CATEGORY-AWARE VS. CATEGORY-UNAWARE

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

Positioning starts with a core decision on which category a product belongs to. One path targets category-aware buyers who already understand the space and require differentiation against existing competitors. The other targets category-unaware buyers who are solving a job-to-be-done through status quo tools and need the category introduced first. Mature markets tend toward category-aware positioning, while newer markets often require category creation before competition even matters. Choosing the wrong side leads to unclear messaging.