Identity/biometrics/technology marketing and writing services
Part of Ubiquity Via Focus is knowing whom to EXCLUDE from your focus.
If my former friends’ focus is elsewhere, my focus won’t impede on theirs.
If you are focused on identity/biometric and technology product marketng, here is What I Do: https://bredemarket.com/what-i-do/
(The picture is only from Imagen 3. I’ve been using it since January, as you will see.)
Here’s a “why” question: why does Bredemarket write the things it writes about?
Several reasons:
And then there are really specific reasons such as this one.
In late January I first wrote about third-party risk management (TPRM) and have continued to do so since.
Why?
Because at that time, a TPRM firm had a need for content marketing and product marketing services, and Bredemarket started consulting for the firm.
I was very busy for 2 1/2 months, and the firm was happy with my work. And I got to dive into TPRM issues in great detail:
But for internal reasons that I can’t disclose (NDA, you know), the firm had to end my contract.
Never mind, I thought. I had amassed an incredible 75 days of TPRM experience—or about the same time that it takes for a BAD TPRM vendor to complete an assessment.
But how could I use this?
Why not put my vast experience to use with another TPRM firm? (Honoring the first firm’s NDA, of course.)
So I applied for a product marketing position with another TPRM firm, highlighting my TPRM consulting experience.
The company decided to move forward with other candidates.
The firm had another product marketing opening, so I applied again.
The company decided to move forward with other candidates.
Even if this company had a third position, I couldn’t apply for it because of its “maximum 2 applications in 60 days” rule.
Luckily for me, another TPRM firm had a product marketing opening. TPRM is active; the identity/biometrics industry isn’t hiring this many product marketers.
“Thank you for your application for the Senior Product Marketing Manager position at REDACTED. We really appreciate your interest in joining our company and we want to thank you for the time and energy you invested in your application to us.
“We received a large number of applications, and after carefully reviewing all of them, unfortunately, we have to inform you that this time we won’t be able to invite you to the next round of our hiring process.
“Due to the high number of applications, we are unfortunately not able to provide individual feedback to your application at this early stage of the process.
“Again, we really appreciated your application and we would welcome you to apply to REDACTED in the future. Be sure to keep up to date with future roles at REDACTED by following us on LinkedIn and our other social channels.
“We wish you all the best in your job search.”
Unfortunately, I apparently did not have “impressive credentials.” Oh well.
What now?
If nothing else, I will continue to write about TPRM and the issues I listed above.
Well, if any TPRM firm wants to contract with Bredemarket, schedule a meeting: https://bredemarket.com/cpa/
And if any TPRM firm wants to use my technology experience and hire me as a full-time product marketer, contact my personal LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbredehoft
I’m motivated to help your firm succeed, and make your competitors regret passing on me.
Sadly, despite my delusions of grandeur and expositor syndrome (to be addressed in a future Bredemarket blog post), I don’t think any TPRM CMOs are quaking in their boots and fearfully crying, “We missed out on Bredehoft, and now he’s going to work for the enemy and crush us!”
But I could be wrong.
As far as Forrester is concerned:
“[O]nly a quarter of firms employ a launch process even vaguely approaching best-in-class…”
But I take this with a grain of salt, because Forrester has a product it is marketing.
“We began by introducing attendees to our proprietary Product Marketing And Management (PMM) Model (client login required).”
I’m not a client, so I don’t have a login. But Forrester’s PMM Model appears to cover some important topics.
And that was just the beginning, because Forrester is certainly comprehensive.
Although it sounds like the full Forrester PMM Model process may be completely mystifying and overwhelming if you have no model at all. I know.
Better to start off moving from Level 1 to Level 2 in a maturity model rather than trying to jump to Level 5.
(Imagen 3)
For years I have maintained that the difficulties in technology are not because of the technology itself.
Technology can do wonderful things.
The difficulties lie with the need for people to agree to use the technology.
And not beg ignorance by saying “I know nothing.”
(Image of actor John Banner as Sgt. Schultz on Hogan’s Heroes is public domain.)
I just saw an article with the title “TPRM weaknesses emerge as relationship owners fail to report red flags.”
Unlike some clickbait-like article titles, this one from Communications Today succinctly encapsulates the problem up front.
