How confident do you feel about your marketing plans for 2023? If we’ve learned anything over the last couple of years, it is that even the best-laid plans may need to change due to any number of curve balls that come our way.

While the global health crisis is (mostly) behind us, there are still plenty of uncertainties looming, and a global recession is just one of them. So how should these uncertainties impact security business marketing?

The two most important factors are how you market and to whom.

Marketing is about the future — preparing audiences and customers to solve their problems, meet their challenges and reach their goals. That means you have to prepare to meet whatever comes. And you’ll have to be ready to adjust and react to changes in your audience’s needs and preferences — including how they find and engage with the content you create. Dig deep to understand how shifts in the economy or any other challenge impact their lives, businesses and personal goals, and educate them on how security solutions can help them overcome any barriers to those goals. Let your marketing reflect this understanding with inclusive, informative, and solution-oriented content.

Next, consider the audience. Most people take either a red or blue ocean approach.

 A red ocean approach focuses on marketing the most popular and profitable security solutions in the hottest markets. In the red ocean, there is more competition, more content and more (costly) ads. Marketing to this audience requires consistent ads, data-oriented content and regular outreach. It isn’t easy, and these shark-filed waters are red for a reason.

The next option is to take a blue ocean approach to marketing. This is marketing to a new, undiscovered audience with little or no competition. It may be hard to imagine an audience and market that is yet “undiscovered,” but they do exist. In a blue ocean, the security dealer, integrator, or manufacturer must educate, nurture, remind and capture that audience or die on an island alone. It is risky, but it can have long-term rewards.

Neither of these strategies is wrong or right. But taking a myopic approach ultimately can make it hard for potential customers to differentiate your business from others without putting in a concerted effort.

But there is a third compelling option — a purple ocean.

The genius of this strategy is that you use marketing to teach, target and build demand for lesser-known or underutilized security products and services from within the red ocean. Simply put, you create a purple audience by targeting a blue audience within a red. This might include marketing to fast-growing small businesses that could evolve into long-term big customers. This strategy allows you to reach the red ocean by bucking popular trends and offering something different and then becoming top of mind for the more popular offerings.

As a security business owner, it is important to consider new audiences. How can you address them with marketing content and strategies that may not be widely popular now but can help them better prepare for what you believe is coming tomorrow?

As we move into 2023, it is important to consider marketing to purple ocean opportunities that address new needs in a new climate. Stay open to new marketing opportunities and the security industry will continue to stand strong.

Best of luck in the New Year!