marketing interview assignment example

By Mike Simpson

Marketers aren’t strangers to promotion. After all, their main job is to showcase the virtues of products or services and get people to buy. When you think about it, they should be naturals when it comes to answering marketing interview questions, right?

Highlighting their expertise should be right up their alley. Well, not necessarily.

Self-promotion isn’t always easy. Somehow, it’s different when you have to talk about yourself. You might worry about coming off as a braggart, causing you to hold back.

Plus, if a person decides to say no to an energy drink, streaming services, or anything else, that product or service isn’t going to “feel” rejected. But, if the hiring manager says no to you, you’ll experience that sting, and that’s scary.

Nerves get the better of a ton of candidates, causing them to struggle during interviews. They just aren’t sure how to sell themselves like they do anything else. Luckily, you can harness your skills in a way that leads to job search success.

Take our hand and let us show you the way.

How to Answer Marketing Interview Questions

Okay, we know that you’re looking for marketing interview question examples, and we promise we’ll get to that. But first, we want to spend a minute on something else that’s excruciatingly important: your interview strategy.

By learning the right approach, you’ll be ready to face expected interview questions and navigate ones that take you by surprise. After all, you can’t predict everything the hiring manager may ask; that’s simply not possible.

So, how do you prepare for the unpredictable? With research and proper technique.

When you’re prepping for an interview, information is your friend. By digging in, you’ll learn critical tidbits that can help you cover your bases and stand out from the crowd.

In an interview, the hiring manager wants to figure out if you have what it takes to excel in the job. Essentially, they need to know if you have the right skills and traits . Which ones are the right ones? Well, the ones in the job description .

So, scour the job ad, especially the must-haves list. It’ll tell you a ton about what the hiring manager wants to find. That’ll be your foundation.

But don’t stop yet. Keep your research cap on and head to the company’s website. There, look for the mission and values statements. Those little chunks of text are chocked full of clues about the kind of person that will mesh with the culture. Plus, they reflect the company’s priorities. If you can discuss those points a bit in your interview, you’re going to separate yourself from the pack.

Now that you know what to talk about, let’s focus on how to cover it. Crafting great answers to marketing interview questions doesn’t happen by accident. Instead, it’s a skill, one you can learn.

Usually, traditional interview questions are simple. It’s the behavioral interview questions that are tricky. Luckily, we have a technique for you.

Start by using the STAR Method , turning a blasé response into a compelling story. Then, it’s the Tailoring Method you want to use, allowing you to make your answer relevant.

Together, those techniques let you craft highly targeted and engaging responses, significantly increasing your odds of interview success.

We also wanted to let you know that we created an amazing free cheat sheet that will give you word-for-word answers for some of the toughest interview questions you are going to face in your upcoming interview. After all, hiring managers will often ask you more generalized interview questions along with their marketing specific questions!

Click below to get your free PDF now:

Get Our Job Interview Questions & Answers Cheat Sheet!

FREE BONUS PDF CHEAT SHEET: Get our " Job Interview Questions & Answers PDF Cheat Sheet " that gives you " word-word sample answers to the most common job interview questions you'll face at your next interview .

CLICK HERE TO GET THE JOB INTERVIEW QUESTIONS CHEAT SHEET

1. When a next-generation product hits the market, how do you position a legacy product to ensure its long-term success?

When the newest version releases, companies don’t necessarily remove the legacy product or service from the market. Hiring managers ask this question to see how a candidate may ensure that prior versions remain successful. Plus, they want to know if you can leverage them, creating new interest.

EXAMPLE ANSWER:

“When the next-gen product enters the market, I strive to position the legacy option as a solution for price-sensitive consumers. My goal is to showcase it as a bargain, allowing it to serve as a lower point of entry for customers who may otherwise be priced out. For example, in my last role, I created a marketing campaign that showcased the legacy product as feature-rich yet budget-friendly. The combined approach kept interest in it high and also allowed us to position the next-gen product as a premium version, an approach that also yielded positive results.”

2. For social media marketing, which platforms do you prefer and why?

The social media landscape is always expanding, and many companies don’t know where to focus their energies. They may turn to their marketing experts to figure out which platforms need attention. With this marketing interview question, the hiring manager wants to learn more about how you decide between the slew of options.

“Each social media platform has its merits. Plus, they represent different audiences. As a result, I vary my approach based on the product and the ideal consumer. If the goal is to appeal to younger generations, I may favor platforms that resonate with the under-30 group, like Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok. Facebook and YouTube can be excellent additions for reaching nearly any generation since they rate the highest in overall usage. However, Facebook is essentially a must for targeting adults over 30. Ultimately, my goal would be to embrace platforms that the target market connects with, allowing me to showcase a product or service in a place they already frequent. That creates the widest reach while remaining relevant to the audience.”

3. Tell me about a marketing trend that’s caught your eye. What about it interests you?

Marketing, like many fields, is ever-evolving. If you aren’t staying on top of trends, your campaigns might not be as effective.

Hiring managers want to know that you’re vigilant about up-and-coming techniques and tools. That’s why they ask you to discuss trends. Additionally, candidates who follow industry news on their own time tend to be more passionate about the field than their less-informed counterparts, giving hiring managers another reason to dig into the topic.

“There are quite a few trends that I’ve kept on my radar recently. Shoppable posts have me particularly intrigued, especially on platforms like Instagram. The visual nature of the platform makes it ideal for showcasing certain products, and the ability for users to actively pursue those that interest them allows the initial connection to advance a user through the sales funnel with greater ease. It simplifies the buying process, shortening it dramatically, while also making use of a platform that users already frequent and trust. I think there is a significant amount of potential there, and believe it’s a trend that will quickly become a norm in the marketing industry.”

32 More Marketing Interview Questions

Here are 32 more marketing interview questions you may face when you meet with a hiring manager:

What social media tools do you use and why?
Is face-to-face marketing still valuable or necessary? Why or why not?
How would you manage the launch of a new product or service?
Describe the difference between direct and indirect marketing.
What research techniques do you use to identify potential customers for a new product or service?
Tell me about the biggest marketing challenge you’ve faced. How did you overcome it?
Describe a time where you made a mistake with how you positioned a product or service. What did you do to fix the issue?
When it comes to products or services like ours, do you think a hard sell or soft sell is the better approach? Why?
Tell me about your all-time favorite campaign. What about it resonates with you?
If you had to sum up our product or service in one word, what would it be? How would you use that to determine the direction of a campaign?
What do you do when you present an idea for a campaign, and it’s rejected?
Do you think that email marketing is still viable? Why or why not?
If you could pick any slogan for our product or service, what would you recommend?
When developing a campaign concept, do you prefer to work alone or as part of a team? Why?
Can you tell me about your most successful campaign? What about it made it shine?
Tell me about your least successful campaign? What went wrong, and what did you learn from the experience?
The coronavirus pandemic forced many companies to rethink their marketing. What changes do you think yielded positive results? Do you believe some resulted in negative outcomes?
Who do you think is our biggest competitor? How can we differentiate our product or service from theirs?
Which traits are most critical for being a successful marketer?
In your own words, what do you think is the goal of marketing?
Why did you decide to launch a career in marketing?
What about this marketing position appeals to you, and why?
The marketing industry has changed dramatically in recent years. What changes do you think are on the horizon, and why?
Can you describe your experience with paid advertising?
What steps do you take to generate organic traffic?
Have you created campaigns for products or services that are similar to ours?
Tell me about a time where you achieved a marketing objective while dealing with a tight budget.
Can you describe who you think our target market is?
Are you familiar with our product or service? What about it stands out to you?
Do you follow any brands on social media? If so, which ones, and why? If not, why do you choose not to?
What resources do you turn to when you want to stay on top of industry trends?
Do you think a social media presence is a must for companies? Why or why not?

5 Good Questions to Ask at the End of a Marketing Interview

As you wrap up with the last marketing interview questions, you’ll usually get a chance to ask a few of your own. This is an exceptional opportunity, so you need to have a few questions at the ready. That way, you’ll come off as more engaged. Plus, you’ll have a chance to discover details that let you know if the job is actually a good match for you.

If you don’t know what to ask the hiring manager, here are five great standby questions to use at the end of your marketing interview:

Which of the company’s past marketing campaigns was most successful? Which one was the least successful?
What does a typical day in this marketing position look like?
Does this role focus on a single product or service, or will it be responsible for campaigns across the board?
What are the marketing team’s greatest strengths? Are there any weaknesses that my skillset could cover?
Has the company faced any unique challenges when it comes to engaging with their target market?

Putting It All Together

It’s true; even marketers can struggle when it’s interview time. But, by embracing the tips above and studying the marketing interview questions, you can make sure you’re ready to shine. After all, the interview is just a campaign about you. So, take a deep breath, have faith in your skills, and show that hiring manager that you’re an amazing candidate.

FREE : Job Interview Questions & Answers PDF Cheat Sheet!

Download our " Job Interview Questions & Answers PDF Cheat Sheet " that gives you word-for-word sample answers to some of the most common interview questions including:

What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
What Is Your Greatest Strength?
Tell Me About Yourself
Why Should We Hire You?

Click Here To Get The Job Interview Questions & Answers Cheat Sheet

Co-Founder and CEO of TheInterviewGuys.com. Mike is a job interview and career expert and the head writer at TheInterviewGuys.com.

His advice and insights have been shared and featured by publications such as Forbes , Entrepreneur , CNBC and more as well as educational institutions such as the University of Michigan , Penn State , Northeastern and others.

Learn more about The Interview Guys on our About Us page .

About The Author

Mike simpson.

Co-Founder and CEO of TheInterviewGuys.com. Mike is a job interview and career expert and the head writer at TheInterviewGuys.com. His advice and insights have been shared and featured by publications such as Forbes , Entrepreneur , CNBC and more as well as educational institutions such as the University of Michigan , Penn State , Northeastern and others. Learn more about The Interview Guys on our About Us page .

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3 content marketing interview assignments to qualify candidates

Here are three basic writing prompts you can send as content marketing interview assignments for candidates to confirm their skillset.

Get monthly GTM frameworks in your inbox.

Here is an email you can send to candidates that you have selected based on their profile (resume), work portfolio and maybe a cover letter.

Now that you’re ready to schedule interviews, you may want to ask them to do a bit of homework that applies to your product/company.

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“ Dear Jane,

Thank you for applying for the content manager position at our company.

In addition to getting to know you through video interviews, it’s going to be your work that will impress us. For that reason, we encourage you to complete one (or more) of the writing prompts below before we start the interviews.

To make your work meaningful, we came up with three examples that are real and should be usable right away. In your role as our Partner Content Marketer, the Content Buck stops with you. No one should have to review your work before it goes ‘live’. So make sure this is of the right quality level. Feel free to have others review it before you send it to us.

If we like your work, we would love to use it and will, of course, compensate you accordingly."

Wow prompt - make our audience notice us

"Please write a short piece that builds on some of the ideas found on our website. Use language that draws in our audience. Turn the voice from being about us into text with our Customers or Partners at the center. Make our audience the hero. This article should be about them and their needs and aspirations. Consider a headline that could be the subject line for an email or the first sentence in Google Search results. It has to grab attention and have our audience want to click on it and learn more."

How prompt - help our audience through their journey

"This piece is about guiding our audience on their path to become more productive. Use education, answering potential questions (how to), lists and guidelines to help someone take the next step at any stage in their journey. You can focus on the first stage where they are still figuring out if they have a need, and contemplate possible solutions. Or the second stage where they are looking at multiple options to solve for their needs. Or the final stage where they may have settled on wanting to work with a solution that we offer, and now they want to make sure they can trust us, rely on us and make the jump to commitment. Write a short text that helps people answer questions they have, or learn something to help them along their journey."

Now prompt - calling someone to action

"Write an email that can be the first email of that new service. Help them understand how to start. The email needs to start with their needs in mind. We need to assure our new customer that we know what we're doing by taking them by the hand. We want to make it easy for them to follow our lead. The customer wants us to become their trusted guide.

Feel free to pick any of the three examples that help you impress us. You can do more than one as well. This exercise is not about quantity though. It’s about letting your qualities and talents shine.

Thank you again for applying to become part of our team. This role is one of the most strategic positions on the team, and we look forward to seeing your work and get to know you better.

Please post your work as a google doc and share it with us at least a day before your interview.”

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Marketing Interview Questions (15 Questions + Answers)

Are you preparing for a marketing job interview? This article is a compilation of the most common marketing interview questions and answers to help you land the job.

Note that every industry needs marketing, and your answers need to match the industry of the company you’re applying for. I’ve provided specific examples of real-world industries.

1) Why are you interested in a career in marketing?

Express your genuine interest in marketing. Discuss what aspects of marketing excite you, such as creativity, strategy, or the opportunity to understand and connect with diverse audiences.

Sample answer (using Coca-Cola as an example):

"I'm passionate about marketing because it blends creativity and strategy in a way that no other field does. My strengths in storytelling and data analysis are perfectly suited for this dynamic environment. I'm particularly fascinated by how marketing can shape consumer perceptions and build lasting brand relationships. This role at Coca-Cola excites me because it aligns with my goal to excel in brand marketing. I've been inspired by Coca-Cola's 'Share a Coke' campaign, which brilliantly personalized the brand experience and fostered community engagement. Joining a team that values innovative and emotionally resonant marketing strategies is a thrilling prospect for me."

