Case Study 11 / ABM Programs
Selling a firewall to people who don't trust vendors: a community-led go-to-market
Security practitioners trust peers, not vendor ads. For an AI-powered firewall built for lean IT teams, the go-to-market motion was built around a community instead of a campaign: a practitioner-first cybersecurity publication and community, with a persona-led content model, four interactive newsletter formats, a planned network of 20 contributing writers and an engagement pod seeded from 48 connected leads. The product earns attention by being useful to the people it sells to.
Earlier work: led by Clarafold's founder at a network security software company, before founding Clarafold. The company's name is withheld; figures come from the platform's own analytics, and claims that could not be verified are left out.
- specialist writers targeted for the contributor network
- 20
- newsletter formats designed and templated
- 4
- connected leads seeding the first engagement pod
- 48
- category-leader community models reverse-engineered
- 2
01 · Client
Network security software company
B2B network-security company selling an AI-powered hybrid firewall to lean IT teams. Name withheld.
The challenge
The firewall competes for the attention of IT managers and security analysts who are flooded with vendor messaging and who decide on peer opinion. Buying a firewall is a trust decision, and ads do not create trust. The company's own community channels were thin: a YouTube channel had been started but posted roughly once a month.
02 · System
What existed before.
- Vendor-led messaging in a market that discounts vendor claims
- A YouTube channel posting about once a month
- No owned space where practitioners met the brand outside a sales context
03 · Intervention
What was built and run.
Reverse-engineered how category leaders build community
Studied Pindrop's content library and repeat-visit mechanics and Wiz's LinkedIn-led social and community presence, along with members-only webinars that feed private groups and event participation as a way into closed expert circles.
Started with the practitioner, not the product
Built personas such as 'Sam, Security Analyst', with a full empathy map of what she hears, sees, worries about and needs, and asked network administrators for short interviews before writing a single issue.
Designed a publication people would choose to read
Four newsletter formats plus an interactive layer: simulated 'Hack the Hacker' incidents, Spot-the-Phish challenges, Threat Actor Trading Cards and Security Cinema breakdowns. Education first, product second. A founder-voice edition was weighed against the brand edition.
Planned the supply side of the community
Outreach in three tiers (established, mid-career and emerging writers) to build a contributor network of 20, so the community would be written by practitioners, not by marketing.
Gave it an identity and a first measurable step
A brand brief with distinct corporate, news and general themes, and a first KPI: convert 10% of 48 connected leads into an engagement pod that amplifies every piece.
04 · Outcome
What changed.
A complete community-led go-to-market motion for the firewall: audience research, personas, an owned publication in four formats, a contributor model, a brand system and a first engagement KPI.
It reframed the question from 'how do we reach IT managers?' to 'what would IT managers choose to belong to?'. That question now opens every ABM and content programme Clarafold designs for technical buyers.
05 · Lessons
What we would tell you.
- Technical buyers buy from people they learned from. A community makes the vendor one of those people.
- Design the supply side. Communities stall when one marketer writes everything; a contributor network is what makes them last.
- Interactivity beats information. Security professionals already have news feeds. A simulated incident they can solve is something they come back for.
Put It To Work