360 Mortgage Group Builds Brand Awareness through Relationship with Depth Public Relations

Founded in 2007 and licensed to lend in more than 20 states, 360 Mortgage Group is a wholesale mortgage banker based in Austin, Texas. With an eye and a taste for “contra strategy,” 360 Mortgage founding partners view wholesale lending as the “land of opportunity” and top quality third-party originators (TPOs) as the frontline for the restoration of confidence in the mortgage economy. 360 Mortgage Group has invested its resources in developing processes and a supporting operations infrastructure that minimize risk while maximizing benefits for its broker partners. In response to common misunderstandings related to the health and vitality of the wholesale mortgage lending model, 360 Mortgage group is dedicated to educating and informing the industry.

Challenge

“Name recognition – pure and simple,” said 360 Mortgage Group President and Founding Partner Mark Greco. “We’re an up-and-coming company, and we were struggling as we went in to new markets. When our sales reps would make office visits to prospects, people would pose the question, ‘Who’s 360?’” In an effort to ease the objections at the point of sale, Greco and his staff felt it was imperative to gain more exposure and name recognition in these target markets prior to the sales process through independent, third-party sources.

Solution

According to Greco, public relations seemed to be the natural compliment to 360’s existing marketing activities. After participating in a case study with business partner and Depth Public Relations client Del Mar Datatrac, Greco experienced first-hand the potential of public relations to increase a company’s visibility in the market.

“As a result of the case study, DepthPR Principal Kerri Milam offered to get us quoted in a couple publications, and we began participating in interviews with several of the larger mortgage and financial industry publications,” Greco explained. “The relationship evolved from there, and it seemed like a natural fit for us to engage DepthPR on a full-time basis.”

“The mortgage industry is a tight-knit group, and as an up-and-coming firm, contacts can be invaluable,” he added. “The breadth and depth of industry contacts that Kerri seemed to have made the decision to choose DepthPR that much easier.”

Results

According to Greco, DepthPR’s efforts on his company’s behalf immediately began to pay dividends by providing 360 Mortgage with the exposure it was seeking to achieve.

“We appeared in numerous publications within the first few months through interviews and bylined feature articles Depth was able to secure on our behalf. When our quotes and articles started to appear in these publications, we got an immediate, positive response from both current clients and potential clients in markets where we didn’t even have a presence, yet,” he said. “It’s always much better when you get a compliment from a third party than when you tout your own accolades, and PR gives you that third-party, independent validation that resonates with prospects in a way that advertising just can’t achieve.”

In addition to the results, Greco was also impressed with the professionalism and enthusiasm of DepthPR’s staff and the effortlessness of the integration of public relations into 360’s everyday activities.

“Working with the staff at DepthPR has been very seamless. They work well with our internal staff to make the PR process as smooth and simple as possible for us. The staff is very proactive. We don’t have to call and hound them for the things that we need. It’s been a very easy, self-perpetuating relationship.”

Overall, Greco said, the combination of marketing and public relations has poised 360 Mortgage Group for growth in a way that would not be possible by pursuing only one of these strategies alone.

“Anybody that’s going to dedicate their resources, be it human resources or financial resources, to marketing to increase brand awareness and name recognition is under-serving themselves if they are doing the marketing without doing the PR. They dovetail with each other so well, and any reputable marketing firm is going to suggest that you engage in PR along with marketing to maximize your results.”