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Book Description

Lessons from HubSpot, Salesforce, Gainsight and Other Iconic Brands

"The Uber of this"

"The Salesforce of that"

"It's like Instagram, but for…"

There is no such thing as an original idea anymore – right? Actually, it turns out that the world’s most innovative companies have created so much more than just brand new products and technology. They've created entirely new market categories. The challenge is that successfully building new categories requires a perfect storm of luck and timing.

Or does it? Category Creation is the first and only book on the topic written by executives and marketers actively building new categories. It explains how category creation has become the Holy Grail of marketing, and more importantly, how it can be planned and orchestrated. It's not about luck. You can use the same tactics that other category-defining companies have used to delight customers, employees, and investors. There’s no better strategy that results in faster growth and higher valuations for the company on top.

Author Anthony Kennada, former Chief Marketing Officer at Gainsight, explains how he led Gainsight in creating the “customer success” category, and shares success stories from fellow category-creators like Salesforce, HubSpot and others. It requires much more than just having the best product. You have to start and grow a conversation that doesn’t yet exist, positioning a newly discovered problem in addition to your company and product offerings. The book explains the 7 key principles of category creation, including the importance of creating a community of early adopters who will rally around the problem they all share—especially if someone will lead them.

·       Identify the “go” and “no go” signals for category creation in your business

·       Activate customers and influencers as brand ambassadors

·       Grow a community by investing in live events and experiences

·       Prove the impact of category creation investments on growth, customer success, and company culture

Written for entrepreneurs, marketers, and executives from startups to large enterprises, Category Creation is the exclusive playbook for building a category defining brand in the modern economy.

Table of Contents

  1. Cover
  2. Foreword
  3. About the Author
  4. Part I The Long-Term Greed of Category Creation
    1. 1 Category Creation: The Noble Marketing Strategy That Can Spark a Movement
      1. What Is Category Creation?
      2. How to Tell Whether You’re Creating a Category
      3. Why Create a Category?
      4. Creating the Customer Success Category
      5. Notes
    2. 2 Why Brand Is at the Heart of Category Creation in the Business-to-Human (B2H) Era
      1. The Imperative of Brand in Category Creation
      2. How Did We Get Here?
      3. Enter Business-to-Human (B2H) Marketing
      4. Notes
    3. 3 The Six Challenges of Creating a Category (and How to Overcome Them)
      1. 1. Not Everyone Will Get It Right Away
      2. 2. Customers Are Initially Interested in Education, Not Your Product
      3. 3. You’ll Need a LOT of Capital (Although There Are Workarounds)
      4. 4. Short-Term Planning Is Extremely Hard
      5. 5. Executives and Investors Need to Buy In or You Will Fail
      6. 6. Understanding the Competition Is Confusing
      7. Notes
    4. 4 Special Considerations for Established Companies in Commoditized Markets
      1. The Commoditization of Industry
      2. Option 1: Launch into a New Product Category
      3. Option 2: Leverage Your Unfair Advantage to Become a Category Leader
      4. Notes
  5. Part II Seven Principles to Create (and Dominate) a Category
    1. 5 Live Your Purpose, Values, and Culture Out Loud
      1. How to Develop a Shared Vision Around Company Purpose
      2. The Power of Purpose in Category Creation
      3. How to Activate Purpose and Values
      4. Why Purpose, Values, and Culture Matter to Teammates
      5. Notes
    2. 6 Focus on the People in Your Market—Not Just Your Products
      1. The Psychology of Early Adopters in New Categories
      2. A Primer on Content Marketing
      3. Developing a Content Marketing Strategy for New Categories
      4. Notes
    3. 7 Create a Lifestyle Brand for Your Category
      1. What Is a Lifestyle Brand?
      2. Digital Media
      3. Education and Career Services
      4. Notes
    4. 8 Grow a Community by Doubling Down on Live Events and Experiences
      1. Creating Experiences, Not Events
      2. Types of Corporate Experiences
      3. How to Plan an Industry Conference for Your Category
      4. Note
    5. 9 Activate Customers as Brand Ambassadors
      1. How Customers Create Categories
      2. How to Create and Identify Brand Advocates
      3. How to Engage and Mobilize Advocates
      4. Notes
    6. 10 Recognize That Analysts Don’t Create Categories, Customers Do
      1. How Customer Voice Is Challenging Industry Analysts
      2. The Challenge of Analyst Relations in Modern Category Creation
      3. Expanding the Definition of “Analysts”
      4. Note
    7. 11 Establish Trust at Scale Through Authentic Executive Communication
      1. Marketing’s Role in Executive Communications
      2. The Importance of Establishing Trust in Category Creation
      3. How Marketing Can Scale Trust in New Categories
      4. Note
  6. Part III Proving the Impact of Category Creation on Customers, Investors, and Employees
    1. 12 How to Connect Category Creation Programs to Growth for Executives and Investors
      1. Six Growth Outcomes Impacted by Category Creation
      2. Case Study on Growth: The Gainsight Pulse Conference
      3. How to Build a Bridge into Funnel Two
      4. Notes
    2. 13 The Intangible Benefits of Category Creation on Customer and Teammate Success
      1. The Alliance of Working and Winning in Category Creation
      2. Conclusion
      3. Note
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Index
  9. End User License Agreement
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