Borderwise

Challenge

Borderwise, a U.S. visa and green card application service, was a newly launched start-up company. Looking to disrupt the immigration services market, it struggled to earn credibility with its target audiences, which included green card eligible families and lawyers who provide services to them. The company needed national coverage from a highly respected media organization to create brand awareness along with trust.

Insight

When an Executive Order went into place restricting immigrants from seven mostly Muslim countries, the CEO of Borderwise knew he had to take action. An immigrant himself, he offered $1 application preparation to 300,000 low-income people eligible for green cards who could not afford it on their own. Slice made the most of this newsjacking opportunity using a public relations technique that leverages a news item to generate coverage. We reached out to a few top-tier national reporters that had been covering the human side of the travel ban and told them about Borderwise and its CEO’s own immigrant story. We asked them to help us get the word out about this offer to eligible low-income families. The first to respond was The Washington Post.

Success

Three days after starting this engagement, we were able to secure a story for Borderwise with The Washington Post. The company received 100 requests and 400 signups directly from that article in less than a week, which was significantly more than any other marketing tactic at that time. Borderwise was also able to use the halo of the article and The Washington Post on its website and in its other marketing and sales efforts.

“I could not have been more impressed with Cass and Slice Communications,” said Jeremy Peskin, CEO of Borderwise. “We discussed our objectives and brainstormed on how she could help us achieve them. She was attentive, insightful and goal-oriented. Within about two hours of that meeting she had already delivered concrete results, which had a significant and measurable impact on our bottom line.”