The trap of fitting into someone else's category
The category you’re trying to win may be the wrong question. Start with how the analyst sees the market.
A founder told me last year that her whole AR strategy was getting into one Magic Quadrant. The category was already 30% off from how she saw the market, and she didn't even meet the inclusion criteria. So, the plan was to contort the company until it fit a box built for somebody else.
There's a quieter move most companies skip. Instead of fighting for a seat in an existing category, you help the analyst see that the category itself is out of date.
What category creation takes
That's harder than it sounds, and it's worth being honest about the odds. Carilu Dietrich asked her LinkedIn network last year how people had actually gotten Gartner to recognize a new category. The answers were sobering. One analyst's vision isn't enough; multiple vendors have to be standing in the same new space before Gartner will name it. Gartner's own clients have to be asking about it, because Gartner builds coverage around what its customers pay to understand. And the realistic timeline is three to four years of slow, deliberate work, often resting on your relationship with a single analyst.
- Multiple vendorsMore than one company must occupy the new space.
- Buyer demandGartner’s clients need to be asking about it.
- Sustained educationThe article describes three to four years of deliberate work.
Make the case for a shifting market
So, the choice isn't really “fit in” or “blow up the category.” Most of the time the smart play is the middle one: convince the analyst the market is shifting and the report needs to shift with it. You bring the customers who are already buying the future. You educate instead of pitch. You show up enough times that when the analyst's client asks who matters, your framing is the one they reach for.
Easier said than done. But that's the work.
The category you're trying to win may be the wrong question. The better one is whether you can change how the analyst sees the market in the first place.
Holly Hagerman · Managing Partner, Connect Marketing