In Seth Godin’s book, The Practice, he talks about belonging to a genre. It’s been a while since I read it, so I’ll riff on the concept a bit because it’s an interesting way to view the world.
Belonging to a genre means being similar to people or things in an existing category. You quickly “get it” when you see something that belongs to a genre you’re familiar with.
Bob Marley was part of a genre of reggae artists. Jaws is part of a few genres, including cult classics and classic thriller films. Tony Robbins is part of a genre of motivational speakers.
All genres are made up of peers who do similar things but have their own unique angle or perspective.
Belonging to a genre makes it easy for the market to understand you more quickly. They have a context to place you in.
And with that context, they can more easily see where you stand out or are unique.
It’s the difference among people within a genre that that compels people buy or engage. We want things belonging to a genre we like, but we choose which ones to engage with based on their differences.
It’s good to belong to a genre. The question is, what genre do you belong to, who are your peers, and how are you unique?