While much of DRMG's work is informed by many of Category Design’s central tenets as championed and codified in Play Bigger, SaaS Brand Strategy is more than Category Design, and anytime you have a more-than you have to address the vernacular; you can't be like "We're better than Category Design.." otherwise you are in a game of better and not different. And as we all know, that's not the game you want to be playing.
We get asked...you call it SaaS Brand Strategy but a lot if it is Category Design, so which is it?
Indeed.
As originally pointed out by Trout and Ries in 22 Immutable Laws. (Chapter 2, The Law of Category) “What happens when you narrow the focus to such a degree that there is no longer any market for the brand? This is potentially the best situation of all. What you have created is the opportunity to introduce a brand-new category.”
Ergo, Saas Brand Strategy
While we are huge fans, advocates, and practitioners of the Category Design frameworks by Christoper Lochhead, et al., as codified in the book Play Bigger, when applied to our specific B2B SaaS focus, strengths and weaknesses of that approach emerge that require further exploration and discovery so the power of the approach can be fully applicable and actionable to B2B SaaS companies, specifically.
Ergo, again, SaaS Brand Strategy.
While built on the tenets of Category Design, SaaS Brand Strategy includes several other elements that are applicable and actionable to B2B SaaS not available in standard category design.
So, while much of our work is informed by many of Category Design’s central tenets as championed and codified in Play Bigger, SaaS Brand Strategy is more than Category Design, and anytime you have a more-than you have to address the vernacular; you can't be like "We're better than Category Design.." otherwise you are in a game of better and not different. And as we all know, that's not the game you want to be playing.
-DRMG
Ultimately, the most valuable real estate is not a crowded marketplace, but the uncharted territory just beyond its boundaries. True innovation doesn't compete within existing categories—it renders them irrelevant.
Read More →Too often, startups treat design as the goal rather than a means to a more meaningful end. Design isn’t just decoration; it’s a tool to amplify emotion. Absent emotion it's an empty vessel, the proverbial lipstick on a pig. And now that design is table stakes for startups, its commodified. If your brand and product don't stir emotion, you risk being forgotten as soon as the next better-looking competitor shows up.
Read More →Schedule an in-person clinic on DRMG's Category Strategy.
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