A Strategic Guide for Category Creation : Building Thought Leadership Through KUBA and Analyst Reports
When you're pioneering a new category or introducing a novel solution, you can't simply jump into selling your product. The market first needs to be educated—not just about your product, but about the entire ecosystem around it. This is where the KUBA framework comes in. It’s a strategic approach that guides your audience from initial awareness all the way to adoption, ensuring they fully understand and believe in the value you’re offering before they make the decision to invest.
Knowledge, Understanding, Belief, Acceptance - KUBA Framework
Recognizing When You're Creating a New Category
Understanding where your prospects stand is crucial in determining your approach:
1s: These prospects know about the problem or opportunity and are actively looking for a solution.
2s: These prospects know about the problem or opportunity, but it’s not one of their top five concerns, so they’re not actively looking for a solution.
3s: These prospects don’t know about the problem or opportunity, and solving it isn’t even on their radar.
If most of your prospects fall into categories 2 or 3, you’re likely creating a new category. Your job is to help them cross the line into category 1—by educating them on why they should care about the problem and how your solution addresses it.
The KUBA Framework
1. Knowledge: Introducing the Landscape
The first step in the KUBA framework is to provide your audience with the foundational knowledge they need to even recognize the problem or opportunity your product addresses. This isn’t about selling your solution right away—it’s about educating them on why they should care in the first place.
Tactical Approach:
Content Creation: Develop educational content such as blog posts, webinars, or white papers that explain the broader trends or challenges in your industry.
Example: If you’re offering a SaaS solution for multi-location restaurants, your initial content should focus on the challenges of scaling restaurant operations, such as managing consistent customer experience or optimizing supply chains.
2. Understanding: Deepening the Insight
Once your audience is aware of the landscape, the next step is to help them understand it more deeply. This is where you start connecting the dots for them, showing how the broader trends or challenges directly relate to their specific situation.
Tactical Approach:
Case Studies and Webinars: Use real-world examples and interactive formats to show how other businesses are navigating these challenges.
Interactive Tools: Consider offering assessment tools or calculators that allow your audience to see how these issues might affect their specific business.
Example: Create a case study showing how a mid-sized restaurant chain optimized its operations by adopting a more streamlined management system.
3. Belief: Building Confidence in the Solution
With a solid understanding in place, it’s time to foster belief. Your audience now knows the landscape and understands the challenges—now they need to believe that your solution can actually make a difference.
Tactical Approach:
Proof Points: Share testimonials, success stories, and third-party validations that showcase the effectiveness of your solution.
Pilot Programs: Offer a low-risk way for potential clients to try out your product or service, such as a limited-time pilot program or a free trial.
Example: Provide testimonials from restaurant owners who have successfully scaled from one location to ten using your system, or offer a pilot program that allows a small chain to test your solution in a few locations.
4. Acceptance: The Natural Next Step
Finally, after guiding your audience through knowledge, understanding, and belief, they’re ready for acceptance. At this point, adopting your solution should feel like the obvious next step—they’re convinced of its value and ready to integrate it into their operations.
Tactical Approach:
Clear Call to Action: Make it easy for your audience to take the next step, whether that’s signing up for a full subscription, purchasing your product, or scheduling a demo.
Onboarding Support: Provide robust support to ensure a smooth transition, reinforcing their decision and minimizing any friction during the onboarding process.
Example: Offer a seamless onboarding experience with dedicated support to help new customers quickly integrate your solution into their operations, making the transition as smooth as possible.Using Analyst Reports to Cement Your Thought Leadership
While the KUBA framework sets the strategy, the tactical side of thought leadership often involves leveraging analyst reports. These reports are full of data and insights that can be repurposed into valuable content.
Get Your Hands on Analyst Reports
Start by sourcing credible analyst reports that are relevant to your industry. Engage with industry analysts or subscribe to platforms that provide these insights.
Extract and Summarize Key Insights
Your audience doesn’t have time to read through pages of dense reports. Your job is to summarize the key insights that are most relevant to them.
Focus on data points that impact your audience’s business and align with the narrative you want to build.
Tie Insights Back to Your Story
Thought leadership isn't just about sharing information—it's about providing context. After summarizing the insights, tie them back to your brand’s narrative. Show how these trends impact your industry and why your audience should care.
Leverage AI for Fast Content Creation
AI tools can speed up content creation. Use AI to draft articles, white papers, or even social media posts based on the insights you’ve gathered. Refine the content using editing tools to ensure it’s polished and ready to share.
Tag Analysts and Engage Them
Increase the visibility and credibility of your content by tagging the analysts or firms whose reports you’ve referenced. This not only gives credit but also opens the door for engagement and possibly partnerships.
Create Your Own Comprehensive Report
One way to establish yourself as an authority is by creating your own report. Aggregate insights from multiple reports, add your analysis, and publish this as an industry report. It can serve as a lead magnet for potential clients.
Cold Outreach with Real Value
Cold outreach works best when you offer something of real value. Use your newly created report as a way to start conversations with potential clients or partners. Offering them exclusive insights is a great way to build relationships. Ask them for their email to email them th report. Voila, top of funnel email list creation!
Maximize Impact by Repurposing Content
Don’t stop with just one format. Repurpose your content into blog posts, infographics, webinars, and more. This approach ensures your message reaches a wider audience.
Sell the Idea
Make sure all your thought leadership content subtly but effectively sells the idea that your industry or solution is a must-investment. Guide your audience to see your solution as the obvious choice.
The Tactical Cheat Sheet
To pull everything together, here’s a quick cheat sheet:
Source Analyst Reports: Regularly get reports that are relevant to your industry to stay informed and build your knowledge base.
Summarize Key Insights: Break down complex reports into digestible insights that are relevant to your audience.
Tie Insights to Your Story: Contextualize these insights within your brand’s narrative, showing their relevance.
Use AI for Fast Content Creation: Speed up content creation with AI tools, then refine for a polished final product.
Engage Analysts: Tag and engage with the analysts to increase your content's visibility and credibility.
Create a Comprehensive Report: Aggregate insights into a report to position yourself as an industry authority.
Cold Outreach with Value: Use your report as a lead magnet in cold outreach to potential clients. Ask for their email for your tofu mailing list.
Repurpose Content: Maximize reach by repurposing your content across multiple platforms.
Subtly Sell the Idea: Ensure your content guides your audience to see your solution as the best investment.