INTERVIEW

Founded in 1996, LendingTree offers a fast, online way to comparison shop for loans by providing a marketplace where consumers can submit one online loan request and receive real offers from multiple lenders. Joshua Francia, Vice President of Marketing at LendingTree, describes the company’s growth within the context of a nascent industry that is rapidly expanding.

Francia says the company defines growth by both top-line revenue and profit margin based on variable marketing dollars, and those definitions are widely understood across the company. His role is focused on magnifying the customer database and providing them with a superior experience. “I forge strategic alliances with publishers and other media outlets that have endemic audiences that would be interested in the products that we serve.” Due to the nascent stage of the industry, a key component to the company’s growth strategy is increasing awareness. LendingTree cycles about two-thirds of its revenues back into advertising efforts. “We are definitely in a growth mindset,” he explains. “As such, we need to spend quite a bit of money to educate consumers that this is important and valuable to them and make sure that we are visible in all of the places where people are searching for money.”

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