You’ve already read that by specializing in a niche you’ll be able to increase your brand awareness. Now imagine something even bigger. You should try to narrow your focus until you are able to create your OWN category. This has happened many times in the business world. When Apple introduced the iPad, a new category was formed for handheld devices. The same can be said for Atari, when they introduced the Atari 2600 they put into motion a completely new category of home gaming that continues to thrive today. To be able to create your own brand category there are some steps that you’ll need to take first.
Strive to be first
When you bring the brand to the marketplace you have to do it in a way that makes it appear that yours is the first brand to do whatever it is that you want to do. This gives your brand the perception of being the authority leader in this area. In the iPad example, for the most part, it’s basically a large-scale iPhone. The difference is because of it’s larger size, there are features that you can’t complete on a smartphone, such as drawing. You could draw on a smartphone, however it’ll be more challenging to do so with only your finger.
Advance this new category
It’s up to you to advance this new category in the eyes of your target audience. Here it will be a greater benefit to your brand to promote the category versus the brand. Promoting the category will promote the brand at the same time. An example of something almost all of us use for leisure today are streaming services and Netflix was the one to take the lead before everything became a streaming service.
When you have created the new category and it’s successful, there will be competitors that will come racing into the marketplace trying to make a profit from your foresight. Don’t concern yourself too much with them, don’t try to diversify your brand to counter act their coming into your territory. Continue with what has worked for you and promote the category over your brand. By being first into the category, your brand will remain to be seen as the most knowledgeable, with the best quality and your brand will continue to dominate the marketplace. Let’s go back to the example of the iPad, while other companies have entered the category, iPad is the clear leader and more consumers choose to purchase them over their nearest competitors.
Creating a new category can be challenging, however the rewards are definitely worth overcoming this unique challenge. Lastly, keep in mind that category creation is about making a different product, not a better one.
