Category Creation
Strategy of defining and dominating a new market category rather than competing in existing ones.
Definition
Category creation is a strategic approach where companies define entirely new market categories and position themselves as the category leader. Rather than competing on features within established markets, category creators shape how buyers think about a problem and its solutions.
Successful category creation combines product innovation with strategic messaging that reframes market understanding. The creator typically becomes synonymous with the category, gaining significant advantages over later entrants.
Why It Matters
Category creation offers dramatic competitive advantages compared to fighting for share in crowded markets. Category leaders typically capture 76% of category economics and set the agenda for competitive positioning.
For marketing teams, understanding category creation principles helps identify opportunities to reframe positioning from competitive feature battles to category ownership strategies.
Examples in Practice
Salesforce created the CRM-as-a-service category, becoming synonymous with cloud-based sales tools while traditional software vendors struggled to reposition their on-premise offerings.
A marketing agency repositioned from general services to category ownership of AI-powered content operations, becoming the default choice as the category grew.
HubSpot created and dominated the inbound marketing category, establishing themselves as thought leaders while competitors played catch-up with terminology HubSpot defined.