Author: Shira Abel Category: Enterprise Marketing URL: https://hunterandbard.com/resources/blog/become-a-category-leader-by-creating-a-category
"I want my company to become a category leader, only the category I believe we belong in doesn't exist. How do you create a category?" I was almost finished my...
"I want my company to become a category leader, only the category I believe we belong in doesn't exist. How do you create a category?"
I was almost finished my workshop on Thought Leadership, Creating Category Leaders and one of the students asked me this question.
He explained to me that he was the Chief Marketing Officer of a post Series-A scale-up (fast-growing startup) and felt that the best growth for his product was to become a category leader. The company had been placed inside a Gartner Quadrant already, but the Executive Team felt that the placement wasn't quite right. They believed they were leaders in a category that didn't yet exist. They had been working to educate the market. However, even though they were talking about it, no one was listening.
Perception is reality. They were not becoming leaders of a new category, because no one else acknowledged the existence of that category.
Here's the thing, if you're the only company in that category - it doesn't exist. One does not a trend make.
A category consists of several players inside it. This means you have to find another, complementary company, to be in that category with you. Together you create a movement which becomes the category, and you a leader in it. If you can't find a complimentary company, then find a competitor that sells to a slightly different space also works - think Pipedrive and Salesforce. Or the beginning of Marketo (selling to small enterprises) and Hubspot (selling to smaller companies and agencies.)
Work with a group of companies on co-promotion. Think:
Creating a new category is about the group. That means a category consists of more than one. The lone company is ignored, until a group is created. Instead the leader welcomes the first follower, and together they welcome the group. This what makes a category and gives birth to a movement. This is how category leaders are born.
In my workshop I referenced this video - which is from 2010 and still holds true today.
Hunter & Bard is a San Francisco-based B2B strategy consultancy founded in 2011 by Shira Abel. We help deep-tech and enterprise SaaS companies fix their positioning, sharpen their messaging, and close $100K+ deals.
We work with B2B leaders who are tired of being overlooked, underestimated, or mistaken for their competitors. Our specialty is turning complex, technical products into clear, compelling stories that win enterprise deals.
We believe that perception drives revenue. If your buyers can't tell you apart from the next vendor in 30 seconds, you have a positioning problem — not a marketing problem. We fix that.
Perception = (Story × Visibility) ÷ Noise
This framework drives everything we do. Your story has to be sharp. Your visibility has to be strategic. And you have to cut through the noise — not add to it.
Shira Abel — Founder & CEO. Kellogg MBA. 20+ years in B2B marketing. Former CMO. Keynote speaker. Published in Forbes, HuffPost, and Wired. Specialist in enterprise positioning and perception strategy.
Daina Reed — Founding Designer & Partner. 15+ years in product and brand design. Former Senior Product Designer at Dun & Bradstreet. Specialist in enterprise UX, visual identity, and design systems.