Marketing Manager Skills Interview
Author:
Haya Bakour, MSc, I/OA Marketing Manager interview assessing key skills required for success. We've also included a few motivation and values questions to help you make the best decisions about your candidates.
Focus area:
Question
1
Why are you interested in making a career move to our company as Marketing Manager? How do you see this opportunity within the context of your career?
What does this question reveal?
Fit and motivation to join the company
Explore tips
- Is seeking an opportunity to grow by applying and developing multiple skills
- Wants to make a defined impact on others and the organization’s success
- Is motivated to add value to the company's culture and work environment
- Is passionate when discussing how this connects with their strengths/interests
Question
2
Communication skills are really important to this role. When it comes to that skill set, what aspect are you best at, and can you share an example of how you've done this in a previous role?
What does this question reveal?
Understand their strengths and how communication is critical to success
Explore tips
- Clearly highlights their specific strengths in communicating
- Shares key communication tactics (e.g. active listening, tailoring to audience)
- Uses evidence from past experience to justify their strengths
- Tailors response with examples relevant to the position and organization
Question
3
Imagine you have two minutes to present your team's quarterly update to the rest of the organization. How would you focus and deliver that presentation?
What does this question reveal?
Summarize results and tailor the key message to the audience
Explore tips
- Discusses focusing on actual results and outcomes
- Suggests including how the team contributed to overall business goals/strategies
- Suggests only focusing on information that is relevant to the audience
- Suggests having only one key message, rather than trying to cover everything
Question
4
How would you build a case to increase a marketing budget for the next fiscal year?
What does this question reveal?
Influence and manage marketing budgets
Explore tips
- Provides a clear and convincing plan by outlining their approach
- Uses facts to make future projections (e.g. estimate performance, profit, etc.)
- Develops clear ROI metrics and other relevant KPIs to track and manage costs
- Communicates budget priorities based on urgency and importance
Question
5
In your opinion, what makes content outstanding?
What does this question reveal?
Analyze and create good content
Explore tips
- Mentions great content being targeted to a specific customer
- Mentions great content having a single, clear purpose
- Mentions the balance of creativity and clarity in messaging
- Notes the importance of making content 'sticky' or memorable
Question
6
What KPIs would you set before launching a campaign, and why?
What does this question reveal?
Set appropriate KPIs
Explore tips
- Discusses aligning targets with the company's goals and marketing strategy
- Discusses metrics such as change in traffic, MQL, lead ratio and conversion rate
- Suggests setting smaller benchmarks and determining checkpoints
- Suggests continuously adjusting tactics based on regular KPI assessment
Question
7
Tell me about a memorable marketing campaign you were heavily involved in. How did you contribute to the campaign and what was the outcome?
What does this question reveal?
Contribute value to a marketing campaign
Explore 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
8
One of our core products/services is [insert product/service]. How would you go about differentiating our product in the marketplace?
What does this question reveal?
Identify relevant key concepts for market differentiation
Explore tips
- Describes differentiation strategies (e.g. vertical/horizontal differentiation)
- Proposes campaign (e.g. identifies goals, defines audience, monitors results)
- Communicates the essential role of market research
- Defines key differentiators by competitor analysis
Question
9
Imagine you are creating a social media campaign for two different audience segments: [insert segment - e.g. teenagers] versus [insert segment - e.g. seniors (65+)]. How will your approach differ for each segment?
What does this question reveal?
Tailor a social media campaign to an audience segment
Explore tips
- Clearly explains how the campaign process would differ for each segment
- Discusses the differences in social media presence between segments
- Understands the process of analyzing audiences, tailoring content and monitoring
- Shows they can distinguish target customer segments and understand their needs
Question
10
Have you checked our website? How would you improve our main landing page/website performance?
What does this question reveal?
Improve website performance
Explore tips
- Makes a spot-on observation about the current landing page
- Talks about providing value-added content, and converting traffic into actions
- Considers improving the messaging (giving visitors a reason to come back)
- Talks about website speed, load time, responsiveness and searchability
Question
11
Imagine you work for a small business in the [insert industry/field]. The company is competing with big businesses online for target customers' attention. How would you use SEO to generate relevant traffic to the website?
What does this question reveal?
Use SEO strategically to increase website traffic
Explore tips
- Suggests SEO titles/meta descriptions that stand out in the SERPS and boost CTR
- Suggests targeting longer-tail, niche keywords with lower competition/difficulty
- Suggests creating regular, high-quality content that answers search queries
- Discusses building quality backlinks and ensuring technical SEO is in place
Question
12
Imagine you are introducing the team to a new CRM system, but some team members are resistant to the change. What would you do?
What does this question reveal?
Gain support and engagement of others when implementing change management initiatives
Explore tips
- Discusses the main principles and challenges associated with managing change
- Identifies and understands the root cause of others’ reluctance to change
- Clearly communicates the reason for change and promotes transparency
- Justifies change with evidence and emphasizes advantages to individual employees
Question
13
Tell me about how you have worked with cross-functional teams in the past to successfully bring a marketing idea to life. How did you collaborate with teams, and why was it successful?
What does this question reveal?
Work effectively with key teams (e.g., design, engineering)
Explore tips
- Emphasizes the importance of synergy between key teams (design & engineering)
- Proactively holds roadmap sessions to align stakeholders and track progress
- Actively listens to others to solicit and incorporate ideas/feedback
- Communicates the business case for the idea to reinforce alignment in thinking
Question
14
Based on your past work history and professional experience, in what type of work environment were the happiest and most productive.
What does this question reveal?
Preferences for organizational culture and workstyle
Explore tips
- Discusses attributes that align with your organization
- References different organizational factors (people, place, work, etc.)
- Highlights the values that shaped the environment/culture
- Shares a story from past experience to support their claims
Question
15
What is one thing you wish I had asked you in our conversation today?
What does this question reveal?
Self-awareness of unique strengths and value-add
Explore tips
- Gives a response that is relevant to the role in question
- Justifies their suggestion by explaining their value-add
- Exhibits strengths that were not previously covered
