NOLA Marketing’s Emily Matthews Carries Cybersecurity Agency’s Flag   

 

As the director of operations and customer success at a cybersecurity marketing agency, Theresa Ridgley had a bird’s-eye view of all of the consultants and their projects. Theresa worked closely with the consultants and clients to scope and manage all projects. She also evaluated potential consultants for the agency.

 

Finding a Prize Referral

Theresa screened product marketing consulting candidates daily. Her goal was to identify those who were professional consultants, possessed deep cybersecurity knowledge, and had a proven track record in product marketing.

“Emily Matthews was a referral from one of our top consultants. I did my homework, digging into her website and LinkedIn profile,” said Theresa. “She had a ton of cybersecurity clients, and her LinkedIn recommendations were fantastic. During our interview, I found her to be knowledgeable and personable—basically a perfect fit for the agency and its clients.”

The interview with Theresa was followed by an interview with the agency’s CEO. “Our CEO is very particular about the consultants he brings into the agency. He’s a tough cookie who digs in with very technical questions to make sure that the candidate really does have the knowledge base needed to do the work,” said Theresa. “No surprise to me, Emily passed with flying colors.”

 

Smorgasbord Assignment

The first assignment turned out to be one of the agency’s longest engagements. It was a retainer with a director of content marketing at Palo Alto Networks. Assignments were wide ranging. Some projects required interviewing subject matter experts, including solution marketing managers, product marketing managers, and engineers, for ghostwritten articles and blog posts. Others required interviews and digging into piles of source material to write solution briefs, technical papers, video scripts, and other marketing materials.

“Emily hit it off with the client and her team. No matter the type of content that was needed or the inputs, Emily managed all the projects and schedules flawlessly, and received high praise from the client,” said Theresa. “At every check-in I had with the client, she told me how fast, reliable, and good Emily’s work was. She also noted that Emily was able to work with anyone on anything, no matter how tedious or technical.”

 

Book Deal

In parallel with the content marketing project, there was a job authoring a short, eight-chapter book on secure browsers for Palo Alto Networks. This project entailed research and extensive interviews with two product marketing managers, as well as working with a designer and proofreader to create the finished book.

“The book project was a hard one, as the agency has a very strict and complicated process for how these books are created. Emily was able to navigate the logistics and produce a very well-written book that received big kudos from the client.”

 

Going Deep on SEO Articles

Another Palo Alto Networks project was researching and writing SEO articles—hundreds of them. The assignments were usually for a series of articles around a hub topic. These topics ranged from general cybersecurity (e.g., attack surface management and zero trust) to technical cybersecurity areas (e.g., securing Kubernetes clusters and how AI and machine learning are used).

“The agency had a writer assigned to the SEO article project, but the client needed more support, so we brought on Emily. They were writing three to five articles a week on a wide variety of topics,” explained Theresa. “When the volume was reduced, the client requested that Emily stay on the project. According to the client, Emily was fast, and her content was top quality, requiring little to no editing.”

 

Top of List

“I would recommend Emily to anybody who asks for a technology writer. Emily’s experience gives her a deep understanding of all types of technology, which allows her to dive into any project and start producing quality work immediately. She’s also great with clients, whether it’s onboarding an assignment or conducting interviews. They love her. And Emily can work with anyone from the most technical engineer to executives. She really is a gem,” Theresa concluded.