Homepage ranks higher than the other pages

Hi all, new here.
I have the interesting problem of a homepage ranking way more highly for a major keyword while the collection page with content optimized for that specific keyword ranking many pages down the SERPs.It`s partly the fault of a lot of early backlinks being directed to the homepage instead of pages more relevant to the keyword, but I need customers going to the collection page now, not homepage. This is particularly an issue as a competitor is higher on page 1, but it seems silly to direct more links and social signals at the homepage when it`s not the page I`d prefer customers be directed to. Thoughts on resolving this? Throwing more links and signals at the optimized page doesn`t seem to be doing all that much.