The signal is other people using your words when you are not in the room. Watch for prospects opening calls with your category term, analysts and competitors adopting it, branded and category search volume rising together, and job postings at customers naming the function you invented. Vanity signals are your own impressions, your own content volume and applause at your own event. If after four quarters nobody outside your payroll is repeating the phrase, the category is not forming and you should go back to winning a segment inside an existing one.
4 resources, 4 link-checked.
Two marketers who actually built categories (revenue intelligence and customer success) compare notes on the iterations that came before the name that stuck. Full transcript on the page if you would rather skim.
On [Un]Churned, Gainsight by Josh Schachter with Udi Ledergor and Lauren Olerich 49 min
Open gainsight.com →Laja built a business on testing B2B messaging with real buyers, and here he explains how he balances the what and the why in a single line. Useful before you commit a category name to the homepage.
On Grow & Tell by Alex Kracov with Peep Laja 55 min
Open dock.us →The company's own account of why it moved from conversation intelligence to revenue intelligence, including the buyer problem that forced the rename. This is the primary source on the most copied category play of the last decade.
From Gong by Jonathan Costet 10 min read
The source of the 95-5 rule: at any moment only about 5 percent of your buyers are in market, so most brand spend is aimed at future demand. It is the evidence base for arguing brand budget with a CFO.
From LinkedIn B2B Institute by LinkedIn B2B Institute with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute Report hub
How category design reads from a different seat.
The same ground, over in Brand, web & content, our Starting Up track.
The same ground, over in Find your idea & build the brand, our D2C track.
