The B2B Tech Marketer's Guide To Category Design

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here: categorypirates.substack.com

We all make a decision, whether we know it or not:

Am I going to spend my career competing or creating?

Companies with legendary marketing seem to know something most people don't. They set the agenda-they are bold, interesting, even provocative. Companies with legendary marketing stand out. They create an "it factor" for customers, partners, investors, and talent. But there is one exception-marketing at most B2B tech companies.

Many CEOs in B2B tech think of Marketing and HR in the same way. Service bureau marketers are often reactive, not proactive. They let competitors dictate the rules of engagement. They accept the premise of the overall category as it is vs. how it could be.

If you want to capture demand, you must market to the present and the past. But if you want to create demand, you must create and market to the future. Category creation is the strategy for winning the long, high-stakes game. It takes radical business savvy to meet the market where it is, and then lead it to a new and different place. That's exactly what category designers do.

In this "mini-book" you will learn:
How you become a real B2B tech marketer the day you get the technology business is winner-take-all.Why Demand Creation is more valuable than Demand Generation.How legendary marketers stand out by creating a radically different demand.When developing a new category, it helps to consider results that are proxies for revenue. Enclosed are fourteen questions to ask yourself.Why The CEO must be the chief category designer.
Short, sweet, and jam-packed with incredibly valuable insights, this "mini-book highlights non obvious strategies to create demand.