
Guild Mortgage Strategic Media Relations and Thought Leadership Campaign
The Challenge
NST was tasked with supporting Guild Mortgage’s overall growth initiatives and marketing plans through a strategic media relations and communications program. Our primary objective was to build wider awareness of Guild Mortgage and its various loan programs in existing and emerging markets, while working to differentiate the company from major competitors in an increasingly fragmented and competitive marketplace.
Guild Mortgage needed strong messaging and positioning to stand out from its competition, including the biggest lending institutions in the U.S and independent non-bank mortgage lenders. NST developed a comprehensive communications campaign showcasing the quality of the company and its innovative mortgage programs, the depth and experience of its people, and its commitment to opening the doors to homeownership in every community it serves. The positioning was also important to help build brand image and reputation in support of Guild’s national growth strategy to acquire smaller firms and enter new markets.
The Tactics
As part of our overall strategic media relations efforts, NST developed a comprehensive thought leadership program designed to position Guild Mortgage and its executive team as industry leaders on key topics important to its business. We worked directly with Guild’s vice president of corporate marketing and communications to establish a team of company executives who would contribute industry insights and expertise for the program. NST provided recommendations on key topics that would generate interest from targeted media, presented them to the thought leadership team and coordinated media outreach on behalf of each subject matter expert.
Once the topics were approved, NST worked directly with the appropriate Guild representative to get their feedback and perspectives on the specific topic, conducted additional research on the latest data and trend information, and drafted the article on their behalf. Our team facilitated placement of articles in major industry trade publications under the bylines of Guild executives. Additionally, NST proactively pitched Guild’s executives to speak on key topics and worked to secure opportunities for them to provide insights and analysis on industry trends.
The Results
- Members of Guild Mortgage’s executive team have become trusted resources and are regularly featured in key mortgage industry trade publications through bylined articles, profiles, features and roundup stories.
- The thought leadership program helped build key relationships with members of the media and opened the doors to future opportunities. NST and Guild are frequently contacted by members of business and industry media for comment on trends in the mortgage and housing industries. The company receives regular referrals for media opportunities from its strategic partners.
- In 2020, Guild has been covered or mentioned consistently in top-tier business publications, including Bloomberg, Forbes, Money.com, U.S. News & World Report and The Wall Street Journal.
- Guild has been featured prominently in a number of third-party reviews and rankings in 2020. In April 2020, it was named "Best Mortgage Company for First-Time Homebuyers" by Money.com and U.S. News & World Report named Guild "Best Lender for Product Selection" in August 2020.
- Guild media coverage in the first half of 2020 resulted in more than 184.4 estimated impressions, which surpassed the total impressions for coverage in all of 2019.