Based in Baltimore, Maryland, Wayne Schepens is the founder of LaunchTech Communications and delivers various PR and marketing solutions to technology and cybersecurity firms worldwide. In June 2023, Wayne Schepens’ firm was acquired by CyberRisk Alliance (CRA), a company that meets cybersecurity community needs for accurate and meaningful business intelligence.
Working with policymakers, journalists, influencers, and analysts, CRA fields brands that include Security Weekly, ChannelE2E, MSSP Alert, and SC Media. It maintains the peer-to-peer CISO membership network and the CRA Business Intelligence research unit and sponsors efforts such as the Official Cyber Security Summit and the Cybersecurity Collaborative. Existing LaunchTech clients receive additional access to this expansive portfolio of support solutions. At the same time, CRA benefits through enhanced go-to-market activation pathways. The various strategic possibilities can be accessed as standalone services or integrated within an end-to-end product suite. All this is enabled through a CRA technology platform designed to intelligently connect highly qualified sellers and buyers across an expanded brand and product portfolio.
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Wayne Schepens is a longtime technology executive who directs LaunchTech Communications as founder, delivering tailored cybersecurity and technology services. Working with diverse clients, Wayne Schepens has envisioned multichannel solutions that make sense within existing operations.
One noteworthy assignment involved working with CloudKnox Security, Inc. The company (which has since been acquired by Microsoft) offers comprehensive visibility into privileged access through an AI-powered permissions management dashboard. This protects the infrastructure of organizations within a complex multicloud environment spanning Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure. The LaunchTech approach began with an analysis of existing audience and metrics in order to define the ideal mix of content. A key aim was ensuring that corporate news and marketing, as well as industry and employee-related updates, were well balanced. As part of this process, LaunchTech worked to build engagement across partners, employees, and prospective clients. As a result of these efforts, LaunchTech witnessed a 76.5 percent increase in engagement within 6 months, with impressions jumping by more than 50 percent and post clicks rising by 70 percent. This generated 25 percent more followers than when the campaign began. Wayne Schepens is a master of science graduate from Virginia Tech and a cybersecurity expert with over 20 years of experience. In 2014, Wayne Schepens founded LaunchTech Communications, a business that offers marketing and public relations support to cyber security firms of all kinds, from startups to well-known brands, where he currently serves as managing director. A former semi-pro baseball player, he likes to coach baseball.
In Major League Baseball (MLB), the New York Yankees have won the most World Series championships, the annual final MLB game. The Yankees have made it to 40 World Series finals and won 27 of those games. The team started winning MLB championships in 1923 when they beat the San Francisco Giants and consecutively won the MLB title from 1936 to 1939, 1949 to 1953, and 1998 to 2000, making them also the MLB team with the most successive victories in the World Series. In 2009, the New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to claim their most recent World Series title. This game was also the last time the Yankees advanced to the World Series. The St. Louis Cardinals, boasting an impressive 11 World Series wins, are the MLB team with the second-highest number of World Series titles, while The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics, each have nine titles, are tied for third place. A resident of Severna Park, Maryland, Wayne Schepens has over 20 years of experience and serves as managing director of LaunchTech Communications. His services include public and analyst relations and social media marketing. Before his current role, Wayne Schepens was vice president of W2 Communications in Baltimore, developing awareness and credibility campaigns for technology companies.
Credibility is essential in crowded markets as it distinguishes businesses and establishes trust with potential customers. With numerous options available, customers are more inclined to choose a business they perceive as credible and trustworthy. Tech startups can demonstrate their credibility by setting targeted objectives. These objectives should define success regarding reputation and profile and identify key credibility markers. Creating engaging content is another way for tech startups to establish credibility in crowded markets. With a surplus of information aimed at consumers, high-quality content can help establish the right impression and showcase the startup's expertise. Consistency in content production can also foster authority online and establish the startup as a reputable source of information. Furthermore, a robust online presence, including established social media profiles on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, can significantly enhance a firm's credibility by enabling direct customer engagement and soliciting feedback and concerns. Addressing their requirements and preferences with relatable solutions can help establish trust with potential customers, leading to higher conversion rates. A civil engineering graduate from Virginia Tech, Wayne Schepens manages LaunchTech Communications. In addition to his experience in the cybersecurity industry, Wayne Schepens is an expert in strategic marketing, public relations, and analyst relations.
Analyst relations (AR) is a communication discipline that B2B tech enterprises employ to elevate their standing and public recognition among industry analysts. While AR and PR (public relations) convey information to targeted audiences, their intended audience and methodology differ. AR targets industry experts, whereas PR is honed toward a wide-ranging audience, including consumers and journalists. Investing in AR is crucial for tech startups to build credibility. AR programs communicate key strengths and unique selling points to analysts, creating beneficial relationships and influencing industry sales through analyst support. Without analyst coverage, startups could be perceived as less credible, with potential customers assuming underlying issues with products or business strategy. Launching an AR program for tech startups is straightforward and cost-effective. Startups can begin by identifying key analyst firms that cover their market and are relevant to their business through industry research. Once shortlisted, they are advised to maintain regular communication with them, sharing updates on their products and services, strengthening engagement, and enhancing the chances of their organization being featured in research publications. A cybersecurity professional with over 20 years of experience in the field, Wayne Schepens serves as the managing director of LaunchTech Communications, a PR and marketing agency, where he is responsible for managing agency staffing needs, overseeing strategic accounts, client retention, and business development. Wayne Schepens is also highly skilled in various marketing strategies.
