Why “no category” can be your strongest position

What if your product doesn’t fit a category?

Not because it's niche. Not because it's new. But because it solves something so specific, so customer-shaped, that no one knows exactly what to call it yet. And in the world of AI-driven discovery, that’s both a challenge—and a huge opportunity.

Here’s what that looks like in practice.

One of our MedTech clients had built something powerful: a way to connect point-of-care lab test devices directly to the EHR (electronic health record). This reduces human error, automates the workflow and ultimately saves time and money.

But their product doesn't fit any known category. There are no direct competitors. No comparison tables and no familiar customer journey.

So how do you get discovered when you don’t have a category?

Not through feature lists. Not through “category leader” claims. But through the customer’s struggle.

And their customers did have a struggle:

• “Can I stop typing in test results manually?”

• “How do I reduce audit risk from lab data entry and transcription error?”

• “What’s the easiest way to get results into the EHR?”

These aren’t feature requests. They’re signs of struggle. Signals that a job isn’t getting done well and that the person asking is ready for change.

This is classic JTBD. They want to move from their current state (manual, error-prone, slow) to a desired one (automated, safe, seamless).

Customers don’t buy features. They buy progress.

Reshaping how discovery works.

In traditional discovery, those needs might not have been mapped to a product. They didn’t line up with familiar categories or search terms.

But AI doesn’t optimise for labels. It optimises for context. 

The brands that win in this new environment aren’t the ones with the cleverest propositions. They’re the ones that clearly signal: We understand the job you’re trying to do, and we help you get it done.

So what are customers really choosing between?

If your product doesn’t sit in a clear category, it’s tempting to focus your messaging on how different or new it is.

But here’s the catch:

That might be another product. More often, it’s the status quo.

And the status quo is sticky. It’s:

• The workaround that kind of does the job

• The spreadsheet no one questions

• The internal tool that “mostly works”

• The habit that’s painful but familiar

When your product defies easy categorisation, your job isn’t to invent a new label.

It’s to surface the real contrast: 

This is what the B2B positioning expert, April Dunford refers to as your competing alternatives;  the real choices your customer sees, whether or not they look anything like you.

You simply need clarity.

You don’t need a category to be discovered. But you do need a healthy dose of clarity.

If your product doesn't slot neatly into a known set, this is where I’d suggest you focus your energy:

• Get closer to the struggle: Talk to customers. Listen for the awkward, specific, un-googleable problems they’re trying to solve.
  

• Map your real competition: Not just other products but basic tools, habits, and “how we’ve always done it.”
  

• Overcome inertia: Make the pull of the new solution more attractive than the habit of the present.
  

• Anchor to the job:  Be the product that people reach for when they hit that wall of frustration or urgency.

This is how you build a brand without a category.

Not by defining yourself in abstract terms, but by becoming the most obvious credible answer to the real job your customer is trying to get done.

That’s Jobs-to-be-Done in action. And how category-less products win.