At a job interview for a marketing role, the hiring manager or recruiter may ask you several questions to determine your suitability. While the marketing field is broad and includes a wide range of jobs, there are certain questions that hiring managers usually ask you in an interview. Learning what questions an employer could ask allows you to formulate an appropriate response ahead of time and helps you feel more confident about your interview. In this article, Pritish Kumar Halder provides you with 30 examples of marketing interview questions and provide six additional questions and answers to use as inspiration.
10 questions about your experience and background
Here are 10 questions you can face when interviewing for a marketing-related position that covers your experience and background:
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How would you summarise your marketing experience?
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What made you decide to pursue your marketing specialisation?
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What is the most valuable lesson you’ve retained from your education?
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Do you have any experience in leading a team?
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What’s the most significant achievement you experienced in your last job?
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Explain to us about the last time you made a challenging workplace decision.
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Tell us about the last time you had a conflict with someone you work with and how you resolved it.
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Outline what process you follow when you make a mistake at work.
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Why are you leaving your current job?
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10 in-depth marketing interview questions
The following questions cover your unique experience in this area and could feature in your interview:
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Have you encountered our marketing before?
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How do you think our marketing efforts compare to our competitors?
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Is there a marketing campaign by a company that you admire, and why do you admire it?
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How do you stay up to date with the latest developments in your marketing specialisation?
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Do you ever update your general marketing knowledge or do you focus on your speciality?
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Have you won any awards for your work?
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What do you think is key to a successful marketing campaign?
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What marketing platforms do you prefer to use and why?
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How do you measure the results of a campaign?
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How many campaigns have you worked on?
6 example interview questions and answers
Here are six example questions a marketing interview can discuss and how you can answer them:
1. Tell us more about yourself
Interviewers can ask this question to get a sense of who you are as a person. If the hiring manager or recruiter already has your resume, avoid repeating its professional summary in the same words. You can mention your current position and job title, why you excel at it and why you’re applying for a new role. If referencing your previous or current employer, avoid being negative or mentioning issues you had. You can also mention notable career highlights or achievements using statistics or numbers to illustrate your point.
Example: ‘I’m a junior social media manager and currently manage the account of one of the country’s largest soft drink brands, growing its followers from 45,000 to 50,000 in 24 months. I’m looking for a role where I can take on more responsibility and challenge myself, which is why I’d be a great fit with your organisation as a social media manager’.
2. What do you think about our approach to marketing?
Depending on the role you apply for, an interviewer can ask you questions about the company’s overall marketing strategy or a specific campaign. Your answer to this question demonstrates your understanding of the business’s audience, goals and constraints. Avoid criticising the business or comparing them to a competitor. Instead, mention what you admire about their marketing style and how you’re enthusiastic about getting involved. Mention how you see yourself improving their results or adding to their successes. Don’t give too many details on your ideas for improvement, as this can motivate the interviewer to contact you again.
Example: ‘I admire your use of social media influencers to market products to younger customers. Your campaign where you got popular teenage actresses to host question-and-answer sessions on social media really addressed the concerns teenagers and their parents have about the healthiness of consuming soft drinks. It would be a great idea to build on this with product placements in a few popular television shows for an audience in that age group’.
3. What’s the biggest marketing challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?
This question can show interviewers if you’ve faced challenges in the workplace and how you’ve managed them. This can be important in high-pressure roles, where it may be necessary to make quick decisions. When answering this question, avoid placing blame and instead focus on the solution. This shows that you take responsibility, even if you didn’t cause the original issue.
Example: ‘A client relaunched their website but wasn’t getting the traffic or leads they expected, so they were considering switching to another marketing agency. I convinced them to wait a month, so we could improve on the marketing results of their website. I worked night and day to revise the client’s SEO plan and designed a website optimised for mobile browsers. The client was so impressed at our willingness to resolve the issue that they extended our contract before seeing any results from our SEO efforts’.
4. What marketing tools are you familiar with using?
When working in certain marketing roles, you can occasionally perform tasks outside your work, which typically requires certain tools. Even if you don’t use these tools personally, it can help to understand what they are, what they do and how they’re used. You can mention the tools you use every day and less frequently, as this helps the interviewer determine if you require training in tools the business uses or other specialised ones.
Example: ‘As a content marketer, I use analytics tools to keep track of how content performs and mail management tools to create, track and automate newsletter emails. I can use general editing and design tools to create simple social media advert banners. I’m also familiar with using site auditing tools to check how a website’s content is performing in relation to its target audience’.
5. If you get this job, what changes would you make?
Interviewers can ask this question to determine if you’re aware of the business’s marketing challenges or have a concrete, research-based plan to address these challenges. Draw attention to the challenges the industry faces. When offering ideas for solutions, avoid providing details that the business can implement. Instead, give them an idea of what changes you can create and how long it would take you to implement them.
Example: ‘I think that your cosmetics business is doing a good job with its public relations activities. There are a few things that I can help you address. Research shows that customers are more concerned about the safety of their beauty products than ever. As a public relations professional, I suggest marketing your products on their safety standards and highlighting their organic, non-toxic ingredients. This can improve the sales of all your products that fit the criteria’.
6. Is there anything you’d like to ask us before we end this interview?
Interviewers often conclude an interview with this question. It can allow you to ask questions specific to the role, such as how long the role has existed and the reason the person before you left the position. It can help to bring up anything that you didn’t have time to mention, so you can boost your application and make your candidacy more attractive. When you’re finished, you can thank the interviewers for their time and say that you look forward to hearing from them soon.
Example: ‘Before we conclude, I’d like to mention again how excited I am about the possibility of working for your organisation. Having won Best Australian Copywriter at last year’s Australian Advertising Awards, I look forward to achieving similar results in this new role’.
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Reference: https://au.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/marketing-interview-questions
