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

by Anthony Kennada, Brian Halligan (Foreword)

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.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Published October 15, 2019

Reviews

[Juraj Holub · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is priceless! An invaluable playbook for anyone in marketing with ambition to create a category. Lots of practical advice and best practices from Anthony Kennada and the Gainsight team who has successfully created one - Customer Success. Thanks, Anthony, for collating the lessons from your journey into a book!

[Rohit N · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book masterfully unpacks key principles of marketing, brand creation, and B2B marketing, presenting them in a structured and engaging manner. What really stands out is how Kennada uses his experiences at Gainsight to make these concepts relatable and applicable, especially for SaaS companies and others in the B2B space.

Whether you’re steering a startup or part of a more established company in the process of carving out a new niche, this book has something for you. It brilliantly highlights how category creation is often the result of innovation – creating something so unique that it doesn’t fit existing molds. Kennada also delves into the advantages of creating a category, such as gaining leadership and enhanced brand recognition, which he conveys exceptionally well.

A big shoutout Kennada, who articulates the nuances of category creation so well.

And yes, the quote on “Category creators are those who have long-term greed”? Absolutely loved it!

[Matus Horvath · Rating 3 out of 5]

I 5/5 recommend this book to any Marketing person working in SaaS. I 4/5 recommend this book to any Marketing person. I 3/5 recommend this book to everyone else 😁
Great lessons, very practical, however, could be for a specific audience. Would love to hear more of the actual stories and more details behind the learnings.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer based on comments in other reviews: yes, I’m in B2B SaaS marketing. 😂 Well written book that goes from broad concepts to specific tactics. Useful for points throughout the category creation journey, not just at the start.

[Pasquale Mellone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insights about creating your own niche