This response is effective because it expresses a genuine passion for the creative and analytical aspects of marketing. It also aligns the candidate's skills with the requirements of a marketing role.

2) What is a marketing trend or campaign you liked?

Pick a campaign that is well-known and relevant to the industry or type of marketing the company you're interviewing with is involved in.

Be specific about what aspects of the campaign you found appealing. Was it the creativity, the use of technology, the way it connected with the audience, or its measurable results?

Sample answer:

"I was particularly impressed by the 'Real Beauty' campaign by Dove. What stood out to me was how it broke industry norms by using real people instead of models in its ads, challenging traditional beauty standards. This approach not only garnered significant positive media attention but also sparked important conversations about beauty and self-esteem. The campaign’s success was evident in its viral spread and the substantial increase in brand engagement. It demonstrated the power of authenticity and social responsibility in marketing. I believe these principles are increasingly important in today's market and are closely aligned with [Company's] commitment to authentic marketing."

This answer is effective because it identifies a specific and well-known marketing campaign and demonstrates your ability to analyze a campaign's impact.

3) What do you think of our recent marketing campaign?

When responding to this question, it’s important to show that you've done your homework and can provide thoughtful, constructive feedback.

"I was really impressed with your recent 'Go Green' campaign. The use of social media to engage with a younger audience was particularly effective, and the visually appealing content did a great job of highlighting your commitment to sustainability. The campaign clearly resonated with the eco-conscious values that your brand represents. One area for potential growth could be leveraging influencer partnerships to amplify the message further. Given my experience in influencer marketing and a deep understanding of sustainability issues, I see a great opportunity to enhance future campaigns along these lines."

This answer is effective because it shows that you have researched and understood the campaign. It also provides positive feedback, reflecting an ability to recognize what works.

4) How do you manage the launch of a new product?

For this question, it’s important to mention how you would develop a marketing strategy that includes positioning, messaging, and choosing the right mix of marketing channels.

"Successfully launching a new product begins with thorough market research and understanding the product's unique value proposition. I develop a comprehensive marketing strategy that aligns with the product's strengths and targets the right audience. Collaboration with product development and sales teams is crucial to ensure consistent messaging and goals. I prioritize a mix of digital and traditional marketing channels tailored to our target demographic, backed by a well-structured timeline and budget. Throughout the launch, I closely monitor key performance indicators and am prepared to adjust the strategy for optimal results. My approach is data-driven and customer-focused, ensuring that we not only meet but exceed our launch objectives."

This answer is effective because it demonstrates a structured and strategic approach to product launches while showcasing your ability to think critically and adapt based on data.

5) Can you describe a successful marketing campaign you've worked on?

There are several key points to mention when answering this question. Articulate your role in the campaign, the objectives, the actions you took, and the results achieved.

"In my previous role, I was responsible for a digital marketing campaign aimed at increasing brand awareness among young adults. My main tasks included developing the content strategy and managing social media channels. We utilized a mix of influencer collaborations, engaging video content, and targeted social media ads. One of our key innovations was leveraging user-generated content to increase engagement. The campaign resulted in a 30% increase in social media followers and a 20% uplift in website traffic over three months. It also significantly boosted our brand's visibility among the target demographic. This experience taught me the importance of a targeted approach and the power of integrating user content into our marketing strategy."

This answer is effective because it details the strategy and execution, showing your active involvement. It also highlights the successful outcomes with specific metrics.

6) How do you measure the success of a marketing campaign?

Start by identifying the KPIs relevant to the campaign, which could include sales, website traffic, conversion rates, customer engagement, brand awareness, etc.

Then, explain how these KPIs align with the broader business objectives of the campaign.

"To measure the success of a marketing campaign, I focus on both quantitative and qualitative KPIs. Quantitatively, I look at sales figures, website traffic, conversion rates, and social media engagement metrics. These provide clear insights into customer response and campaign reach. Qualitatively, customer feedback and brand sentiment are crucial for understanding the impact on brand perception. I use tools like Google Analytics for website metrics and social media analytics for engagement tracking. It's also important to align these metrics with the company's broader business goals, ensuring the campaign contributes to overall growth. Regular analysis of these metrics allows for timely adjustments to optimize campaign performance. I assess the long-term effects on brand loyalty and customer relationships, as these are key indicators of sustained success."

This answer is effective because it emphasizes the importance of both quantitative and qualitative metrics. It also shows an understanding of using specific tools for tracking.

7) What digital marketing tools are you familiar with?

When answering this question, list the tools and briefly describe how you have used them in your work. This shows your practical experience and understanding of the tools' applications in various marketing scenarios.

"I have experience with a range of digital marketing tools that enhance campaign effectiveness and efficiency. I’ve used Hootsuite for social media management, which enabled me to schedule posts and monitor social media channels effectively. For SEO, I’ve utilized SEMrush to analyze website performance and optimize content for search engines. In email marketing, I’m proficient with Mailchimp, where I’ve created and managed email campaigns that resulted in a 20% increase in open rates. Google Analytics has been my go-to for monitoring web traffic and user behavior, which has been instrumental in shaping marketing strategies. I’m always keen to explore new tools and technologies to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving digital marketing landscape."

This answer is effective because it lists specific digital marketing tools, showing your familiarity with essential tools in the field. It also provides context on how you’ve used these tools, demonstrating practical experience.

8) Tell me about a time you had to work with a difficult team member

Explain what made the team member difficult to work with, but avoid negative or personal remarks. Then, detail the steps you took to address the situation.

"In a previous project, I worked with a team member who was consistently resistant to new ideas. Initially, this created tension in the team, as we were trying to innovate our approach. I took the initiative to have a one-on-one conversation with them to understand their concerns. Through active listening, I learned they felt their experience wasn't being valued. We agreed to incorporate their insights into the planning phase, which they appreciated. This approach helped in easing their resistance and improved collaboration. As a result, our project was successful and on time. This experience taught me the importance of open communication and empathy in resolving team conflicts. It also reinforced the value of diverse perspectives in strengthening a team's output."

This answer is effective because it demonstrates your ability to communicate effectively and empathetically. It also focuses on positive actions taken and the successful outcome.

9) Describe a situation where you had to meet a tight deadline

When answering this question, it's important to illustrate your ability to manage time effectively, prioritize tasks, and maintain high-quality work under pressure.

"Recently, I had to launch a digital marketing campaign within a two-week timeframe, which was half the usual duration due to an upcoming product release. As the lead on the project, I immediately re-prioritized our team's tasks and streamlined the approval processes. I also delegated specific responsibilities, ensuring each team member had a clear focus. To stay on track, we held brief daily check-ins to monitor progress and address any immediate challenges. Despite the tight deadline, we successfully launched the campaign on time. It resulted in a 25% higher engagement rate compared to our previous campaigns, likely due to the timely and relevant content. This experience reinforced the importance of effective time management, clear communication, and the power of teamwork in meeting tight deadlines."

This is a great response because it clearly outlines a specific situation with a tight deadline, demonstrates your leadership and organizational skills, and shows that you can deliver results under pressure.

10) How do you stay updated with the latest marketing trends and tools?

You should talk about various sources you rely on for the latest trends, such as industry blogs, newsletters, webinars, and conferences.

One thing that many marketers fail to mention is the importance of networking with other professionals and participating in marketing communities or forums, so be sure to mention this.

"To stay updated with the latest marketing trends and tools, I regularly read industry publications like 'Marketing Week' and 'AdAge'. I also subscribe to several digital marketing newsletters, such as 'HubSpot's Marketing Blog', which provide insights into emerging trends and best practices. Attending webinars and annual marketing conferences like 'Digital Summit' is another way I keep my knowledge current. I actively participate in online forums and LinkedIn groups where I exchange ideas with peers. Recently, I completed a course in data-driven marketing from Coursera to enhance my analytical skills. I make it a point to apply new learnings in my projects, experimenting with the latest tools and methodologies. This approach not only keeps me informed but also ensures I'm adaptable in the ever-evolving field of marketing."

This answer is effective because it shows a mix of self-initiated learning and community engagement. It also indicates a commitment to ongoing professional development.

11) Can you explain the difference between inbound and outbound marketing?

For this question, highlight the differences , such as inbound being more customer-centric and permission-based, while outbound is company-centric and interruption-based.

"Inbound marketing is a strategy focused on attracting customers through content and interactions that are relevant and helpful. It's about creating blog posts, social media content, ebooks, and other content that draws people in. The idea is to create value and establish trust, so when a person is ready to buy, your brand is top of mind. Outbound marketing, on the other hand, is more traditional. It involves reaching out to potential customers regardless of whether they’ve shown interest in your product. This includes tactics like TV ads, billboard advertising, cold calling, and mass email campaigns. The main difference lies in how customers are approached; inbound is about earning their attention and building relationships, while outbound is about renting attention through various media channels. For example, an inbound approach might involve a series of blog posts on a relevant topic, while outbound could be a direct mail campaign."

This answer is effective because it clearly defines both inbound and outbound marketing.

It also highlights the fundamental differences and provides practical examples to illustrate each concept.

12) How would you market our product/service to a new target audience?

Discuss how you would tailor the marketing message to resonate with the new audience, highlighting the product/service benefits that are most relevant to them.

"In marketing our product to a new target audience, my first step would be a deep dive into understanding this group's specific needs and preferences. This would involve market research and data analysis to identify key motivations and pain points. Based on these insights, I would tailor our marketing message to address how our product uniquely solves their challenges or enhances their lives. The choice of marketing channels would be crucial; for instance, if targeting a younger demographic, I'd focus more on digital platforms like Instagram and YouTube. A/B testing different messaging and creative elements would help in determining the most effective approach. Throughout this process, it's important to ensure that the marketing strategies align with our brand's core values and message consistency. This approach not only increases the chances of successfully engaging a new audience but also strengthens our overall brand identity."

This answer is effective because it demonstrates a methodical approach to understanding and engaging a new target audience. It also includes the strategy of testing and adapting based on feedback.

13) Imagine our website traffic suddenly drops. What steps would you take to diagnose the problem?

When answering this question, it's important to demonstrate your analytical skills, problem-solving ability, and familiarity with digital marketing tools.

"If I noticed a sudden drop in our website traffic, my first step would be to analyze our web analytics to pinpoint the source. I'd look at different traffic sources to determine if the drop is across the board or specific to one channel. Next, I'd check for any technical issues with the website, such as server problems or broken links, and ensure there haven't been any recent changes to the website that could affect traffic. Simultaneously, I'd review our SEO strategy to see if recent search engine algorithm updates could have impacted our rankings. This includes checking for any penalties and reviewing our keyword performance and backlink profile. I’d assess our competitors’ activities to see if they have launched any new campaigns or improved their SEO strategies, potentially impacting our traffic. Collaborating with the IT and content teams would be crucial to diagnose and address the issue effectively."

This answer is effective because it covers a comprehensive range of potential issues, from technical to SEO to competitive factors. It also emphasizes the use of analytics tools for data-driven analysis.

14) How would you approach marketing in our specific industry?

Discuss the importance of identifying and understanding the target audience within the industry, including their preferences and buying habits.

Mention using a mix of digital and traditional marketing channels appropriate for the industry, like social media, influencer partnerships, events, and retail promotions.

Sample answer (using the beverage industry as an example):

"In the beverage industry, a successful marketing approach requires a deep understanding of consumer preferences and market trends. My strategy would start with thorough audience research to tailor our messaging effectively. Given the competitive nature of this industry, I’d focus on differentiating our products by highlighting unique aspects like organic ingredients or sustainable packaging. A multi-channel marketing strategy is key, combining social media campaigns, influencer partnerships, and experiential marketing like tasting events. Brand storytelling would be central to our approach, sharing the journey and values behind our beverages to create a strong emotional connection with consumers. It's also vital to ensure all marketing activities comply with industry regulations, especially regarding advertising alcohol or health claims. This holistic approach is designed to build brand loyalty and drive long-term growth."

This answer is effective because it highlights a strategic approach tailored to the industry, including product differentiation and multi-channel marketing.

15) Are there any recent marketing trends in our industry that you think are important?

Start by identifying key marketing trends that are relevant to an industry.

Then, explain why these trends are particularly important in the context of the industry, considering consumer behavior, competition, and market dynamics.

"Two significant trends in the beverage industry are sustainability-focused marketing and the use of augmented reality (AR) for customer engagement. Sustainability has become a crucial factor in consumer decision-making, with more people preferring brands that demonstrate environmental responsibility. In the beverage sector, this involves marketing products with eco-friendly packaging or highlighting sustainable sourcing practices. An example is the increasing use of biodegradable materials in packaging. Augmented reality is another exciting trend, enhancing customer engagement through immersive experiences. AR can be used in creative ways, like virtual tastings or interactive labels, to educate and entertain consumers, thus deepening brand connection. For instance, using AR apps to showcase the origin story of a wine or the brewing process of craft beers. These trends not only align with evolving consumer preferences but also offer innovative avenues for storytelling and brand differentiation in the competitive beverage market."

This answer is effective because it identifies specific, relevant trends in the beverage industry (sustainability and AR). It also provides practical examples of how these trends can be applied.

What to wear to a marketing job interview to get hired

Dressing appropriately for a marketing job interview is crucial, as it can significantly impact the first impression you make. The right attire can vary based on the company's culture, but it's generally advisable to opt for professional or business casual attire.

First, research the company culture. If the company is more traditional or corporate (like many financial or legal firms), lean towards formal business attire. If it's a creative or tech company, business casual might be more appropriate.

