“Create a category!” ——CMO of virtual event SaaS “Hopin” talks about “category x community” strategy

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Creating a brand that customers can relate to, and positioning them so that they don't get on the same footing as their competitors, are essential for a growing SaaS company.

One of the measures for that is to present a new "category" to the world and spread it by the SaaS you develop. For example, the profession and title of "customer success" is now an integral part of SaaS, but it was redefined in value because someone defined this category.

Anthony Kennada, the former Gainsight CMO who popularized the category of "customer success" and the current Hopin CMO, was invited to "ALL STAR SAAS CONFERENCE TOKYO 2021", and Hiro Maeda took the theme of "how to create a category". We had a discussion.

Hopin, CMO of Anthony, is a leader in virtual events and digital experiences, developing an all-in-one event management platform. Anthony has worked for Box, LiveOffice, and Symantec, as well as being an Investigator, Advisor, and Board Member for Enterprise Software Startups.

This is an excerpt, edited and published article from the contents of the session that gave us various insights about his experience that can be demonstrated even in Hopin, which has an ARR of over $ 100 million.

The power of category creation to move the business forward

Maeda: First of all, why is category creation important in B2B SaaS? Can you tell us your thoughts from there?

Anthony: I think category creation is a hot topic in Silicon Valley and in the software world. For good reason, customers, teammates, and investors believe that companies that create new categories, rather than disrupting existing ones, can create more value in stages.

Maeda: Do you have a tendency for companies to be responsible for category creation?

Anthony: There are many companies that support the profession and success of customers from behind. From an investor's point of view, the Harvard Business Review article had a great description. "A company that can create and control a category can get much higher returns in terms of market capitalization, potential profits, and overall revenue growth."

However, in reality, creating a new category is very difficult for many companies because it is costly and time consuming. However, in some cases creating categories is the only way to move your business forward.

Maeda: Should I create a category or be a challenger? How should a company make a decision?

Anthony: For some companies, the typical disruption model may not work, so you should start thinking early. The signal is that people in the market do not understand the challenge.

So companies have to ask a small group that is fundamentally Pain, "Is this really a challenge?" I'm sure the issue or category hasn't been covered in the media, and no existing vendor has been successful. Or maybe there are no competitors in the value you are trying to build.

In that case, you have to take a blue ocean approach that no other company can. This will be the initial signal that "a category should be created". If you don't create a category yourself, there are competitors in the field, and it's already a topic of media and a widely understood issue, you don't need to create a category.

If you already have a much better path and can disrupt one after another, you should take the challenger position.

It takes half a year at the earliest for the investment to be successful

Maeda: So what should the founders and management members consider when thinking about "creating a category"? Is it the market size or the growth rate of the category?

Anthony: The more you are in the immediate phase or the big phase of your business, the more you need to unite with leaders and board members. The decision to create a category also has a big impact on how you raise money.

For example, when we first hosted an industry conference at Gainsight, we had 20 members, and we spent a total of $ 300,000 on this event. From that time on, it's a ridiculous idea. But as a result, hosting an industry conference was a record and decisive moment for us to create a new category.

But if your company is still in its early stages and the marketer simply says "I want to spend $ 300,000 on an event" to the founder ... the idea shouldn't be adopted. You have to think carefully. That is why we need unity.

"I want to invest early to create a category. It's risky for board members, but I want them to understand that they're trying to create a new category and take responsibility for it, and support them. I want to ask you"

In order to convey such feelings, it is essential to unite with the CEO and CMO. You have to have your budget incorporated into your plan so that you can put it into action.

In such content marketing, there are many elements of "investment". Organic search is the best, isn't it? It takes time to mature, and I am willing to have a long-term battle.

To give an example of the past, the penetration of "customer success" is so. As a result of spending several years hosting conferences, delivering blog posts, telling the truth and proving that we are leading the market, "Gainsight is the leading company that established this category. I was able to get used to it.

Maeda: What is important to spread the category?

Anthony: As a startup marketer, I think "name" is very important in creating a category. Because we have to communityize the category and make it feel like it's supported.

So at Gainsight, we started by creating a "title". The customer success industry didn't exist before, but the job of customer success manager was already functional.

Maeda: I see. How long do you think it will take to start to feel the possibility of "something there" in terms of time?

Anthony: I think it will take at least 6 to 12 months for content marketing and thought leadership program efforts to come to fruition.

Looking at the growth of organic traffic on the Hopin chart, it's been about 6 months since we started working on it. In other words, the content investment that we made half a year ago is finally beginning to show results.

Hopin, unlike Gainsight, starts in a mature environment from a business perspective. Hopin is a Series D company, not an early phase. We have raised a lot of money and the ARR is almost $ 100 million. Even with this different starting point, it takes 6-12 months for programs such as brand building and community engagement to grow.

Conversations rooted in thought leadership in market education

Maeda: Please tell us your thoughts as CMO. Is it too difficult to do category creation in the early stages of a company?

Anthony: When you create a new category, you spend a lot of energy on marketing to define and solve issues that no one is aware of.

You used to make a reservation by phone when calling a taxi or hire. No one could think of a vehicle that could be dispatched just by tapping the smartphone. You can even get into a stranger's car. So, in order to realize a use case like ride sharing, we had to spend a lot of time first to sort out the challenges and opportunities.

If you're trying to disrupt the market, you can look at Uber and others and offer better products. Still, we need time to explain why our products are good and what are the differentiators of their features.

So whether you create a category or not, the basic components will eventually be the same. As a modern marketing method for enterprise B2B software, spending time establishing a brand is commonplace. Build a content marketing engine or hold an event.

It's not just about product marketing or positioning, it's a conversation rooted in thought leadership in market education. This is important. Through these efforts, we will revitalize the community, grow and develop it, and examine the many elements you are building.

This will be the new playbook for B2B marketing. For a long time, the focus has been on clicks and open rates, but whether you create a category or disrupt it, the tactics you need to build your brand and engage with your community remain the same. ‍

Talk to the persona and gain empathy

Maeda: What framework should companies in the early stages use to build communities and brands?

Anthony: "Community Existence" is at the center of everything in category creation. First of all, the persona is at the beginning. In many cases, the importance of personas is not well understood or underestimated socially.

The core part of category creation is to find and communicate to that persona an issue that no one else has previously found. Then, you can meet a persona who says, "This is what I was in trouble with." There are many negative opinions there. "I've been working on it for many years and I don't need a new solution."

The journey to find prospects and community members who sympathize with the message is lonely. But if you find a member, they're just trying to solve the problem themselves, and they're trying to understand your message. As I listen to podcasts and read blog posts, I start to say, "This brand speaks to me. I understand exactly what I'm facing."

But there aren't many people around them who talk like that. That's why category creators and brands that aspire to it have the opportunity to bring these people together. You can create opportunities for information exchange, such as expanding the network from the perspective of building an asynchronous community and teaching each other best practices. It can be virtual or real, online or offline.

And finally, they will build their own careers in this new community. Being able to attract people from that community can be a very powerful driving force. Because you can be the center of those who believe in this new movement and new mentality. The community can help you spread the waves you create forward and forward.

However, it is easy to misunderstand here that it is the customer, not the company, who creates the category. It's your job as a brand not only to advocate and prove that the category is genuine, but also to claim that you are the leading company.

BRIDGE Editorial Department Note: Click here for the continuation of "This is B2B Marketing's" New Normal "".

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