How many times have you been faced with the challenge of your client saying, "no one does what we do," or, “we don’t fit into that category..or any other.” Sure, sometimes this is just not the case...but, what do you do when you know the client is right? When the client has a new technology, new value and doesn’t really “fit” with any market, a whole new series of challenges are presented....which can be fun and brain-intensive stuff! Do we create a category? Do we try to make fit within something else? How effective will we be in setting ourselves apart in either case?
I’ve been faced with this challenge several times in my career...more often recently than any other time and I find in most cases it’s best to position within a category then work to set the company apart in proof points later and by building up analyst buy-in. New markets/categories/coverage areas don't get created overnight, and to create a category there MUST be competitors. I’d be interested in hearing other views on the topic and if they've seen an increase in creating new market categories...or not.