Top 8 'Category-Creation' Marketing Strategies to master for Underdog Startups in a Crowded Market - Goh Ling Yong
So, you're an underdog. You've poured your heart, soul, and probably your life savings into a startup that you believe in. The only problem? You’ve launched into a market that’s as crowded as a train station during rush hour. Every direction you look, there are established giants and well-funded rivals screaming for your customer's attention. How do you even begin to compete?
The common advice is to be "better." Build a better product, offer better service, create better marketing. But "better" is a losing game for an underdog. It's a resource-intensive battle on your competitor's home turf, fighting by their rules. The real secret isn't to play their game better; it's to invent a whole new game—one where you are the only player.
This is the power of category creation. It’s the art and science of designing a new market that you can own and dominate. Instead of fighting for a slice of an existing pie, you bake a completely new one. It's how startups like HubSpot, Slack, and Airbnb went from nobodies to household names. They didn't just sell a product; they sold a new way of thinking. Ready to learn how to do it? Let's dive into the eight strategies that will help you carve out your own category.
1. Niche Down Until It Hurts, Then Dominate
The biggest mistake startups make is trying to be everything to everyone. The path to creating a new category often starts by becoming the absolute best solution for a very, very specific group of people with a very specific problem. The goal is to find a market segment so small and underserved that the big players ignore it.
Think of it as lighting a fire. You don't start by trying to set a whole log ablaze; you start with a tiny piece of kindling. Once that kindling is burning brightly, it can ignite bigger pieces of wood. Your initial niche is that kindling. Your goal is to become so indispensable to this tiny group that they become your evangelists, spreading the word for you as you slowly expand your territory.
Example in Action: Facebook didn't launch to the world. It launched exclusively for Harvard students. Then it expanded to other Ivy League schools, then all colleges. By the time it opened to the public, it had an ironclad brand and a fanatical user base. Start by owning a "micro-category" (e.g., "social network for Harvard students") before you create a macro-category ("the social network").
2. Reframe the Problem, Not Just the Solution
Often, customers don't even realize the true nature of their problem. They are focused on the symptoms, not the root cause. A category-creating company doesn't just offer a new solution; it re-educates the market on the problem itself. They give the customer a new lens through which to see their world.
Instead of saying, "Our vacuum cleaner is better," Dyson effectively said, "The problem isn't your vacuum's suction power; the problem is the bag that clogs and kills the suction." This reframed the problem from "needing better suction" to "needing to get rid of the bag." Suddenly, every other vacuum seemed obsolete.
How to Apply This: Talk to your customers, but listen for their frustrations, not their feature requests. What is the underlying struggle they can't articulate? If you sell project management software, maybe the problem isn't "disorganized tasks." Maybe it's "a lack of team clarity" or "the stress of constant status meetings." By naming and framing this deeper problem, you create a category of solutions where you are the pioneer.
3. Create a New Language and Framework
What do "Inbound Marketing," "Conversational Marketing," and "The 4-Hour Workweek" have in common? They are all proprietary terms that defined a new category. When you invent the language used to describe a problem or solution, you automatically become the leading expert in that field. You own the conversation.
HubSpot didn't just sell marketing software; they evangelized the philosophy of "Inbound Marketing," a term they coined. They published books, created certification courses, and built a massive content library all around this idea. Anyone who wanted to learn about this new, better way of marketing had to go through HubSpot. Their software became the natural choice to execute the strategy they taught.
Your Action Plan: Don't just describe your product's features. Build a simple, memorable framework or name for your unique methodology. Is it "The Agile Sales Method"? "The Zero-Inbox Lifestyle"? "Trust-Based Branding"? Package your point of view into a named concept, and then teach it relentlessly through blogs, webinars, and social media.
4. Plant a Flag with an "Enemy" Manifesto
One of the most powerful ways to define what you are is to clearly define what you are not. Category creators often pick an enemy—an old, outdated technology, a flawed business model, or a frustrating way of doing things—and build a movement around defeating it. This creates a clear "us vs. them" narrative that rallies customers to your cause.
This is a strategy that, as Goh Ling Yong often highlights, is less about features and more about building a brand with a strong point of view. It’s about storytelling. When Salesforce launched, their enemy was traditional software. Their brilliant "No Software" campaign and logo positioned them as the simple, agile, cloud-based future, and a protest against the complex, expensive, on-premise software of the past (like Siebel).
