How a Custom Survey Helped Guardsquare Earn Media Coverage, Sharpen Security Messaging, and Strengthen Its Voice as a Category Authority
TrendCandy designed and delivered a custom survey for Guardsquare, uncovering independently validated insights from security leaders across financial services, banking, healthcare, and insurance.
The research earned organic media citations, gave Guardsquare a credible third-party voice in the market, and helped the team sharpen how it speaks to security leaders and developers.
At a Glance
- Business Type
- Global leader in mobile application security software, protecting Android and iOS apps for enterprise organizations
- Industry
- Cybersecurity, mobile application security
- Challenge
- Guardsquare’s confident point of view on the mobile security market needed independent evidence behind it
- Root Cause
- Guardsquare recognized that strong opinions alone only go so far, and set out to pair its market perspective with independent, validated data, while making sure its messaging kept pace with the security leaders increasingly joining the buying conversation
- Service Provided
- Custom B2B survey design, targeted audience recruitment, independent data analysis to inform flagship research report
- Method
- TrendCandy designed the survey methodology, aligned with Guardsquare on the findings the research needed to deliver, and recruited security leaders and security architects across financial services, banking, healthcare and insurance
- Outcome
- A third party validated flagship report that journalists found and cited, and that helped Guardsquare shape how it speaks across its core industry audiences
Is your thought leadership approach running on internal opinion instead of independent evidence? Talk to TrendCandy about your own proprietary research project.
Why This Was Happening: What Cybersecurity Marketing Teams Were Experiencing
- Guardsquare wanted statistics and data backed research to support its market view, and to challenge its own assumptions
- Security leaders and security architects had increasingly entered the buying conversation, while Guardsquare’s messaging was still built primarily for a developer audience
- Data drawn from Guardsquare’s own customer base would invite questions about its objectivity
“We really wanted an independent data source that was either going to validate our own thinking or challenge our assumptions.”
What TrendCandy’s Research Identified
TrendCandy’s audience for this project was security leaders and their teams across financial services, banking, healthcare, and insurance, responsible for protecting the business overall and, specifically, the mobile application layer.
In some organizations that meant engineering leaders and mobile app development teams. In others it meant dedicated security architects responsible for compliance and internal testing sign off.
Before the survey was even deployed, TrendCandy worked with Guardsquare to agree on the findings the research needed to deliver, and the questions that would get them there.
TrendCandy focused on three key areas throughout the project:
- Designing a methodology independent enough that the findings would stand on their own, separate from Guardsquare
- Recruiting the exact titles and roles that would make the findings relevant, security leaders and security architects across the right verticals
- Bringing an outside lens to every question, so the data could genuinely test Guardsquare’s point of view rather than confirm it
One of the most significant outcomes wasn’t a single statistic. It was clarity on how to talk to security leaders specifically, giving Guardsquare language built for a newer, more senior audience alongside messaging that had long served them well.
“Thought leadership is so much more powerful when it’s backed by evidence.”
How the Research Took Shape
| Phase | What Happened |
|---|---|
| Before the survey | Guardsquare set out to pair its market perspective with independent, validated data for its flagship report |
| Strategy and brainstorming | Guardsquare and TrendCandy planned the survey together, targeting findings that could support PR coverage, content and internal messaging, and shaping which questions the survey needed to ask to get there |
| Audience recruitment | TrendCandy recruited security leaders, security architects, and engineering leaders across financial services, banking, healthcare, and insurance |
| Report publication | The flagship report was published under third party authorship rather than a Guardsquare branded template, so the findings would read as independently validated research rather than another vendor’s opinion |
| After launch | Journalists located the report on their own and began citing its statistics directly in media coverage |
| Ongoing use | Guardsquare pulled statistics from the report into PR articles, blog content, and infographics throughout the year |
See how TrendCandy turns original data into research your market pays attention to.