It’s not that the TPRM software is failing to find the red flags. Oh, it finds them!
But the folks at Gartner discovered something:
“A Gartner survey of approximately 900 third-party relationship owners…revealed that while 95% saw a third-party red flag in the past 12 months, only around half of them escalate it to compliance teams.”
Among other things, the relationship owners worry about “the perceived return on investment (ROI) of sharing information.”
And that’s not a software issue. It’s a process issue.
No amount of coding or AI can fix that.
And this is not unique to the cybersecurity world. Let’s look at facial recognition.
I’ve said this over and over, but for U.S. criminal purposes, facial recognition results should ONLY be used as investigative leads.
It doesn’t matter whether they’re automated results, or if they have been reviewed by a trained forensic face examiner.
Facial recognition results should only be used as investigative leads.
Sorry for the repetition, but some people aren’t listening.
But it’s not the facial recognition vendors. Bredemarket has worked with numerous facial recognition vendors over the years, and of those who work with law enforcement, ALL of them have emphatically insisted that their software results should only be used as investigative leads.
All of them. Including…that one.
But the vendors have no way to control the actions of customers who feed poor-quality data into their systems, get a result…and immediately run out and get an arrest warrant without collecting corroborating evidence.
And that’s not a software issue. It’s a process issue.
No amount of coding or AI can fix that.
I hope the TPRM folks don’t mind my detour into biometrics, but there’s a good reason for it.
Some product marketers, including myself, believe that it’s not enough to educate prospects and customers about your product. You also need to educate them about proper use of the product, including legal and ethical concerns.
If you don’t, your customers will do dumb things in Europe, Illinois, or elsewhere—and blame you when they are caught.
Be a leader in your industry by doing or saying the right thing.
And now here’s a word from our sponsor.
There’s a reason why this post specifically focused on cybersecurity and facial recognition.
If you need product marketing assistance with your product, Bredemarket has two openings. One for a cybersecurity client, and one for a facial recognition client.
I can offer
If Bredemarket can help your stretched staff, book a free meeting with me: https://bredemarket.com/cpa/
Much business time is spent waiting…and sometimes you’re waiting on someone who is procrastinating.
Itamar Shatz, PhD provided several examples of business procrastination. This one caught my eye:
“Delaying marketing your new app, because you’re a developer or a designer and marketing is outside your comfort zone.”
But it’s not just developers or designers who delay product marketing efforts.
While it’s easy to blame the techie, non-techies can also delay a go-to-market effort. Even product marketers can and do delay a go-to-market effort. Not because of comfort zone issues, but for two other reasons.
The first was cited by Shatz in another context:
“Delaying launching your new product, because you want to make sure that it’s absolutely perfect, even though it’s already good enough for your purposes and it would be better to just launch it already.”
In the same way we want our product to be perfect, we often want our product marketing to be perfect. Thus the A version becomes the B version which becomes the C version until we run out of letters at Z and have to employ the Excel solution and create version AA, AB, and so forth.
But there’s another reason for the frustratingly endless revision cycles: you can’t get all the reviewers to look at the first version, or the second.
Why not?
Because the go-to-market project is important.
We’ve all encountered situations where things that are critically important to us are merely important to others. I still remember the time when a company executive talked about how important a particular project was…and then left the room, conveying an unintended message.
And when things are relatively unimportant, they don’t happen.
And because of the delay, your product’s impact is diluted.
(Image of bus stop shelter in Chandigarh, India by Sarbjit Bahga, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bus_stop_in_Chandigarh.jpg )
(Image Public Domain)
I spent most of the afternoon drafting the content for an email nurture campaign, and I’m fascinated by the use of the word “nurture” by product marketers and content marketers.
Here is how HubSpot defines lead nurturing.
“Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with your prospects with the goal of earning their business when they’re ready. Lead nurturing is important to inbound marketing because it’s your opportunity to provide value to your leads and customers and help them grow with your business.”
I’ve said it before: You’re not a sausage grinder making sausages. You’re a flower attracting bees.
One of the drawbacks of LinkedIn’s collaborative articles is that the answers end up in a difficult-to-access place.
