER SECURITY

DECISION-MAKERS

CYBER SECURITY DECISION-MAKERS

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CISO Sam

Chief Information Security Officer Persona

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CISO Sam

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BACKGROUND Job? Career path? Family?	Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Sam has been in his current role less than 5 years. He had a prior role as CISO at a smaller company. He has had a 10+ year career in IT security/risk management. Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Computer Science
DEMOGRAPHIC�Male or female? Age? Income? Location?	Male 50 years old Salary: $195,000/year New York, NY
IDENTIFIERS Demeanor? Communication preferences?	Proactive and forward-looking Strong leader and trusted adviser Clear, precise, and strategic

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CISO Sam

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GOALS Primary goal? Secondary goal?	Develop a cybersecurity strategy that protects customer data against all threats Deliver clear security reports at board meetings and advocate for technology that improves cyber defenses while aligning with business goals Respond to cybersecurity threats and manage staffing challenges
CHALLENGES�Primary challenge? Secondary challenge?	Staying up-to-date with local and global security challenges, new technologies and compliance issues Delivering strategy and response reports to non-technical board and business leaders
WHAT CAN WE DO …to help our persona achieve their goals? ...to help our persona overcome their challenges?	Provide strong cyber solutions that protect business assets Identity cyber vulnerabilities and improve the organization’s cyber resilience

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CISO Sam

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REAL QUOTES About goals, challenges, etc	“The CISO is, in my mind, more on the financial side of the equation than the IT side of the equation. Security, privacy, data protection -- these are all risks. As such, they fall under the heading of risk management -- finance. Compare the CIO, who is more involved with IT as a whole.”
COMMON OBJECTIONS Why wouldn’t they buy your product/service?	“I need evidence and metrics to prove to my board that your solution is worth the cost.” “I need to research and evaluate other products on the market to make sure I chose the one that best meets our company’s security needs.”

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CISO Sam

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AFFILIATIONS & GROUPS Which Linkedin Groups are they likely to be affiliated with? What professional memberships do they have? Which annual conferences do they attend?	Sam has many certifications, including: CISSP, CISM, ITIL, CISA and CRISC. He’s a member of IAPP and follows SANS.
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS THEY READ	DarkReading CSO Online Ponemon Blog Forrester Blog and Industry Analysis Gartner Blog Network and Industry Analysis
TYPES/FORMAT OF INFORMATION �THEY LIKE MOST White Papers, Infographics, How-to articles, trend reports?	Trend Reports White Papers Webinars

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CISO Sam

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MARKETING MESSAGING How should you describe your solution to your persona?	[Type in your marketing message]
ELEVATOR PITCH�Sell your persona on your solution!	[Type in your elevator pitch]

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CTO Chris

Chief Technology Officer Persona

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CTO Chris

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BACKGROUND Job? Career path? Family?	Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Chris has a 24+ year career in technology. He has worked for 4 companies in a total of 8 positions, staying at most 5 years in one position. Master of Science Degree
DEMOGRAPHIC�Male or female? Age? Income? Location?	Male 52 years old Salary: 190,000/year New York, NY
IDENTIFIERS Demeanor? Communication preferences?	Innovative and creative Strong tech skills and a problem-solver Excellent written and verbal communication

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CTO Chris

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GOALS Primary goal? Secondary goal?	Find and adopt technology that supports business goals and strategy Provide customers with technology that enhances engagement and increases business growth
CHALLENGES�Primary challenge? Secondary challenge?	Being the lead innovator and creative mind behind new technology solutions Listening to customers to deliver products that put their needs first
WHAT CAN WE DO …to help our persona achieve their goals? ...to help our persona overcome their challenges?	Provide innovative cybersecurity technology that puts the business on the cutting edge Provide cyber security solutions that do not interrupt customer experience

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CTO Chris

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REAL QUOTES About goals, challenges, etc	"[Being a] CTO depends on communication. It involves understanding what other departments are doing and being able to communicate the role technology will play" "It's really important to understand what people need on the business side and then listening to developers and understanding their challenges, or even application providers and understanding what products did and didn't do." (Source)
COMMON OBJECTIONS Why wouldn’t they buy your product/service?	Common Objection 1 Common Objection 2

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CTO Chris

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AFFILIATIONS & GROUPS Which Linkedin Groups are they likely to be affiliated with? What professional memberships do they have? Which annual conferences do they attend?	Chris is a member of the TGL Chief Technology Officer Group; IT Specialist Network; and CIO Forum LinkedIn groups. Christ attends the Gartner Catalyst Conference and HMG Global Innovation Summit.
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS THEY READ	Wired Endgadget TechCrunch Forbes
TYPES/FORMAT OF INFORMATION �THEY LIKE MOST White Papers, Infographics, How-to articles, trend reports?	Blogs Social Media Online News Websites

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CTO Chris

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MARKETING MESSAGING How should you describe your solution to your persona?	[Type in your marketing message]
ELEVATOR PITCH�Sell your persona on your solution!	[Type in your elevator pitch]

