What Is a PR Campaign and Why Does It Matter in Cybersecurity, Tech, and AI?
Ask ten people what a PR campaign is, and you’ll get ten different answers. Some will say it’s getting into the press. Others will talk about social media, thought leadership, or brand awareness and in tech and cybersecurity, you’ll often hear a knowing sigh followed by: “It’s complicated.”
It is. But it doesn’t have to be mysterious.
At Eskenzi, we’ve been running PR campaigns for cybersecurity, tech, and AI vendors for over thirty years. So let’s cut through the noise and get practical: what actually is a PR campaign, what does a good one look like in this space, and how do you know if yours is working?
The basic definition and why it’s not enough
A PR campaign is a coordinated set of communications activities, run over a defined period, designed to achieve a specific goal. That goal might be to build brand awareness, launch a product, reposition a company, manage a reputation crisis, or support a funding round. The operative word is coordinated. A campaign is not a single press release, a one-off comment, or a product announcement thrown over the wall to a journalist. It’s a strategic programme with a narrative at its heart, tailored to a specific audience, and activated simultaneously across multiple channels.
In most industries, that definition holds pretty well. In cybersecurity, tech, and AI, it needs a bit more nuance.
Why PR in this sector is a different beast
Cybersecurity vendors face a uniquely challenging communications environment. The media landscape is fragmented. You’ve got specialist titles like SC Media, Infosecurity Magazine, and The Register on one hand, and mainstream national and business press on the other. Your buyers are deeply sceptical. CISOs and security architects have seen every vendor claim under the sun; they’re not going to take your word for it, and the technical complexity of your product makes it genuinely difficult to translate into compelling, accessible storytelling.
AI and emerging tech companies face overlapping challenges, with an added layer: you’re operating in a space where public trust is actively contested. AI ethics, data privacy, regulatory pressure, and a string of high-profile failures by other companies in the space mean that every communications misstep carries outsized risk. Here, communications strategy and reputation management are one and the same.
What a PR campaign actually looks like in practice
A well-built PR campaign in this space typically has five components.
A clear objective: This sounds obvious, but it’s where many campaigns fall apart. “Get more coverage” is not an objective. “Establish our CEO as a leading voice on AI governance ahead of our Series B in Q3” is. “Support our UK market launch by reaching CISOs at enterprise financial services firms” is. The more specific the objective, the more the messaging, media targets, timing, and content can align with it.
A strong narrative: Every campaign needs a story. In cybersecurity and tech, the temptation is to lead with the product: the features, the technology, the architecture. Resist it. Journalists don’t write about products. They write about trends, problems, and people. Your campaign narrative should connect your organisation to a bigger issue, such as rising ransomware costs, the talent gap, the regulatory tightening around AI, or the state of critical national infrastructure, and position you as a credible voice in that conversation. The product becomes evidence, not the story.
The right channels: A PR campaign is not just media relations, though that often sits at the core. In cybersecurity and tech, an effective campaign usually combines earned media (press coverage, podcast appearances, analyst briefings), owned content (blog posts, white papers, LinkedIn thought leadership), and, increasingly, community channels like Reddit and Discord, where practitioners actually hang out. The mix depends on your audience and your objective. A campaign targeting enterprise CISOs looks very different to one aimed at developers or SME security managers.
A content engine: Campaigns need fuel. That means a steady output of content such as commentary on breaking news, bylined articles, research reports, and data. In AI and cybersecurity, where the news cycle moves fast and the stakes are high, the ability to respond quickly and credibly to emerging stories is a genuine competitive advantage. The best PR campaigns build in the infrastructure to do this: pre-approved spokesperson quotes, a bank of reactive commentary, and a process for getting spokespeople in front of journalists quickly when a story breaks.
Measurement: This is where honest conversations are needed. PR has historically been measured by clip counts and coverage quality, but those metrics tell only part of the story. A campaign that generates twenty pieces of tier-one coverage means nothing if it doesn’t move the needle on what you actually care about: website traffic, share of voice, inbound enquiries, analyst positioning, or brand recognition among target buyers. Good PR campaigns define their success metrics upfront and report against them honestly throughout.
The AI dimension: an opportunity and a responsibility
AI is reshaping what’s possible in PR and also what’s expected. The sheer volume of content being produced has made it harder to cut through. At the same time, AI-powered tools have lowered the barrier to producing commentary, meaning more noise and less signal in every inbox a journalist opens.
For AI companies specifically, this creates a credibility challenge. If your AI product is generating your PR content, and a journalist or analyst figures that out, the reputational damage can be significant. We’re believers in using AI tools to support the content process. For research, ideation, and first drafts, but always with human expertise and editorial judgement in the loop. In a sector built on trust, authenticity isn’t optional.
The mistakes we see most often
After three decades of cybersecurity PR, certain patterns come up time and time again.
The biggest is treating PR as a tap you turn on when you need coverage. A PR campaign is not a one-time purchase. It builds over time via relationships with journalists, recognition among analysts, and a body of thought leadership that compounds. Companies that invest consistently, even at lower levels, outperform those that sprint and then go quiet.
The second is underestimating the time required. A well-run cybersecurity campaign typically takes three to six months to start generating consistent, meaningful coverage. The groundwork, including building media relationships, finding the right angles, and getting spokespeople comfortable, takes time. If you’re expecting results by week two, you’ll be disappointed.
The third is trying to do everything at once. A focused campaign that does three things brilliantly will always outperform a sprawling one that does ten things adequately. Prioritise ruthlessly.
So, what makes a PR campaign successful in this space?
Clarity of objective. A narrative that connects to the issues your audience actually cares about. Deep understanding of the media landscape in terms of who covers what, what angles land, and which journalists write for your target audience. Consistent execution over time and honest measurement that connects back to business goals.
It’s not rocket science, but it does require expertise, patience, and a genuine understanding of a complex industry. Which is, incidentally, why working with a specialist agency rather than a generalist one matters more in cybersecurity, tech, and AI than almost anywhere else.
If you’re thinking about what a PR campaign could look like for your organisation, we’d love to talk. Get in touch at hello@eskenzipr.com.
Want to dig deeper? Read our post on how to choose the right PR agency for your cybersecurity company and watch the recording of our webinar, Noise to Notoriety: Key Lessons on Choosing the Right PR Agency in Cybersecurity