Corporate Marketer to Community Builder - Podcast: Maria Velasquez, Cybersecurity Marketing Society

Maria Velasquez, co-founder of the Cybersecurity Marketing Society, joins the Cyberwhyze "Off Script" podcast to talk about building a 4,000-member global community from cold LinkedIn DMs to international meetups in Paris and London.

Maria shares her transition from corporate marketing to full-time entrepreneurship, discussing the unique challenges of monetizing a free membership community through sponsors and partnerships rather than member dues.

The conversation covers AI's impact on cybersecurity marketing, attribution difficulties in an industry where the audience uses privacy blockers, and the importance of maintaining optimism while serving stressed marketers.

Maria explains her philosophy of building up cybersecurity marketing professionals rather than using fear-based messaging, and shares practical insights about scaling a community business while maintaining authenticity and trust with a highly technical audience.

Key Moments:00:00 - Introduction and Maria's background01:00 - Origin story of the Cybersecurity Marketing Society02:14 - Growing from cold DMs to 4,000 members04:26 - Building relationships with sales teams09:29 - The reality of entrepreneurship and revenue challenges16:52 - AI anxiety in cybersecurity marketing27:16 - Is SEO dead? Traffic down 34% due to AI30:13 - Why optimism matters in community building31:53 - Attribution challenges in cybersecurity36:02 - Rapid fire questions and future plans

Learn more at https://cyberwhyze.com