Company: Digital Risk, Orlando, FL, USA
Company Description: Touching over 40,000 files each and every month, Digital Risk is the largest independent provider of Quality Control, Due Diligence, Valuations, and Fulfillment Services for the complex and dynamic financial services market.
Nomination Category: Communications & Marketing Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Business-to-Business Marketing Campaign of the Year

Nomination Title: Digital Risk Thought Leadership Campaign

Tell the story of this nominated marketing campaign for the judges (up to 525 words). Describe the genesis, planning, execution, and results to date of your campaign. If applicable, remember to describe what's unique or innovative about your campaign:

Last July, Digital Risk VP of Marketing & Public Relations Kim Lanham embarked on a campaign to drive top-line growth through thought leadership and content marketing. To achieve this, she enlisted the assistance of Supervisor, Employer Branding Bridget Brennan to assist with content creation and two marketing team members to assist with digital and social media execution. Coincidentally, all of these team members were female.

As part of the campaign, Kim and team set a goal to increase free media coverage and decrease paid-for content or advertising. The team also aimed to decrease the company’s reliance on two PR firms, and instead bring some PR functions in-house. As a result of this effort, the team was able to gain media coverage for 10 company executives; previously, only three executives were featured in the news. The team secured over 50 by-lined or quoted articles in national trade publications and top daily newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USATODAY. The team also secured over 20 national industry-specific and business awards for the company and company executives, such as HousingWire’s TECH100 and a Gold Stevie for “Business Development Achievement of the Year” at the Stevies’ Sales & Customer Service Awards. Further, the team created, promoted and implemented more than five national, industry events that garnered more than 100 attendees, such as the Digital Risk and Hunton & Williams’ “Managing Credit Risk Transfers” Symposium and the Digital Risk and National Mortgage News’ “Increasing the Mortgage Inventory” Webinar.

Due to these successes, Digital Risk advanced its position as a leader in the mortgage finance space. Company leaders were increasingly asked to sit as panelists for industry conferences and summits, the company’s Managing Partners Jeff Taylor and Sesha Dhanyamraju were increasingly asked to appear on broadcast interviews with CNBC, FOX, BNN, etc. and in business columns in Huffington Post and USATODAY, and the company was approached to publicly support third-party products, such as Ellie Mae’s Encompass.

So what does this mean for Digital Risk in terms of numbers? Digital Risk was able to cut advertising costs by almost 40% and decreased engagement with one PR firm to the extent that public relations costs were cut by almost 20%. Additionally, Digital Risk increased its website traffic through free social media and content marketing efforts. For example, referral traffic from LinkedIn increased over 25%, from Facebook over 60%, and from online industry websites by 30%. All of these activities culminated in driving new business relationships and enhancing current existing ones. As a result, the company had its second best quarter in terms of revenue in company history during Q2 2015!!

The best part of this success is that it just keeps on giving. As more and more Digital Risk executives gain features in industry publications, awards and events, the company gains more credibility as an industry leader. Further the company is gaining this exposure with less advertising cost and less manpower!

The truly remarkable part of this campaign is that it was planned and implemented by just four businesswomen. These four ladies truly made a mark on the housing sector!

Provide a brief biography of the leader of the team that planned and executed this marketing campaign (up to 125 words):

As Vice President, Marketing & Public Relations, Kim is responsible for overseeing business development and strategizing solutions for clients that fulfill Digital Risk's mission of Making Mortgages Safe. Her purview includes the design, development and execution of strategic internal and external communications.

Kim is a requested speaker and industry panelist and frequently sits on various symposium panels. In 2015, Kim was named to Mortgage Professional America Magazine’s Elite Women in Mortgage, selected as one of HousingWire’s Women of Influence, and won a Silver Stevie Award for “Communications Team of the Year.”

Kim earned 2 Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of South Florida, a Masters of Applied Economics from the University of Central Florida, as well as an MBA in Management from Rollins College.