The Result: Guardsquare Earned Organic Media Coverage and a Clearer Way to Speak to Security Leaders
| Metric / Outcome | Impact |
|---|---|
| PR Coverage | Journalists found the report independently and cited its statistics directly, without Guardsquare needing to pitch every mention |
| Content Longevity | The report became the source for PR articles, multiple blog posts, and infographics used to power content development throughout the year |
| Messaging Clarity | Findings gave Guardsquare a clear, data backed way to speak to security leaders, alongside the developer messaging that had long served them well |
| Third-Party Credibility | Independent design and analysis meant the findings carried a credibility Guardsquare couldn’t have produced by surveying its own customers |
| Buyer Journey Influence | Prospects arrive already having done their own research, and the data is built to meet them in that research phase |
| Internal Confidence | Leadership now points to specific findings to support messaging and positioning decisions |
“If we had simply surveyed our own customers, I think that there would be a natural inclination to question the objectivity of that insight.”
Before and After
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| No independent data to validate or challenge Guardsquare’s market perspective | An independent, third party validated flagship report |
| Messaging built primarily for a developer audience | Messaging that speaks to security leaders as well as developers |
| Data that could invite questions about its objectivity | Credibility that comes from independent research |
What This Means for Cybersecurity Marketing Teams
In cybersecurity, where buying decisions carry real risk, the source of a claim matters as much as the claim itself. Research a company runs on its own customers will always invite questions about objectivity.
An independent research partnership isn’t just a content tactic, it’s a credibility mechanism a brand can’t manufacture on its own.
As AI makes average content faster and easier to produce, proprietary, original data becomes more valuable, not less.
“AI can certainly summarize what’s already out there and it can make up some things that aren’t true, but it can’t invent statistically valid original market insights.”
Ready to build the research your market, and your buyers’ AI tools, cite as the source?
How TrendCandy’s Method Works
| Step | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Survey strategy | TrendCandy works with your team to agree on the findings you want the research to deliver, then shapes the questions needed to get there |
| Audience recruitment | TrendCandy recruits the exact titles and roles that make your findings credible, independent of your own customer list |
| Independent analysis | Data is analyzed and published under third party authorship, giving the findings credibility your own team can’t produce alone |
| Content activation | Findings are shaped into a flagship report, PR angles, blog content, and infographics your team can use across a full year of campaigns |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is custom survey research and how does it work?
Custom survey research involves designing an original study, recruiting a specific target audience, and independently analyzing the results to produce data backed insights a brand can use across PR, content and sales. Unlike surveying your own customer base, an independent partner designs and runs the methodology, which gives the findings third party credibility a company can’t generate on its own.
Why does independent research matter more in cybersecurity?
Data that comes from a company’s own customer base invites questions about its objectivity, however sound the methodology. Independently designed and analyzed research carries a credibility internally produced content can’t match, which matters in a category where buying decisions carry real risk.
How does original research help a company message to different buyer audiences?
Survey findings can reveal how different roles within a buying committee, for example developers versus security leaders, think about a problem differently. That gives marketing teams the language and framing to speak to each audience specifically rather than relying on one generic message.
Can original research earn media coverage without direct outreach?
Yes. Once published, a well designed, data backed report can be found and cited by journalists on its own, because the statistics themselves are newsworthy, rather than requiring a pitch for every individual placement.
How is the impact of original research typically measured?
Impact often shows up as media citations, sustained internal use of findings to justify messaging and positioning decisions, and a shift in how prospects arrive already informed in the buyer’s journey. Direct attribution to a specific lead or deal can be difficult to pin down precisely, and that’s a normal limitation worth reporting rather than overstating.
How is AI changing the value of original research?
As AI tools make average, derivative content easier and faster to produce, proprietary and original data becomes more valuable rather than less, because AI can summarize what already exists but can’t generate statistically valid, original market insight of its own.
What should a company think about before commissioning custom research?
A company should think through the audience it most needs to reach, the specific questions it’s hoping to validate or challenge, and whether it wants a partner who will simply execute a brief as written or one who will help refine what’s actually worth asking.
What makes a research partnership valuable beyond the finished report?
A strong research partner acts as a genuine thought partner throughout the process, helping refine which questions to ask, identifying the question behind the question, and helping the resulting data hold up to scrutiny both internally and externally.