Los Angeles is one of the least affordable housing markets in the nation, with costs 140% higher than the national average, creating steep barriers for first-time and first-generation homebuyers. Underserved communities, particularly Black, Hispanic, and lower-income families, have historically faced additional challenges, including a lack of access to financial educational resources.
To help close this gap in homeownership, LA-based City National Bank (CNB) created the Ladder Up Home Grant. This program offers eligible first-time buyers a grant to use toward their down payment and closing costs, with intent to reach underserved communities and make homeownership more attainable.
The challenge: Get the grant in front of the people who need it.
The goals:
We targeted first-time homebuyers throughout Los Angeles. To better understand them, we collected real-world questions CNB bankers receive from this group, revealing that most wondered about their ability to afford a home and asked foundational questions like “how do mortgages work?” This insight revealed a key strategic opportunity: leveraging educational, informational content to reach first-time homebuyers at the exact moments they were researching and looking for answers.
Through comprehensive search behavior analysis, we defined keyword topic clusters that fell into these categories, such as “steps to buying a home” and looked for gaps in CNB and competitor content (including government resources). This helped identify consumer needs not being addressed.
We developed a data-driven, search-first, integrated content strategy to maximize CNB's discoverability among local audiences and help them at key moments of intent across their homebuying journey.
Storytelling is essential for engaging first-time homebuyers. We designed every element of the program with clarity, trust, and accessibility in mind.
Content Design:
Articles and grant pages combine straightforward headlines, step-by-step guides, and clear CTAs, making complex concepts easy to understand. Simplified content flows, such as checklists or numeric steps, break down the homebuying journey into digestible stages.
Localization & Representation:
We purposefully chose imagery that showcased real California communities—local neighborhoods, homes, and people from a variety of backgrounds, ensuring that Black and Latino audiences saw themselves within the landing pages. We also targeted locally relevant topics, like California-specific grant information.
Search-Driven Content Integration
We leveraged multiple channels to meet homebuyers where they were, with key resources highlighted on the CNB website and distributed via targeted email campaigns and direct mailers to prospective first-time buyers.
Each channel features consistent branding, localized imagery, and clear CTAs, reinforcing relevance and trustworthiness.
By integrating digital and offline channels, we ensured that our resources were accessible, amplifying the program’s reach and impact.
Our strategy did more than inform. It shifted how people view CNB and helped grant applicants take the first steps of homeownership.
By addressing real questions of first-time buyers, CNB achieved top rankings and secured AI Overview citations, cementing the bank’s position as a go-to resource for homeownership.
We measured the success of our content marketing strategy by our ability to reach, educate, and drive action among first-time homebuyers in LA by building awareness for CNB’s Ladder Up Home Grant and increasing qualified form submissions.
The results were exceptional.
Goal: Raise awareness by generating 1M search impressions.
Result: Our strategy generated over 3.4M impressions and obtained 17K unique visitors to mortgage-focused articles and grant pages in 2024, and a 304% increase YoY from the previous year of unique visitors (4.2K). We exceeded our 1M impression goal by over 3X and achieved the highest visibility for mortgage terms in company history.
Goal: Grow content visibility by achieving a 200% increase in top 3 organic search rankings for target search terms.
Result: CNB now ranks in the top three for 274 mortgage-related keywords—a 730% increase YoY (exceeding our goal by 174%), driven by our focus on high-value, locally relevant keywords and optimizations for AI Overview citations. In 2024, CNB secured 148 AIO citations, a new benchmark.
Goal: Drive engagement and qualified leads for the Ladder Up Home Grant by increasing mortgage form submissions 100%.
Result: The program garnered 898 submissions from first-time homebuyers; a 655% YoY increase and over 8X the previous year’s mortgage submissions.