Newsjacking is a salient marketing strategy that has become popular due to technological advancements. Newsjacking involves leveraging a trending story to connect a brand to its target niche. This marketing strategy, when done properly, showcases a brand's value, expands its reach, and boosts brand loyalty. Businesses can market themselves to prospective customers through news stories on social media, news websites, TV stations, and partnerships. Less digitized approaches like fundraising campaigns and social events can also integrate newsjacking elements. The ultimate goal is to find a story that piques the audience's interest and relates to a brand's products and services. Most often, brands offer solutions to draw the attention of their targets. While newsjacking has ample benefits, it can hurt a brand if not properly planned and implemented. For example, promoting a brand in a story that does not relate to the services the brand offers can result in negative comments, such as insensitivity, from the audience. The choice of media channel is also crucial. For example, a company that rolls out solutions to clients in the academic space should ideally share news via trending stories on LinkedIn rather than Facebook. Based in Severna Park, Maryland, Wayne Schepens is a mentor and support team member with Mach 37 in Herndon, Virginia. In 2015, Wayne Schepens expanded his professional operations by founding Baltimore’s LaunchTech Communications, a public relations agency he continues to lead as managing director.
LaunchTech provides customers with a range of core services in areas of public relations and analyst relations, including support with media relations. The company’s leadership team firmly believes in the beneficial relationship between thought leaders and the mainstream media. There are a number of advantages to maintaining open communications with mainstream reporters (as well as social media influencers and journalists in more niche markets) as a means of quickly responding to relevant news stories or public requests for comments. In certain situations, such as a product launch, media relations can take the form of an expansive pipeline that follows the development and release cycle. LaunchTech’s media relations initiatives are rooted in creativity and individuality, with a focus on helping each client’s messaging stand apart. More information about media relations and other services can be found online at golaunchtech.com. Wayne Schepens leverages an extensive background in cybersecurity to deliver LaunchTech solutions in various aspects of marketing and PR to tech companies. Working with CloudKnox Security, Wayne Schepens and his team have set in place a robust social media funnel for content, with a focus on LinkedIn.
Acquired by Microsoft in 2021, CloudKnox unifies privileged access and helps manage cloud entitlement protocol. The need for these services stems from an ongoing digital transformation process often involving IT modernization across multiple clouds. Identity security is a paramount concern across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. CloudKnox helps companies optimize permissions (who can access data) and mitigate risk by enforcing security best practices. Emphasizing compliance, this comprehensive cloud strategy employs continuous analytics to avoid costly and reputation-damaging security breaches. The LaunchTech strategy on behalf of CloudKnox required analyzing existing audience dynamics and advanced metrics to define an optimal content mix. This resulted in a more balanced range of content spanning marketing, company news, and industry and employee-related updates. In addition, content was designed to actively respond to and reciprocate engagement generated through partners, employees, and prospective clients. Results within a half year included a more than 50 percent increase in impressions and over 70 percent more post-clicks and engagements. The number of CloudKnox followers also increased by 25 percent. Based in Maryland, Wayne Schepens guides LaunchTech, where he provides online PR and marketing solutions to cybersecurity and tech firms. One assignment for Wayne Schepens and his team involved working with the company Cofense on raising public awareness of phishing threats.
Phishing is a cyberattack that uses deceptive emails to trick people into disclosing details that compromise their private information, such as log-in details, credit card numbers, and home addresses. Often, recipients trust the party that makes the request because someone posing as a trusted vendor, platform, boss, colleague, or friend sends the email. The challenge for LaunchTech was pitching an interactive phishing attack simulation to media members who deliver content to mainstream audiences. As an example in this effort, LaunchTech gave Cofense basic information on reporters who had signed up to participate in the simulation. Deliverables of the campaign included a video segment that aired on CBS News, more than a thousand social media shares, and mid-simulation Tweets from reporters. A managing director of LaunchTech Communications, Wayne Schepens was integral to the marketing firm reaching a $2 million milestone with a 10-person PR team two years after its inception. Outside of his role at LaunchTech Communications, Wayne Schepens also teaches Mach 37 cohorts in Herndon, Virginia, on topics related to go-to-market campaigns, media and analyst relations, and fundraising.
Fundraising is an essential aspect of sourcing capital for many nonprofit organizations and startups worldwide. This is because these organizations have limited resources at their disposal. Thus, they use fundraising to attract donors and secure the funding needed for their activities. However, fundraisers are events that could improve or mar your relationship with potential donors and stakeholders. It's important to observe certain principles for effective fundraising. For instance, you should clearly articulate your organization's goals to potential donors. This would enable them to understand the purpose of your services and how their contribution will help you achieve this purpose. Furthermore, only ask for donations after establishing a relationship with your potential donors. This can be accomplished through events like receptions and dinners. Building a personal relationship with your donor before requesting a donation increases your chances of having a long-term relationship with them. When fundraising, only request funds for the items you require. This ensures that your necessities are met, and your donors are assured that their funds are used wisely. Likewise, create an organizational culture of accountability and accessibility to your donors. |
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