Marcus Sheridan, cyber security and the trust built by answering better questions
Cyber security buyers are not short of noise. They are short of clear answers.
Marcus Sheridan’s They Ask, You Answer helped shape the way Black Swan Cyber Security Solutions thinks about trust, education and buyer confidence.
This page looks at why open answers about cost, problems, comparisons, best-fit options and what to avoid matter so much in cyber security, especially for smaller organisations trying to make sensible decisions without being buried in jargon.
What Marcus Sheridan can teach us about cyber security trust
Most cyber security websites talk about themselves. The better ones answer the questions buyers are already asking.
That is why They Ask, You Answer matters. It is one of the clearest books on building trust through honest, useful content - and it helped shape the way Black Swan Cyber Security Solutions thinks about marketing, education and buyer confidence.
Who Is Marcus Sheridan?
Marcus Sheridan is a sales and marketing speaker, author and business educator best known for They Ask, You Answer. The core idea is simple: businesses build more trust and win more work when they answer the questions buyers are already asking, openly and honestly.
Instead of hiding from awkward topics like cost, drawbacks, comparisons or mistakes, Sheridan argues that the most trusted businesses talk about them clearly. That content helps buyers feel informed before they ever make contact.
It is a practical idea rather than a clever slogan. People research online before they buy. If your website avoids the questions they care about, someone else will answer them.
That helped shape Black Swan Cyber Security Solutions. We believe cyber security content should reduce confusion, not increase it. The job is not to sound impressive. The job is to help people make better decisions.
One of the books that helped shape Black Swan
Black Swan Cyber Security Solutions was not built around jargon-heavy marketing or vague promises. One of the ideas that helped shape the business was that trust comes from clarity.
If buyers are wondering about price, cyber insurance requirements, Cyber Essentials, ransomware recovery, managed detection, email security, backups or what can go wrong, those are the questions worth answering.
That is one reason They Ask, You Answer fits so naturally with Black Swan. It supports the same instinct: be useful, be honest, and make it easier for people to buy with confidence.
Endless Customers: the next step in the same thinking
I have also read Endless Customers, Marcus Sheridan’s follow-up thinking around trust, content, sales and how modern buyers make decisions before they ever speak to a business.
The message fits cyber security well. Buyers are not waiting for a sales call to start judging you. They are already looking at your website, your answers, your pricing guidance, your comparison content, your reviews, your LinkedIn posts and whether you talk about the awkward questions they actually care about.
For Black Swan Cyber Security Solutions, this reinforces a simple point: useful content should not be separate from the service. It should be part of how we help. If someone can understand cyber insurance, Cyber Essentials, backups, managed detection, email security or common buying mistakes before they speak to us, that is a better starting point for everyone.
They Ask, You Answer helped shape the principle. Endless Customers reinforces the habit: keep answering better questions, keep improving the buying experience, and make it easier for the right organisations to trust the advice.
Disclosure: this is an affiliate link. If you buy through it, Black Swan Cyber Security Solutions may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Five ways They Ask, You Answer applies to cyber security
Cyber security is full of uncertainty. Buyers often do not know what they need, what is enough, what is optional, what it costs, or who to trust. That makes honest content even more valuable.
Answer the real buying questions
Many cyber security websites avoid the questions buyers actually ask. What does managed EDR cost? Is Cyber Essentials worth it? Do we really need Microsoft 365 backup? What happens if we already have Microsoft Defender? What are the downsides of free antivirus for business?
This is especially relevant in cyber security because buyers are often comparing products, trying to control spend, or worrying about getting it wrong.
Question to ask: are you answering the questions your best-fit customers really type into Google?
Price transparency builds trust
Price is one of the biggest avoided topics in cyber security. Yet it is one of the first things buyers want to understand. Not always exact figures, but at least the shape of the investment and what affects it.
In Black Swan terms, that might mean explaining what influences the cost of managed detection, email security, Microsoft 365 backup, SAT or a Cyber Essentials support package, rather than pretending every quote must begin in mystery.
Question to ask: could a buyer get a sensible feel for cost from your website, or are they forced to guess?
Talk honestly about problems and fit
A lot of cyber marketing is overly polished. Everything sounds perfect. Real buyers are more interested in fit, trade-offs and possible issues. What does the product not do? When might it be the wrong choice? What can go wrong if it is poorly deployed?
This works well for pages such as “what to avoid when choosing an MSSP”, “the problems with free antivirus for business”, or “is Defender enough?” Those are classic trust-building pages.
Question to ask: are you willing to say when something may not be right for every organisation?
Comparison content reduces buying friction
Buyers compare. They compare products, providers, approaches and package levels. They compare Huntress with Microsoft Defender, managed support with DIY tools, Cyber Essentials with Cyber Essentials Plus, and one provider’s style with another’s.
This does not mean turning every page into a hard sell. It means helping people understand the differences, the trade-offs and the situations where one option may make more sense than another.
Question to ask: do your comparison pages help buyers think clearly, or just push your preferred answer?
Education is part of the service
In cyber security, the sale often starts with education. Buyers may not know the difference between EDR and antivirus, why backups matter when they already use Microsoft 365, or what their insurer is really asking about.
That fits Black Swan’s approach perfectly: plain English, practical guidance, fewer scare tactics, more clarity.
Question to ask: does your content leave buyers better informed than when they arrived?
They Ask, You Answer as a cyber security content framework
A lot of cyber content becomes more effective when filtered through a simple question: what is the buyer genuinely worried about, and have we answered it plainly?
Cost
Explain what drives price, what affects scope, and what buyers should expect.
Problems
Talk openly about risks, limitations, poor fit and common buying mistakes.
Comparisons
Help buyers compare tools, services and approaches in a clear and fair way.
Reviews
Give balanced, experience-based commentary that helps buyers judge suitability.
Best fit
Help buyers understand which option suits their risk, budget and compliance needs.
Part of a wider set of ideas that shaped how we work
They Ask, You Answer is one of several books that helped shape the way Black Swan Cyber Security Solutions thinks about risk, trust, communication and practical cyber security advice.
You can also read how Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s work shaped our thinking on uncertainty and hidden risk, and how Chris Voss’s negotiation principles connect to ransomware, social engineering and incident response communication.
Want a cyber security partner who answers the awkward questions?
We help smaller organisations make sense of cyber security in plain English - from managed detection and email security to backups, staff training, Cyber Essentials and cyber insurance readiness. No hard sell. Just clear advice and practical help.