How to Create a New Category with Content by DAMming Demand

“How do you target people who aren’t aware they even have a problem?”

We get asked this question quite a lot, especially when we’re talking to payment companies that are looking to create a new category.

Essentially they’re asking: when you’re looking to create and define a new category, can you use content marketing to acquire customers?

Isn’t SEO and content marketing primarily to capture existing demand? And if there’s no existing demand (because people aren’t even aware they have a problem), can SEO and content marketing work well?

The answer to all these questions is: yes. And how do we know? Because we’ve done it. We’ve worked with payment companies and helped them acquire $500k+ worth in prospects with content marketing and SEO alone.

How did we do it? A big part of the strategy involved DAMming demand. We’ll get into the definitions down below, but this strategy involves targeting people who are looking for one specific solution, interrupting their search by educating them on the alternatives and then explaining why our product might be better.

No other digital channel – not Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads, online ads or newsletters – are able to target demand to the extent that SEO and search targeting does. No other channel can target someone based on intent (i.e. readiness to buy) like targeting someone doing research online via Google does.

And yet most people do it wrong. Most fintech companies will create content targeting keyphrases like “digital disruption” or “what is open banking” which aren’t relevant to their target audience.

And if they do target the right keyphrase, they’ll do it with a landing page. When you’re selling something complex like payment processing, you need to provide a lot more information than a landing page can do in order to inform your prospective buyer.

But it’s hard to know which keyphrases your target audience is searching for when in-market, without having in-depth knowledge about the product, industry and target market you sit in.

Usually, it’s the SEO agency’s job to get you ranking for the right keyphrases. But very few SEO agencies are knowledgeable about fintech, and they often won’t spend the time understanding your product, company and industry. Which means they won’t know what key phrases your ideal customers are looking for. And that’s how you end up ranking for phrases that are irrelevant like “digital disruption”.

In this article, we’ll be diving into why you should be damming demand with your content and how to do it well.

Note: join our newsletter to get updates every time we publish.

What do we mean by DAMming demand?

Damming demand means targeting people who know they have a problem, are actively looking for a solution, but aren’t aware that your solution may be the right one. Or aren’t even aware that you even exist.

In other words, you’re targeting a customer who eventually says: “I thought I wanted X, but maybe what I really need is Y?”.

You dam demand by interrupting customers as they’re shopping for something else, and then educating them on the advantages of a different solution (like what a real dam does by redirecting the flow of a river).

Refine Labs uses the example of Peloton to explain a consumer facing example of damming demand: during the pandemic, a lot of people were searching online to build their own home gym. Peloton used this as an opportunity to target those people and say “instead of building a home gym, just buy a Peloton”.

With this strategy, they were able to target highly qualified prospective customers. Someone looking to build a home gym could be in-market for a Peloton: they likely have the funds and they’re clearly looking for a way to do exercise at home. Peloton is hijacking demand for building a home gym, and educating prospects on the benefits of just buying a Peloton instead.

Your next question might be: does it work for complex B2B products? Based on our experience working with clients in complex sectors, it does.

We’re now going to show you how we’ve been damming demand for our clients with SEO and content, and how it’s helped us bring customers for our clients.

What are different types of dammed content?

The best way to explain how to dam demand with content is to go through some examples and explain the different ways to target this type of demand.

  1. Target people using “incorrect” or “partially correct” keywords

A big part of damming demand is targeting people who are using phrases that only partially describe what you do, or might even be straight up incorrect.

With this strategy, you are essentially targeting people who are looking for X, with X not being your product, or X just being part of your product. In other words, you are interrupting their search, and educating them on why they might be wrong and why your product might be better.

With this strategy, it’s very important to not be precious about the words people use to describe you. Sure, you like to call yourself “Banking as a Service” and that’s the phrase you want to be known as. But if your ideal target market is using the phrase “payment orchestration”, then you also want to rank for that so you can make sure you’re in front of the right people.

Here’s an example of this in practice: for our client Zai we wrote an article targeting the keyphrase “direct debit API”, you can see it here: Direct Debit API: How to set one up (and when to use one)

Now, it’s clear that Zai’s API does a lot more than direct debits. Via its API, companies can use Zai to accept payments, embed payments, split payments, and a whole lot more.

But that doesn’t matter. In the article, we focus on how Zai’s API works and we make it very clear in the article that Zai does so much more than direct debits. We explain that, by using Zai’s payment API, the customer can:

  • Handle more complex transactions.

  • Offer a better experience for customers.

  • Scale payments more easily as they grow.

This article performed very well and was a high performing piece for Zai. That’s because the Zai team was comfortable with accepting that we’re targeting people who don’t have the full knowledge of what Zai does, are actively looking for something else, but may still be good Zai customers (which ended up being correct).

Another example of this is an article we wrote for Parpera. Parpera is an all in one tool for freelancers: it helps with taxes, it helps with money management, it includes a business debit card, and a lot more. Part of what the Parpera tool does is help with accounting.

So we wrote a piece targeting people looking for “sole trader accounting software in Australia”: Sole Trader Accounting Software in Australia: Best Time and Money Savers?.

