The simple framework Netflix, Stitch Fix, and Vinebox used to claim their categories

You can teach others to think by the words you use with them.

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Dear Friend, Subscriber, and Category Pirate,

This week’s Buried Treasure is about how to claim a category.

The language you use to talk about your category should make the customer STOP, tilt their head, and immediately wonder, “This is for something different—do I need this?” It should be clear “this thing is not like what came before it.” In order to do that, you have to be the trusted authority on that new language—and subsequently, that new category.

It all starts with how you Frame, Name, and Claim it.

Whoever Frames The Problem Owns The Solution

There’s a reason why men can have “erectile dysfunction” and not “impotence.”

Impotence has very negative implications attached to the word. It implies that he’s “not manly” or “unable to be a man.” That’s not a word very many men want to be associated with—meaning men don’t want to admit to having such a problem. (Hard to sell a solution to a problem no one wants to admit to having!)

In order to solve this problem, Pfizer (the makers of Viagra) had to invent a disease, called “erectile dysfunction.”

They made impotence a more approachable problem. And then they shortened it to “ED” to make it even softer and safer to associate with. It’s a whole lot easier for a man to say, “I am experiencing ED” than to say “I am impotent.”

To change someone’s perception in this way, you have to Frame, Name, and Claim the problem and solution.

Category Queens deliberately use the Frame, Name, and Claim Framework for a few reasons:

1. To differentiate themselves from any and all competition through word choice, tone, and nuance.

2. To speak to (and speak “like”) the customers they want to attract—especially the Superconsumers of the category.

3. To further establish their position in the category they are designing or redesigning.

4. To insinuate and give context to the rest of the 8 levers: price, profit model, branding, etc., and how the company executes any number of them in a different way.

Your POV, and the language you use to reflect that POV, makes your “messaging” inspire customers to take action—not the other way around.

But how can you possibly know what to say unless you know what you stand for? What difference do you make in the world? What problem do you solve?

Let’s walk through how this works.

How To Frame, Name, And Claim A Category