How do you market your brand, when you can’t talk about your work? 

Can you build trust when your technology is confidential?  

How do you generate a ‘buzz’ when the projects you take on are too sensitive to discuss?  

When your target audience works in an industry doing sensitive work, like law enforcement, security or health and social, you need to be more creative with how you market your technology.  

Earning a reputation is difficult when the nature of work prevents you from promoting it. Sometimes it can be impossible to even get a customer quote, let alone a case study. As a result, it’s easy for your marketing activity to become sporadic. In a field where consistency is the key to positive results, these challenges aren’t just limiting, they can be damaging. 

We’ve worked with many brands working with security, law enforcement, vulnerable groups and more who have been in this position. So, we’ve come up with some effective workarounds to openly and consistently promote confidential projects. 

Challenge #1: The technology is confidential  

Often, for IP or security reasons, what you can reveal about your own product is limited. Maybe you don’t want your competitors to get their hands on your proprietary algorithms. Or, maybe it’s that the very groups you’re trying to defend against could reverse engineer the technology for their own gain. 

Either way, the bottom line is that you can’t provide many details about your solution. This is difficult when you’re trying to convert prospects into customers. They need to know what sets your solution apart from competitors. So, how can you show them its USPs without talking about its features?

The solution: focus on the operational benefits 

When you can’t describe the ins and outs of how the product works, show the audience how it will affect their day instead. Keep the messaging around features ‘lite’. Instead, dive into how you’ll solve their challenges. 

Say you’re speaking to law enforcement agencies. How much time will this solution save them? Does it automate or reduce manual processes? How does it contribute to progressing their cases? 

Show them why it helps, and then prompt them to take the conversation offline to learn how the technology achieves this.  

“CameraForensics had also not yet found an effective method to overcome the hurdle of marketing technology with classified functionalities…”

Explore how we solved this challenge

Challenge #2: Projects or partners can’t be publicised 

Your customers may not be willing to promote confidential projects they have with you. If your project is confidential or still in development – often the case when you’re working with government organisations – then you likely can’t promote anything about it online. They may not even give permission for their logo to be used on your website. 

Without references like case studies or quotes, validating your credentials or proposed benefits is difficult.  

The solution: anonymise the details 

You can still promote the outcomes your solution has helped achieve. This can be done in several ways. You can anonymise your case studies, discussing the work you did and the benefits they saw without mentioning the partner’s name or even their industry. 

The alternative is the opposite. You can create co-marketing with your partner even if you can’t talk about the work. For example, running a joint event or creating a co-content series about industry themes. Although this doesn’t directly promote your work, associating yourself with another known industry player helps to build your reputation.

“We leveraged organic and in-person marketing surrounding Riskaware’s attendance as an exhibitor at the Salvage and Wreck Conference, a prominent industry event…”

Read more in this case study

You may also like: Why scaling tech brands need content marketing 

Challenge #3: The nature of the work is difficult to talk about 

Many companies we work with deal with sensitive issues. From national defence to child sexual exploitation to modern slavery, some issues are difficult to talk about appropriately.  

A common marketing technique is to educate people about the challenges your audience is facing. However, when dealing with sensitive themes, this can quickly feel like you’re fearmongering or exploiting the issues to promote your own business.  

The solution: ground your brand in the mission 

Keep your brand image and messaging focused on what you’re trying to achieve. What is your vision? What are the positive outcomes of your work? Putting these values first keeps people focused on what matters. 

This isn’t to say you should avoid the issues altogether – this isn’t authentic either. But, it’s better not to overuse negatives or hyperbole, or use provocative imagery, because this can be counterintuitive. For example, ‘myth busting’ formats can be misleading. People often remember the ‘myth’ you’re trying to break down as the truth, which distracts from the real issues. 

 

“RefYouMe has a no-nonsense mission. ‘There is no them and us, no here and there. ‘They’ are not a faceless headline. They are people.’”

Explore the RefYouMe brand

Challenge #4: Current affairs influence the issue 

Some topics can gain a lot of attention from the media or public opinion. Or maybe, the industry is heavily scrutinised or regulated. 

As such, the language surrounding this issue can be loaded. Some marketing material may garner criticism or be subject to formal review if the language isn’t properly managed. On top of this, you may need to be more reactive to what’s happening in the world when you promote confidential projects. 

The solution: create media guidelines  

A marketing strategy will come with guidelines for writing in the voice of the brand. When you deal with sensitive issues, you should also outline language, themes and types of content for the brand to stick to. Make it as specific as possible, outlining what does and doesn’t resonate with which audiences.  

Schedule time to review this and keep it updated as the world evolves. The same goes for your marketing plan. You’ll likely need to keep a closer eye than some industries on what’s happening in the news, and make sure this is reflected in your planning, your guidelines, and your marketing output. 

 

“With the healthcare sector being heavily regulated, we’ve also worked closely to develop a style of writing that is nuanced and considered, but unwavering in its vision.”

See how we managed EarSwitch’s messaging

For more advice on how to approach marketing for sensitive or confidential work, read our guide to marketing to government agencies.