21 Common Marketing Interview Questions & Answers

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Marketing interviews are unpredictable, and there’s nary wonder. There are galore antithetic selling roles and candidates with galore backgrounds, skills, needs, and wants. Yet immoderate questions get asked and answered repeatedly successful interrogation rooms everywhere.

I’ve been to galore selling interviews. To immoderate arsenic an interviewee, to astir of them arsenic an interviewer. There are apt hundreds of antithetic interrogation questions I asked oregon that employers asked me. But what are the astir communal ones, and what should you look for successful an answer?

I skimmed done galore different akin articles and wrote down questions that appeared aggregate times to reply this question. No substance what selling presumption you’re applying for, immoderate of the pursuing 21 questions volition beryllium a taxable of speech during the interview:

  1. Why are you pursuing a vocation successful marketing?
  2. What makes you funny successful this role?
  3. What are your responsibilities successful your existent role?
  4. Why are you looking to marque a change?
  5. What’s your astir important vocation achievement?
  6. How bash you work best?
  7. What are your strongest skills?
  8. What are your weaknesses?
  9. What resources bash you usage to make your selling skills?
  10. What selling publication person you work recently?
  11. What selling run did you precocious similar and why?
  12. What selling tools tin you use well?
  13. Tell maine astir a hard occupation that you had to lick recently. What did you do?
  14. Tell maine astir a failed run that you worked on. What did you larn from it?
  15. Tell maine astir a palmy run that you worked on. What was your contribution?
  16. How bash you measurement a campaign’s success?
  17. Who bash you deliberation is our people market?
  18. How bash you negociate the motorboat of a caller product?
  19. What caller selling maneuver person you tried recently? Why did you take it, and what did you learn?
  20. What are your wage expectations?
  21. Do you person immoderate questions?

Let’s look into each of those questions and however to reply them. 

1. Why are you pursuing a vocation successful marketing?

Often seen arsenic an icebreaker, this question tin uncover rather a spot astir the candidate. Every leader wants to prosecute radical with information different than “it pays a beauteous penny.”

There are galore reasons radical are funny successful moving successful the selling field. It’s up to you to travel up with an honorable answer, but immoderate of the reasons I’ve heard are:

  • Always learning caller things
  • Interesting, non-monotonous work
  • A mode to explicit creativity
  • Many vocation advancement opportunities and country for growth
  • The intelligence facet of amended knowing quality behavior
  • Great community
  • Suitable for distant work
  • Being the “good guy” successful a tract that’s often frowned upon by the wide public

However, there’s thing incorrect with besides mentioning the money. Some selling roles tin beryllium precise lucrative.

2. What makes you funny successful this role?

If the campaigner is not enthusiastic astir the role, it’s a reddish emblem for galore hiring managers.

Let’s beryllium honest. Many jobs aren’t that exciting. But determination indispensable beryllium immoderate crushed you chose to apply. Maybe it looked similar a suitable starting presumption for your vocation goals, oregon the institution seemed a large spot to work, oregon you similar utilizing the company’s products and privation to beryllium a portion of spreading the word?

Being a monolithic instrumentality of the institution and its products was 1 of my biggest motivations to articulation Ahrefs backmost in 2019.

3. What are your responsibilities successful your existent role?

Unless you’re applying for your archetypal job, beryllium prepared to reply a fewer questions astir your existent and erstwhile roles.

The lone incorrect mode to reply this is to exaggerate oregon lie. It could backfire during follow-up questions oregon adjacent erstwhile verifying the accusation by talking to your (former) colleagues.

4. Why are you looking to marque a change?

You’ll apt get asked this if you’re looking for a caller occupation portion inactive moving for idiosyncratic else. This question is beneficial to some sides—the interviewer volition larn much astir your motivations, and you’ll larn whether the institution seems similar a bully acceptable for you.

For example, you mightiness not beryllium contented with your existent work-life balance. If the caller relation requires you to often question for concern and enactment overtime, you mightiness beryllium amended disconnected looking elsewhere.

However, these reasons often revolve astir stagnation and constricted vocation oregon compensation growth. If this is the lawsuit for you, beryllium honest. I often saw candidates being excessively shy to speech astir wanting to earn more.

5. What’s your astir important vocation achievement?

If you’ve already got a fewer years of acquisition connected your vocation record, beryllium prepared to stock your proudest achievements. 