Check the company's social media, and website, or even inquire with HR for dress code insights.

For a formal look, men should wear a well-fitted suit in neutral colors (like black, navy, or gray) with a dress shirt, tie, and dress shoes. Ensure the suit is pressed and the shoes are polished.

Women should wear a pants or skirt suit with a blouse, or a conservative dress paired with a blazer. Choose closed-toe heels or flats.

For a business casual look, men should wear dress pants or chinos with a collared shirt. A blazer can be added for a more polished look. A tie is optional. Women can wear dress pants or a skirt with a blouse, or a business-appropriate dress. Add a cardigan or blazer. Stick with closed-toe shoes, either heels or flats.

For a marketing role, showing a bit of your personal style can be appropriate, as long as it remains professional. This can demonstrate your creativity and understanding of branding - key aspects of marketing.

What to expect from a marketing job interview

In a marketing job interview, you can expect a combination of questions that evaluate your technical marketing skills, your understanding of marketing concepts and strategies, as well as your soft skills. This includes communication, creativity, and problem-solving abilities.

Here's an overview of what a typical marketing interview might look like and the types of questions you might encounter:

Introduction: The interview typically starts with an introduction where you'll be asked to talk about your background, experience, and reasons for applying.

Experience and Skills: You'll face questions about your previous marketing roles, specific campaigns you've worked on, and the skills you've developed.

Behavioral Questions: These assess your soft skills and how you've handled various situations in the past.

Technical and Conceptual Questions: These test your understanding of marketing principles, tools, and technologies, as well as your ability to plan and execute marketing strategies.

Situational Questions: You may be given hypothetical marketing scenarios to assess your problem-solving and strategic thinking skills.

Industry-Specific Questions: Depending on the company, there might be questions specific to the industry the company operates.

Keep in mind that the interview structure will depend on the company and who’s interviewing you. This is just a rough outline of what you can expect during your marketing job interview.

Understanding the interviewer’s point of view

During a marketing job interview, interviewers typically look for a combination of specific skills and personal traits that indicate whether you will be successful in the role.

Here are some key traits and skills they often look for:

Results-Orientation: Focus on achieving results and the ability to demonstrate past successes with measurable outcomes.
Creativity and Innovation: The ability to think outside the box and come up with unique ideas for marketing campaigns and strategies.
Analytical Skills: Proficiency in understanding and interpreting data to make informed marketing decisions.
Adaptability and Flexibility: Willingness to adapt to changing market trends, technologies, and company needs.
Digital Savvy: Familiarity with digital marketing tools and platforms, and staying up-to-date with digital trends.
Strategic Thinking: The ability to see the bigger picture and plan long-term strategies that align with business goals.
Teamwork and Collaboration: Marketing often involves working with various teams and departments, so being a team player is essential.

Remember, it's not just about having these traits, but also being able to effectively articulate and demonstrate them through your past experiences and responses during the interview.

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13 Must-Know Marketing Interview Questions and Answers

1. why did you choose a career in marketing.

Employers will want to know how you got started with a career in marketing, and why it interests you. So be ready to answer, “why did you choose this career?” in a first- or second-round marketing interview.

And more importantly than why you started, be ready to conclude your answer by explaining why you like doing this work and why it excites you, interests you, or challenges you.

That’s something employers definitely want to see – evidence that you’ll be motivated and excited about their job after they hire you.

2. Describe your marketing experience

After the interviewer has gotten a sense of your general interest in this field and how you got started in marketing, they’ll want to hear about your direct experience.

To prepare for your interview, review your past work and be ready to talk about specific accomplishments, projects, and results. Don’t just name duties/responsibilities. That’s what every other job seeker is doing , and they’ll all blend together in the interviewer’s mind. Whereas, if you take this results-driven approach to answering their interview questions about your past work, you’ll stand out.

They may also simply say, “what can you tell me about yourself?” – and in this case, you should still keep your answer work-focused and share past results and accomplishments. When employers ask this, they don’t want your personal life story.

As a final note, they might also ask, “what is your greatest professional achievement?” so be ready for that, too!

3. What were you responsible for in your most recent role?

This is a variation of the marketing interview question above. At times, the employer will ask specifically about your most recent role.

So make sure you’re extra familiar with your most recent position. Brush up on what it is you did and accomplished, any promotions you received, any leadership tasks you held (especially important for a marketing manager interview ), etc.

If you didn’t work in marketing in the past, think about what’s most similar or relevant about what you DID do. Your goal is to prove you can come in and succeed in this next job, based on your past experience.

This isn’t a question that you want to hesitate when answering.

You should be confident and ready to dive into exactly what you did and how you helped your company succeed, grow, make money, etc. The more you talk about real results here, the more you’ll get them excited to hire you for their job.

4. Do you have a marketing degree?

Not every job requires this, but some still do. If you have a degree in marketing , you can give a very brief answer and just say, “Yes, I graduated from Duke University”.

If not, be prepared to explain the other reasons you can succeed in their position. At the end of the day, that’s really what the interviewer is concerned with.

Don’t lose confidence here. If they invited you to interview, they liked your resume . They wouldn’t have invited you to interview if your educational background was a deal-breaker, so be clear and direct that you don’t have a marketing degree , and then just explain confidently why you’re qualified.

I’d start my answer with, “No… but…”

That’s a good way to address this interview question and then transition back into selling them on your other qualifications.

5. Why did you apply for this position?

After they’ve learned a bit about your background and past work, they’ll want to know why you applied to their job.

Be ready to show you’ve researched the company , read the job description, and have specific reasons why this role is a good next step in your career! This is an important step in interview preparation …

Being unemployed or just needing a job is not good enough. You aren’t going to get hired if you can’t show employers why their job caught your attention.

6. Where do you see your marketing career in 5 years?

Don’t stress if they ask an interview question about where you see yourself in a few years.

Nobody expects you to know exactly, and nobody’s going to check up on you in the future!

But employers DO want to see that you’re goal-oriented and have a general idea of where you’d like your career to go.

Try to sound slightly ambitious (but realistic) when answering this marketing interview question, and show you’ve thought about how you’d ideally like to advance your career. For example, if you’re a marketing coordinator right now, you could talk about having an interest in becoming a marketing manager .

Or, maybe you’d like to stay in an individual contributor marketing role and not manage anyone. That’s completely fine. You could talk about how you hope to advance from a marketing coordinator to a marketing specialist, a marketing consultant, or the go-to person for one certain aspect of marketing (like digital marketing , paid media/advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, etc.)

7. Have you led a marketing team before?

If you’re interviewing for any type of leadership role like marketing manager, marketing team lead, etc., expect questions about your past leadership experiences.

Be ready to give specific examples and details – like how many people you led, and for how long. Plus, be ready to talk about what your team accomplished under your leadership.

If you’ve been an individual contributor and are now looking to step into a manager role for the first time, prepare to address why you feel you’re ready and qualified for this next step up.

8. Tell me about your experience in social media marketing.

If your next potential job has any work involving social media, you can expect to be asked about it. This is a popular area within digital marketing and employers are going to want to ensure that you’re up-to-date and comfortable with the topic.

So brush up on your knowledge and review any past work you’ve done in social media marketing so you can quickly and confidently address interview questions on the topic.

9. Tell me about your experience in paid advertising.

This is another common area within digital marketing, and a topic you’re likely to hear interview questions about.

If you haven’t worked with media buying or paid ads, it’s okay. Just be upfront and say no, and then express an interest in learning this if it’s required. However, if you have, be ready to go into detail and share some highlights of what you’ve done – what type of ad budgets have you managed, what results have you gotten, etc.

As always – detailed and specific beats vague and general.

10. What types of products have you worked with?

You can expect them to want to know the specific types of products you’ve worked with in any product marketing job interview.

It’s usually not a deal-breaker if you haven’t worked with the exact type of products or services they sell, but the closer, the better!

So when you prepare for your interview, think about what products you’ve marketed, and then think about this employer’s product offering. What have you done in your past work that’s most similar? That’s what to talk about.

Here are some things you can look for as you consider what’s most similar:

Is this employer’s product highly-technical? If so, what have you done in the past with a somewhat technical product?
What type of demographic is their product made for? (parents, college students , young professionals, homeowners, teenagers, pet owners, etc.) And what have you done to market products for that demographic in the past?
Does this employer market primarily to other businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C)?

11. What type of work environment do you prefer?

Different organizations will have VERY different marketing departments, so they may ask about what type of work environment you prefer in a marketing job interview.

Try to get a sense of what environment they offer, so you can give an answer that shows them you’ll fit well into their group.

You can research the company before the interview on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube to get a sense of their work culture. Try to observe the office as you go in for an in-person interview too – is it calm and quiet? or loud and energetic?

That way, you can deliver an answer that shows you’ll be a good fit for their environment, which will make them feel more confident about hiring you.

12. What other companies are you interviewing with?

This isn’t a trick question (usually) – employers just want to see you’re being targeted and specific in your job search.

The employer wants to hire a candidate who wants this particular job, and NOT someone who is just applying everywhere they can find online.

So ideally, they want to hear that you’re applying for similar marketing jobs, and/or in similar types of companies. You don’t want to appear too scattered when you answer this interview question. You don’t want it to sound like you’re applying all over the place – one HR job, one sales job, one marketing position, etc.

If you’re a marketing coordinator who’s applying to a digital marketing agency, it’s ideal if you can tell them you’ve applied for other similar roles at other marketing agencies.

Or, if you’re a product marketing manager interviewing at a large clothing brand, you’d ideally want to be able to tell them you’re interviewing for a number of marketing manager positions in companies similar to theirs… like clothing companies other consumer goods companies, etc.

However, you don’t need to tell them specific company names, either. The best way to answer, “ what other companies are you interviewing with? ” is to just explain the general type of company. Show them there’s a pattern/logic to your job search, and that their job fits the overall theme of what you want.

13. What questions do you have for us?

Finally, employers are going to ask what questions you have about their job and company.

The interviewer always wants to hire someone who’s targeting something specific in their job search and who knows what they want.

If you seem desperate or just don’t care what type of job you get, they’ll be worried you won’t work hard, or will leave quickly after joining.

And asking questions at the end of the interview is one way you demonstrate that you’re being selective in your job hunt! So if you’re not asking questions in the interview, it’s a big reason you haven’t been able to find a job.

Don’t worry, though – it’s not too late to start. Here are 105 good questions to ask employers.

You can ask about the role, the team, and the company overall. You can also ask opinion-based questions like, “Why did you join the company? and what have you enjoyed most about being here since coming over?” Questions like this are great because you can ask multiple people the same thing, and you’ll never run out of questions in a long day of interviewing.

Also, ask the interviewer when you can expect to hear feedback. That way, you can follow up if you don’t hear a response.

I also recommend getting business cards from the people you met (just ask at the end of each conversation before they leave the interview room). This makes following up easier, especially if you’re interviewing with a lot of companies and finding yourself with a lot of names/emails to keep track of in your job hunt.

If you prepare for the marketing interview questions we’ve covered and follow the steps above, you’ll be ready to impress your future employer and secure the job offer! Just remember to practice everything before the interview so that you sound confident and relaxed when answering.

Career Insights from a Senior Marketing Manager: Q&A with Ryan W. McClellan

About the Author

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The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Interview Questions From HubSpot's CMO

Updated: November 13, 2020

Published: November 12, 2020

Alright, everyone: I'm about to let you in on a few of my best-kept interviewing secrets.

In this post, I'll uncover real questions I use when interviewing candidates for inbound marketing positions and the answers I'm looking for .

Keep in mind that the best candidates aren't just qualified to do the job you're trying to hire them for. You want to look for people who are also passionate about marketing, fit with your culture , and show potential for growth at your company.

Here's a quick look into my interview approach, followed by 14 excellent interview questions I recommend adapting for your industry and hiring needs.

My Interview Approach

During interviews, I put a lot of stake into each candidate as an individual. My goal is always to find someone amazing who also has great long-term potential, no matter where they are in their career.

To uncover this, I like to ask questions that get at the core of who they are, how they think about things specifically, and how they've gotten things done in the real world. I then balance these questions with case-style questions, which usually involve a hypothetical business situation, because they give the candidate an opportunity to show how they think about and work on problems.

Below is a list of 14 questions that make for an effective marketing job interview, the majority of which I've asked candidates with whom I've personally gotten to meet.

Keep in mind that I don’t ask all of these questions during a single interview. In fact, one case-style question can evolve into a discussion lasting anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, so I often only have time to cover two or three questions during one session.

I also don't limit these questions to the position levels you'll see in each section below. This list is just one reasonable way to organize your job interviews based on the average experience of an intern, coordinator, manager, and director. Depending on the candidate and the needs of the role, a question to a marketing manager candidate might be a good question to ask a marketing coordinator candidate as well.

Before the interview starts, carefully choose the questions you want to use based on the person's role and background. For an inbound marketing generalist, you could ask any or all of these questions. For someone with a more specific role on a larger inbound marketing team, like a blogger, you could focus only on the questions about blogging and content creation.

Learn more in the following video, and check out some of my favorite interview questions below.

14 Interview Questions to Ask Marketing Job Candidates

Case-style interview questions, 1. "draw a funnel on the whiteboard showing 10,000 visitors, 500 leads, 50 opportunities, and 10 new customers (or any other numbers you think are interesting). now, pretend you're the cmo for the company, and you have to decide what your marketing team should do to improve on these metrics. which areas of the funnel would you focus on, and what would you do differently to change these results".

