How Do I Develop Inbound Leads in a New Category?

Q:  What’s the best way to develop inbound leads when creating a new market/product category?

The answer is you do All of It.  Just more of it.

Category creation is hard because you have to build awareness of both a new vendor AND a new category.

But … the problem you are solving isn’t new. That’s the key.

So go everywhere that problem is:

• Content marketing. Write about the problem and how you solve it. Write a truly awesome, canonical piece and Google will drive you leads here over time. More with some great examples here: Corporate Blogs Always Work. But Only If You Do Them Right. | SaaStr
• Events — digital and IRL now. Go to the places folks need your product are. You may not get 1,000 leads from this. But I bet you can get a few good ones.
• Integrations in leading platforms. Get on the marketplaces for Shopify, Salesforce, Google, etc. You won’t get a million leads over night. But there is some discovery in every marketplace.
• Specific high-affinity / value integrations. Pick a few apps, even if they are much smaller than Shopify, where you can add insane value. Reach out to the CEO, confirm the synergy, and go build the integration.
• Targeted Outbound. Yes, outbound works. Identify 100 buyers that could really, really, really benefit from your problem. And spend an hour researching and customizing an email just for them. Yes, this will take 100+ hours. Yes, it is worth it.  More here.

It’s harder, but the key to not forget is even when you are creating a new category — is the problem is known. Now they just need to know the solution is finally here.