The Cyber Why Redux and My Promise To YOU!
As we bring in the new year...
The week between Christmas and the New Year is traditionally a time to look back at what you have accomplished, reflect on the positive things that happened in the previous year, and appreciate the good things you have in life. In the last year, The Cyber Why has achieved way more than I could have ever predicted. What started as an outlet for my personal writing has turned into over 3100+ subscribers, a team of analysts and writers, an engaged community, and sponsors who are willing to help fund the continued efforts of our content creation. Additionally, I have had the pleasure of writing with a few of the best analysts and content creators imaginable (Thank you so much )
Last but certainly not least, thank you to the audience and subscribers of TCW! Thank you so much for joining us in the inaugural year of effort surrounding The Cyber Why. You are why we consume, analyze, and write every week! We love you!
Why I Started The Cyber Why
I was asked recently why I started TCW and what I hoped to get out of it. The short answer is that I started TCW as a fun outlet to write down my thoughts on what I saw in the general cybersecurity market, cyber technology, cyber investing, and cyber marketing arenas. I really had no grand plans to create content for anyone other than myself and the few people who might stumble across it on Substack. I wanted to write content that I would find exciting and that I would want to read if it landed in my inbox. Throughout the year, I have continually revised my goals, pushing ever forward toward building a more significant property that serves an audience that wants to be more informed, is open to learning and debating topics, and wants to continually expand their mind. Sometimes, the content comes in the form of a weekly newsletter that makes you laugh, and other times, it comes in the form of “deep-though” pieces that bring reflection and consideration to the reader. I’m very proud of what we achieved. We’ve grown way faster than I could have hoped, and as measured by the above goals, The Cyber Why in 2023 has been a resounding success.
The Cyber Why By The Numbers
I’m a numbers nerd. I live for data and analytics. I’ve always said if you don’t measure your results, how do you know if you are winning or losing? The first article for TCW was published on November 4, 2022, a little over one year ago. That email send reached nine people with a total of 436 views and drove 97 free subscriptions. It had an ASTOUNDING open rate of 100% (yes, this is a joke.. 100% of nine is only NINE!) Boy, have we come a long way!
Here are some stats for TCW in 2023:
TCW has grown from zero subscribers to 3166.
TCW has published 73 posts in 14 months.
TCW has created 14 deep-thought articles and 59 short-form or weekly newsletter-style pieces.
Views have gone from 65 to over ~2500+ first week views, per post.
The most popular posts are the “deep-thought” pieces (I need to do MORE of these)
A graph of our subscriber count since inception.
What I’ve Learned And What I Will Do Better
While, by all accounts, the creation of The Cyber Why and the 2023 results have been excellent, there is always room for improvement. Looking at the graph above, you see a steep growth in Q1 and a bit of a slower growth in Q2-Q4. This is primarily because I released most of the thought leadership pieces from November to April. Clearly, my audience likes this type of content, and I should double down on this in 2024. I also feel like I haven’t been measuring as much as I can about what you all actually like within each post. I just implemented some additional content and link-click measurement capabilities for next year to fix this. So here are my commitments to you for 2024 with a goal to keep you interested and grow The Cyber Why even faster:
I will be releasing at least one deep thought piece per month in each of the next 12 months. If you like what you read, please comment, share, and give feedback so I can continue to improve my writing!
Based on the results of my new instrumentation and measurements, in the second half of the next year, I will focus my writing on the content that most of the readership consumes. I plan to narrow my audience a bit tighter and deliver the highest quality content possible.
Living For The Reward
As this year has passed, I have learned much about content creation, writing, finding an audience, being true to your content style and brand, and much more. Writing on a committed weekly basis is not easy to do, and occasionally, I have felt like it was a chore. But if you plow through the down weeks when you don’t have time to write and stick to your original goal of weekly content creation, you eventually discover that your audience appreciates what you are building. They do care what you have to say. They are interested in the funny anecdotes and stories that you provide them. You bump into them on Zoom calls or at conferences, and they tell you that they enjoy what you have been slaving over for the last twelve months. And the reward becomes a reality.
Thank you again for being a subscriber to The Cyber Why. To stay true to my personal and TCW brands, here is a meme to ring in the new year. I hope you had a fantastic 2023 and that you achieve and exceed all of your goals in the new year!
Thank you, Tyler, for being a force in the industry. For being an inspiration to always push oneself harder. For being a data nerd marketer. Happy New Year! Can't wait to collaborate with you more in 2024.