SIA Member Profile: Compass Integrated Communications
New Security Industry Association (SIA) member Compass Integrated Communications is a full-service marketing communications firm that has provided successful marketing communication strategies and plans for a variety of clients, including world-class manufacturers and systems integrators. Compass – headquartered in Tampa, Florida, and working as a remote team across the United States and Canada – serves clients across the globe.
SIA spoke with Rhianna Daniels Hile, founder and chief strategy officer at Compass Integrated Communications, about the company, the security industry and working with SIA.
SIA: Tell us the story of your company.
Rhianna Daniels Hile: Compass was founded in 2009 to fill a void within the market. When I worked as a journalist within the industry, I realized that the public relations and marketing firms that I was working with didn’t understand the complexities of the market, the importance of speaking to both the end user and the sales channel and the right way to meet the needs of the business and technology media. As a result, I started thinking that with a strong background in the industry and knowledge of the inner workings of the media side of the business, I could offer high-tech companies an alternative to help build brand awareness and tell their story to a broader audience. Over the years, we’ve expanded significantly to include more clients in the Internet of Things/cyber/high-tech space that often work hand in hand with security technology.
What solutions/services does your business offer in the security industry? And what makes your offerings and/or your company unique?
RDH: Compass is a boutique public relations, marketing and communications firm that acts as an extension of a company’s internal team to help build brand awareness and set a company apart in the high-tech marketplace. We look at ourselves as a partner in creating strong messaging that will ultimately raise an organization’s thought leadership and position a brand as a leader in the industry. We do this by assessing the specific needs of each client, their goals, their company culture and their approach to business and tailoring a communications strategy that accounts for each of these factors.
Compass offers strategic marketing and messaging, media outreach and training, content development and strategy, video and multimedia content, lead generation and nurturing programs, social media strategy and management, website design, email marketing initiatives, collateral development, business consulting, customer success/case study programs and much, much more. And our offerings continue to expand as the high-tech markets and client needs evolve.
What’s something we might not know about your company – or something new you’re doing in security?
RDH: We’re seeing an overall trend in the marketing world toward easily digestible content in the form of infographics, videos and even podcasts, which has shifted our business toward the development of this kind of content for our clients. While there’s still a place for long-form writing and blog articles, our clients – and their customers and partners – are demanding more visually engaging collateral to help drive sales and brand recognition in an often-crowded marketplace.
What do you think are the biggest opportunities in the security industry right now?
RDH: We tell our clients that the while the security industry is so relevant to the conversations they’re having from an institutional perspective, we have to shift our thinking broader to deliver the same message to the wider high-tech industry. We often find ourselves talking within the same circles when there’s a wide world of opportunity that can help expand our message to a bigger audience poised to make decisions as they relate to investing in the kinds of technology that our clients manufacture. This is where the opportunity lies.
What are your predictions for the security industry in the short and long term?
RDH: With regards to the needs that the security industry has for its communications strategies, I’d say that we’re going to continue to see a big push toward more digital content delivery and demand. As a new generation of security professionals join the industry and begin to want content that is short, sweet and easy to digest, we as an agency and partner have to be able to deliver this to clients hoping to reach this new demographic. Being a boutique firm, we have the ability to be agile enough to shift our priorities accordingly to these types of trends.
SIA: What does SIA offer that is most important to you/your company? And what do you most hope to get out of your membership?
RDH: SIA has been one of those organizations that we engage with on a regular basis through our clients, who serve on committees and working groups to establish standards and practices for the industry as a whole. It’s a valuable association to be a part of because of the wide breadth of sub-groups that Compass can get involved in, including the RISE young professionals group and the SIA Women in Security Forum. We’re looking forward to engaging in conversations as they relate to promoting the trends the industry is seeing and how they relate back to our clients now and into the future.
The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association (SIA).
Back to Top