Category Creation Playbook: How to Be Irreplaceable in B2B Marketing (with Josh Lowman)

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Jun 5, 2025

Josh Lowman, Founder and Creative Director of Gold Front, dives into the art of category creation for B2B marketing. He discusses why most efforts fail and outlines the four paths to category leadership: create, transform, niche, or go solo. The conversation highlights the significance of defining irreplaceability and aligning brand strategy with market perception using examples like Drift and Notion. Josh emphasizes the need for a cohesive marketing approach that understands product ethos, helping companies stand out in a crowded landscape.

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INSIGHT

Irreplaceability Drives Category Leadership

Strategy is about making customers see your product as irreplaceable.
True category leadership means being number one in a category in the customer's mind.

INSIGHT

Four Paths to Category Leadership

There are four ways to be number one: create, transform, niche, or be a category of one.
Naming is less important than customers perceiving your product as truly different.

ANECDOTE

Drift vs Clay: Category Reality

Drift named its category conversational marketing but never created real categorical difference in customers' minds.
Clay built an unmatched product and thus created a true category of one without naming it.

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#252 Category Creation | Dave is joined by Josh Lowman, Founder and Creative Director of Gold Front, a category design studio that’s worked with brands like Uber, Notion, and Qualtrics. Josh is a leading voice in strategic brand positioning and category creation. He’s spent over a decade helping high-growth B2B companies define what makes them irreplaceable in crowded markets.

Dave and Josh cover:

Why most category creation efforts fail (and what to do instead)
The four real paths to category leadership: create, transform, niche, or go solo
How B2B marketers can align product, brand, and messaging around a single strategy to stand out and scale

Whether you're launching a new product or repositioning an existing one, this episode is a masterclass in strategic clarity.

Timestamps

(00:00) - – Intro
(03:14) - – Josh’s backstory and founding Gold Front
(06:29) - – How Gold Front became a category design studio
(08:44) - – What “category creation” really means
(11:59) - – Why being irreplaceable is the real goal
(15:04) - – The four paths to category leadership
(18:49) - – Why Drift didn’t succeed in creating a true category
(22:44) - – Clay and Notion as category-of-one examples
(25:34) - – Marketing vs. actual customer perception
(30:23) - – Can Exit Five be more than the “Dave Gerhardt community”?
(33:18) - – How to scale brand DNA beyond the founder
(36:08) - – Defining Exit Five’s ethos as a company
(38:28) - – Strategy as a company-wide unifier
(41:18) - – Advice for CMOs on driving strategy with CEOs
(43:53) - – Why strategy is always the root cause
(45:23) - – Vibe marketing and the rise of right-brain thinking
(48:08) - – Josh’s mental health journey and long-term therapy
(51:38) - – LinkedIn, self-worth, and staying grounded
(54:08) - – Weightlifting, discipline, and mental clarity
(57:08) - – Daily habits that improve mindset
(01:00:23) - – What 30 days of silent meditation does to your brain
(01:05:08) - – Final thoughts on presence, self-work, and leadership

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