Tricia Howard spent years at Akamai making content sound less like AI, then moved to run marketing Above Security, a startup whose CEO told her on day one to use AI every single day. That experience means she has s
harp takes — one of the many qualities she’s known for — on how marketers can use AI without losing themselves to it.
I recently sat down with Tricia to discuss her journey, her thoughts on the changing cybersecurity marketing industry, and her key piece of advice for marketers everywhere: nobody gives a sh*t about your product as much as you do.
How did you get started in cybersecurity marketing?
My origin story is theater. But then I got into sales, starting out cold calling, smiling and dialing. After jumping around a few places, I realized that it wasn’t the companies that were the problem — it was me being in sales. Not for me.
So, the startup I was working for at the time hired a VP of marketing, who saw something in me and pulled me over to their side. I learned an unbelievable amount in my time there. From there I went to a slightly larger startup, then to Akamai — which was massive — and now I’m back where I feel at home, running marketing at a tiny early-stage company.
How has the way cybersecurity buyers evaluate vendors actually changed?
Buyers are so much more self-educated now, and they’re doing it on their own time.
So, places like Reddit, for instance. Even in my own life, that’s where I go to evaluate a product. Even with GEO, everybody likes talking about it, but really, if you want to see how people feel about you and your product, and whether people are considering you or not, Reddit is the place to go. People there aren’t shy about what they think.
What channels and tactics are working for reaching your ICP?
Obviously, Reddit is a great place for that. But one of the biggest mistakes marketers make is approaching these communities like a marketer. If you’re going to be in that community, you need to actually be in that community. Commenting on threads, asking questions — not just talking about how awesome you are.
As far as other channels go, I like going into smaller and more controlled environments — not the big CISO dinners, but actual technology councils and practitioner forums where people are talking about their day-to-day.
SageTap has been particularly useful for us. It’s a network of enterprise technology leaders who share verified, real-world experience. So, I’ll get on a call and say. “I’m not here to sell you the product, I’m the head of marketing and I need you to tell me whether the words I’m using and the images I’m showing you actually resonate with how you live your working life.” I got a lot of amazing feedback from that.
The bigger lesson, and one I lost sight of at Akamai because I was buried in research, is that marketers need to talk directly to customers themselves. Don’t take the salesperson’s word for it. Don’t trust your own team’s instincts. Don’t even trust the internet. Go straight to your ICP. They’ll tell you the truth because they know you’re not trying to close them — the stakes of talking to a marketer are low, so the honesty is high.
Should we be using AI to create content?
Above Security is an AI product, so AI is really important to us. My CEO wants me to use it every day. Coming from Akamai where my entire job was making things sound less like AI, that was daunting, it really was.
Am I using AI as a tool? Yes. But am I using it to create content without looking over it? No. I think the biggest mistake people make, and the reason people are so scared of AI is because they use it incorrectly. People are only just now — only just now — realizing that AI is designed to make us feel good. So, when someone asks an LLM to evaluate their work and it says it’s great, you can’t trust that.
I don’t think any piece of content should be 100% AI-generated. Everything needs a human pass, if for nothing else than to catch the Uncanny Valley moments. And I’d stay away from AI entirely for anything customer-facing in an authentic sense — don’t generate customer quotes. Get actual quotes.
The broader issue is that a lot of founders right now are pouring funding into AI tools the same way companies poured money into security tools a decade ago. That bubble will pop. The people who survive it are the ones who used the tools without becoming dependent on them.
Which parts of your marketing are genuinely driving revenue, and which parts are getting budget on faith?
We’re getting the best outcomes from our direct outreach programs — the highly targeted meeting-setting activity through platforms like SageTap and the technology councils. When your product actually does what you say it does, all you need to do is get it in from of the right people. That makes marketing easy.
Content is harder to defend on pure revenue. You can track metrics, but tying it to a closed deal is genuinely difficult because it rarely operates alone. Sales will always have an easier time proving their contribution — the number is right there. Marketing’s influence is real but it’s diffused, and that’s partly why marketing teams get cut first when budgets tighten. I still believe content is queen.
How can marketers work effectively with researchers and product teams?
Try to build relationships that have nothing to do with what you’re doing at work. Go and talk to your researchers and just ask them what they’re doing — don’t try and tie it back to marketing.
Building these relationships can take a long time. Product people, especially R&D of any kind, are supposed to be on the cutting edge. And the majority of people aren’t thinking anywhere near as far ahead as them. Getting insight from them is valuable.
I think what worked for me is that I’m genuinely interested in what these people are doing. I’m happy to jump on a call with my product guy and just ask him how things are working. Through time and osmosis, and reading the nerdy stuff, I eventually understood where my limit was. Technical staff think you’re going to take their stuff and bastardize it. You need to prove to them that you care that they are comfortable with what you’re saying. That takes time. This is especially true with threat researchers. Because it’s their reputation on the line. We’ve all seen the threat researchers who are charlatans — and they’re out there — get eviscerated online.
Just accept the fact that technical people think you’re dumb. Let your ego go and let them figure out that you’re capable for themselves. Then you can explain why it’s important that they care about what you do.
Also, your ICP are following your researchers. So researchers are either going to be your greatest asset or your biggest pain in the neck. You need to show them your value. At Akamai, I would take something researchers wrote and make it interesting. Sometimes, I would help them with their personal blogs, or help them get accepted to a conference. Marketers have skills they don’t, you need to show them that.
What’s the uncomfortable truth about the cybersecurity market that most vendors won’t say out loud?
Nobody gives a sh*t about your product as much as you do.
The sooner you accept that, the better you’ll be at the job. I think a lot of marketers would rather listen to other marketers than listen to the people they’re trying to sell to, and that’s always ground my gears. From a marketer’s perspective, your job is to be a hype person — that’s it. If you think you’re something other than that, you’re going to be perpetually disappointed.
The market is saturated with products, and 90% of them can do broadly the same thing, meaning buyers often end up purchasing for one specific feature that the vendor bolted on because they’re positioning for an acquisition in two years.
Tricia Howard is the Head of Marketing at Above Security, an AI-powered cybersecurity startup. She previously led content and threat intelligence marketing at Akamai Technologies. Find her on LinkedIn.
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