AMA: Gainsight Former Chief Marketing Officer, Anthony Kennada on Category Creation
January 23 @ 10:00AM PT
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How would you go about naming a new category?
Hey guys, for those of you who have been in the position to name a new category, what steps did you take to ensure that you were on the right track?
AudiencePlus CEO • 8y
Great question, and one that I’ve done some writing on (see link below).http://www.categorydev.com/category-branding/There are SEO, branding, PR/AR and many other implica...
2160 Views
6 requests
AudiencePlus CEO • 8y
Is it clear that the competitor is currently the market leader? Are they a large incumbent (thinking what Salesforce is to CRM, for example) or a few years ahead of you?...
1867 Views
3 requests
AudiencePlus CEO • 8y
It has to start at the top. Creating a category is very expensive, so you’ll need the board and CEO to be bought in. Frankly, it impacts everything from fundraising str...
1644 Views
2 requests
How much effort is it to market products that create new categories? As in time and touches vs. existing products.
Or in other words, what is the education/definition effort vs. competitive differentiation effort in a known category
AudiencePlus CEO • 8y
A lot of effort. I think you need to be comfortable playing the long game.Think about it this way, if we took a “typical” marketing approach and started outbound prospec...
1831 Views
2 requests
AudiencePlus CEO • 8y
Waiting too long to layer in the tried and true tactics that work.I mentioned in another response that traditional tactics such as outbound prospecting or PPC did not con...
1808 Views
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When do you "earn the right" to create your own category?
One of the main benefits of category creation preventing commoditization. However, if you really don't have much to differentiate yourself (i.e. - ARE commoditized), it seems that creating your own category kind of seems morally dubious. At what point can you say "ok, I can call this something else and be cool with it, because it's true."
AudiencePlus CEO • 8y
I definitely don’t think you need to earn the right – or at least, no one gave us the right to do so with Customer Success. At the end of the day, category creation has ...
1854 Views
2 requests
AudiencePlus CEO • 8y
I don’t see a difference actually, at least for technology companies. At the end of the day, customers don’t want your product, they want outcomes that your product (and...
1795 Views
2 requests
How do you switch categories after being in business for 2-5+ years? Should you consider a complete rebrand, new site, email outreach, etc?
Founding a new category vs moving into one you've created
AudiencePlus CEO • 8y
I would orchestrate it as a compelling event to re-invent yourself. You can choose to which extent you would take that – rebranding the company, new logo, etc. – but ult...
1518 Views
2 requests