Case study · Payments and AI
Taking a brand-new category term to No. 1 in US and India search
How a two-word term chosen by leadership became the top search result in two markets, backed by a positioning playbook, answer engine architecture, and a social engine that reached 338K organic impressions.
The situation
A payments engineering and AI company serving banks, fintechs, and payment companies wanted to stand apart in a market full of firms describing themselves the same way. Leadership chose a two-word category term to capture what made their engineering approach different. The term was brand new to the market.
The challenge
Turn an internal phrase into the market's reference point, in two of the company's most important markets, while building the audience that would carry the message.
What I did
Built the positioning system. I wrote a 14-step go-to-market positioning playbook covering competitive white-space mapping, brand architecture, leadership decision gates, and monthly checks on how Google AI, ChatGPT, and Perplexity describe the brand. It gave leadership one repeatable way to define, test, and approve narrative.
Built the content architecture. I created a pillar page that defined the term, a cluster of blog content around it, and an SEO and answer engine (AEO) structure designed so search engines and AI tools could quote the definition directly.
Built the audience. I launched a LinkedIn newsletter that passed 12,000 followers within two months, a leadership video series, and interview programming with the CEO and a leading industry analyst firm. Over six months, 107 company page posts earned about 338,000 organic impressions at a median 6.9% engagement.
Activated employees. A structured employee advocacy program lifted engagement to 31%. Hiring and culture stories became the page's top performers, with one hiring post reaching about 33,000 impressions.
Extended the term into events. Coordinated coverage across LinkedIn and the web carried the company's presence at major global payments events.
The results
- The category term reached No. 1 in search in both the US and India.
- The company page earned about 338,000 organic impressions in six months at a median 6.9% engagement.
- Employee advocacy engagement rose to 31%.
- I received the company-wide Rising Star award within four months of joining.
What I would tell a founder
Choose your words before your competitors choose them for you. A category term costs nothing to coin and very little to defend once it ranks. The work is in the discipline: one definition, repeated by every leader, in every channel, every week.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to rank a new category term?
In this engagement, the term reached No. 1 in US and India search within Derek's first months at the company, supported by a dedicated content architecture and consistent executive use of the term.