The Follow-Up: The follow-up here is simply pushing on the candidate's answers. Typically, they'll pick one part of the funnel to focus on. (And if they don't, I like to push them to do just that.)

Once they pick one area, I ask them follow-up questions like: "Which tactics would you think about changing?," "What have you done in your past role that's worked?," "Do you think our company has any unique advantages to get some leverage out of that stage of the funnel?" I don’t just want them to tell me to "improve the visitor to lead conversion rate" -- they need to tell me how .

If I have time, I'll tell them to pretend they've implemented their ideas, and I'll ask them to go back through the whole funnel and explain how they think each of those initial metrics have changed.

What to Look For: Everyone on the marketing team needs to be able to understand how to think about and optimize the funnel. Here's where you assess their thought process, whether they have an intuitive sense of what good and bad conversion rates are, and whether they understand how the funnel steps are connected.

You'll also gain some insight into whether they understand which different tactics you can use at each step to improve that particular step. (For example, if they say the lead-to-opportunity conversion rate is bad, the right answer is not to write more blog articles.)

2. "We have two potential designs for the homepage of our website, but we don’t know which one to use. The CEO likes one, and the COO likes another. Half the company likes one, and the other half of the company likes the other. Which one should we use?"

The Follow-Up: This type of question should elicit a ton of questions from the candidate, like who the target audience for the homepage is. If it doesn't, then they're either making up their answer or don't have enough knowledge to address the situation. Follow up by answering their questions with hypotheticals and seeing how they work through the problem.

If they do pick one side or the other and give you a reason, ask them what the goals are for the homepage. Then, ask them how they'd determine which homepage meets those goals best. From there, tell them that Homepage A performed well based on one of the criteria, and Homepage B performed well based on another one of the criteria. This way, you can assess how they make choices when it's not possible to get data that's 100% conclusive, and they have to choose between two, imperfect variations.

What to Look For: While it might seem like this question is all about design, what you're really doing is understanding how candidates approach a conflict of interest. Do they care what each of these people think, or do they go to the data for their answers, such as through A/B testing, user testing, and customer interviews. The best candidates introduce logic and marketing methodology into their answers, while removing opinions. I also like when candidates say you should be constantly tweaking and improving the homepage, rather than always doing a complete redesign every nine or 18 months.

3. "Let's say you have an Excel spreadsheet with 10,000 leads from a few months back -- long enough that those leads' sales cycle has passed. The file contains information about each lead, like their industry, title, company size, and what they did to become a lead (like downloading an ebook). Also in the file is whether they closed as a customer and how much their order was for. Can you use this information to create a lead score? How would you do it?"

Note: I often start this question by simply asking, “How should you create a lead score?” This is how I sort out the people who don't take a data-driven approach. Folks who answer, “You create a lead score by talking to the sales team and then assigning five or ten points to each of the criteria they say they want” are actually wrong. That is not a data-driven approach to lead scoring , and it is way too simplistic to work effectively in most cases.

The Follow-Up: Most people will answer by talking about "looking at the data" and "sorting the data." Push them to tell you how they'd do that in Excel (or another program if they prefer something else). It's not practical to just "look" at the data when you have 10,000 rows -- you need to use statistical analysis.

They also might zone in on one factor, perhaps industry, all alone. If they do that, you should ask them what they would say if the small companies in one industry are good leads, but the big companies in another industry are also good leads? Basically, just keep pushing them until they're at a loss for what to do next.

What to Look For: This case-style question is meant to test a candidate's quantitative abilities, and I'd only ask it for people applying for certain marketing roles (like operations). Here, I'm trying to figure out how the candidate thinks about analyzing data and what their sophistication level is around data.

Most people don't get very far and are either unwilling or unable to look at more than one variable at a time, or understand how to analyze a lot of data in a simple way. At a minimum, you want to find candidates who:

Look at the leads who closed in one group and compare them to the leads who did not close
Look at multiple variables at a time
Use statistical functions in Excel or another program to do that, like summary tables, pivot tables, and so on

If you find someone who starts making a coherent argument about why you might want to use logistic regression, factor or cluster analysis, actuarial science, or stochastic modeling to figure this out ... refer them to me.

Marketing Internship Interview Questions

4. "what is one of your hobbies how do you do it".

This question will help you assess a candidate's ability to explain a concept they know intimately to someone who isn't as familiar with it. If their hobby is training for a marathon, ask them what advice they'd give you if you woke up one day deciding you wanted to train for a marathon. Are they able to communicate it clearly?

One candidate taught me how to make tagliatelle, which is hand-cut Italian pasta. She gave me the full run-down on how you make the noodles, how you form them and cut them, and which ingredients go into the sauce. She relayed the step-by-step process to me in a way that was very clear and understandable. I felt like I could've gone home and made tagliatelle myself. Not only did this tell me she knows how to convey information clearly, but it also gave me insight into her personality and interests.

5. "What brands do you like or follow on social media and why?"

This is another casual but useful question, as it can tell you both about a candidate's personal interests and how they perceive marketing content on social media. The best answers go further than which companies a candidate likes buying from -- they indicate why he or she trusts certain companies, what about their content strategy appeals to the candidate, and what specifically about those companies the candidate looks up to (and maybe wants to emulate in their own work).

If you need a candidate to elaborate, follow up by asking them to describe a post from a brand they like or follow, and what made that post so memorable to them.

Marketing Coordinator Interview Questions

6. "what do you read, and how do you consume information".

Marketing is changing constantly at a rapid pace -- so anyone in a marketing role needs to know how to stay on top of and adapt to these changes. Do they know where to look for industry news? Are they familiar with and subscribed to top marketing blogs ? What do they do when they see a change has taken place, like when Google updates their algorithm?

7. "What's an example of a lead-generating campaign you'd be excited to work on here?"

Not every marketing campaign you run generates the same type or quality of leads. This is what makes this question so interesting. It's a chance for you to see how a marketing candidate thinks about the buyer's journey and what that journey should look like in your company.

If you do pose this question to a candidate, don't expect him or her to know exactly how your business generates its leads. The ideal answer simply demonstrates an awareness of your customer and perhaps some on-the-spot brainstorming the candidate might be asked to participate in while on the job.

Expect follow-up questions from the interviewee, too, especially if you pose this question to a more experienced candidate. For example, they might ask how qualified the leads should be, or how leads are scored as a result of this hypothetical campaign. The specific parameters matter less than the follow-up question itself -- a positive sign of an analytical marketer.

8. "What are three components of a successful inbound or digital marketing strategy?"

There's no "right" answer to this question -- a digital marketing strategy thrives on more than three things -- but certain answers show the candidate is up to date on how businesses attract and delight their customers today.

"A Facebook page," for instance, isn't a wrong answer, but it doesn't give you context around how a business would use this page in their marketing strategy. Here are a few sample answers to this interview question that are on the right track:

A blog with calls to action (CTAs), landing pages for website visitors to download more content, and a defined social media strategy.
An SEO strategy, website chat, and an analytics tool to track campaign performance.
Buyer personas, a Marketing and Sales Service Level Agreement , and a customer success strategy.

You won't learn everything about a candidate from just these terms and phrases. But you should listen for them as the candidate responds -- and expect more sophisticated answers if you pose this question to managers or directors.

Ultimately, the value you place on each of these inbound marketing components will depend on how important they are to your business and what the candidate would focus on as your employee. Before asking this question to anyone you interview, talk to your team and define your marketing strategy. Otherwise, you won't have an accurate measure on which to evaluate a candidate's answer.

Interview Questions for Marketing Manager

9. "why do you love marketing".

Or, "Which aspects of our business are you passionate about?" You want to hire someone who's both qualified and has the desire to do the work. Otherwise, why would they work for you instead of the company next door?

Part of their answer will lie in their body language and enthusiasm. The other part will lie in how concrete their answer is. Get at the details by asking a follow-up question, like: "Let's say you're at home, kicking around, and doing something related to marketing. What is it that you're doing?" Perhaps they're reading their five favorite marketing sites, or analyzing traffic patterns of websites for fun, or writing in their personal blog, or optimizing their LinkedIn profile. Whatever it is, you want to be sure they're deeply passionate about the subject matter you'd hire them for.

10. "Between videos, ebooks, blog articles, photos, podcasts, webinars, SlideShare, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest ... there's a lot of potential content our team should produce for inbound marketing. How do we do it all?"

The wisest candidates know you should not do it all, but rather, you should start with the content that's most important to your prospects and customers. They should also have a plan for talking to customers and prospects by way of interviews or surveys to figure out which social networks they use and which types of content they prefer.

11. "Let’s pretend we have very convincing data that shows none of our potential customers use social media. Should we still do it? Why?"

Look for candidates who understand that being successful in social media is important even if your customers aren't there today. Here are a few reasons qualified candidates might cite:

Your customers will be there in the future, so you should get started now.
You'll gain industry clout. After all, journalists and influencers in your industry are probably using social media -- and it's important for them to follow you even if they don't ever become customers .
Social media activity impacts your organic search presence , helping your content rank higher in search engines.
You'll have more control over your online presence.
Your competitors are likely using social media.
It may cost less to generate customers via social media.

Marketing Director Interview Questions

12. "we have a new product coming out in three months. what would you do to launch it".

This'll show you how well a candidate understands all the different tactics of inbound marketing and how to tie them together into a holistic plan . It'll also give you insight into how creative they are and whether they can come up with new and interesting ways to do marketing.

13. "Our CEO wants you to evaluate our blog. What would you say?"

Before giving you an answer, the best candidates will come back and ask you about the blog's metrics, how many leads and customers it generates, what the goals are for it, how much you're investing in it, and so on. This is also a great way to test whether they actually prepared for the interview by reading your blog.

14. "What's the main relationship between marketing and sales?"

The relationship between Marketing and Sales is known for its unrest (Sales wants better leads from Marketing, and Marketing wants Sales to close more, faster).

Similar to question #8, there's no right answer here, but there are answers you should listen for. "M arketers are the lead generators and salespeople are the lead closers" isn't necessarily wrong, but the candidate who ends his/her answer here might not be someone who can align both departments around a single, unified approach.

The best answers describe the responsibilities that Sales and Marketing have to each other, and the duties each commits to as part of this partnership. They have a plan for forging consensus on what makes leads marketing-qualified versus sales-qualified, creating a shared Service Level Agreement with agreed-upon metrics, and using content at different points in the marketing and sales funnel to turn strangers into customers.

The Candidate's Follow-Up

Most candidates know to follow up with each of their interviewers in the form of a thank-you note or email. But part of my assessment is the depth at which candidates follow up with me.

The most impressive follow-ups are the thoughtful ones, where candidates call upon details of our discussion to show they're really engaged in the interview process. Perhaps they did more concrete thinking about a specific question I asked, and they send a long email including research on a question they don't think they nailed. Many times, they'll send me a light strategy document with ideas and/or research on something we talked about. These candidates tend to stand out.

Well, the cat's out of the bag. You'll have to use these marketing interview questions as a basis to create your own, similar questions that are relevant to your industry and hiring needs. Good luck, and happy hiring!

Want more interview tips? Learn about some of the questions candidates should ask hiring managers.

Don't forget to share this post!

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40 email marketing interview questions and answers.

There are likely interview questions you could be asked by an organization looking to hire an email marketing specialist or wish to assess whether you have a solid understanding of email marketing and your previous experience.

Email Marketing Basics (Warm-up)

1. what about email marketing interests you, 2. describe a successful email campaign you were involved in., 3. how do you keep up to date with the latest email marketing trends, 4. how do you organize your workload / project management techniques, email marketing terminology, 5. what is the difference between mailability and deliverability.

Mailability: the ‘status’ you have with the recipient. Are you allowed to send emails? This can be summarised with one word: ‘consent’.
Deliverability: is whether you will be able to get into the recipient’s inbox at a particular date/time. Consent doesn’t guarantee your email will be delivered – there are factors that are not consistent.

6. What is the difference between hard and soft bounces?

7. what is the difference between demographic and firmographic data (and examples).

Demographic: relates to data about the individual. In a CRM, this would be the contact-level data. Examples: age, gender, job title.
Firmographic: relates to data about firms (businesses). In a CRM, this would be the account-level data. Examples: industry, number of employees. This is applicable in B2B marketing, and is a significant driver of segmentation in account-based marketing.

Email Marketing Campaign Best Practices

8. what are some different types of emails, and when would you send them.

Operational: Examples, service updates, updates to privacy policies. These must be sent to keep in line with regulations/SLAs etc. and bypass an individual’s mailability status.
Autoresponders: These are short responses, usually text only. For example, confirmation following a form submission.

9. How would you incorporate landing pages into the campaign’s flow?

10. how would you track email’s contribution to the wider campaign’s performance, such as using tracked links, or utm parameters, 11. have you used drip campaigns which use cases did you cover, 12. have you set up an email preference and/or managed consent records, 13. how much copywriting experience do you have, 14. describe how you would plan account-based marketing campaigns end-to-end (if applicable to the organization), email marketing reporting & data health, 15. which tool/platform have you used to report on email performance which metrics did you focus on, 16. what is the difference between click-through rate, and click-to-open rate.

Click-through rate (CTR): % of recipients who clicked on a link in the email, out of all recipients who received the email (delivered)
Click-to-open rate (CTOR): % of recipients who clicked on a link in the email, out of all recipients who opened the email.

