Article · July 3, 2026

Naming and messaging when the category is changing

How to choose naming and messaging while a category is still forming, the risk of borrowing category language too early, and a test for whether a message survives the next shift.

By Marsden Advisory· Updated September 17, 2026

We have watched clients rename twice in four years because they attached themselves to whatever the analysts were calling the space that year.

## Name the job, borrow the category

Let the name describe what you do for whom, and use current category language in the supporting copy where it is cheap to change. Then a category shift costs you a paragraph rather than a rebrand and a domain migration.

## Test the message against a shift

Ask what the message would need to become if the leading category term disappeared. If the answer is everything, the message is renting its meaning from someone else's roadmap.

Where this applies

  • Branding

Work with Marsden Advisory

This article comes from the work Marsden Advisory does. See what they offer, the results they can evidence, and how to start a conversation.

More from Marsden Advisory