Marketing Manager Skills Interview
Author:
Madison DMadison’s template will help you identify the best candidate for a Marketing Manager role in a large company that sells consumer products. The key areas this template covers include collaborating with external marketing agencies, developing and executing visions for campaigns, managing a marketing budget, and analyzing data to inform and communicate the marketing strategy across the organization.
Focus area:
Question
1
Tell me about a campaign you've worked on in the past where you were responsible for setting the campaign’s vision. How did you develop the vision successfully, and why was your approach successful?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to align campaign objectives to business objectives and use data to inform strategy
Explore tips
- Identifies a realistic time frame for the vision
- Clearly articulates campaign objectives and how they align with business goals
- Uses data to inform campaign objectives
- Identifies specific characteristics about the target audience
- Solicits feedback from relevant others to gain support for campaign
Question
2
How do you manage your relationships with marketing agencies? What steps would you take to ensure their output is successful?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to develop strong relationships with agencies and manage agency performance
Explore tips
- Understands that developing good relationships is integral to success
- Is open-minded/receptive to their ideas but ensure vision remains intact
- Clearly communicates objectives but refrains from being too prescriptive
- Emphasizes the importance of giving them creative freedom
- Reminds them of who and what the campaign is for, especially for revisions/edits
Question
3
Tell me about a brief you've written that resulted in a really successful campaign. Why was the brief so great, and how did it contribute to the campaign’s success?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to develop high quality and inspiring briefs to achieve campaign success
Explore tips
- Used research/data to create a well-informed brief
- Clearly outlined business objectives and how they related to the vision
- Used storytelling techniques to identify the problem and propose a solution
- Clearly outlines expectations for their work (e.g. medium, target outlets)
- Used language and tactics to inspire others and encourage creative freedom
Question
4
When managing and making decisions about a marketing budget, how do you allocate money to different initiatives?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to make well-informed budgeting decisions to utilize resources strategically
Explore tips
- Clearly identifies examples of relevant marketing initiatives
- Allocates money by aligning initiatives to objectives (e.g. media, sampling)
- Relies on expertise and previous budgeting data to inform budgeting decisions
- Acknowledges the vision should also drive budget allocation
Question
5
What do you do to track and manage your budget throughout the year and ensure you’re optimizing it strategically?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to accurately monitor budget and adapt/adjust accordingly
Explore tips
- Exhibits budget acumen/ understands credits/debits
- Tracks/reviews spending systematically (month-month)
- Ensures budget is not underutilized
- Ensures spending does not meaningfully exceed targets
- Documents budget-related decisions to inform future budgeting
Question
6
Can you tell me about a time where you’ve had to pivot a project or campaign due to unforeseen challenges or budget constraints? How did you manage that pivot effectively?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to effectively deal with budget constraints by tapping into other resources
Explore tips
- Describes challenges and explains why they required a pivot
- Considers free alternatives to achieve objectives (e.g. social media)
- Consults other teams/areas in the business to find additional resources
- Involves and communicates changes to relevant stakeholders
- Explains the outcome of the project/campaign after pivot
Question
7
What are some different sources you turn to for data to learn about consumer insights? What are the advantages and disadvantages of these?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to gather and think critically about marketing data to garner accurate consumer insights
Explore tips
- Analyzes internal company data on existing customers
- Researches trends on different social media platforms
- Considers using/purchasing third party data to understand market and segment
- Notes advantages/disadvantages based on sample, quality, relevance, etc.
Question
8
Tell me about a time where you've used a raw customer dataset to inform a project or campaign? How did you analyze it, and what information did you use to inform your project?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate can leverage raw customer data to build brand and drive business success
Explore tips
- Attempts to find a pattern/observation that will contribute to business success
- Analyzes sales/purchase data across different products and customer segments
- Considers context when analyzing data (e.g. new feature, seasonal demand)
- Justifies how data was responsible for creating a successful project/campaign
Question
9
Part of your role as a Marketing Manager is providing updates and recommendations based on projects and campaigns to senior leaders in your organization. How would you communicate the information effectively?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate can leverage raw customer data to build brand and drive business success
Explore tips
- Tailors the information/communication style to the audience
- Provides a concise summary of the most important information
- Uses evidence/data to gain support for their ideas or solutions
- Solicits feedback from stakeholders to show a collaborative attitude
- Explains how ideas/solutions relate to the broader organizational strategy/objectives
