As our clients are in San Francisco this week for RSAC 2018, many of them took time to share with PAN what they’re anticipating and prioritizing for the event. Through this series of blog posts for PAN, they glean their observations on trends and how to stand out this year.
Before this week’s conference, PAN connected with Erica Sheehan, Vice President, Marketing, ObserveIT, on her thoughts regarding the conference:
What are your thoughts on RSAC 2018? What are you most looking forward to?
I’m impatient for it to be here! I’m excited to see all the parts of the program together. We’re especially excited about our “Game of Thrones” theme – which ties insider threats to the show. We have some exciting things planned including an axe throwing event for customer/prospect appreciation and fun giveaways. We’re looking forward to seeing it all come together and interacting with our customers and prospects at the event.
If you had to choose the single most important item to prepare for RSAC, what would it be and when would that process begin?
For us, it is the theme and the message we want to convey. RSA Conference is a massive event, and we are all competing for mind share and attention. Having a solid message and theme and getting it right means the execution of the program elements throughout the event are strong and effectively tied to the ObserveIT brand.
All of this takes plenty of time to plan and prepare. Our team started back in October with our solutions engineers and sales managers. We had a couple good ideas from the start, but we polled our Customer Advisory Board and, based on their input, decided on a Game of Thrones theme.
As you know, there are more than 550 exhibitors at RSAC. In what ways do you make your company stand out at RSAC?
As I mentioned before, it is all about the message and theme. Not only do we have a visually appealing booth, we also have people who are dressing up as “Game of Thrones” characters who are walking the show floor, and we are sponsoring the RSA pub crawl where we are giving away fun beer steins. We’re trying to have a holistic view while having our prospects and customers understand and recognize the connection between “Game of Thrones” and ObserveIT. The ideal scenario leaving RSAC is coming away with ObserveIT being synonymous with prevention of insider threats.
What new trends are you seeing across marketing in the security market?
Most people in the security industry know security experts don’t want to be marketed to, so developing creative ways to reach the audience in a way they appreciate and is part of their day-to-day life can really help. As a marketer, I am seeing “what’s old is new.” Direct mail is having a rebound – something that (usually) gets through the executive gatekeeper and front desk and (hopefully) the prospect interacts with the information / giveaway.
What are your top three buzzwords for RSAC 2018?
This isn’t a buzzword really, but it would be a great win for us if attendees walked away understanding “prevention of insider threat is synonymous with ObserveIT”!
Why is RSA a valuable conference for CMOs to attend, and what aspect of the show (sessions, booth talks, etc.) provides the most value for your business?
For me, a tremendous value of attending RSA Conference is having a large percentage of our customers and prospects all in one place and getting involved in conversations to discuss pain points and successes.