17. What is marketing attribution? (and for Salesforce customers, what is Campaign Influence?)

18. what are some of the greatest causes of unsubscribes/opt-outs how can you avoid them how do you monitor unsubscribes what unsubscribe rate would be alarming for a single campaign, 19. have you ever changed your tactics in light of unsubscribe reasons, 20. describe some of the ways you keep email databases clean..

Email verification , to remove invalid email addresses.
List cleaning, to remove spam records or dummy data.
Archiving inactive/unengaged individuals from the user base, for example, those who haven’t interacted with any email in 6 months (adjust depending on how often you send emails).

21. What are spam complaints (abuse rate), and how would you handle them?

22. what are the greatest challenges to deliverability, and how have you overcome them.

Ensure email authentication has been set up correctly (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
Send to smaller email lists (more targetted segmentation)
Monitor deliverability health (see next answer)
Remove inactive/unengaged individuals from send lists and the user base.

23. Do you monitor deliverability health?

Check If Your Email Domain Is Blacklisted: Here’s What to Do About It
Email Deliverability Audit: Quick Domain Health Checks

Email Template Design

24. what are the most important aspects of email design.

Subject line,
Pre-header (preview text)
Call to action button, above the “fold”
Email layout
Responsive design
Personalization/dynamic content
Compliance information in the footer, including physical mailing address, link to one-click unsubscribe/email preference center.

25. How comfortable are you with HTML, CSS, and working with interactive email elements?

26. have you created a responsive email from scratch, 27. what considerations should you make for email accessibility/accessible design.

Correct color contrast,
Buttons “state” reflected by something other than color (eg. an “active”/selected button should do something in addition to changing color).
Tabbing order is logical.

28. How would you test an email before sending the whole campaign?

Send a test email to check all links, personalization function
Rendering tests: generate a rendering test to check how the email will display on different devices and email clients. Some email marketing platforms have this built-in (often powered by Litmus ).

29. How would you test specific elements of an email – such as whether one call to action button performs better than another? (Or, rephrased: have you used A/B testing, and if so, describe the experiment)

Pick your variable
Create a sample of recipients (two groups, equal number of recipients in each)
Monitor the results

30. What could cause an email to get flagged by spam filters?

You are sending an unusually high volume of emails.
You are sending emails to inactive/unengaged individuals
You are using spam trigger words/phrases in the subject line.
You include links to websites that are not secure.

31. Looking at this email, would you improve any elements, and if so, then what?

Email marketing regulations, 32. name some of the compliance legislations that govern data management..

New privacy protection laws

33. What is double opt-in, and have you implemented it before?

Email marketing optimization, 36. how would you determine when the best time to send emails is.

Segmenting lists by geographic location will ensure you are sending emails at optimal times of the day. In B2B marketing, you should stick to business hours (8am to 5pm).
Testing the performance of emails at different times of the day.
Some email marketing platforms have send-time optimization built-in (eg. Pardot’s Einstein Send Time Optimization ).

37. How would you determine the optimal number of emails to send?

Too many times (in a given time frame) = frequency.
Too recently (in a given time frame) = recency.

38. What are some ways you could grow the number of subscribers?

Setting up a subscription landing page.
Posting about the landing page on social media channels.
Adding subscription forms as banners within existing blog content.
Adding a pop-up form when visitors first land on the site.
…and more.

39. What opportunities and threats do you foresee for email marketing?

Email marketing is a cheap and effective channel.
Interactive email will make designs more engaging.
Those who lead with permission-based marketing will come out winners.
Increasingly granular reporting, multi-touch attribution, and predictive reporting.
Apple MPP and probable similar updates, making email reporting less reliable.
Spam filters becoming ever more aggressive.
Privacy legislations.
Inboxes becoming increasingly crowded.

40. What are some ideas you have for our organization?

Lucy mazalon.

Lucy is the Operations Director at Salesforce Ben. She is a 10x certified Marketing Champion and founder of The DRIP .

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Product marketing management interview questions

An overview of the types of product marketing management (pmm) interviews at tech companies and sample questions.

, Sr. PMM at Salesforce, ex-Deloitte Digital

Updated: January 26, 2022

Let's take a look at the PMM interview types, the interview process, and what you can expect.

There are three key types of interviews we'll cover in this post:

Product marketing competency interviews
Behavioral interviews
Case interview / homework assignments

💡 Tip: every company has a unique interview process. This is meant to demonstrate what it could look like. But make sure to *ask* the recruiter what the process is for the role so you can understand the specific process. Recruiters are incentivized to help you and will often share as much detail as they can - don't miss out on it!

PMM Competency Interviews

These types of interviews are meant to test your product marketing skills, general marketing knowledge, and as well as your own methods and approaches to creativity and problem solving. This is done through case style questions or hypothetical or situational questions where you provide not just an answer but an approach for how you arrived at your answer.

By better understanding how you think and how you structure your answers, the interviewer is trying to understand how you might act as a PMM or make decisions as a PMM which will give them a sense of if you would be a fit for the specific role. These questions also tend to require you to share some of your thinking, but it very much is a two way dialogue where the interviewer may either provide her thoughts, probe with further questions, or drill into specific areas of your answer.

The goal here is not to find the one single perfect answer, but to provide a thoughtful answer that demonstrates a clear line of thinking and process. Simply arriving at a great idea or answer is fine, but what they really want to understand is how you think, how you make sense of a vague or limited amount of information, and how you approach problem solving.

PMM Mini Case Questions

These are often open ended interview questions that are meant to test how you think on your feet, your thought process, and your product marketing chops. Sometimes these can be questions based on a real challenge or issue the interviewer is facing, or a hypothetical challenge that a Product Marketer could face. Here are a few examples of some questions:

Question Example #1 : "How would you improve the experience at Instagram for Content Creators?"

This is an open ended question which you can take in multiple different directions. There isn't necessarily one right idea, but what the interviewer wants to know is to understand how you would think about solving this problem, and to do so in a structured and logical manner.

In your answer, you might talk about:

What research you might need to do to understand the current experience
Who might you want to talk to in order to find customer insights
What ideas you have to address this challenge
How you would measure the success of your ideas.

Question Example #2 : "Your product's sales have been low for the past 6 months. As a Product Marketer, what might you do to make improvements?"

While this is a hypothetical question, it is absolutely a challenge a product marketer might face. This is all about being able to think like a product marketer and to demonstrate how you would develop a framework for solving the problem and then showing how you would solve it. In order to answer this effectively, you might talk about:

What data you would review to evaluate the effectiveness of the launch
What potential challenges arose which led to low sales, and for each challenge, some ways to address it
What other stakeholders you would work with to address the challenge
Specific examples from your own experiences where you've successfully addressed these challenges and how they could be used in this situation

Even though these are hypothetical questions, they are based on real challenges PMMs face each day, and the better you can show you can solve it, the more likely they'll believe you have what it takes to do the role exceptionally well.

💡 Got a PMM interview? Our PMM interview prep can help

PMM general marketing questions

These questions are geared to test your general marketing knowledge and acumen as well as your creativity and general product awareness.

Question Example : What's a product that is marketed poorly, and what would you change about it?

These are typically the types of questions you will see in any marketing interview, and include questions like:

Can you tell me your favorite recent marketing campaign. What did you like about it?
What's a product that is marketed well?
What's a product that is marketed poorly, and what would you change about it?
What do you think of the messaging of our product? How would you improve it?
What's a product you love? Why do you love it?
How do you define product marketing?
What companies do product marketing well?

If you’re looking for even more product marketing interview questions, check out this list of 50 interview questions from a former product marketing lead at Uber. As a general rule of thumb, it's good to have some answers to these questions in your back pocket for every marketing interview you have.

PMM Behavioral Interviews

These interviews focus more on your past skills and experiences, and how they might make you a fit for the role.The logic here is that your behavior in the past reflects and predicts how you will behave in the future. Furthermore, these questions also give the interviewer a chance to know you and your personality better. You're going to be spending a lot of time together, and they want to make sure that you are someone that is going to work well with others on the team.

Skill Based Questions

More established companies such as Google have a series of attributes they want to evaluate across every candidate that they interview. Within these attributes, they have a series of questions they ask candidates to evaluate their abilities against these attributes. The four attributes are:

General cognitive ability
"Googleyness"
Role-related knowledge

Throughout the interview process, each of the questions that are asked are meant to identify your ability level for the specific competency or skill that they are evaluating.

Your job here is to understand the skill or competency, why it's important to the success of a PMM, and then to provide specific examples with clear outcomes for when you have demonstrated that skill. For example, if they ask you a question about how you've worked on a challenging team and how it goes, they might be testing to see your cross-functional collaboration skills.

STAR Format

The best way to answer your behavioral interview questions is using the STAR format. This allows you to tell specific stories to the interviewer in a way that is easy to follow and to the point. Make sure that you focus on the results, and the impact that you specifically made. Finally, a key skill of being a PMM is the ability to communicate succinctly, so make sure you don't ramble on!

💡 Shameless plug: Our behavioral interview prep can help you select the right stories, structure your answers and practice common behavioral questions.

Other Interview Types in PMM

Homework assignments.

A common part of the interview process at some companies is a homework assignment. There are a few reasons why companies do this. First, they want to see the quality of your work output. While some of this comes out in the initial interviews, when you have to produce something it's a much more realistic example of your work product. Second, it allows them to see your thought process and holistic approach to your work. This is not something that always comes out in a standard question and answer interview.

Typically, the recruiter will send you the assignment, and you will be given a reasonable amount of time to complete it. The assignment is meant to test your abilities to do work that is aligned to the role and often results in some sort of final presentation.

For example, a common example for an assignment is to ask you to put together a Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy for a product. Or, another example might be that they ask you to develop a plan around a product launch for a product that they own. With these assignments, you'll get time to prepare your deliverable (usually a few days to a week) (usually a PowerPoint deck or Word document) and then you'll be given a chance to present it to an audience who will ask questions and provide feedback.

Question Example : For my most recent role [at Salesforce], the assignment I was given was to pretend that I was doing the product launch presentation for a specific product. I had to go and research the product and then develop a PowerPoint deck and story around it, and then I presented the product launch pitch to the interview panel. After I finished the pitch, we did a Q&A where they asked me questions about the product, such as: 1) Who was the target customer? 2) What problems did the product solve? 3) How are we going to sell it? 4) How is it positioned against the competition?

After I finished the Q&A, they allowed me to ask some questions, and then it turned into more of a discussion.

Other Interview Considerations in PMM

Here are a few additional components that sometimes come up in the Product marketing interview process, depending on the company.

Interviewing Team

A common practice in most PMM interviews is to have some of the interviews conducted by cross-functional partners to the PMM team. This could mean doing an interview with some of the following individual teams:

Product management

Since PMM is a cross functional role, many hiring managers will want their partners to interview candidates, as the person who gets the role will probably have to work with these peers on projects. For example, during my interviews, I had numerous interviews with both product managers and demand generation marketers, as the role I was interviewing for required me to work with both of those stakeholder groups.

For these interviews, expect questions that are often tied to the types of work that you would do with each specific stakeholder. Here's a few examples:

Product manager: What's an example of when you used data to prioritize specific features on the product roadmap?
Sales: What sales enablement strategies or tactics have you used that have generated the most impact?
Marketing: What's an example of a launch campaign, and walk me through the content that you used across the entire marketing funnel.

Before an interview with a cross functional partner of PMM, ask yourself what the person's metrics are, and what they care about.

Executive interview

On occasion, you might also have an interview with an executive or leader of the team in the interview process. This could be a VP of Product Marketing or equivalent leader and is a chance for them to get to know you. Since they have lots of responsibilities, their time is valuable, so recruiters and hiring managers don't tend to schedule these unless you are farther along in the process and they feel confident that you could be a candidate for the role.

Portfolio Review

Oftentimes, companies will ask you to send them a portfolio of your work or past work samples, such as any content or assets you've created (ex: blog posts, ebooks, data sheets) or presentations you've delivered (powerpoint decks) to get a sense of your skills and expertise, as well as assess the quality of your work product.

Some recruiters and hiring managers will be specific about what they want to see, but if they do not provide clear guidance or ask you to pick the materials you want to send, it's best to send just a few (no more than 2-3) and to make sure it's high quality output. Bonus points if the type of work aligns to the specific responsibilities of the role. For example, if the role is focused on sales enablement and you have a training deck that you made, that would be a great asset to share.

P.S. Are you preparing for PMM interviews?

Real interview questions. Sample answers from PMM leaders at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Uber, PayPal and more. Plus study sheets on key concepts like positioning, GTM & more.

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Google Product Marketing Manager (PMM) Interview Guide

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Published 16 Dec 2020

15 Must-Have Interview Questions For Digital Marketers

This interview questions guide focuses on informing digital marketing hiring managers on the top how-tos and important things to look out for, from successful companies and startups.

How to Find the Right PPC Agency: A Step-by-Step Guide

Hiring Resources

Hire Digital Editorial

16 Dec 2020

This Interview Questions for Digital Marketers guide is different from the typical guide. The focus here is to inform hiring managers all that we know about hiring digital marketers, based on our experience working with successful companies and startups, and point out the important things to look out for. It will cover:

Interview Questions

Behavioral questions for freshers, technical questions for freshers, interview questions for experienced digital marketers, behavioral questions for experienced marketers, technical questions for advanced digital marketers.

Interview Questions for Marketing Managers

Behavioral Questions for Managers

Cheatsheet for hiring managers, interview formats of famous companies.