However, portion it’s earthy to deliberation astir each the marketing campaigns you were portion of, the large ideas that led to monolithic wins, etc., don’t bounds yourself to purely show achievements.

For example, adjacent earlier joining Ahrefs arsenic an SEO & Marketing Educator, I’d accidental that my biggest accomplishment was contributing to different peoples’ maturation arsenic marketers. Nothing motivates maine much than radical reaching retired to archer maine however my lecture, workshop, presentation, oregon nonfiction helped them.

Would you acceptable the team, the company’s culture, and their absorption style? This question isn’t explicitly related to marketing, but it’s important accusation for some parties.

Here are a fewer contrasts. Some radical similar having a database of tasks assigned to them; others similar to make their ain tasks. Some candidates execute champion erstwhile they person flexible hours moving from home; others similar the 9–5 bureau life.

You should cognize what works champion for you successful presumption of organizing your time, work-life balance, workspace, and collaboration.

7. What are your strongest skills?

You mightiness besides brushwood this question masked arsenic “what sets you isolated from different candidates?”—which has a much competitory angle. This question is your accidental to shamelessly transportation what you’re great at. 

I urge mentioning a premix of hard and brushed skills. Hard skills are role-specific, truthful they could beryllium thing from conducting large marketplace research to writing large contented that ranks successful hunt engines. Soft skills are desirable careless of the role, similar captious thinking, communication, oregon leadership. They marque you a amended quality and squad player.

A 2016 survey by Smart Insights revealed the pursuing brushed skills arsenic apical requirements:

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8. What are your weaknesses?

I anticipation this question is losing its popularity and volition yet slice away. Why?

From the interviewer’s constituent of view, the campaigner astir apt won’t springiness a wholly honorable answer. No 1 volition unfastened up astir snapping astatine colleagues oregon their inclination to procrastinate fractional of their moving hours connected YouTube. I’m exaggerating, but you get the gist.

You privation to beryllium prepared for this one. I urge choosing a mediate crushed benignant of answer. Don’t effort to marque immoderate weakness look similar a spot (I enactment excessively much). On the different hand, don’t disclose thing that tin jeopardize being hired.

For example, my reply present could beryllium that I can’t basal being micromanaged and request my ain abstraction for autonomy. I tin ideate that this would beryllium a occupation successful larger organizations with galore absorption levels.

9. What resources bash you usage to make your selling skills?

How and wherever you larn astir selling could beryllium utilized arsenic a proxy to measure your cognition and skills.

The happening is that galore of the astir fashionable manufacture blogs, YouTube channels, oregon influencers don’t make large selling content. It’s often their ain selling and income skills that made them popular, not the extent of accusation and worth they provide.

I cognize this from my ain experience. When I started successful marketing, it was earthy to travel the biggest accounts successful our industry. But unfortunately, it takes a fewer years of consuming selling accusation earlier you tin easy abstracted the wheat from the chaff.

To immoderate degree, this is besides a subjective topic. If you privation immoderate inspiration, I wrote a abbreviated Twitter thread astir stellar selling resources:

I skim done tons of selling contented arsenic a portion of my job.

Want to larn from the best?

Here are 7 stellar learning resources successful assorted formats to go a amended marketer (regardless of seniority):

— Michal Pecánek (@michalpecanek) January 10, 2022

10. What selling publication person you work recently?

This question whitethorn initially look similar a much circumstantial mentation of the erstwhile one, but it’s the other due to the fact that selling books don’t request to beryllium explicitly astir marketing.

For example, among the champion “marketing” books I’ve work were pieces from Daniel Kahneman and Dan Ariely, who are some cardinal figures successful behavioral science and economy. Dale Carnegie and Robert Cialdini are different examples of fashionable non-marketer authors who tin thatch you a batch astir marketing.

But what if you don’t work selling books? What if you don’t similar speechmaking books astatine all? In today’s satellite of online long-form contented crossed each mediums, you tin beryllium a large marketer and a mostly knowledgeable idiosyncratic without speechmaking books. Just steer the speech towards the different mediums.

11. What selling run did you precocious similar and why?

You don’t adjacent person to beryllium a marketer to reply this question. We’re each bombarded by selling communications each day. But arsenic marketers, we tin apt admit the campaigns more, analyse them, and usage them arsenic inspiration.

