According to the law of the category from The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries, it may often be advisable to participate in an existing community versus starting your own. It would be advisable in many cases due to ROI leveraging and other positive aspects, but especially in cases of a narrowly focused brand.
According to Reis, a leading brand should promote the category, not the brand. Therefore, if a brand becomes active in an existing community it can do just that, and this type of participation is actually preferred over building one’s own, as suggested by experts such as Toolbox.com’s Social Media Marketing Best Practices for B2B.
Build your own category, by using someone else’s community. At first this seems counter-intuitive, but if done correctly it may be the best route to brand dominance. Ries sees a major area of potential for brands that have an extremely strong focus, as they are candidates to introduce a brand new category. Ries believes that to build a brand in a nonexistent category, brands must do two things:
• Launch the brand to create a perception that the brand was first
• Promote the category
Both of these goals can be accomplished by becoming active in an existing community. In fact, it may be more effective in the existing community vs your own. According to Toolbox.com, transparency is a key to credibility in these communities, so this case offers an opportunity to announce that your brand is active, while displaying the courage and leadership to do so within an uncontrolled (by the brand) environment. Another best practice from Toolbox.com involves entering existing communities, because of the significant ROI benefits over building your own.
The other driving force of Ries thinking on category building is that leading brands should continue to promote the category to increase the size of the pie rather than the slice of the pie. This also gives a strong rationale for using a medium viewed as brand neutral to promote your brand’s leadership through its consistent contribution of helpful advice and knowledge.