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CIO Mark

Chief Information Officer Persona

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CIO Mark

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BACKGROUND Job? Career path? Family?	Chief Information Officer (CIO) Mark has been in his current role 3 years. He worked his way up through IT over 15+ years and focused on developing business knowledge. Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science
DEMOGRAPHIC�Male or female? Age? Income? Location?	Male 48 $182,000/year Washington, DC
IDENTIFIERS Demeanor? Communication preferences?	Risk-averse, methodical, organized Learned to translate tech language in a way business leaders can understand

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CIO Mark

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GOALS Primary goal? Secondary goal?	Set an overarching technology strategy that supports the company’s short- and long-term goals Manage the IT infrastructure, including budgeting and allocation of technological and human resources
CHALLENGES�Primary challenge? Secondary challenge?	Creating a reliable IT infrastructure that runs and supports the business Clearly communicating technical issues to the board and organization on the whole
WHAT CAN WE DO …to help our persona achieve their goals? ...to help our persona overcome their challenges?	Provide dependable cyber defense and risk management services Provide cybersecurity technology that easily integrates into current systems and improves productivity

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CIO Mark

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REAL QUOTES About goals, challenges, etc	“As CIO, I’m responsible for both the security of the company and the product. Balancing the two different sides is common for many CIOs, but security matters to more than just the IT department. . . . To be effective, the whole company needs to partner together to ensure that responsible controls are in place and security awareness runs throughout.” (Source)
COMMON OBJECTIONS Why wouldn’t they buy your product/service?	“I need to maintain stability in my IT structure and am hesitant about what effect adding in a new system will have on our work.”

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CIO Mark

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AFFILIATIONS & GROUPS Which Linkedin Groups are they likely to be affiliated with? What professional memberships do they have? Which annual conferences do they attend?	Mark is a member of the Chief Information Officer Network; CIO Forum and Forbes CIO Forum on LinkedIn. Mark attends the Landmark CIO Summit.
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS THEY READ	CIO from IDG InfoWorld Forbes Wall Street Journal TechCrunch
TYPES/FORMAT OF INFORMATION �THEY LIKE MOST White Papers, Infographics, How-to articles, trend reports?	White Papers Webinars Blogs

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CIO Mark

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MARKETING MESSAGING How should you describe your solution to your persona?	[Type in your marketing message]
ELEVATOR PITCH�Sell your persona on your solution!	[Type in your elevator pitch]

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CPO Kim

Chief Privacy Officer Persona

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CPO Kim

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BACKGROUND Job? Career path? Family?	Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) Kim worked her way up from compliance and privacy officer and manager positions to her current role, where she has been for 2 years. JD Fordham University School of Law
DEMOGRAPHIC�Male or female? Age? Income? Location?	Female 44 $140,000/year Washington, DC
IDENTIFIERS Demeanor? Communication preferences?	Adaptable, efficient and organized Trusted counsel and personable Seeks clear communication and strong collaboration

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CPO Kim

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GOALS Primary goal? Secondary goal?	Develop and implement policies to protect employee and customer data Ensure the company privacy policy adheres to regulatory requirements
CHALLENGES�Primary challenge? Secondary challenge?	Protecting customer data against increasingly sophisticated data breaches Providing training on and enforcing privacy policy across the company
WHAT CAN WE DO …to help our persona achieve their goals? ...to help our persona overcome their challenges?	Provide professional perspective on data privacy issues and how the company can improve. Provide privacy audits to find weaknesses and test current computer security, policies and data agreements.

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CPO Kim

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REAL QUOTES About goals, challenges, etc	“Privacy professionals play a unique role in the organizations they support in that they are both an advocate for the organization and for the organization’s customers.” “While I have the title of Chief Privacy Officer, every employee...understands that they also are privacy officers – on behalf of the company and of our clients. … Safeguarding data is just an everyday part of the way we do business.” (Source)
COMMON OBJECTIONS Why wouldn’t they buy your product/service?	“I’m leary to give access to client information to any outside party.”

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CPO Kim

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AFFILIATIONS & GROUPS Which Linkedin Groups are they likely to be affiliated with? What professional memberships do they have? Which annual conferences do they attend?	Kim has IAPP certifications CIPP and CIPM. She is part of Women in Security and Privacy (WISP) and attends the Global Privacy Summit.
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS THEY READ	CPO Magazine Brink IAPP News
TYPES/FORMAT OF INFORMATION �THEY LIKE MOST White Papers, Infographics, How-to articles, trend reports?	Trend Reports Webinars White Papers

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CPO Kim

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MARKETING MESSAGING How should you describe your solution to your persona?	[Type in your marketing message]
ELEVATOR PITCH�Sell your persona on your solution!	[Type in your elevator pitch]

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�GC Mike

General Counsel Persona

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GC Mike

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BACKGROUND Job? Career path? Family?	General Council (GC) Mike worked for 8 years at a private law firm before moving to in-house counsel, where he worked his way up to the GC role. JD Georgetown University Law
DEMOGRAPHIC�Male or female? Age? Income? Location?	Male 55 $225,000/year New York, NY
IDENTIFIERS Demeanor? Communication preferences?	A leader with high integrity and strong judgment Written communication that’s clear and concise

