Category Creation

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 cultureWritten 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.

Foreword xi About the Author xv Part I The Long-Term Greed of Category Creation 1 Lessons from Amazon, Ariba, HubSpot, Qualtrics, SaaStr, Salesforce, and others Chapter 1 Category Creation: The Noble Marketing Strategy That Can Spark a Movement 3 Chapter 2 Why Brand is at the Heart of Category Creation in the Business-to-Human (B2H) Era 19 Chapter 3 The Six Challenges of Creating a Category (and How to Overcome Them) 31 Chapter 4 Special Considerations for Established Companies in Commoditized Markets 47 Part II Seven Principles to Create (and Dominate) a Category 57 Lessons from DocuSign, Drift, G2, Influitive, Marketo, ServiceNow, and others Chapter 5 Live Your Purpose, Values, and Culture Out Loud 59 Chapter 6 Focus on the People in Your Market-Not Just Your Products 73 Chapter 7 Create a Lifestyle Brand for Your Category 93 Chapter 8 Grow a Community by Doubling Down on Live Events and Experiences 109 Chapter 9 Activate Customers as Brand Ambassadors 131 Chapter 10 Recognize That Analysts Don't Create Categories, Customers Do 151 Chapter 11 Establish Trust at Scale Through Authentic Executive Communication 169 Part III Proving the Impact of Category Creation on Customers, Investors, and Employees 179 Chapter 12 How to Connect Category Creation Programs to Growth for Executives and Investors 181 Chapter 13 The Intangible Benefits of Category Creation on Customer and Teammate Success 201 Acknowledgments 213 Index 217