They Don’t Trust Your Sales Team (Yet): Turning Community into Your Most Effective Growth Channel

2:20 pm
-
2:50 pm
CT

Cybersecurity buyers don’t want to be sold to- they want to validate, learn, and hear from people like them before they ever take a meeting.

So they turn to community.

Whether it’s private Slack groups, Discord servers, niche forums, or in-person conversations, the real buying journey is happening in places most marketing teams don’t control and often don’t participate in effectively.

This session breaks down how to turn those community spaces into a deliberate, scalable growth motion without killing the trust that makes them valuable in the first place.

I’ll share how we’ve approached community-led growth in cybersecurity, including what actually drives engagement (and what quietly kills it), how to activate practitioners as advocates in a way that feels natural, not transactional, and how to connect community efforts to real business outcomes like pipeline influence and deal acceleration.

This is not a “start a Slack group” talk. It’s a practical look at how to meet buyers where they already are and earn your way into the conversation.

Session Agenda

  • Why cybersecurity buyers trust peers over vendors—and how that’s reshaping go-to-market
  • The difference between passive community presence and intentional community-led growth
  • Practical ways to activate practitioners as advocates without eroding trust
  • How to connect community efforts to measurable outcomes like pipeline influence and deal velocity
  • Common mistakes that make communities disengage (and how to avoid them)

Speakers

Mariana Padilla

Community Evangelist

Harmonic Security

Mariana Padilla

Community Evangelist

Harmonic Security

Mariana Padilla is the Community Evangelist at Harmonic Security, where she drives pipeline by creating authentic connections and standout events. She champions community-led growth as the B2B world’s most underrated—and most powerful—growth engine.

She is the former Co-Founder and CEO of HACKERverse.ai, a platform that is redefining how cybersecurity software is evaluated. Her authentic personal brand and ability to cultivate meaningful networks were the company’s strongest drivers of pipeline and growth.

Mariana’s work has earned her a spot on the front cover of the 2025 Most Innovative Cincinnati Startups to Watch and features on over two dozen industry podcasts. She was also named a “Woman to Watch in Cybersecurity” by Authority Magazine and received scholarships from WiCyS and WISP for her leadership in driving diversity in tech.

She specializes in go-to-market, sales strategy, and inclusive innovation—and is passionate about making the cybersecurity space more transparent, efficient, and engaging for both buyers and vendors.

About this Session's Track

Community & Customer Marketing

Master the art of building vibrant customer and user communities, driving retention through advocacy programs, peer‑to‑peer engagement, and customer‑led events.