With the usual process of awareness, longlisting, shortlisting and decision-making being streamlined to make cybersecurity purchase decisions more quickly (see “The Changing CyberSec Sales Cycle,” page 20), getting messages out and fast has never been more important for marketing teams. That might lead to assumptions that AI and LLMs are the de-facto go-to when it comes to new product research, vendor discovery and technology decision making. But some traditional content marketing methods are holding up quite well, thank you very much, at least when it comes to buyers of business cybersecurity solutions. Global B2B marketing firm The Hoffman Agency recently released the results of a survey examining the impact AI cyberattacks have had on the cybersecurity buying landscape and what now influences vendor selection. Conducted by Coleman Parkes Research, the survey of 500 cybersecurity decision makers found that 67 percent of organizations have plans to increase cybersecurity investment in the next 12 months, while 62 percent are looking either for a new provider or to switch their current provider. When it comes to the cybersecurity buying journey, buyers certainly are relying on LLMs for both initial research and final selection, as these AI tools already have leapfrogged some longstanding pillars of B2B marketing, such as webinars and banner advertisements. But the top four sources of information for initial awareness are familiar channels and largely unchanged from years past. Following the tried-and-true top method, direct peers (35 percent), were industry analysts (32 percent), industry trade events (28 percent) and trade media (26 percent). When it comes to final selection of vendors, the top sources of information were similar. Industry analysts (23 percent), industry events (23 percent) and direct peers (22 percent) made up the top three, with LLMs was selected by 20 percent of respondents, followed closely by trade media (18 percent). Getting more granular, the study looked at the specific content types that have the biggest influence on the selection of a cybersecurity vendor. Again, LLMs are featured here, ranking higher than popular marketing techniques such as email marketing but below the more personal, faceto-face reality of a session or panel presentation at an industry trade show. Currently, just 8 percent of buyers say that they use LLMs “all the time.” Arguably, the biggest takeaway was that there is no marketing “silver bullet,” as even the least influential content type listed, vendor blog posts, is seen by 13 percent of buyers as having an effect on their final buying decisions. “A mix of different approaches and content types is the only guaranteed way to reach everyone,” argued the study, “especially as LLMs become more important and pull in information from all different sources. o Legacy Marketing Remains Steady Which channel/content types influence awareness in your buying journey? RANK INFLUENCE SHARE 01 Direct peers 35% 02 Industry analysts 32% 03 Industry trade events 28% 04 Trade media 26% 05 Networking groups 24% 06 Management consultants 23% 07 Business technology media 22% 08 LLM 20% 09 Industry consultants 18% 10 Vendor material 17% 11 Online ad/marketing in trade media 17% 12 Paid vendor campaign in LinkedIn 15% 13 Direct marketing 15% 14 Vendor activity on broader social media 14% 15 Above the line advertising 13% 16 Webinars 12% 17 Business/National media 11% 18 Indirect peers on LinkedIn 10% 19 Internal business analysts 10% 20 Industry podcast 10% 21 Substack 8% SOURCE The Hoffman Agency; Coleman Parkes Research CYBER PATROL 26 CHANNELVISION | SUMMER 2026
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