ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Karen Kaukol is CMO of Entrust, a cybersecurity company with a nearly six-decade history securing identity for the world's largest banks, governments, and regulated institutions. In this episode of Unicorn Marketers, Karen breaks down rebuilding Entrust's positioning from zero and how AI has restructured her team's creative cycle.
Topics Discussed:
Rebuilding foundational positioning with no documented framework to start from
Auditing internal messaging against unscripted customer language
Reframing competitive analysis around mindshare, not just direct competitors
Choosing a specific job to be done at industry events instead of competing on spend
GTM Lessons For B2B Founders:
Positioning debt compounds even at mature companies. Karen found zero documented positioning at Entrust despite decades of history — it lived as tribal knowledge that shifted with whoever told the story. She rebuilt it in three layers: one brand position, a set of use-case categories, then specific positioning within each. The category layer lets a sprawling product line collapse into "mental file folders" a buyer can hold in their head, instead of 40 SKUs they have to sort themselves.
Audit your messaging against unscripted customer language, not internal conviction. Karen pressure-tests positioning externally with people close to customers before finalizing it, specifically to catch daylight between internal narrative and buyer reality. Brett's example sharpens this: he matched his own site copy against client testimonial transcripts and found zero overlap with how clients actually described the value. Run that same audit against your own transcripts before your next positioning refresh.
Track what's stealing your buyer's mindshare, not just who sells your category. Entrust had built a campaign around the post-quantum encryption transition, a real compliance deadline, only to watch AI absorb all boardroom attention and budget overnight. Mindshare is scarcer than market share. Map what's actually competing for your buyer's attention this quarter, not just your logo-slide rivals.
Pick the job an event needs to do before deciding how to show up. Karen opted out of spend-matching at RSA, where booths included baby goats and jigsaw puzzles. She defines one job, brand exposure with a named audience or partner development, and designs the presence around only that. Benchmark against the outcome you need, not a better-funded competitor's booth.
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