Again, Parpera does a lot more than just accounting and is more than accounting software. But in the article we take the time to explain why Parpera works so well for sole traders when compared with other solutions.

A third example is with a client of ours that does credit products like revenue based financing and invoice financing. One of the first articles we wrote is targeting the phrase “working capital loans”. Now, our client doesn’t do your typical business terms loans. They do other types of credit products. But it’s clear that someone looking for a working capital loan could be a good fit.

In the article we published, we explain to the reader how to look for a working capital loan and then explain why and when our client’s credit products would be a good option.

These are three examples where we’ve targeted partially correct or even incorrect (as with working capital loans) keyphrases which has allowed us to dam demand and target people who are in-market but aren’t even aware that another type of product may be a better fit.

The people doing research for a direct debit API aren’t aware of Zai. Those doing research on sole trader accounting software probably don’t know about Parpera. The businesses doing research on working capital loans don’t know about our client. And yet, all these people were actively looking for solutions like these. With content and SEO, we’re able to get in front of them, educate them and then direct them towards our client’s product.

This is how damming demand can help you create a category. You’re targeting people who might not be aware that your category (e.g. software enabled payments) exists. But since you know they are looking for something adjacent, there is a high chance they would be interested. It’s an incredibly powerful strategy, and yet one that very few fintech companies do well.

If you’re interested in doing this for your company, here are some questions you can ask yourself to see if there are any keyphrases you could target in this category:

  • What phrases do prospects use to describe what you do (even if they are incorrect)? A good idea is to go through sales recordings looking for specific phrases people use.

  • Which product feature do people understand the best? Which product feature do people come to you looking for?

  • How do people describe companies like yours in your industry?

Figure out the phrases your customers are using, check with keyword research tools to see if there is search volume, and then create content to make sure you’re ranking for those.

2. Target people with comparison posts

A few months back we did some analysis on the top converting BOFU blog posts across all our clients. Time and time again, comparison posts brought in the most leads and prospects.

We compared comparison and non-vertical specific articles. As you can see, there’s a clear winner between the two.

And yet, funnily enough, comparison posts are often the least popular ones with our clients. We usually have to hide them from the blog page because they’re embarrassed about creating content that writes about competitors.

But the fact is, you should write about your competitors. Why? Because your prospects are comparing you, whether you like it or not. And being able to control the narrative in that comparison can bring in a lot of business.

We went into more detail in this post: Why You Should Write About Your Competitors as a Fintech Company

We’ve found that there are a few types of comparison posts which are good for DAMming demand:

  • Top [industry solutions] (e.g. “Top open banking providers”)

  • Alternatives to [competitor/product] (e.g. “Alternatives to Stripe”)

  • [Competitor A] vs [Competitor B] (e.g. “Onfido vs Jumio”)

Ranking for keyphrases like these represent a huge opportunity for damming demand and acquiring customers. Because again, you are targeting people who are qualified and ready to buy, but are only aware of your competitors or industry and not you. Let’s go through some examples of each one.

“Top [industry solutions]” is a great type of keyphrase to rank for since you’re targeting people who are looking for solutions in a specific category (but might be open to another type of category). We’ve created content like this by targeting phrases like “top direct debit solutions” or “best expense software”.

For example, Jeeves, a client of ours, has a feature in their product that helps with expense management. But that’s only partially what Jeeves does. The product does a lot more than just expense management. And yet it’s worth ranking for it to educate people on Jeeves as well as why it’s better than competitors. It was also a high performing article for us: Best Expense Software for Businesses in Multiple Locations (2023)

With this article, we’re targeting people who are comparing expense software for businesses. Then, in the article we explain that a different category (business credit cards with expense software) might be a better fit for those that have offices in multiple locations.

“Alternatives to” is another type of keyphrase that can work very well with indirect competitors. Imagine your product is an accounting provider. You know people use Xero a lot, and when they type up “alternatives to Xero” think they are looking for a direct alternative. But you can hijack their research and explain how a completely different solution may be better. We did this with Parpera by ranking for “Wave alternatives”. Wave doesn’t fully do what Parpera does, but that doesn’t matter. People interested in Wave may also be interested in Parpera (plus, Wave was closing down). So we created this article that also did well: Wave Alternative In Australia: Parpera.

Again, people looking up alternatives to a competitor are a lot more open to learning about a new category, since they are clearly not happy with their competitor. This is another great way to educate high quality prospects on your category.

“Competitor A vs Competitor B + your solution” is another of our favourites because you can piggyback off a better known competitor. For example, Xero and Quickbooks are very well known accounting providers, and not many people might know about your product. You can piggyback off their credibility by creating a piece titled “Xero vs Quickbooks vs [your product]”.

That way, you are comparing the initial two that the searcher was looking for, but you’re also introducing another option that they might not be aware of. Again, this type of article has brought in a lot of conversions for us:

Here are two real examples of article we wrote:

Consider the last example: Zai is a new category of payment companies (payment orchestration). People who are comparing Adyen and Zai may not be aware that there is another category of smaller payment orchestration companies. By reading this article, they are educated on a new category and might eventually reach out (which as we know now, they did).

