How to create demand when buyers don’t see the problem | MarTech

Most marketing is based on recognized pain points. Customers know they have problems, so they look for solutions. Your job as a marketer is to position your product as the best answer.

But what happens when your innovation solves a problem that the public has not yet recognized? When customers are satisfied with the status quo even though better alternatives exist? When the pain is invisible because that’s how things work?

One of the most complex challenges of marketing is creating demand when the problem itself is not recognized. Traditional tactics fail here because you can’t capture a demand that doesn’t exist. You have to generate it.

Why traditional marketing fails

Search optimization, paid acquisition and comparison content all rely on existing search behavior. People recognize problems and look for solutions. Your marketing intercepts that intention and converts it.

This fails when the public is satisfied with inadequate processes because they are not looking for alternatives to problems they do not recognize. For example, many organizations view manual processes and legacy systems as established infrastructure rather than inefficient barriers to growth. This is what they are familiar with, so why would they make changes?

Research from HubSpot shows 30% of marketers still cite lead generation as one of their top marketing challenges. The gap between having valuable technology and making customers understand that it needs it determines whether innovation reaches the market or remains unknown.

Competitive differentiation is premature if the audience does not understand that the category exists. Feature marketing is pointless if the audience doesn’t know why features matter. You can’t win a race if customers don’t know they have to run.

From unknown platform to category authority

Dwolla, a payment platform designed to simplify account-to-account transfers, faced exactly this challenge. Their technology could save companies time and reduce costs in payment processing, but their main obstacle was convincing potential customers that their payment systems were broken.

For payment fintechs, the marketing challenge revolved around digital transformation: how do you create demand when the public is satisfied with paper checks and outdated ACH files? Traditional tactics couldn’t work because companies weren’t looking for payment alternatives. The problem was invisible.

Over 90 days, the company switched from product marketing to problem education. This strategy focused on securing media attention, developing executive leadership, and positioning business leaders as experts who understood the payment infrastructure challenges that companies had not yet articulated.

The approach targeted more than 100 media channels and generated hundreds of coverage and engagement on social media. Instead of explaining the features, the marketing reframed the way companies think about moving money. By first defining the problem space, the brand strengthened its position as a credible voice in fintech.

The framework for bringing invisible problems to market

Creating demand for unrecognized problems requires three strategic phases:

Phase 1: Make the invisible visible

The public must recognize the inefficiency before considering alternatives. This means educational content that exposes hidden costs in the current approach. Quantify what ‘how things work’ actually costs in time, money or missed opportunities.

Don’t lead with solutions. Lead with problem diagnosis. Show the public that their standardized processes are costing them more than they realize. Use data, comparisons and reframing to make known challenges suddenly visible.

Podcast placements work particularly well for issue education because they allow for in-depth exploration of challenges that the audience has not yet fully considered. Long conversations reveal complexities that short content cannot address. Turn the most insightful parts of the conversation into sound bites and quotes that you can amplify on your social networks.

Phase 2: Build authority in the problem space

If the public doesn’t know they have problems, product marketing is premature. First, build credibility around understanding the pain.

Executive thought leadership, media presence and speaking opportunities position your company as experts who have deep insights into the challenges that audiences are just beginning to recognize. Knowing the problem so clearly makes your solution worth evaluating.

In this phase you build confidence in your diagnosis before introducing products. Authority in defining the pain turns to credibility in solving it.

Phase 3: Create the category through education

Creating demand requires introducing new vocabulary and frameworks for thinking about known challenges. Yes, you bring a product to the market, but you also teach a market to look at problems differently.

This is where media-forward strategies are most important. Secure coverage that introduces concepts, not products. Pitch problem-oriented stories that help audiences reframe their thinking. At this stage, it’s better to keep an eye on conversation shifts rather than conversion metrics.

Track voice share in issue discussions and measure the quality of media coverage and executive visibility. Keep an eye on whether target groups are discussing the problem, even if they are not yet thinking about solutions. Shifts in conversations and evolution in awareness predict future demand better than current conversion rates.

When should you apply this framework?

This approach applies when audiences are satisfied with the status quo, there is no existing search behavior for your category, and you are creating a market rather than competing.

Traditional marketing works when pain points are recognized, alternatives already exist, and established search patterns reveal demand. Knowing the challenge you face determines your entire strategy.

When customers are looking for solutions, respond to that demand. If they are satisfied with inadequate alternatives, you need to create demand by first making problems visible.

From capturing to creating

The gap between having transformative technology and making markets understand that it needs it separates category creators from unknown innovations. Creating categories requires patience and educating markets before selling to them.

When organizations successfully bring solutions to invisible problems to market, they teach audiences to see challenges before introducing answers. The marketing shift is fundamental, from ‘this is why we are better’ to ‘this is why what you do costs more than you realize’. Problem recognition comes before solution evaluation. Always.

When your innovation solves problems that the audience hasn’t yet addressed, your marketing must create the vocabulary they will ultimately use to search for you.