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Zscaler Marketing

To secure digital transformation by creating a world where information exchange is always secure with fast, seamless user experiences

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To secure digital transformation by creating a world where information exchange is always secure with fast, seamless user experiences

Strengths

  • PLATFORM: Zero Trust Exchange platform leads market with 150M+ users
  • ARCHITECTURE: Cloud-native proxy architecture offers superior security
  • TALENT: Strong leadership team with cybersecurity expertise
  • CUSTOMERS: 40% of Fortune 500 companies in customer base
  • FINANCIALS: Consistent 40%+ revenue growth over past 3 years

Weaknesses

  • AWARENESS: Brand recognition lags behind legacy security vendors
  • EDUCATION: Complex zero trust value proposition hard to communicate
  • CONTENT: Limited thought leadership content for certain verticals
  • PIPELINE: Dependence on direct sales vs diversified channels
  • METRICS: Insufficient attribution models for marketing ROI

Opportunities

  • COMPLIANCE: Growing regulations driving zero trust adoption
  • REMOTE: Permanent hybrid work models increasing market demand
  • CONSOLIDATION: Organizations seeking to reduce security vendors
  • AI: Security concerns around generative AI creating new use cases
  • VERTICAL: Untapped industry-specific marketing opportunities

Threats

  • COMPETITION: Traditional firewall vendors pivoting to cloud security
  • PRICING: Market pressure on subscription pricing models
  • RECESSION: Economic uncertainty affecting enterprise IT budgets
  • TALENT: Cybersecurity marketing talent shortage limiting execution
  • SATURATION: Increasing noise in cybersecurity marketing landscape

Key Priorities

  • AWARENESS: Elevate brand awareness vs legacy security competitors
  • CONTENT: Create compelling zero trust education for key personas
  • VERTICALIZATION: Develop industry-specific marketing programs
  • ATTRIBUTION: Implement advanced marketing measurement framework
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To secure digital transformation by creating a world where information exchange is always secure with fast, seamless user experiences

ELEVATE BRAND

Establish Zscaler as the definitive zero trust leader

  • AWARENESS: Increase unaided brand awareness from 28% to 40% among enterprise security decision makers by Q4
  • PERCEPTION: Achieve 75% association with 'Zero Trust Leader' in independent analyst surveys, up from 62%
  • ENGAGEMENT: Drive 150,000 attendees to Zero Trust Exchange virtual summit series, a 35% YoY increase
  • REACH: Generate 25M impressions through integrated thought leadership campaign across tier 1 business media
EDUCATE MARKET

Demystify zero trust with compelling, accessible content

  • ACADEMY: Launch Zscaler Zero Trust Academy with 50+ resources achieving 100,000 unique visitors per quarter
  • CERTIFICATION: Enroll 5,000 IT professionals in Zero Trust Practitioner certification program
  • JOURNEY: Create persona-based content journeys for CISOs, CIOs, and Security Architects with 30% completion
  • ENGAGEMENT: Achieve 4:1 ROI on Zero Trust Industry Report with 15,000 qualified leads and 40% engagement rate
TARGET VERTICALS

Deliver industry-specific value narratives and solutions

  • SOLUTIONS: Develop and launch 6 industry-specific solution packages with specialized messaging and content
  • EVENTS: Execute 24 industry-focused executive roundtables with 75%+ target account attendance
  • CONTENT: Create 30 vertical-specific case studies demonstrating measurable industry outcomes
  • EXPERTS: Establish industry advisory board with 15 recognized leaders across target verticals
MEASURE IMPACT

Implement advanced attribution across marketing programs

  • PIPELINE: Increase marketing-sourced pipeline contribution to 40% of total pipeline, up from 32%
  • ANALYTICS: Deploy multi-touch attribution model across 100% of digital campaigns with executive dashboard
  • ROI: Achieve 8:1 ROI on integrated marketing programs as measured by closed-won revenue
  • INTELLIGENCE: Implement AI-powered analytics to predict conversion rates with 85% accuracy by segment
METRICS
  • ARR Growth: 30% year-over-year target
  • Marketing-Sourced Pipeline: $850M quarterly target
  • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Ratio: 0.85 or better
VALUES
  • Customer Obsession
  • Innovation
  • Team First
  • Operational Excellence
  • Act with Integrity
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Align the learnings

Zscaler Marketing Retrospective

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To secure digital transformation by creating a world where information exchange is always secure with fast, seamless user experiences

What Went Well

  • GROWTH: Q2 revenue grew 30% YoY to $525M with outstanding enterprise wins
  • EXPANSION: Net retention rate remained strong at 118% showing customer value
  • PRODUCT: Successful launch of Zscaler Data Protection drove new use cases
  • PIPELINE: Marketing-sourced pipeline increased 22% across all segments
  • EFFICIENCY: Operating margin improved to 15% due to disciplined execution

Not So Well

  • VELOCITY: Sales cycles elongated by 15% due to economic uncertainty
  • ATTRIBUTION: Marketing attribution models still need refinement
  • COMPETITION: Win rates against legacy vendors declined in mid-market
  • CONTENT: Thought leadership content production fell behind schedule
  • DIGITAL: Website conversion rates underperformed against benchmarks

Learnings

  • MESSAGING: Economic value must be emphasized earlier in buying journey
  • ALIGNMENT: Tighter sales and marketing coordination needed for ABM
  • PERSONAS: CISO and CFO alignment critical for deal acceleration
  • ENABLEMENT: Partner marketing initiatives produce higher ROI than direct
  • SEGMENTATION: Industry-specific marketing drives higher conversion rates

Action Items

  • CALCULATOR: Develop sophisticated ROI calculator for economic impact cases
  • INTEGRATION: Implement integrated marketing/sales tech stack for visibility
  • ACADEMIES: Create vertical-specific thought leadership and content hubs
  • ATTRIBUTION: Deploy multi-touch attribution model across customer journey
  • OPTIMIZATION: Implement conversion rate optimization across digital estate
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To secure digital transformation by creating a world where information exchange is always secure with fast, seamless user experiences

Strengths

  • DATA: Massive security telemetry data for AI/ML capabilities
  • INNOVATION: Strong AI security offerings through ZDX and ZIA
  • EXPERTISE: In-house AI/ML engineering talent for marketing tech
  • INTEGRATION: AI-powered capabilities across product portfolio
  • VISION: Strong executive understanding of AI's strategic value

Weaknesses

  • CONTENT: Limited AI-powered content creation capabilities
  • PERSONALIZATION: Basic website personalization not using AI
  • ANALYTICS: Insufficient AI for predictive marketing analytics
  • TRAINING: Marketing team lacks AI expertise and training
  • MARTECH: Siloed martech stack limiting AI implementation

Opportunities

  • AUTOMATION: AI to scale personalized campaigns across segments
  • INSIGHTS: AI-powered competitive intelligence gathering
  • ATTRIBUTION: ML models to improve marketing attribution accuracy
  • GENERATION: AI content creation to increase thought leadership
  • SEGMENTATION: Advanced AI-driven audience segmentation

Threats

  • COMPETITION: Competitors advancing AI marketing capabilities
  • PRIVACY: AI marketing strategies limited by privacy regulations
  • EXPECTATIONS: Rising customer expectations for AI-driven CX
  • TALENT: Limited AI marketing talent availability in market
  • ADOPTION: Organizational resistance to AI marketing tools

Key Priorities

  • PERSONALIZATION: Deploy AI for personalized customer journeys
  • INTELLIGENCE: Implement AI analytics across marketing touchpoints
  • GENERATION: Scale content creation with AI-powered tools
  • ENABLEMENT: Train marketing team on AI capabilities and tools