Case Study: Student Loan Hero
Client:
Student Loan Hero is an online platform for managing student debt headquartered in Austin, TX.
Background:
Relatively unknown in the student refinance and wanted increased awareness to drive customer acquisition.
Challenge:
They approached Ditto in October 2014 because they sought to differentiate themselves in a burgeoning, but already very crowded, industry. The CEO wanted to become widely known as an industry expert and the go-to resource for student debt, as well as other financial issues that impact Millennials.
Strategy:
Ditto focused primarily on pitching insights from Student Loan Hero’s CEO to reporters who cover student debt. The team did this through a combination of anticipating events and milestones — such as the end of the six-month federal student loan grace period — that would garner coverage, and rapid-response pitching around breaking news stories, quickly gaining the CEO’s point-of-view and inserting him into relevant stories.
Ditto mainly targeted personal finance and mainstream business publications that attract a Millennial audience. They also took advantage of the CEO’s compelling personal story and tips on starting and growing a business, allowing them to place stories in publications that cover entrepreneurism.
Results:
During the year that Student Loan Hero worked with Ditto, they received a high volume of coverage (a total of 50 media placements) in a wide variety of publications. Outlets that covered Student Loan Hero included mainstream news publications (the New York Times, Associated Press, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report and Today.com), top-tier business publications (Yahoo! Finance, Fox Business, CNBC, Forbes, TheStreet), popular personal finance blogs (Business Insider, DailyFinance, Credit.com, Money Under 30, Bankrate.com, Fiscal Times, Cheat Sheet), and small business publications (Entrepreneur, Success Magazine).
Most importantly, reporters began to recognize Student Loan Hero’s CEO as a valuable and reliable industry expert and approach him proactively seeking his insights on relevant news.