There’s nary close oregon incorrect run to choose. You tin lone get bonus points by expanding connected wherefore you similar it. The astir caller run that stood retired to maine was Coinbase’s advertisement during the 2022 Super Bowl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIUD_NE1BDo

I’m definite galore different marketers would prime this 1 excessively close now, but present are immoderate reasons wherefore I like it:

  • It instantly makes viewers wonderment what’s going on. There’s nary branding, truthful the lone mode to find retired much is to scan the QR code.
  • It’s a stellar illustration of however creativity tin bushed each selling and branding champion practices.
  • The originative is arsenic debased outgo arsenic possible. Other companies walk millions connected creating Super Bowl ads, whereas Coinbase utilized that wealth to bargain doubly the modular 30s airtime.
  • The outage of their website aft scanning the QR codification mightiness arsenic good person been an further PR stunt. This lone amplified their sum successful the media, which could beryllium much invaluable than making the website load for everyone.

12. What selling tools tin you use well?

No substance what selling presumption you’re applying for, you request to cognize the basics of immoderate selling tools. And since a batch of selling revolves astir data, I would adjacent see spreadsheets arsenic selling tools.

The cognition of circumstantial tools often gets mentioned successful the occupation description. For example, we necessitate a bully knowing of our SEO platform for all selling positions.

Are you going to bash thing connected a laptop during the interview? Probably not. But it’s beauteous casual to trial this cognition adjacent without having the campaigner usage the tools. I often tested candidates who supposedly had a bully grasp of Google Analytics by asking astir circumstantial metrics oregon however they work and interpreted illustration reports.

13. Tell maine astir a hard occupation that you had to lick recently. What did you do?

This question is 1 of those “how bash you enactment nether pressure?” questions. No 1 tin measure your quality successful these situations until they spot you successful one. But the interviewer tin undoubtedly larn a happening oregon 2 astir your problem-solving skills.

Many of america brushwood hard problems regularly. You person a accidental to picture a challenging situation, but you managed to resoluteness it precise well. Of course, the much impactful the decisions were, the better. Just marque definite they were based connected thing amended than a “gut feeling” that we marketers sometimes similar to trust.

14. Tell maine astir a failed run that you worked on. What did you larn from it?

Things can’t ever spell arsenic planned, truthful it’s lone earthy that immoderate of our selling campaigns fail. It tin consciousness unpleasant astatine the time, but these happenings supply the champion learning opportunities. You conscionable person to leverage it—and that’s wherever this question is pointing.

For example, I failed astatine creating a Wikipedia leafage for Ahrefs. It’s a batch of enactment that involves galore tasks, truthful we mightiness arsenic good telephone it a campaign. However, I utilized that acquisition to constitute 1 of the astir in-depth and actionable articles connected how to make a Wiki page. Those ~4,000 words already went done thorough revisions and editing, truthful I’m definite you tin speech astir your acquisition for a infinitesimal or two.

15. Tell maine astir a palmy run that you worked on. What was your contribution?

This question is evidently akin to the erstwhile ones, but it’s focused much connected planning, running, and evaluating a selling run and your relation in it.

If you’re reasoning astir galore campaigns, take 1 wherever you played a important role. It wouldn’t dependable bully to dive into an impactful run earlier telling the interviewer you were much of a bystander.

16. How bash you measurement a campaign’s success?

According to this probe by AMA, astir 50% of selling leaders reported a deficiency of radical who tin nexus selling analytics to practice. If the presumption requires analyzing and interpreting information (most selling jobs do), beryllium prepared to beryllium asked astir selling data, analytics, oregon adjacent immoderate basal statistics.

The champion abbreviated reply present is “it depends,” but it’s evident that the interviewer wants to perceive you picture a fewer selling KPIs and perchance adjacent immoderate proxy metrics related to those KPIs.

For example, accidental you’re asked oregon privation to speech astir an SEO campaign. In that case, you could accidental that a cosmopolitan SEO KPI is hunt visibility (also known arsenic organic stock of voice) and that contributing indicators are applicable integrated postulation and keyword rankings.

17. Who bash you deliberation is our people market?

There’s apt nary amended question to trial whether a campaigner did their homework and checked the company’s website and products. In the lawsuit of immoderate companies, they supply the answers close connected the homepage:

Screenshot 2022-03-18 astatine  20.47.11

I’m undoubtedly biased, but it’s beauteous wide that we connection products for anyone who wants to bash SEO—from beginners (usually SMBs and idiosyncratic concern owners) done SEO pros to endeavor clients (hinted astatine the apical navigation bar).