Digital Marketing Certifications To Look Out For

Where do you get your news on digital marketing?

Good candidates are genuinely interested in their domain, and it would be reflected in the news sources that they follow. You can also quiz them on a recent digital marketing trends that they picked up from the channel, to see if they have followed these sites closely.

Great candidates would likely follow blogs that cover more advanced topics, including websites like these:

Ahrefs blog
Convince and Convert
Occam’s Razor
eMarketer (for enterprise teams)

Ask the candidate where they found these news sources, and they may share other digital communities, Slack or Facebook groups that they are involved in. These will also help to give you a better idea of the candidate’s passion for the topic.

These will also help to give you a better idea of the candidate’s passion for the topic. A polished resume created by a professional resume writing service creates a strong first impression but it’s so important to dig deeper into what motivates a candidate.

Describe the value propositions that you have helped to build and communicate. What was it, why did it matter, and what was the impact?

This question helps you to understand if candidates have clarity of thought and are able to articulate the benefits of what they promote well.

Good digital marketing candidates will be able to:

Describe succinctly the problem that the target customer faces.
Identify the value proposition that the candidate helped to build.
Mention clear examples of how the value prop was communicated, and the decisions they made to communicate it in the way they did.
Great candidates will be able to develop narratives to describe the problem and value proposition, and should have multiple examples to share.

Examples of how one would build working processes from scratch.

This question helps you to find candidates who are a cultural fit for your marketing team.

Candidates from young startups would typically have set up the tools or workflows for the marketing channels they cover. For those from larger companies, ask them what workflows they have with their vendors that they managed to establish successfully. Good candidates would have a lot of experience solving the challenges they face in executing strategies in each channel, and would have stories to share of how they tested out systems, workflows or tools to help them.

To figure out how deeply they were involved in building those processes:

Get the candidate to list the main tools they have used.
Question them on the ones that you have worked with: What were the constraints of the tools were or what workarounds they had to develop?
How did they move over from their existing process to the new one? What problems arose?

What were your promotion strategies? How did they perform?

This question helps you to figure out how resourceful and methodical your candidate is.

Look out for candidates who have a record of:

Tried and tested (but hard to do) approaches. eg. Reaching out to high authority sites for external links. You will want to question candidates to look for those who have developed processes to scale their strategies.
Creative methods. See if candidates have used methods that their peers in the same digital marketing industries rarely try. eg. implementing employee advocacy for a growing startup, or getting less common platforms like Periscope, or Quora advertising to work for them.

Candidates should be able to provide 1-2 key metrics to indicate how their strategies have performed, and explain the key determinants for that performance over time. Focus less on the performance, and more on the metrics and the reasoning that the candidate provides.

How do you structure and optimize complex digital marketing campaigns, and measure its impact based upon key KPIs?

Great candidates will be able to bring up past marketing campaigns as examples and explain specific aspects of the measurement or interpretation that were challenging.

Candidates should be able to tie the digital marketing strategies back to:

Objectives eg. increase the customer base proportion of high-value customers and brand awareness.
Goals eg. increase high-value product conversions.
Performance Metrics eg. conversion rates.
Targets eg. +5% clickthrough rates this quarter.
Segments eg. new vs returning visitors.

Have you worked on a cross-functional project? How many people did this involve or across how many different teams?

If your company is large and requires complex workflows eg. regular use of engineering team resources, approvals from finance, get buy-in from the business team members, you may want to look out for someone who has worked in similar environments in the past.

What to look out for:

If a candidate has found ways to deal with complex finance approvals, it may mean that they have acquired good vendor relationships.

Tip: Quiz them on the tactics they have used to work effectively with different teams.

What are three things we can do to improve our product or service from a marketing standpoint?

Great candidates would be able to demonstrate that they have performed some research on your company, and suggest actionable, small-scale improvements.

A good suggestion would be something like, “I’ve done some research on SEMRush and I noticed that there’s a topic cluster which could have potential for us to generate new leads. This might be something that wasn’t on the company’s radar because the search volume on related search terms were weak. However it looks like it has been starting to pick up. I looked through the ranking blogposts for these queries, and here are some actionable ways that we can introduce new content that would help us to rank better…”

It’s a red flag if the candidate suggests improvements that do not iterate on small goals, but require significant resources. Or candidates who suggest projects that have an unrealistic timeline or budget. These are indicators that the candidate might be inexperienced.

How would you calculate the conversion rate of a campaign?

Conversion rates can be calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the total ad interactions during a specific time period. If there were 10 conversions from 1,000 ad interactions, the CVR would be 1%.

Great candidates would point out how conversion rates are calculated on specific platforms. For example, your conversion rate may be higher on Adwords if you choose to track more than one conversion action.

How do you calculate customer lifetime value (LTV)?

Something similar to this definition, “An estimate of the amount of revenue an average customer would generate over the course of their relationship with the company.”

The candidate should be able to walk through these formulas to get to LTV:

Average purchase value = Total revenue / Total number of purchases
Average purchase frequency rate = Total number of purchases / Number of unique customers
Multiplying purchase value and frequency gives you the value of the average customer:
Customer value = Average purchase value * Average purchase frequency rate
Average customer lifespan = Average number of years a customer purchases from your company
Multiplying average lifespan and value per customer will give you LTV:
Customer lifetime value = Customer value * Average customer lifespan

It’s a red flag if the candidate suggests improvements that do not iterate on small goals, but require significant resources.

Give us an example of a go-to marketing strategy that you implemented for a product. How did you learn about the user or end customer?

In learning about the customer, experienced candidates should be able to mention more than one of these methods, and state which aspects of the product will be addressed by each program:

Beta program
Quick focus group
Detailed survey
Simple A/B test
Multivariate test
User interviews

Candidates shouldn’t be expected to have conducted the user research themselves, but should have a good understanding of how that data is processed. Pay attention to the kinds of insights that can be captured from the data.

Which marketing levers do you pull?

Good answers would include the following attributes:

Time: the time it would take to get done
Effort: how easy or difficult it would be
Investment: how much it will actually cost to complete
Profit or Potential ROI
Projected results

If you have an engineering team to support your work, how would you use them?

It’s incredibly valuable to have marketers who are experienced with the product building process, and are in the habit of iterating quickly and delivering feedback efficiently to product teams.

Check with the candidate on types of collaborative work he or she has done with engineering teams:

Analytics. This usually helps to indicate how data-driven the candidate is in approaching marketing.
Surveys. Check with the candidate on the depth of the survey. Whether it’s a basic implementation like a Net Promoter Score feature, or a complex one.
Lead Generation Tools. These include calculators, comparison tools, interactive sites or other software widgets.
Third-Party Customer Interaction Tools. eg. Chat widgets like Intercom.

Ask them a follow-up question: Do they use pre-built tools or do their engineering teams build the tools entirely? What are the reasons?

You’ll want to get a sense of how resourceful the candidate has been. If a candidate has few development resources available to them but able to pull together enough to launch several marketing products, it’s a huge positive.

Those in product-focused companies may have access to more resources, so you can check with the candidate on the size of the engineering teams they worked with.

What digital marketing tools do you use? How did you select these tools?

Good candidates would be familiar with the ecosystem of tools available. They should be comfortable with naming the tools they use in each key marketing function and spell out the strengths and weaknesses of the tools they have used. Candidates should be able to articulate the stack they use depending on their key function:

CRM: Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics
Marketing Automation: Infusionsoft, Hubspot, Marketo
Email Marketing: MailChimp, Get Response, Campaign Monitor, Wix
Social Media Marketing: HootSuite, Sprout Social
Search Engine Optimization & Keyword Research: Ahrefs, SEMRush, Screaming Frog
CMS: WordPress, Contentful
Analytics: Google Analytics , Mixpanel, Google Tag Manager, Google Data Studio
Pay-per-Click (PPC): Google Adwords, VWO, SpyFu, MarketingCloudFX

Look for candidates who have:

Experimented extensively with the tools they list.
Have a good understanding of each tool’s strengths and limitations.

Answers from scrappy candidates would likely include both well known tools as well as more arcane ones that the candidate picked for custom use cases.

Great answer: “Our team uses tools A, B and C on a daily basis. We moved away from D to C during the time I was at the company. Main reason we made the switch was to make use of Tool C’s workflows to assist us in our referral programs and NPS surveying, and because we saw a lot of value in the integration with A in helping us to manage our marketing leads. It has saved us hours from having to enrich leads manually.”

Average candidates would recite a textbook list of tools. You can follow up with questions on the limitations of a tool to find out the depth of experience they have with using it.

How do you detect patterns in audience data? What reports or analytics matter to you?

Here you can list a few scenarios and see what the candidate would recommend. Good candidates would be able to share with you the common data problems they may face in those situations.

A few possible scenarios:

Highlight the e-commerce products that potential customers want at any given time.
Recommend the highest value products to customers most likely to buy.
Determine customers most likely to ask for returns.

These are good signs that candidates will be comfortable in data-driven environments:

Is able to form a unified message based on all the data sources shared.
Have worked with predictive models.

If a candidate has few development resources available to them but able to pull together enough to launch several marketing products, it’s a huge positive.

Job Interview Questions for Digital Marketing Managers

How do you identify optimization potential and make best practice recommendations.

For optimization potential, the candidate should respond along these lines, “I would outline each step in the activity execution process. From how we should gather data, to the information that we report. This way it helps everyone involved focus on what to measure and which target audience to serve. Which will help us prioritize our optimization roadmap and report the right data.”

Experienced managers will likely point out the importance of governance to identify good optimization initiatives. Question the candidate to dig deeper into the measures taken to ensure that:

Tests run to completion
Selecting the right KPIs
Avoiding test collision or duplicate tests
Using data to drive what to test and personalize

Great managers will outline tactics they have used to get people excited about optimization initiatives. Some tactics you may want to look for include:

Demos of successful optimization programs
Approaching the most receptive stakeholders / teams to get their buy in
Host events to share tests and personalization activities
Show that you understand what their KPIs are, and what they care about. Hint at the added ROI that would make a difference for them, and tie them to credible examples.
Let people guess which experience won or how much lift a personalization activity generated, and reward those who guessed correctly
Give credit to individuals who conceived of optimization ideas that produced big winners

How do you communicate recommendations to your management and your team using data and reporting?

Candidates should be able to explain the method they use to deliver recommendations. An emphasis should be placed on the metrics they apply to different stakeholders in the organization. For example, what’s applicable to senior management would be KPIs such as:

Sessions vs. New sessions
Revenue and Recurring Revenue
ROI or ROAS (Return on advertising spend)
Customer Lifetime Value
Customer Acquisition Cost

For their own team, the metrics that matter would be how they have improved iteration by iteration. If they work on weekly sprints, it helps to show week-on-week performance and progress next to the goals set, so that their team have clear feedback on the impact of their initiatives.

Before Interview

Phone screen, case study or assignment, during interview.

Phone screen with the recruiter or hiring manager
Phone or video interview with the team lead
Writing exercise with tasks to see how would you apply content strategy and UX writing to improve the user experience ( Time: 3 Days)

Face-to-face interviews

Example question: What do you think is good content?

Phone screen with the recruiter or hiring manager (30 min)
Written project (Two parts)
Face-to-face interviews (Half a day)

Phone screens at Stripe tend to be informal. They are looking to give candidates an overview of Stripe and the position, as well as to get an introduction to you. At this stage, they will want to understand your professional background, and your motivation for applying.

Written project

Part 1: Respond to inbound emails

Answer a set of example emails from potential leads inquiring about the company. Evaluated for your attention to detail, signs that research was performed, and for written communication and tone.

Part 2 : Explain a technical product to a broader audience:

They are looking for the ability to communicate technical concepts in non-technical terms.

In-person interviews at Stripe involve a number of 45-minute chats with various members of the team.

Questions are designed to evaluate:

Sales tenacity : Can you sell? What are your strategies that have enabled you to close deals effectively and manage long sales cycles?
Communication : Would you be effective pitching the company to Fortune 500 clients, and would be you able to interact with internal teams?
Analytical skills : Are you a clear thinker? Do you have strong quantitative skills and can you apply them to growth initiatives?
Cultural fit
Phone screen with the recruiter/hiring manager
7 interviews (mix of phone and in-person interviews). This has included a phone call with the team lead and an in-person meeting with the direct supervisor.
Marketing assignment

Example assignment: Ideas for growing Doordash in the Boston market, i.e, what ideas do I have spreading the DoorDash brand through Boston? What communities could I leverage on to enable growth?

3 rounds of phone screens with the recruiter/hiring manager
In-depth case study
4 in-person interviews (30 minutes each)

You will be provided with a mock data set, and expect to present the case study in interviews.

In-Person Interview

Example questions : Design an experiment for a product that’s not Lyft. What would you build, and why? What would be your metrics for success? What parts of your day to day at your current role do you really enjoy or dislike? How would you A/B test this? What strategies do you have to grow the partnerships for Lyft?

Source: Glassdoor

Digital Marketing Courses and Certifications To Look Out For

For candidates who are not from startup marketing or digital agency backgrounds, these certifications help to establish that the candidate has the right knowledge and background. They shouldn’t be deemed mandatory for the position however, as you can evaluate them with case studies or live assessments to demonstrate that the candidate understands his domain well.