And being compared to two payment giants like Adyen and Stripe can only be a good thing for brand awareness.

How to create content that dams demand

As you can see in the examples above, damming demand allows you to educate prospects on a new category, while also capturing those who are ready to buy.

We believe not enough fintech companies are taking advantage of Bottom of the Funnel content and that there is a large opportunity to dam demand. If you’re interested in implementing this at your fintech company, here’s how you can get started:

  1. Do customer research to understand the phrases people are using

You can only dam demand effectively if you know the phrases people use to describe what they’re looking for. To determine that, you need to go back to good old-fashioned customer research.

The way we do this at Mint Studios is to sit down with people on the company team that are close to the customer. We usually set up a call with:

  • Salespeople

  • Product people

  • Customer success

  • Growth

And we ask them questions like:

  • What was the last prospect/company that you had a really easy time closing? What type of prospects are the ones that are the easiest to close?

  • What are you usually compared to? What are the alternatives?

  • What is the most common reason for buying your product?

  • How do they currently solve X and how much does it cost to do so?

And a lot more. You can get the full list of questions we ask by inputting your email below.

.

Once you’ve had those conversations, you can go through the transcripts and use SEO tools and Google research to figure out where the opportunities lie to dam demand.

You can then pick the ones you think will succeed the most, and start creating the content that will target those phrases.

2. When creating the structure of your content, make sure to satisfy the searcher’s intent and build trust first

It’s tempting to start off an article about “Best X tools” by immediately talking about your product. But this is the wrong way to do it. When creating an article that is damming demand, you need to remember that the searcher doesn’t know your product or company exists.

You also need to make sure you are writing for their level of knowledge. Someone looking up “alternatives to Spendesk” clearly already knows what a spend management tool is. So you don’t need to start the article with “What is a spend management tool?”. The reader will think they are in the wrong place and click away.

This is why it’s incredibly important to have the right structure and constantly put yourself in the reader’s shoes when writing the articles.

Really, you want to start off your article by directly answering the question or the phrase they typed into Google. Let’s say your product is a cash flow tool for small businesses and you’re damming demand and targeting the keyphrase “Top accounting tools”.

Here’s the structure we would follow:

  1. Talk about their pain points (i.e. the issues with accounting tools and managing cash flow)

  2. Include a list of top accounting tools (include yours on the list)

  3. AND THEN, you have a section that explains: “Why a cash flow tool might be a better solution”

In other words, start off by answering their question, build trust, and then educate them on your solution. If you start off immediately with your solution, they’ll see it as a sales pitch and click away.

The whole point of content marketing is to educate, inform and let the prospect make a decision. This needs to be at the forefront of your content strategy, even when you’re creating BOFU, sales-focused content that’s designed to acquire customers.

You can read examples of how we’ve done this here:

3. When writing about competitors, don’t punch down

There is an art to writing about competitors. You don’t have to criticize them and you don’t even have to list the benefits of their products. A simple mention can be enough.

We’ve got an entire guide on how to write about competitors here: Why You Should Write About Your Competitors as a Fintech Company

The main tips are:

  • If you’re putting together a list, put your product at the top (so you catch most people who might only read the first few paragraphs).

  • Go into a lot of depth about your product, and keep it short for your competitors (unless you know a lot about your competitors product). Focus on their features rather than their benefits.

  • Give the reader guidance on what to look for and how to pick the right tool for them.

Your main challenge will be convincing your higher ups to allow you to do this, especially in fintech where people may be worried about compliance. Show them the screenshots that show how comparison articles bring in the most conversions, along with this article, so they understand that not writing this type of content is leaving customers, and therefore revenue, on the table.

4. If you can, base your content on an interview with an expert

As long time readers will know, we base 90% of our content on an interview with an internal expert. This allows us to get insights we wouldn’t get by doing research online, as well as an ability to write true thought leadership content.

Most of the articles we’ve linked to above were based on an interview with an expert – either a salesperson or product person. Your salespeople will know the disadvantages of your competitors’ products, what the key pain points of prospects are and will know what are the best value proposition to include in the article. You want to make sure you can get their insights so your article does an even better job of damming demand.

For example, in the direct debit comparison article we linked to above, one key feature/benefit of working with Zai is that they charge flat fees rather than fees based on a percentage, like other payment providers do. We were only aware of that because the salesperson we interviewed explained it was a key differentiator from other competitors, and one that customers valued a lot more.

You can learn more about interviewing experts here: Why You Should Create Content Based on Interviews With Experts

You can establish a new fintech category with content by damming demand

If you’re creating content, focused on acquiring customers and have the even more difficult task of establishing a new category, then damming demand needs to be part of your content strategy.

By listening carefully to the phrases prospects and customers use, creating content that builds trust and then educating the reader on your solution as an alternative, you can acquire customers with content. And we hope that via the examples above, you can see that whether your product is a straightforward SaaS or complex payment product, it’s a strategy that will work.


Financial Services Content StrategyAraminta Robertson