Category Leadership

We’ve witnessed pioneers such as Marc Benioff, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates build category leaders – and continue to tell their stories and expand their interests and influence.

Jamie Dimon has used his leadership to cement his role as a fixture in the financial news.

Meanwhile Marc Andreessen has kept tongues wagging by doing things such as penning The Techno-Optimist Manifesto, which has its own Wikipedia page, and offering other guidance.

Whatever you might think about these leaders and the messages they put out to the world, the attention they attract is in large part due to their category leadership – and most businesses, regardless of category, would give their eyeteeth (as they said back in the day) for such visibility.

So, what does it take to become a category leader in today’s world?

Typically, a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and an enduring commitment to stay front and center.

It starts with designing a differentiated product or service. But that’s just the start and one part.

You must also create and tell the story around that solution, how it relates to the world in which your target customers are living and why it’s the ideal way to make their lives better. Plus, you need the cachet, know-how and relationships so that you can share the story again and again.

But getting media and prospects to listen often means you must already be perceived as a leader. Yet not everybody has the scale and influence of industry giants such as Andreessen Horowitz, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase, and Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce.

However, securing a spot in the upper right-hand section of a Gartner Magic Quadrant, gaining recognition from other industry analysts or independent benchmarking companies, or winning trade show competitions can help you establish leadership and add millions to your bottom line.

This applies whether you provide AI or other IT enterprise tech, are in healthcare, offer cleantech, edtech, fintech or HRtech solutions, or play the B2B or B2C game. Just look at what happened to Spanx, once a little-known brand, after appearing on Oprah’s Favorite Things list!

Opportunities to establish your company as a category leader are ready and waiting.

You just need the right approach and support to get your voice heard and make your mark.

The first step in this process involves creating a comprehensive, targeted list of consultants, research analysts, top media pundits and testing organizations that you want to get in front of.