Google Ads Certification
Google Digital Garage Certification
Google Analytics IQ Certification
Hubspot Content Marketing Certification
Hubspot Inbound Certification
Facebook BluePrint Certification
Bing Ads Accredited Professional (BAAP) Certification
YouTube Certification
Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification
Certified Trade Show Marketer (CTSM)

Digital Marketing Manager Interview Questions and Answers in PDF

Download the cheatsheet and interview questions in PDF here.

If you found the digital marketing interview questions useful, you may also find our digital marketer job description template useful.

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How to Interview a Digital Marketer in 2022

I recently spent 4-5 months interviewing applicants for marketing manager and digital marketing specialist positions. I interviewed more than 100 applicants, reviewed hundreds of resumes, and even went outbound looking for qualified candidates using tools like Dux-Soup to search LinkedIn for growth marketers using keywords like “Facebook Ads,” “CAC,” or “churn.”

If you’re in the same boat, I thought it’d be helpful to outline how we approach the hiring process at Ramp Ventures and Web Profits , and even give you the specific interview questions we like to ask.

Hope you find it helpful in your own hiring processes.

Our Interview Process

First, I should mention that I don’t just post a job when I realize I have an opening. According to Glassdoor , the average interview process in the U.S. lasts 23.8 days, so you can’t afford to wait until a vacancy arises to start the hunt for new talent with these recruitment challenges .

Usually, I’m trying to work at least 4-6 months ahead. That way, when I’m at conferences or networking, I’m able to start building relationships with interesting people well before I need to have a position filled.

That’s actually how we found one of our most recent hires. We were both at a conference in Europe, and we formed a connection. I gave him a test project then and there, and wound up hiring him.

I don’t always get that lucky, but the point is that hiring isn’t something I only think about when I’m desperately in need of people. Plan ahead and keep an eye on the big picture, and you should never find yourself scrambling to fill a position. You can always implement an applicant tracking system to help with your recruiting and talent acquisition efforts. An offer to someone should only come because they are the best possible fit, not because you’re pressed for time and need someone to start tomorrow.

When my process gets to the interview stage, I don’t usually get to meet with candidates in person, since most of my companies are remote. These posts on what to look for when hiring remote employees and how to hire remote talent have been a useful resource for me. So instead, we’ve built a process that saves everyone time, but still gives us all the details we need to determine whether an applicant will be a good fit:

We start with an email interview that has 3-4 questions. This prequalifies applicants and weeds out those who don’t have the necessary skills. We lose a lot of people at this stage, as digital marketing skills change and evolve rapidly. It’s not a one-and-done scenario. Digital marketers and those hoping to break into the field need to constantly maintain and upgrade their knowledge and skill set to remain on the cutting edge.
Then, we advance those candidates we’re still interested in to a 15-20 minute phone interview where we’re asking high-level questions and telling them more about the position.
Next, we’ll do a video interview with myself and my business partner, Alex. The questions we ask here – which I’ve outlined below – get a lot harder and really tell us a lot about the remaining applicants.
Finally, we’ll give people we’re still interested in a homework assignment that takes a few hours to complete. It’s a great way for us to separate out the people who know their shit from the people who are just full of shit.

If a candidate makes it through the homework assignment, we’ll do one more video interview that’s much more casual and off-the-cuff. This one isn’t as much about marketing knowledge, since we’ve already measured that thoroughly by this point. Instead, we want to see what they’re passionate about, what stresses them out, and how they’ll fit into our culture. That’s just as important as whether they have the skills to do the job. Someone who has excellent knowledge is not the right candidate if you can’t see yourself working with them every day.

The 18 Interview Questions We Ask

I’ve interviewed a lot of digital marketers over the years. I quickly ditched standard questions that don’t tell me anything about a candidate – you’ll never hear me asking about five-year plans or dream jobs. Instead, I’ve devised a list of 18 questions that deliver in two key areas:

They give the best candidates the opportunity to show off their marketing chops
They give me the confidence that I’m definitely hiring the right person for the role

Not every interviewee gets all 18 questions. If we get a few minutes into the interview and realize the person we’re talking to isn’t the right fit, we’ll cut it a lot shorter to save everybody time. But if it’s clear that a candidate is a bit special – someone who can add real value to my business – I’m genuinely interested to hear how they respond to the following questions:

1. How would you explain a sample company’s marketing?

Before the interview, I’ll think of a couple of websites – places like Square, Salesforce, or Slack. Then, I’ll ask the candidate to break down the site’s marketing strategy . What I’m looking for is their process. I want to understand what kinds of questions they’re asking and how they’re thinking about it. Be sure to examine it yourself beforehand, too, and don’t immediately dismiss something they come up with that you didn’t consider … they just might have a better approach than you (and that’s a very good thing).

2. How do you keep up with digital marketing?

There are a lot of candidates out there who look good on paper, but who are actually rather dated in terms of their experience. To weed these people out, I want to know what blogs they’re reading , what websites they’re visiting, what conferences they go to, and so on. A candidate not actively keeping up with the industry is not the right candidate. Period.

3. Have you ever managed social ads?

This is another question that weeds out the dinosaurs that aren’t relevant anymore. Social advertising is a huge part of digital marketing these days. I want to know if they’ve done it, and if they understand it. Facebook ads are used by 72% of marketers, followed by Instagram ads at 31% .

4. What makes for great content?

It should be immediately obvious to anyone who wants to work with me that content is a huge part of what I do. I don’t do it just for the fun of it. Marketers who make blogging a high priority are 13x more likely to generate positive ROI from their efforts – in other words, if you’re prepared to put the time in, you can achieve great results. So it’s vitally important to me that candidates understand the value of content . As with many of these interview questions , I don’t necessarily have a “right” answer in mind. I just want to understand that the candidate is serious about content too, and knows what they’re talking about.

5. What’s your favorite email newsletter?

I always ask not just what they read, but why they read it. This gives me a ton of insight into what makes them tick. A few well-chosen marketing newsletters guarantees they’ll never miss a breaking story or trend.

6. What’s your strongest channel?

When I’m hiring for a high-level marketing position , I want to understand what they think about different channels, because generally these marketers are T-shaped or have worked on multiple channels. Not only does this tell me how relevant their experience is, it helps me figure out how they’ll fit into my businesses. Whether T-shaped or the more recent I-shaped , it’s all about having a wide breadth of knowledge and at least 1-2 areas of specialization.

7. What’s been your most successful marketing campaign, and why?

I use this question to get a sense of how awesome they are. I don’t care that they grew a company’s Facebook fans by 3000%. I want to know that they grew revenue. I want to hear them using terminology that’s appropriate for the industry, like CAC or LTV .

8. What’s been your least successful marketing campaign?

When I make a hire, I’m not looking for perfection. After all, I’m not perfect – no one is. We make mistakes and bounce back stronger. You can learn so much from a candidate by asking them about a campaign that completely flopped. Not only do you get the opportunity to find out what they took away from the experience and what they’d do differently next time, but you also discover if they’re prepared to be accountable for their actions. Did they take responsibility for the mistakes and move on, or did they try to shift the blame?

9. Ask them to fill out a T-shaped marketer outline

I use this template from Buffer , and I ask candidates to fill out where they fit and how strong they are in different areas. I need to know where their strengths and weaknesses are so that I can a) help them improve and b) make sure they’re in alignment with what our companies need. Consider it a modern marketing blueprint.

10. How do you change a client or CEO’s mind if you feel they’re wrong?

I’m a CEO, and I have strong opinions. But often, I’m wrong. Our clients are too, which is why I need to understand how candidates will communicate with them and win them over to our way of thinking. Persuasion and influence are necessary skills, as is the ability to clearly articulate ideas and opinions.

11. What business models do you have experience working in?

What’s your favorite business model? If someone has worked in more than one business model, they’ll have a favorite. But if they say ecommerce, and we’re hiring for our SaaS company, that’s kind of a red flag. It’s not a dealbreaker, but they have to prove they’re relevant to me. On the agency side, we can have a broader range of experiences, but even there, this question helps me gauge where they’re strong or weak, and where their true interest lies.

12. Have you ever worked in sales? How?

In this day and age, marketing isn’t just marketing. You have to work with sales, support, product development, and more to actually grow a business. That’s why I always look for marketers who have some level of sales experience. It’s not a strict requirement, but it is important to me.

13. What platforms do you use to track sales, revenue, traffic, etc.?

Are they using Google Analytics ? Kissmetrics ? Adobe Analytics ? Clicky ? How they use their chosen platform is important, but the actual platforms they choose matter to me as well, because it shows me how dated or current they are. Much like marketing skills themselves, the tools we use are in a constant state of flux, with old ones dropping away while new ones rise to prominence.

14. If you had a $10K marketing budget, how would you spend it to get the highest ROI?

Someone I’m interviewing for a lower-level position might not have a great answer for this, but I can still judge their thought process based on what they say. But at higher levels, candidates should be able to give a breakdown of what they’d do and keep rolling with the exercise as I ask clarifying questions or pose different challenges. I want to see my money is not going to be wasted.

15. Imagine I know nothing about digital. I’ve got a tight budget. How are you going to spend my money?

As we all know, marketers aren’t always handed big budgets by clients with a deep understanding of digital. Often, we have to battle for every cent and justify every decision. I want to know what a candidate would do with a limited budget – how are they going to deliver results? Would they put all their eggs in one basket – potentially increasing the risk of failure – or take a multichannel approach and risk spreading themselves too thin?

16. What digital trends are you most excited about?

I don’t just want to work with someone who views digital marketing as a way to put food on the table. I want them to be passionate about it. I want them to be genuinely excited at the cool new things they’ll be able to work on. Whether they’re eager to leverage the power of chatbots, invest in hyper-targeted advertising, or immerse themselves in next-gen SEO, I want to know about it. And I want to know why it excites them.

17. You’ve only got budget for one digital marketing tool. Which do you choose and why?

Digital marketing tools take a lot of the legwork out of labor-intensive digital marketing tasks. I’d expect anyone interviewing for a digital marketing role to have a solid understanding of multiple tools – and to be able to pick a favorite if pushed. What’s more, I want them to justify that choice. Are they a big advocate of Ahrefs? Can’t live without Buzzsumo or Mailshake ? This is their chance to show off their expertise.

18. Which digital thought leaders do you follow?

On a similar theme, it’s important that candidates are taking steps to stay ahead of the curve. I don’t just want to hire someone who’ll do the same as everyone else; I want someone who’s prepared to take risks and try something new. Following digital thought leaders is one of the best ways to keep your finger on the pulse.

19. What was the most responsibility you had in a marketing role?

I want to know how much responsibility they have had on their plate to deliver results. Did their prior clients or colleagues entrust them with the reins? (It’s okay if not, but I need to get an idea for their experience level).

Also, just because someone was mainly in a lower level position, doesn’t mean they weren’t doing great work. I want to see how the candidate views the importance of their work, regardless of whether it’s “sexy” or not. Pride in your work often correlates positively to work ethic.

20. Where do you see digital marketing headed in the next few years?

This is a similar question to some of the others, where I’m looking at how they keep up with trends and skills. Someone who is truly immersed in the industry will constantly be learning from blogs, conferences, new tools, etc.

I don’t need them to be a fortune teller. But I do want to see their ability to integrate different ideas and creatively market toward the future. Do they have some unique perspectives on SEO, or social, or PPC? Or do they just want to clock in and clock out.

21. What are the pros and cons of paid vs. organic marketing?

Within digital marketing, there are several specialties. I don’t expect someone to be an expert in all of them. But digital marketers should have a larger perspective and understand how different strategies work together on a basic level.

SEO and PPC are different in their execution. However, they weave together by supporting the overall goal of growing a business. So when someone is working on a campaign, they should keep that in mind.

For instance, a content marketer may not know how to create a paid ad. But they should understand that every Google search result is competing with paid ads. How do that come into play when executing a campaign?

22. How do you measure the results of your work?

Digital marketing allows us to track our results to a very granular level. And I want to hire marketers that know how to tie their work to real ROI. If they don’t have experience using some kind of analytics or tracking, then that’s a bad sign.

Marketing is not a blind guess. We want to use data to inform decisions going forward. That way, conversion rates and overall ROI go up. I’m looking for an explanation that demonstrates their understanding of how their role contributes to the bottom line.

23. Have you managed or supervised others before?

You need to work with other people to achieve powerful marketing results. No one can do it all by themselves. Not every digital marketer needs to manage others, but many will eventually.

If I’m looking to bring someone in, I usually want to see their potential for managing projects and other people — designers, writers, analysts, and more. How do they communicate the projects’ goals and keep everything on track?

This is also a sign that they have an intricate understanding of that marketing process. If you don’t know how it all works together, then you can’t delegate and scale that process.

24. What are some ways to determine the value of a lead to a business?

Marketing is meant to attract leads into the sales funnel. And part of a marketer’s job is to ensure that the leads are ready to move on to each step with specific pages, ads, and content.

I’m not looking for an answer that’s vague and inactionable like “a lead is valuable when their customer journey is aligned with the company’s mission.”

What I want to hear from the candidate in this question is a specific metric that would qualify a lead. For instance, a lead who signs up for your email list is more qualified than someone who was merely browsing a blog post.

A lead who purchases a trip-wire product for $7 is more qualified than a customer who doesn’t.

25. What kind of work environment do you prefer?

My team works remotely. Having a fully distributed team has its advantages, but it’s not the best fit for everyone.

For instance, having the ability to create your own daily schedule is a great perk for someone who is motivated and organized. But others may thrive in an office, with the socialization and supervision that comes with it.