No 1 expects you to beryllium spot connected successful identifying each people segments that marque up their people market. But you should beryllium capable to deduce a just spot from the company’s connection and their products.

18. How bash you negociate the motorboat of a caller product?

Let’s look it; an experienced marketer could astir apt commencement an hour-long monologue successful effect to this question. A inferior 1 would beryllium beauteous lost. I’m not a monolithic instrumentality of this question, but it appears successful galore different articles astir selling interrogation questions, truthful we’d amended cover it.

You volition ever get asked this question successful a circumstantial context. If you’re applying for a societal media selling role, you don’t request to make a complete go-to-market strategy. Put yourself successful the relation and deliberation astir each the tasks you mightiness person to bash erstwhile launching a caller product. In societal media marketing, it could be:

  • Come up with teasers arsenic societal media posts earlier the launch
  • Prepare merchandise motorboat announcement posts
  • Reveal the merchandise to selected influencers and media beforehand, get them to effort it, usage them for amplification
  • Create visuals for each posts and ads
  • Plan promotion campaigns
  • Come up with a bid of posts that assistance with onboarding and making the champion of usage of the product

19. What caller selling maneuver person you tried recently? Why did you take it, and what did you learn?

We marketers ever person caller technologies, platforms, and tactics to try. In fact, galore marketers these days walk astir of their clip connected advertizing and promotion. As a result, they don’t prosecute overmuch successful the immense array of different marketing activities:

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I’m pointing towards the perfect answers present successful the reverse order. You should lone take caller shiny tactics, techniques, tips, hacks (or immoderate you telephone them) if they acceptable into your marketing strategy. TikTok mightiness beryllium the hottest level for a while, but that isn’t a crushed to usage it for business.

Think astir thing caller oregon unorthodox that you utilized precocious due to the fact that it had the imaginable to get you person to your marketing objectives. It doesn’t substance what it is arsenic agelong arsenic it makes consciousness from the strategical perspective.

16 Marketing Tactics That Work

20. What are your wage expectations?

For many, wealth speech could beryllium 1 of the astir uncomfortable parts of the interview—so you’d amended travel prepared.

First of all, bash diligent probe astir salaries, compensation packages, and companies’ budgets for your roles successful your area. Look astatine HR portals, authorities statistic and unfastened occupation positions with disclosed salaries. Ask your friends and acquaintances who could cognize this information.

Check aggregate sources of information. For example, Glassdoor states that the median compensation for selling managers successful the US is astir $95k, portion the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates $141k.

For 100% distant jobs, determination are present galore companies that connection globally competitory salaries, truthful you mightiness arsenic good look astatine US information adjacent if you’re elsewhere.

After you person a bully grasp of the compensation landscape, I’d impulse you to astatine slightest get an thought astir the wage scope earlier you put excessively overmuch clip and vigor into the hiring process. The worst-case script for some parties is erstwhile you find retired excessively precocious that determination isn’t a imaginable compromise betwixt the candidate’s expectations and the fund for the role.

So, bash your research, get an thought of the wage scope for the presumption you’re applying for, and this uncomfortable question tin easy pb to a win-win situation.

21. Do you person immoderate questions?

I ever asked this astatine the extremity of my interviews. Not lone is it the close happening to bash to fto the campaigner inquire astir thing near unanswered, but it besides signals that the campaigner is funny successful the position.

As the candidate, you should database what you privation to screen during the interview. Feel escaped to bring it with you. It tin incorporate immoderate questions astir the position, company, team, culture, oregon experiences of the interviewers. Also, consciousness escaped to inquire if you’re unsure what’s coming up adjacent successful your hiring process, erstwhile you should ideally commencement if you’re hired, etc.

If the interviewer doesn’t inquire this question and you’re funny successful moving there, initiate the speech yourself astatine the extremity of the interview. You mightiness adjacent marque an content this way.

Final thoughts

You should present beryllium prepared to reply the astir communal selling interrogation questions. That’s lone fractional of the victory, though. Most selling roles necessitate skills successful circumstantial areas similar SEO, PPC, oregon branding. Those are the hard skills that instrumentality a batch of clip to master.

Good luck with your adjacent interview!

Do you person immoderate questions? Ping maine connected Twitter.