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GC Mike

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GOALS Primary goal? Secondary goal?	Offer sound legal advice to ensure the company is following the law at all times Limit legal risks and identify issues that could harm the company by being part of all businesses decisions
CHALLENGES�Primary challenge? Secondary challenge?	Balancing the legal risks inherent in company growth with acceptable risk Advising the board of any legal implications of a business decision early and authoritatively
WHAT CAN WE DO …to help our persona achieve their goals? ...to help our persona overcome their challenges?	Offer services to limit liability after a cyber incident during any legal or regulatory action Provide research to assess the political and business risks of moving into a new market

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GC Mike

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REAL QUOTES About goals, challenges, etc	“Being an excellent communicator is also important – to translate legal concepts concisely and quickly into the language of the business – as well as being a trusted adviser who is engaged in the business while maintaining the independence of the legal function.” (Source)
COMMON OBJECTIONS Why wouldn’t they buy your product/service?	Common Objection 1 Common Objection 2

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GC Mike

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AFFILIATIONS & GROUPS Which Linkedin Groups are they likely to be affiliated with? What professional memberships do they have? Which annual conferences do they attend?	Mike is part of the ACC and joined the In the House General Counsel group on LinkedIn.
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS THEY READ	Today’s General Counsel ACC Docket Corporate Counsel InsideCounsel
TYPES/FORMAT OF INFORMATION �THEY LIKE MOST White Papers, Infographics, How-to articles, trend reports?	Data Sheets

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GC Mike

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MARKETING MESSAGING How should you describe your solution to your persona?	[Type in your marketing message]
ELEVATOR PITCH�Sell your persona on your solution!	[Type in your elevator pitch]

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CCO William

Chief Compliance Officer Persona

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CCO William

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BACKGROUND Job? Career path? Family?	Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) William started out in banking then moved to an investment firm. He worked as CCO at another company and has been in his current position over 6 years. Master’s Degree in Finance, Wharton School
DEMOGRAPHIC�Male or female? Age? Income? Location?	Male 45 years old $170,000/year New York, NY
IDENTIFIERS Demeanor? Communication preferences?	Analytical and investigative Strong decision-making skills Skilled professional communicator and good at building relationships

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CCO William

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GOALS Primary goal? Secondary goal?	Lead the company’s compliance efforts, implementing policies and procedures to comply with laws and regulations Efficiently manage audits, investigations and requests for information
CHALLENGES�Primary challenge? Secondary challenge?	The expanding scope and impact of compliance regulations and audit programs Staying in compliance as more and more of business moves to digital
WHAT CAN WE DO …to help our persona achieve their goals? ...to help our persona overcome their challenges?	Help solve compliance issues and serve as expert witnesses for high-profile organizations Help companies assess and implement regulatory compliance programs in pace with the evolution of the law and digital technology.

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CCO William

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REAL QUOTES About goals, challenges, etc	“Getting to be a CCO, they want someone to do the job with lots of different perspectives, so your career progress up a spiral. You have to have substance and be able to explain how you build out programs and demonstrate the thoroughness with which you do things.” (Source) “Demonstrating our commitment to compliant coding practices is a sound risk mitigation strategy.”
COMMON OBJECTIONS Why wouldn’t they buy your product/service?	Common Objection 1 Common Objection 2

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CCO William

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AFFILIATIONS & GROUPS Which Linkedin Groups are they likely to be affiliated with? What professional memberships do they have? Which annual conferences do they attend?	William is part of the SCCE, FCPA and ACAMS professional networks. He is part of LinkedIn groups such as the CompliancEX Group and the Regulatory Compliance Professional Network. William attends the NSCP National Conference and Compliance Week Conference.
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS THEY READ	Compliance Week Wall Street Journal Risk & Compliance Bloomberg Forbes Inc.
TYPES/FORMAT OF INFORMATION �THEY LIKE MOST White Papers, Infographics, How-to articles, trend reports?	Fact Sheets Infographics

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CCO William

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MARKETING MESSAGING How should you describe your solution to your persona?	[Type in your marketing message]
ELEVATOR PITCH�Sell your persona on your solution!	[Type in your elevator pitch]

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About Us

Experienced B2B Digital Marketing Consultants

Drawing on many years of experience working with top global brands across a variety of industries, we work closely with our clients to achieve measurable business results with our online strategies. Our team includes a number of seasoned consultants, specifically assembled to meet the unique needs of each client.�

Services

Our services span many facets of marketing, including: digital marketing strategy consulting; lead generation and lead nurturing campaigns; online advertising strategy and management (SEM/PPC); search engine optimization (SEO); social media strategy, management, contests and advertising; email marketing; marketing automation and CRM integrations; marketing analytics, and much more.

445 Main Street #101-103�Beacon, NY 12508�Call Us: (800) 310-3252

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