I want self starters. I don’t want to hold anyone’s hand. If someone can’t be responsible for meeting their own needs in terms of discipline, socialization, and work ethic, they’re not a good fit — end of story.

Again, I want digital marketers who are students of the game. There are a ton of acronyms and strategies used by marketers. It’s impossible to know them all.

However, there are a few basic terms and concepts that any digital marketer who’s spent a few hours doing research should be familiar with.

26. What is AIDA?

One of them is AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). And it’s the most basic explanation of the customer journey / sales funnel.

Someone who wants to work with me needs to understand each of those four steps at a basic level, and how they work together to move a prospect through the funnel.

27. Write an ad for a sample product

Not every marketer is going to be creating ads. However, this question is somewhat an extension of the previous AIDA question.

If I ask someone to write a Facebook Ad with a headline, description, and some body copy, what will they come up with?

What I’m really hoping to hear is a question from the candidate first, before starting on the ad. I want to see their process for determining the right messaging based on the product, market, and awareness of the target prospect.

28. Tell me about a disagreement you had with a coworker and how you resolved it.

I don’t like unnecessary drama. So the first thing this question does is to weed out gossipers and “drama addicts.”

If the candidate’s eyes light up when I ask this question, as if it’s the most exciting thing ever, that’s an issue.

What I’m looking for is an answer that explains a disagreement over process or strategy, and how this person resolved it with their team member.

Are they critical thinkers? Are they professional without being stodgy? Are they focused on results and solutions instead of drama and problems? The answer needs to be yes to all of those, or I don’t want that person on my team.

The Homework Assignment

As I mentioned above, I’ll give candidates who make it through this process a homework assignment to complete. Too many people can BS their way through the interview portion of the hiring process. My goal with the assignment is to give them something they can’t just make up along the way.

That might mean asking them to:

Break down another company’s marketing strategy
Complete customer research
Find out how a company’s competitors rank and what they’re doing with marketing
Plan a Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn ad campaign

All of these tasks take a couple of hours at most to complete, but they’re the ultimate test for us to reveal the people who truly know what they’re doing versus those who just talk a big game.

Every position we have to fill looks a little different, so our process shifts between these stages to make sure we’re attracting and vetting the right candidates. But by having a process like this in place, we’re able to save time without compromising the quality of the people we bring on at the end. Consistency in our process guarantees we always end up with the best fit.

And that’s a win for us and them.

Do you have an interview process like this in place? If so, share what else you include in yours by leaving me a comment below:

I build and grow SaaS companies.

“When it comes to marketing, Sujan is the best. I’ve never met someone with such creative tactics and deep domain knowledge not just in one channel, but in every flavor of marketing. From content, to scrappy guerrilla tactics, to PR, Sujan always blows my mind with what he comes up with.”

Comment (4) - Cancel Reply

Thanks Sujan. Great info for hiring a sales and marketing team! Cheers,

Thanks Lee!

Sujan, thanks for taking the time to detail this – very useful!

Love the approach, Sujan. Giving the potential hires a chance to prove their worth via the assignment is a nice strategy. We are doing something similar at GrowthRocks as well.

Curious to learn if this method has led to any bad or unfit hires though.

What Every Job Seeker Should Know About Work Assignments During the Interview Process

You’re progressing well through an interview process, and you think you’re close to landing that coveted offer, when the employer says, “One more thing—we have a little homework for you.”

This tactic is used by a lot of companies (especially startups), and with good reason: The hiring manager gets a firsthand look at your approach, creativity, quality, turn-around speed, and communication and presentation style and can gauge how serious you are about the position.

If you really want that job, your instinct will likely be to put your best foot forward and provide the most fabulous project the employer has ever seen. But there’s something else to consider: You may end up putting in many hours of work, creating an awesome deliverable—and at the end of it all, still not getting the job. There’s even a chance that the company will take the ideas you labored over for its own benefit, and you’re left not only without an offer, but without compensation for all that hard work.

It’s happened to me: Once, at the end of a second round interview, a hiring manager asked me for a list of quick-hit ideas on increasing user engagement for his consumer website. I spent almost half a day coming up with a list of 10 great ideas, including many examples from other sites. After I proudly sent over my recommendations, I didn’t hear from the company for over two weeks. When I finally got a response, he thanked me for all my hard work and said that the company decided not to pursue the position at this time due to “internal matters.”

Who knows if this really was the case; but to my surprise, I noticed a handful of my ideas were actually implemented within the next few months on their site. Maybe these were ideas already in motion and my assignment only confirmed what was planned, but I couldn’t help but feel that I had been somewhat “used” and regretted putting so much time and effort into this homework.

While there are times you may want to go to the moon and back for a job , it’s also important to be careful how you approach these homework assignments—especially if you’re investing your time into applying to multiple jobs. Here are some tips on how to handle this tricky situation.

1. Understand General Goals and Expectations

First, it’s important to get a sense of how this assignment will factor into the overall evaluation of your candidacy. Is this the final hurdle before the job offer? (It should be.) How will this be weighed with other elements of your interview? (You should get some positive reinforcement that the company’s very interested and just wants to get a sense of how you work.) How long will the assignment take? (Being asked to spend more than 2-3 hours on an assignment before getting hired is bordering on disrespect.)

Don’t be afraid to ask questions like, “Can you help me understand how this assignment will be evaluated?” “Are you looking more for big-picture ideas, or a detailed look at my recommendations?” “Roughly how much time do you recommend I put into this assignment?” It’ll help you understand what the company is looking for and how much time you’re willing to put forth.

2. Ask for Data

Next, remember that you have every right to ask for information that’ll help you better tackle the assignment and not start from scratch (if you were hired, that’s what you’d obviously do , right?). So, put some onus on the company to provide relevant data. For example, if the company is asking for your ideas on potential partners, ask questions that’ll point you in the right direction, like, “Who are your current partners?” “What types of partners are you currently pursuing?” “What are the key metrics that define a successful partnership?”

And if the company doesn’t provide any more information? Do your best, but also make sure you express where you’ve made assumptions based on lack of information—e.g., “Without knowing what your current metrics for successful partnerships are, I’ve made suggestions for partners that will boost both brand awareness and website traffic. Obviously, if the company has different goals, I would be able to adjust these recommendations.”

And then don’t worry—if the hiring manager doesn’t offer it, he or she will understand that you’re operating under lack of information and history.

3. Outline Main Points, Only Tease the Details

More often than not, the primary reason companies dole out homework is to get a better sense of your thought process, as well as how you structure and convey your thoughts and ideas. There’s not necessarily a “right” answer, nor is there a need to get way down in the weeds.

So, don’t stress about providing a ton of information—just outline the main points (bullets and numbered lists usually work well). You can tease out more details as you’re talking through your assignment in the interview without having to write down your specific plans and fully fleshed out ideas. Remember: You don’t want the hiring manager to have the blueprints for your fabulous ideas—you want him or her to hire you so that you can be the one implement them!

4. If You’re Worried, Get an NDA in Place

Depending on the type of job function and level you’re interviewing for, it may not be a bad idea to request a non-disclosure agreement. If there is any confidential information you do not want shared widely, your assignment involves using data from your current employer, or you just have a nagging concern that the company may steal your best ideas, take a precaution and get a simple mutual NDA executed (many template NDA forms are available online for download). Don’t make it too legally formal—the company may get turned off by this move—just let the hiring manager know you just want to make sure things stay confidential and you’d be more comfortable providing details with a simple NDA in place. If he or she refuses to sign, this may be another warning flag.

Knocking a homework assignment out of the park can be an amazing chance to show you’re the best candidate of the bunch, but you never want to get in a situation where you’re wasting your time or being used for free labor. Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be able to present a great deliverable while making sure you’re spending your time and effort the right way.

Photo of man working courtesy of Shutterstock .

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Candidate addressed i) objectives, ii) goals, iii) performance metrics, iv) targets, v) segments in the Case Study. Communicates clearly, at a good pace. Presents the tradeoffs made for the proposed solution. Is able to pitch, and persuade you to adopt the proposed solution.
How to Interview a Digital Marketer in 2022
How to Interview a Digital Marketer in 2022. 12/20/2021 • Marketing • 30 MINUTES READ. I recently spent 4-5 months interviewing applicants for marketing manager and digital marketing specialist positions. I interviewed more than 100 applicants, reviewed hundreds of resumes, and even went outbound looking for qualified candidates using tools ...
55 Social Media Manager Interview Questions [Prep Guide]
55 Social Media Manager Interview Questions [Prep Guide] In its report about the Future of Jobs, the World Economic Forum identifies "digital marketing and strategy specialists" as one of the top five roles with increasing demand—the other four in the top five are tech jobs. Nested within this category is the role of social media manager ...
Take Home Assignment Templates and Examples
What is an interview take home assignment? A take-home assignment evaluates candidates' skills in a practical context, useful in fields like software development and design. Reforge can enhance the effectiveness of these assignments with strategies and insights that ensure they accurately assess creativity, problem-solving, and practical skills ...
How to Ace Your Marketing Interview Project Proposal
It's a great time to be a marketer. LinkedIn reported a 63% increase in marketing jobs, and the Great Resignation has led more marketers and SEOs to look for better work opportunities, benefits, and of course, pay. To help companies better evaluate job candidates, marketing interviews typically include a "take-home assignment."
Stop asking candidates to make a marketing plan for your job interview
She spent $360 paying a babysitter to take care of her children so she could make a marketing plan as a homework assignment for a 10-person startup. ... For example, if an employer said "I don ...
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Work assignments are most common in creative and technical fields of work. For example, writers may need to complete a trial piece before being hired, and marketing professionals may have to create a campaign pitch and outline as part of their interview process. For more technical work, like information technology or computer science, the ...
What Every Job Seeker Should Know About Work Assignments ...
3. Outline Main Points, Only Tease the Details. More often than not, the primary reason companies dole out homework is to get a better sense of your thought process, as well as how you structure and convey your thoughts and ideas. There's not necessarily a "right" answer, nor is there a need to get way down in the weeds.
[EXAMPLE 1] Product Manager Take Home Assignment
December 20, 2018. by. Lewis Lin. There's a new trend in product management interviews: the take home assignment. Take home assignments can vary in their format. They can either be: Written tests that revolve around hypothetical questions. Written tests that revolve around case questions. Written tests that revolve around behavioral questions.
[Herald Interview] Hanna Kiel's 'BODY' to explore chaotic harmony in
The dancers interpret these assignments through movement, and then Kiel guides and shapes the final choreography. For example, she might ask the dancers to describe their most physically or ...

Top 35 Marketing Interview Questions (Example Answers Included)

By Mike Simpson

How to Answer Marketing Interview Questions

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Top 3 Marketing Interview Questions

1. When a next-generation product hits the market, how do you position a legacy product to ensure its long-term success?

2. For social media marketing, which platforms do you prefer and why?

3. Tell me about a marketing trend that’s caught your eye. What about it interests you?

32 More Marketing Interview Questions

5 Good Questions to Ask at the End of a Marketing Interview

Putting It All Together

FREE : Job Interview Questions & Answers PDF Cheat Sheet!

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Marketing Interview Questions (15 Questions + Answers)

1) Why are you interested in a career in marketing?

2) What is a marketing trend or campaign you liked?

3) What do you think of our recent marketing campaign?

4) How do you manage the launch of a new product?

5) Can you describe a successful marketing campaign you've worked on?

6) How do you measure the success of a marketing campaign?

7) What digital marketing tools are you familiar with?

8) Tell me about a time you had to work with a difficult team member

9) Describe a situation where you had to meet a tight deadline

10) How do you stay updated with the latest marketing trends and tools?

11) Can you explain the difference between inbound and outbound marketing?

12) How would you market our product/service to a new target audience?

13) Imagine our website traffic suddenly drops. What steps would you take to diagnose the problem?

14) How would you approach marketing in our specific industry?

15) Are there any recent marketing trends in our industry that you think are important?

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Interview Questions

Top 13 Marketing Interview Questions and Answers

13 Must-Know Marketing Interview Questions and Answers

2. Describe your marketing experience

3. What were you responsible for in your most recent role?

4. Do you have a marketing degree?

5. Why did you apply for this position?

6. Where do you see your marketing career in 5 years?

7. Have you led a marketing team before?

8. Tell me about your experience in social media marketing.

9. Tell me about your experience in paid advertising.

10. What types of products have you worked with?

11. What type of work environment do you prefer?

12. What other companies are you interviewing with?

13. What questions do you have for us?

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14 Interview Questions to Ask Marketing Job Candidates

2. "We have two potential designs for the homepage of our website, but we don’t know which one to use. The CEO likes one, and the COO likes another. Half the company likes one, and the other half of the company likes the other. Which one should we use?"

Marketing Internship Interview Questions

5. "What brands do you like or follow on social media and why?"

Marketing Coordinator Interview Questions

7. "What's an example of a lead-generating campaign you'd be excited to work on here?"

8. "What are three components of a successful inbound or digital marketing strategy?"

Interview Questions for Marketing Manager

10. "Between videos, ebooks, blog articles, photos, podcasts, webinars, SlideShare, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest ... there's a lot of potential content our team should produce for inbound marketing. How do we do it all?"

11. "Let’s pretend we have very convincing data that shows none of our potential customers use social media. Should we still do it? Why?"

Marketing Director Interview Questions

13. "Our CEO wants you to evaluate our blog. What would you say?"

14. "What's the main relationship between marketing and sales?"

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