Eben Pagan teaches how to create powerful positioning by establishing new categories in customers' minds rather than competing in crowded markets. He demonstrates this strategy using his own success with "Double Your Dating" and explains how to become the "first" and "leader" in your niche.
How To Create A Powerful Reputation
Human minds organize information into categories of about seven items each. Once these mental categories are full, new entrants struggle to get noticed. This creates a fundamental challenge for businesses trying to compete in established markets.
Rather than fighting for space in crowded mental categories, successful positioning involves creating entirely new categories where you can be first. This 'bring your own bucket' approach gives automatic leadership positioning and tremendous persuasive leverage.
Eben demonstrates this principle with his own business success, carving out 'dating advice for men' from the broader relationship category. This focus on just getting dates (rather than relationships) generated millions in revenue by establishing clear category leadership.
The positioning principle applies to personal career development and product launches. By anticipating future market needs and positioning as the expert in emerging niches, professionals can build powerful reputations and competitive advantages over time.
“it's better to be first than it is to be better. And when they're saying it's better to be first what they mean is it's better to be first into the mind of your customer than it is to have a better product.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 1:11
Create a new category that you can be first in, rather than competing in crowded existing categories. Position yourself as the original and leader of that category, which gives you tremendous leverage when persuading customers.
“People will often choose the first thing that they remember, not the thing that's better.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 1:41
People remember and choose the first thing that comes to mind in a category, not necessarily the best option. Human minds can only hold about 7 items per category, so being first gives you automatic mental real estate that's hard for competitors to displace.
“what you could do is you could look out into the human resources, field, and you could ask yourself, what direction is human resources going right now? And where is it going to be in ten years?”
— Eben Pagan▶ 14:07
Look at where your industry is heading in 10 years and position yourself as the expert in that emerging niche. Create content, get education, and build a reputation in that specific area before it becomes crowded.
“instead of trying to compete with or pull people out of the bucket so that you can get in or pull businesses out of the bucket so you could get in. Bring your own bucket. In other words, create a new category that you can be first in.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 4:00
Instead of trying to compete in categories where customers' minds are already full of competitors, create an entirely new category that you can be first in. This gives you automatic leadership position rather than fighting for space in crowded markets.
“when I launch new products, I try to think of every new product as its own category. Every new product as its own category.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 12:11
Try to position every new product as its own category, saying 'this is really the first product of its kind.' Name the category and promote the category itself, not just the product, to establish leadership position.
Step-by-step process for establishing yourself as the leader in a new category rather than competing in existing ones
Identify the gap
Look at existing categories and find a specific need or angle that isn't being directly addressed
Carve out your niche
Take a small but important piece of a larger category and focus exclusively on that piece
Name the category
Create a clear, memorable name for your new category that you can own
Promote the category
Don't just promote your business - promote the entire category concept to establish its importance
Establish leadership
Position yourself as the original, the creator, and the leader of this new category
Build proof
Create content, get education, and demonstrate expertise specifically in this new category
It's better to be first in a category than to have a better product - people choose the first thing they remember, not necessarily the better option
Al Ries and Jack Trout's "22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" principle. Example: Most people think Coca-Cola was the first cola, and it's the most popular despite Pepsi repeatedly proving it tastes better.
Human minds can only remember about seven plus or minus two pieces of information in any category - once a mental category is full, no new items get added
Demonstrated with examples: naming hotel chains, car models, or rental car companies typically yields 5-9 responses before people have to think harder.
Instead of trying to compete in crowded categories, create a new category that you can be first in - "bring your own bucket"
Uses rental car company example - instead of competing against Hertz, Budget, Avis, National, and Dollar in an already-full mental category, create an entirely new category.
When you create a category, you should also promote the category itself, not just your business - this is higher-level business persuasion
Al Ries and Jack Trout recommendation to promote the entire category, working with how minds naturally categorize rather than against it.
Eben created the "dating advice for men" category by focusing on getting dates rather than relationships, generating millions in revenue
"Double Your Dating" book under pen name David D'Angelo became a multi-million dollar business selling information products and training. Carved out dating (small part) from broader relationship category.
Position yourself, your product, and your business as separate positioning exercises - consciously position all three elements
Eben's recommendation to deliberately consider positioning for personal reputation, product offerings, and business entity as distinct but related activities.
For personal positioning, look at where your industry is heading in 10 years and position yourself as the expert in that emerging niche
HR executive example: anticipating Fortune 500 companies' need for technology talent recruiting, positioning as 'tech HR leader' through blog, interviews, and specialization over 10 years.
Try to launch every new product as its own category, saying "this is really the first product of its kind"
Eben's personal strategy for product launches - attempting to position each new product in its own category rather than competing in existing categories.
It's better to be first in a category than to have a better product - people choose the first thing they remember, not necessarily the better option
▶ 1:11Human minds can only remember about seven plus or minus two pieces of information in any category - once a mental category is full, no new items get added
▶ 2:27Instead of trying to compete in crowded categories, create a new category that you can be first in - "bring your own bucket"
▶ 3:22When you create a category, you should also promote the category itself, not just your business - this is higher-level business persuasion
▶ 6:14Eben created the "dating advice for men" category by focusing on getting dates rather than relationships, generating millions in revenue
▶ 7:00Position yourself, your product, and your business as separate positioning exercises - consciously position all three elements
▶ 10:07For personal positioning, look at where your industry is heading in 10 years and position yourself as the expert in that emerging niche
▶ 12:55Try to launch every new product as its own category, saying "this is really the first product of its kind"
▶ 12:11Claim: “You need a better product to win in the marketplace”
Reframe: It's better to be first than it is to be better - people choose the first thing they remember, not necessarily the superior option
Claim: “Compete harder in existing categories to win market share”
Reframe: Create new categories that you can be first in rather than trying to displace established competitors from crowded mental categories
How To Innovate In Your Business
Discover why being first beats being better, and how Eben scaled from a single ebook to a multi-million dollar business empire by mastering the art of business innovation.
Naming Concepts Products
Discover the naming strategies behind multi-million dollar brands and why one well-chosen name can be your ultimate business leverage point.
Naming Content Increase Value
Discover how the simple act of naming your ideas can multiply their perceived value by up to 100 times.
Business Frameworks
A healthy business requires both growth and profit - growing in size and sales while making more money than it spends. When businesses aren't in a growth or profit phase, they become less enjoyable to run.
Eben explains that all businesses go through different phases, and when their business isn't in a growth phase or isn't as profitable, 'it's not as fun' and 'no one enjoys it as much.'
Innovation is the process of continually using creativity to learn about and improve on the best products and marketing you can create - it's not just about ideas or being new and different, but creating something better in the customer's eyes.
Eben defines innovation as 'creating something that's better, better in the eye of the customer, better in the eye of the user, better in the eye of the person who gives you money.'
Use technology tools like Survey Monkey, Ask databases, and free text analyzers to identify customer language patterns and unmet needs in any market
Pagan recommends textalyzer, a free online program that analyzes thousands of customer responses to show the most common one, two, three, and four-word phrases customers actually use
Every industry has huge niches with unmet customer needs that mainstream competitors overlook
In dating advice, there were millions of relationship books but nothing mainstream focused specifically on just the dating part - from before meeting someone through the first couple dates
