Belonging to a genre
Being placed in a familiar category gives the market context for you. Once they have it, they can finally see how you differ from your peers.
Kevin C. Whelan
In Seth Godin’s book, The Practice, he talks about belonging to a genre. It’s been a while since I read it, so I’ll riff on the concept a bit because it’s an interesting way to view the world.
Belonging to a genre means being similar to people or things in an existing category. You quickly “get it” when you see something that belongs to a genre you’re familiar with.
Bob Marley was part of a genre of reggae artists. Jaws is part of a few genres, including cult classics and classic thriller films. Tony Robbins is part of a genre of motivational speakers.
All genres are made up of peers who do similar things but have their own unique angle or perspective.
Belonging to a genre makes it easy for the market to understand you more quickly. They have a context to place you in.
And with that context, they can more easily see where you stand out or are unique.
It’s the difference among people within a genre that that compels people buy or engage. We want things belonging to a genre we like, but we choose which ones to engage with based on their differences.
It’s good to belong to a genre. The question is, what genre do you belong to, who are your peers, and how are you unique?