So I’m repurposing my recent answer to an article on ensuring accurate messaging. My original answer is buried within https://www.linkedin.com/advice/3/sales-promoting-misleading-product-claims-how-hpzxf?contributionUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28articleSegment%3A%28urn%3Ali%3AlinkedInArticle%3A7277750320556855296%2C7277750322389807104%29%2C7291507111144919040%29&dashContributionUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287291507111144919040%2Curn%3Ali%3AarticleSegment%3A%28urn%3Ali%3AlinkedInArticle%3A7277750320556855296%2C7277750322389807104%29%29&articleSegmentUrn=urn%3Ali%3AarticleSegment%3A%28urn%3Ali%3AlinkedInArticle%3A7277750320556855296%2C7277750322389807104%29 (told you it was difficult to access).
My Never Search Alone friends asked about my brand…
How can your biometric firm realize immediate and comprehensive product marketing results?
By working with me, John E. Bredehoft—the biometric product marketing expert.
Find out more:
(Wildebeest picture Imagen 3/Google Gemini)
I recently interviewed for a full-time position with an identity/biometrics company.
The hiring manager and I agreed that differentiation is sorely lacking in the industry.
However, the company did NOT agree that I was the person to lead their firm’s product differentiation efforts.
But this, combined with the upcoming completion of a Bredemarket project later this week, provides an opportunity.
Bredemarket can now help others in the identity/biometric industry, including the hiring firm’s direct competitors, with THEIR differentiation—in the same way Bredemarket has differentiated other companies.
So I am going to help SOME company differentiate itself from the me-too “trust us” crowd.
But how?
I won’t tell everything, but I will give away ONE of my secrets.
Which isn’t a secret.
As you probably know, I like to ask questions before starting a content, proposal, or analysis project. And the first of my questions is critical for differentiation.
Why?
No…that’s the question. Why?
The life experiences of founders are very different. After all, the reason Bill Gates got into the computer business is different than the reason Steve Jobs entered the business.
The world would be very different.
I’ve written about the why question. Here’s an excerpt:
“Before I can write a case study about how your Magnificent Gizmo cures bad breath, I need to understand WHY you’re in the good breath business in the first place. Did you have an unpleasant childhood experience? Were you abandoned at the altar? WHY did you care enough to create the Magnificent Gizmo in the first place?
“Once I (and you) agree on the why, everything else will flow from that, and your own end users will benefit in the process.”
Give me that origin story and I can differentiate you and your product. Whether it’s your breath gizmo or your identity verification solution, we now have a story that your foolish inferior competitors do not have.
THEY are just mere moneymakers.
YOU are the enlightened giving individual solving a problem that has bugged you for years, making the world a better place.
So tell your story…and differentiate yourself!
So I checked out Coauthor’s me-too LinkedIn-themed copycat of Spotify Wrapped, like many of you did. Here’s the (unedited) post it wrote for me—not too bad:
= = =
Here’s my 2024 LinkedIn Rewind, by Coauthor.studio:
After 30 years in identity and biometrics, 2024 showed me that verification only goes so far. The real challenge isn’t just confirming who someone is – it’s understanding what they might do.
From employment fraudsters with verified credentials to healthcare imposters with stolen birthdates, this year proved that identity verification alone can’t prevent deception. But it also showed how combining technical expertise with human insight can help protect organizations and individuals.
Key observations from 2024:
Three posts that captured these themes:
“Employment Fraud and Identity Verification”
On why verifying someone’s identity only goes so far
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7268454996734545921/
“Rich Powaza’s Disappearance”
Real consequences of fraudulent behavior
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7253092940393193472/
“Get Off My Lawn”
Changing workplace norms and responsibilities
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7262320817898758145/
Through Bredemarket, I delivered over 100 content and analysis projects helping organizations navigate these challenges. I also conducted research on employment fraud tactics and moderated communities helping others avoid scams.
Looking ahead: 2025 will require even more sophisticated approaches to identity verification and fraud prevention. The fraudsters aren’t going away – but neither am I. I’ll continue helping organizations implement effective identity strategies while advocating for ethical AI use and employment practices.
To the wildebeests following along: remember that verification is just the start. The real value comes from understanding intent and building trust.
#fraud #identity #security #productmarketing
—
Get your 2024 LinkedIn Rewind! Go to coauthor.studio
Bredemarket 