Category Creation : How to Build a Brand That Customers, Employees, and Investors Will Love

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.

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.

"Salesforce, Hubspot, Gainsight, and other tech brands have pioneered a new marketing and branding playbook focused on serving the people *behind* the companies they sell to. They have built category-defining (and in some cases category-creating) companies and communities that led to faster growth, higher valuations, and dominant market positions. This book is an exclusive look into the 'human first' marketing playbook of some of the best brands in B2B, written for a new generation of entrepreneurs and marketers in companies of all sizes and stages of maturity. The book will document the rise, fall and return of B2B brand marketing, offer ten principles to building a modern B2B brand, and prove the value of brand marketing on shareholder outcomes"-- Provided by publisher