Find Your Enemy: What is the old way that your product makes obsolete? Is it the billable hour? The physical retail store? The bureaucratic approval process? Write a short, powerful manifesto that outlines your beliefs and declares war on this "enemy." Make it the centerpiece of your "About Us" page and marketing campaigns. This transforms customers into followers.
5. Innovate on the Business Model, Not Just the Tech
Sometimes, the most disruptive innovation isn't in the product itself, but in how you deliver it or how customers pay for it. A radical business model can create an entirely new category of accessibility, affordability, or convenience, making the competition's product-focused advantages irrelevant.
Dollar Shave Club is the classic example. Their razors weren't necessarily technologically superior to Gillette's. But their business model—a cheap, simple, direct-to-consumer subscription—created a new category: "convenient and affordable shaving." They completely sidestepped the retail shelf battle and built a direct relationship with their customers. Similarly, Canva created the "easy and accessible design" category by offering a freemium, browser-based tool that was a world away from Adobe's expensive, complex software suite.
Brainstorm Your Model: Can you turn a one-time purchase into a subscription? Can you offer a "freemium" version in an industry that only has expensive enterprise tools? Can you use a usage-based pricing model where competitors use fixed seats? Changing the way people buy can be more powerful than changing what they buy.
6. Forge a Movement, Not Just a Market
The most durable categories are built on a shared identity and belief system. People don't just buy the product; they buy into the mission. The product becomes a symbol of their values and a badge of belonging to a tribe of like-minded individuals. This is far more defensible than a feature list.
CrossFit didn't just create a new workout program; it created a global movement around a philosophy of fitness, community, and competition. Attending a CrossFit gym (or "box") and talking about WODs (Workout of the Day) became a core part of a member's identity. Patagonia sells outdoor gear, but what they really created is a category of "environmentally conscious adventurers." Buying their jacket is a statement about your commitment to the planet.
Build Your Tribe: What is the greater purpose behind your company? Articulate a clear and compelling mission that goes beyond making money. Create content, events, and communities that bring people together around this shared purpose. Your first 1,000 true fans who believe in your mission are more valuable than 100,000 customers who just like your price.
7. The "Feature Fusion" Innovation
Category creation can also happen by combining two existing ideas or markets into something entirely new and unexpected. This hybrid approach creates a product that doesn't fit into any existing bucket, forcing customers and analysts to create a new one for it.
The original iPhone wasn't the first phone, MP3 player, or internet device. It was the fusion of all three that created the "smartphone" category as we know it today. Peloton masterfully combined high-end home fitness equipment with live-streaming boutique fitness classes, creating the "connected fitness" category. They didn't just sell an exercise bike; they sold a live, in-home studio experience.
Think Like a Chef: What two ingredients from different worlds can you combine? Could you merge financial advising with mental health coaching? Or combine an online education platform with a recruiting agency? Look for intersections between industries and user needs to discover a potential hybrid category that only you can own.
8. Launch a Point of View, Not Just a Product
Before you have a product ready for the masses, you can begin creating your category by launching your Point of View (POV). This is your unique perspective on the world, your vision for the future, and your thesis on why the current solutions are broken. It’s the story and philosophy that your product will eventually fulfill.
The team at Drift, a B2B SaaS company, did this brilliantly. Before their product was even a big name, they evangelized the death of lead forms and the rise of "Conversational Marketing." They launched a blog, a podcast, and books all dedicated to this POV. By the time companies were convinced that conversational marketing was the future, Drift was already positioned as the obvious leader and their product was the clear choice to implement the strategy.
Start with Content: As Goh Ling Yong's own journey shows, building an audience around your ideas is a powerful first step. Start a blog, a newsletter, or a podcast today. Don't talk about your product's features. Talk about the change you want to see in your industry. Tell the story of the future, and you will attract the people who want to live in it. When you finally launch your product, you won't be launching to a cold market, but to a waiting list of true believers.
Your New Game Awaits
Trying to out-perform the competition in a crowded market is an exhausting, uphill battle. The game is rigged in favor of the incumbents. Don't play it.
Category creation is your way to change the rules. It's a shift in mindset from being a "competitor" to being a "pioneer." It’s about being different, not just better. It requires courage to niche down, a strong voice to reframe the conversation, and a compelling vision to build a movement. But for the underdog startup, it is the most powerful path to not just surviving, but thriving.
So, stop looking at the existing market map and start drawing your own.
What category are you building? Share your vision in the comments below—I'd love to hear about the new game you're creating!
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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