When Others Enter the Category You Created
I knew this day would come.
Back in 2018, I saw the staffing landscape shifting — and the new trajectory was in our favor. So we traded niche dominance in the market for remote virtual assistants, for greater market opportunity in a category we created and called it subscription staffing.
It’s a bet that has wildly paid off in accelerating what was already double-digit YoY growth.
But it has also been a category and message we had all to ourselves.
Until one day a few weeks ago.
Inside our company, slack chirped and emails flew. Our head of marketing sent me a link to an article about subscription staffing.
Except we didn’t write it. Another company did, and they were explaining why, as a subscription staffing company, they were different.
Pick Your North Star Early — And Keep Sailing
I’m not going to say it was fun to learn that another company had adopted the strategic phrase I once scribbled on my whiteboard and had made the cornerstone of our market message.
But I knew this day would come, and my advice to anyone who creates a category is to prepare for it. After all, it’s not Gartner or G2 who really christen a new category name, but a market of customers who embrace it, who in turn force competitors to do the same.
By default, a category with growing demand will broaden in adoption and definition. You can prepare for that by carving out a niche BEFORE YOU HAVE TO. In other words, you create clear positioning by defining what the category means FOR YOUR BUYERS as narrowly as possible.
When my team first came up with “subscription staffing” I almost rejected it. Since founding the company 10 years ago, my vision has been to care deeply about our team’s and our client’s experience. To deliver on that, we do stuff no other remote staffing company does, like assign our own employees (not contractors) to support our clients and not charge our clients until they have met and are excited to start working with their new staff member. I was worried that “subscription” would make people think they were getting some random person rather than a highly curated match.
So one decision I made early on was never to talk about simply subscription staffing, but always about “premium subscription staffing.”
Adding that word may seem like something a marketing team cares about more than our customers and employees, but in my experience it has been crucial. It has allowed us to tell not only a story about how hiring for many roles is moving to a subscription model, but also about how A-list, rockstar talent is now increasingly available through this model.
It has allowed us to make it clear, to people inside and outside of Boldly, why someone who touts talks about “subscription staffing” is talking about something different from what our ideal customers want:
- It has reminded us to be fanatically picky about whom we hire (experience is not enough — candidates must demonstrate innate passion for delivering great, personalized service.)
- It has reminded us to treat our staff like the A-listers they are, giving them the freedom to set their own hours, the agency to work with only clients they get to (mutually) approve, and to celebrate them for their professional savvy.
- It reminds our entire team that our clients don’t just want someone to complete tasks, but who will proactively contribute as a valued team member (and mind reader: Yes, we know you’ll need a follow-up meeting after this call so we’ve already made room on your schedule.)
Of course, I know what you’re thinking — what if someone declares themselves a purveyor of premium subscription staffing? Well, they can try. But by being so focused on this niche, I’m comfortable with our 10-year head start.
Defining your category as narrowly as possible means that when a competitor tries to barge in, you won’t lose sleep over it. Instead, you’ll celebrate it, because those new entrants will bring more attention to how your point of view is truly unique.
So to those now offering subscription staffing, we say welcome. Let’s tell the world that there’s a better way to build teams. As for us, we’ll be serving customers who also see the new model as a way to build the highest-performing teams in the world.
Sandra Lewis is the Founder and CEO of Boldly, a premium subscription staffing company connecting demanding founders and executives with highly-skilled, meticulously matched remote staff. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
