Here’s a concept that I hope brings clarity to how you market your business. This is something I realized when I was trying to market my own business and was having trouble explaining to people exactly what I did.

A category business is simply a business that fits into a category. So if you were to open up the yellow pages, you would know exactly where to look to find one. From a business owner perspective, you’re able to walk into a networking event and tell people what you do, and they would immediately understand. Some examples of a category business would be plumbers, electricians, pediatricians, real estate agents, pool supplies company, etc.

A couple points to note about category businesses:

1. There is already a demand

It wouldn’t be a category if there weren’t people already looking for this.

2. People already know what you do and what problems you address

Or at least its easy to search the category up to find out. I know for awhile I didn’t know what an “Aesthetician” did, but I was able to ask people and do an internet search to quickly find out. 

3. Marketing is more search based and keyword based.

When there are already people looking for someone in your category, then your focus needs to only be getting to the top of their search, or in other words getting in front of the right people. You don’t have to educate your market on what a plumber does. If someone has a puddle in their basement from a leaky pipe- they are going to call a plumber and probably hire the first one they can get. 

There are some challenges as a category business though:

1. Competition can be fierce

There might be 20 auto mechanics in a city and even though you know you’re the best and most honest, the market doesn’t see a difference. 

2. Rates might be standardized

No matter how much care and work you put into your service, you will always be fighting against the “going rate”. There’s a market for what you do, but there is also a market rate with that. The best way to break through that market rate is to transition to a non-category business. 

3. Regulation on your services

When a service becomes in demand and providers start flooding the market, often the government gets involved in the licensing of these service providers, and with that comes regulation. The government might say what you can and can’t do, and what you can and can’t say, severely limiting your creativity in the products and services you can provide. 

So what would be the alternative? 

A non-category business is one that provides a service that does not fit into a pre-defined category. Of course you can either try to shoe-horn yourself into a category or you can try to create your own. It is hard to give examples because the non-category businesses you have encountered will differ from mine, to give you an idea, a non-category businesses tend to be types of coaches, consultants, and experts. These are businesses that focus on a unique solution to a specific result. 

You might meet a “Success and performance coach for high-level business people”, or a “Performance anxiety coach for Musicians”, who are creating their own category or you might meet someone who is taking their category to another level. Here at Igniter Creative, you could call us a “Video Production company” but the more you dig in, you’ll see we are more like a marketing company that specializes in using multi-channel video to elevate your brand. While every other video production company is looking to just make expensive videos, we’re unique in that we’re consulting you with a marketing strategy and using our video production to maximize the results, along with social media, websites and landing pages, inbound sales processes, ads, podcasts, books, PR, and whatever else it needed to get you the results you are looking for. 

So depending on your business, you’re either thinking breaking out of a category is either the dumbest thing in the world- or “Yes, this exactly describes the feeling I get when I tell people what I do (or am trying to do)”

Usually business owners choose this path because the traditional means of solving a problem didn’t work for them and they want to help others experience the results they got when they struggled with this issue in a more effective way.

The benefits of a non-category business are:

1. Passion and fulfillment

You wouldn’t be doing this if you didn’t love seeing the results, and sometimes so much that you can’t do anything else. If bills weren’t a thing, you’d do it for free.

2. More creativity and expertise

You’re not a salesperson selling someone else’s solution, nor are you a solution-provider providing a solution that someone else sold. You have complete control to create a solution to deliver the best results possible. If you’re an “outside the box” thinker, you can multiply results by incorporating services your typical category business would know nothing about. 

3. No limit on rates or income potential

While you really just want to see results, seeing revenue commensurate with those results.

So what challenges does a non-category business face?

1. You need to educate every prospect

It is going to to take a lot longer for someone to understand what you do, the problem you solve and the service you provide. It could be a while just to find out your prospect deals with the problem you solve. The good news is that this can be shortened greatly with good marketing.

2. You have to create your own tools

Imagine working on a car and every nut and bolt are odd sizes that don’t exist in any tool box, that can be what a non-category business feels like when every person’s problem and situation is unique. However the benefit is when you have a tool that works you can leverage that as an asset in your business, either by selling that tool as a digital product or creating training on how to create or use that tool.

3. You have to create your own marketing

 Its going to be tough to “hang your shingle”. We already talked about yellow pages, but as far as pre established directories- you won’t get much traffic from Google business, Angie’s list, yellow pages, etc. If you follow our “local marketing matrix” you would see the solution for this is to focus on providing information to prospects.

4. Your prospects do not know they need you

Ultimately, search marketing could prove fruitless. Your prospect might not know you or your solution exists. Fortunately with digital marketing, its never been easier to market unique solutions. Tapping into the creator economy has created more entrepreneurs than ever and can help you build your non-category business!