A Marketing Specialist promotes an organization’s brand, products and services through developing and implementing marketing programs. They conduct market research and analyze trends to inform the organization’s marketing strategy. Marketing specialists are responsible for activities across the marketing funnel including sales marketing, influencer marketing, SEO, social media, email marketing, corporate communications among others. Additionally, they may specialize in one area of marketing within a larger team. Performing this role requires highly effective organizational skills, strong attention to detail and communication skills as well as campaign management abilities.
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Organizational Skills
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Communication
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SEO
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Teamwork / Collaboration
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Campaign Management
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Critical Thinking
How to interview Marketing Specialists effectively
While it might seem difficult to figure out whether a candidate will succeed as a Marketing Specialist in your company, a well-developed set of interview questions that tap into the core skills required to perform in a Marketing Specialist role will go a long way in helping you decide.
But where do you start? How do you develop a set of great interview questions?
The best interview questions come directly from a job analysis. A job analysis is an evidence-based method that focuses on assessing key features of a particular role. These features describe both the job itself (i.e., tasks, responsibilities, and performance objectives), and the characteristics required of someone to perform successfully in the job (e.g., knowledge, skills, and abilities). A job analysis forms the basis of many HR practices such as compensation, performance management, and - you guessed it - how to interview and hire candidates.
At Hireguide, we’ve done the job analysis work for you. We’ve used the method to identify a core set of skills associated with the Marketing Specialist role, and we’ve developed and validated a list of behavioral and situational questions with answer guides that tap directly into those core skills. And that’s not all. We’ve compiled these questions and created a Marketing Specialist Interview Template for you that integrates other interviewing best practices. Skills-based interviews will not only help you make higher quality and evidence-based hiring decisions, but research also shows they enhance fairness and reduce bias in your hiring process.
Example interview questions to ask
Question 1
Imagine you are presenting your team's key results (KPIs/OKRs) to senior management. What tactics would you use to communicate the results so that even those without a marketing background could understand?
Answer Tips
- Outlines relevant data visualization methods (e.g. making charts using software)
- Recognizes how data visualization can help non-tech people understand results
- Shows an ability to communicate complex concepts in a clear, accessible way
- Shows they can adapt their communication style to suit different audiences
- Shows they can present results convincingly to people from all backgrounds
Question 2
Tell me about a memorable marketing campaign you were heavily involved in. How did you contribute to the campaign and what was the outcome?
Answer Tips
- Clearly describes their responsibilities and contributions
- Knows the campaign management process (i.e. design, execute, track and review)
- Explains the unique value they added to the campaign process and outcome
- Shows they can use campaign management software (HubSpot, Mailchimp, etc.)
Question 3
Imagine you are creating a marketing plan for our company. We would like you to identify market patterns and emerging trends. What research would you conduct and how would you use this in your recommendations?
Answer Tips
- Discusses accurately identifying relevant industries and target customers
- Discusses using thorough market research for target customers and competition
- Discusses incorporating the research into the recommendations
- Demonstrates creative and critical/analytical thinking
- Considers industry and company outlook, and current company position and targets
