In this episode of E-Coffee with Experts, Michelle Riband, Head of Product Marketing at Proton, breaks down what it really takes to market privacy-first products in a world dominated by Big Tech.
She shares her journey from Meta to Mozilla to Proton, and how those experiences shaped her approach to building trust, staying consistent, and growing responsibly. We explore why privacy is such a hard thing to market, how cultural differences impact global strategies, and what brands need to do to stay visible in an AI-driven search landscape.
Michelle also dives into how product marketing and brand storytelling work hand in hand to build credibility, drive adoption, and create long-term growth, even without massive budgets.
If you’re a founder, marketer, or SEO leader navigating AI disruption, global expansion, and changing consumer expectations, there’s plenty here you can put into action right away.
In this conversation, we explore:
- How to position privacy in a way people actually understand
- What it takes to grow as a challenger brand
- How AI search is changing visibility and discovery
- Why localisation matters more than translation
- Building trust through community and consistency
- Practical advice for marketers starting their careers
Takeaways:
- Privacy value is invisible until something breaks
- Trust, transparency, and consistency drive modern marketing
- Challenger brands grow through community and credibility
- Mission alignment builds authentic, long-term brand trust
- Localisation is essential for global marketing success
- Benefits-led messaging beats technical feature focus
- AI search rewards trusted and credible brand signals
- Brand and product marketing must work together
- Consumers value privacy but rarely act on it
- AI empowers marketers to build faster and smarter