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Many of you know my 7-step CatSight™ Process for Insight Development. The first step is to identify the category in which you are competing. I get so many questions about this step that I decided to dedicate a whole post to this important topic.
But before I start, I suggest you first read the post (“Customer Centricity is Today’s Business Disruptor, Insights its Foundation”) as background. You will also find the description of the seven steps of the CATSIGHT™ process included. In the article, I summarise the very first step of Insight development, that of category definition, like this:
C = Category
Whenever you want to develop insight, the first task is to decide on the category you want to study. This may seem obvious to you, but in many cases, it isn’t as clear as you might think.
For instance, suppose you are planning on launching a new fruit-flavoured soft drink. You may think that you are competing with other juices or perhaps other soft drinks. But rather than just assuming the category in which you are competing, I highly recommend that you check; you may be very surprised.
In working with one client in just such a situation, we actually found that their main competitor was an energy drink!
Step 1. What is the category definition you are currently using?
In any process, we should always start by identifying where we are today. In the case of your category definition, it should be the one you think you are competing in at the moment. Depending upon whether you are offering a product or service, you might define it as:
All hot beverage consumers …….. or …….. users of a particular insurance service.
All consumers of coffee …….. or …….. people who have bought insurance for natural disasters.
All consumers of instant coffee powder …….. or …….. house owners in Florida who have bought insurance for natural disasters. Continue Reading
