CMO Spotlight | Alec Hanson - loanDepot
The CMO Spotlight is a chance to get an inside look into the minds and journeys of high-performing marketing leaders.
Setup President, Amanda Thompson, spoke with Alec Hanson, the Chief Marketing Officer at loanDepot, about how his irrational self-confidence allows him to embrace his inner nerd, the beauty of perspective, the power of sales experience, and more.
“You have to be a student of your own experience in real time, and then you can learn from that and adapt.”
WATCH + READ THE RECAP BELOW (SCROLL TO THE END FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW)
Q1 | What advice would you share with marketers?
“Sometimes we forget that you have to go in the dirt sometimes to really feel it and understand it.”
Hanson believes in “getting in the dirt” to understand nitty gritty details. By doing the work yourself, you can grasp more about your organization - where people are coming from, why certain things are the way they are - which, in turn, prepares you to be a better leader.
He also recommends having some experience in sales to learn more about yourself and your company because sales gives that range of perspectives to understand more.
“I think sales is one of the best jobs anyone can do. You learn a ton about humility, you learn a ton about how to find different ways to battle through hardship and adversity, so I feel like that creates a tenacity.”
Q2 | What is your superpower?
“Irrational self-confidence.”
After being bullied as a child, Hanson came to the realization that “everything is made up and that people don't really care.” If you shed the fear that people are thinking and criticizing every move you make, you’re able to reach your authentic self, and there's a lot of freedom in that.
Hanson recognizes that it is a journey and not a destination, and that aiming to get as close to that mindset as possible is the goal. Because of this mindset, he is more comfortable in his skin and being vulnerable. “I have less concern about how other people view me, and more concern about trying to be helpful to the people I want to be helpful to. And so that kind of irrational self-confidence has helped me help others.”
Q3 | What values are important to you?
“Perspective. I think that we get caught up in a lot of what life throws at us and a lot of the daily stresses, and a lot of the life stresses and corporate stresses, and all those things that come at us. But when you can really land back on perspective, you can find a lot of strength to do what needs to be done or to get through your day.”
Hanson believes that perspective allows people to look outside of themselves. So many people are caught up in their own lives that they are not overanalyzing you, and there is freedom in that. So understanding that everyone is in the same boat worrying about their own lives should alleviate some pressure.
He also loves leaders who are on the front lines who “get into the dirt” alongside their team instead of just telling their team what to do.
“They're practitioners too. They don't think they're right, they're just here to learn alongside you, and they value your opinion the same way they value their own.” Values that complement these characteristics and are also important to Hanson are humility and empathy. It takes a lot for a leader to recognize that things are changing and that they need to grow and learn with the change.
Q4 | Tell us about an impactful campaign.
Hanson gave a few small examples about getting active on social through consumer education.
His team was directly messaging consumers to educate on mortgage products. When they realized they were getting traction, his sales instincts kicked in to track leads by building a landing page. The team realized that the moment landing pages were created, the engagement disappeared.
The learning was that people wanted to chat with someone instantly and not submit their contacts to the machine. Once they implemented human interaction over direct messaging, the engagement ran back up again.
“It was a clear reminder of don't think you know it all, and I think that's a trap a lot of Marketing Executives fall into because they have deep experience and this is how the world works. It's just changing so rapidly that you have to be a student of your own experience in real time, and then you can learn from that and adapt.’
Q5 | What is a brand that you admire?
Hanson is a fan of a multitude of brands for various reasons. He loves the iconic staples like Apple and Nike, and admires the humor and brand ownership of Liquid Death, and the unique style of Red Bull. “It's fun to be inspired by some great minds that have done great things that live on in our hearts and minds.”
For more marketing leadership advice and a view into the mindset of marketing executives in various industries, be sure to watch the full interview with Alec Hanson, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.
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