Own Your Category

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VSCO CEO Eric Wittman shares how they finally found their story.

And why having great products isn't enough if you can't say what they're for.

In this episode of Own Your Category, Eric Wittman, CEO of VSCO, joined Josh to break down how a platform built for photographers spent years with the right product vision - and the wrong words to describe it. Until now.

We covered:

• Why "where photographers turn pro" unlocked everything else
• How VSCO went from consumer app to professional OS
• The difference between hiring a writer and doing the actual category work
• Why Eric stopped rewriting marketing copy the moment the strategy artifacts existed
• And what a LinkedIn post with 1,871 likes tells you about finding your community's nerve

Links:

Follow Eric Wittman → https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjwittman/

Learn more about VSCO → https://vsco.co 

Learn more about Gold Front → https://goldfront.com 

Work with Josh → https://tally.so/r/wQvNzp

Josh hosted a live workshop to help folks get their positioning back on track. Topics included: 

• The Three Hard Positioning Problems everybody faces.
• The best tool to fix each one. 
• And why everything will fall into place when you master these tools.

Josh has written the positioning for over 100 companies including Uber, Qualtrics and Gainsight. And he’s the founder of Gold Front, the category design studio. 

Now let’s fix your positioning.

Josh shares the Gold Front Category Design Canvas, a tool that helps you ask and answer the essential questions for crafting great category strategy. Plus, there’s a Mario-themed mnemonic that makes the canvas easy to remember.

This is the actual tool we use to help tech companies design new categories. Did we mention it’s Mario-themed?

Join Josh and Anna Furmanov for live strategy work. Anna is the founder of Furmanov Marketing Consulting, who’s been called the “Marie Kondo of startup marketing”.

Josh and Anna talk about:

• Gold Front’s category strategy.
• The unique problem Anna’s business solves. 
• Giving the problem a name CEOs will connect with.
• And how to get more specific with language.

A good show!

Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com 

We are back! Josh explains category design. Topics include: 

• Why category design sometimes gets people so angry. 
• Strategy is just thinking before you act. 
• And category as a force multiplier for strategy. 

Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com 

Josh shares 5 foundational principles that category creators can use to stay focused on the work that really matters.

It’s easy to lose your way when creating new categories, use these tools and insights to keep yourself, and your category, on track for success. They are:

• Is thinking happening?
• Are you creating something in the mind of the customer?
• Is it different?
• Is it interesting?
• Is it true?

Did you know there's a newsletter too? Check it out at: categoryfirst.substack.com

Josh answers listener questions about category creation.

• My boss, the VP of marketing, wants to test everything, even an Instagram story, and I think it's making us late to get content out. Have you dealt with this?
• What are the main signs that a Category POV is not working?
• Is designing a category sort of putting the cart before the horse?

Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com

Josh shares 5 laws for branding to help you design original, interesting, and un-boring brands.

Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com

Josh shares his process for writing strategy.

Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com

Josh talks to Paul McDonnell, Vice President at one of the world's largest private equity firms, Insight Partners, about the qualities and mindset that successful category creation teams must have. In his work at Insight's Marketing Center of Excellence, Paul has seen inside many different category leadership teams, including successes like Bizzabo, Chargebee, OwnBackup, and more, and speaks first hand to what will make or break a new category. Some highlights: 

• What it means to have the right culture for category creation. 
• Getting the right people in the room before you start.
• Why humility is essential to creating good category strategy. 
• And how category creators can start using AI today.  

Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com