In the modern content landscape, subject matter expertise is the new creative edge, especially in technical industries like data privacy, cybersecurity, and AI governance. But what happens when you're tasked with creating content in a field you didn’t study, weren’t trained for, and have no formal background in?
For most marketers, this would be cause for hesitation. For Verrion Wright, Director of Content Strategy and Development at BigID, it was an invitation to learn, to adapt, and to lead. Verrion didn’t start out in data privacy. He wasn’t a compliance officer, lawyer, or security engineer. But today, he shapes content strategies that influence CPOs, CISOs, and buyers making high-stakes decisions. His journey is a masterclass in how to become an expert in a field that initially feels foreign, and how to do it with integrity, curiosity, and real business impact.
Start With Curiosity, Not Credentials
When Verrion joined BigID as a Senior Product Marketing Manager, he admits he knew very little about the nuances of data privacy or compliance law. What he did have was a mindset, not of pretending to be the expert, but of becoming one.
“We have to become our own thought leaders, and by becoming our own thought leaders, we’re creating our own brand voice.”
In the absence of constant access to internal SMEs, many of whom are busy with product, sales, or client delivery, Verrion took ownership of his own learning curve. He studied legal frameworks like GDPR and CCPA. He researched how different personas within an enterprise interpret and act on data minimization, breach reporting, and governance issues. Eventually, he even began pursuing his CIPM (Certified Information Privacy Manager) certification, a rare move for a marketer, but one that earned him credibility and influence.
This self-driven pursuit of knowledge isn’t about “faking it till you make it.” It’s about earning the right to be trusted, by colleagues, by leadership, and by your audience.
Translate Complexity Into Strategy
Once he understood the regulatory terrain, Verrion’s next challenge was translating it into a content strategy that served the business. In an industry where a misinformed blog post could damage trust or expose legal risk, the margin for error was thin.
“There’s nothing easy about a content strategy within data privacy, security, and governance. It’s a game that you lose very easily if you don’t do the right things in this space.”
What makes the work harder, and more important, is the context-specific nature of technical messaging. A CISO and a CPO might both care about data minimization, but they understand and act on it very differently. This means content can't just be accurate; it must also be contextualized.
To navigate this, Verrion built content workflows that centered on personas, not just keywords. His team mapped high-intent search behavior to real-world regulatory pressure points, such as data security posture management, and created content variations that spoke the language of each decision-maker. The result: a strategic content engine that wasn’t just feeding the top of the funnel, but helping close deals.
Use Tools, But Never Outsource Thinking
As BigID expanded its capabilities into AI governance, the temptation to rely on generative AI tools naturally followed. But for Verrion, AI isn’t a shortcut, it’s a sounding board.
“I look at ChatGPT more as a creative tool. It helps change your perspective on how content should look or relate to a persona.”
Rather than use AI to write content outright, Verrion and his team use it to explore structure, play with framing, and accelerate ideation. What stays sacred, though, is the strategic intent and editorial integrity of the final product. Every asset is shaped by someone who understands the buyer, the ecosystem, and the message that matters.
This blend of efficiency and human insight is what keeps BigID’s content sharp. AI can suggest how to start. It takes a marketer, one who’s done the reading and asked the hard questions, to know what to say, and to whom.
Conclusion: Expertise Is Earned, And That’s the Advantage
Verrion Wright’s journey is a powerful reminder that technical credibility isn’t something you wait to be handed. It’s something you build, through sweat, study, and a refusal to stay on the surface.
In a world of increasing complexity, content teams can no longer afford to “just write.” To succeed in regulated, nuanced, or enterprise-facing industries, marketers must become translators, researchers, and internal challengers. They must not only speak the language of their buyers, they must understand the systems that shape that language.
And the good news? You don’t need a background in cybersecurity or a law degree to do that. You just need the will to learn, the humility to listen, and the courage to lead.
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