How To Prepare For Your Marketing Interview
Before heading into your marketing interview, it’s essential to make sure you’ve prepared as much as possible. Because the difference it will make in your interview can not only make or break your chances of securing the role, it’s also obvious to the interviewer whether you’ve done the prep work or not.
We’re going to be covering everything you should be doing to prepare before your interview, to how to act in the interview, to what you should do after your interview.
How to Prepare For a Marketing Interview in 12 Steps
The preparation you do before your interview will be the bulk of your work needed to crush your marketing interview. So it’s important to make sure that you tick off each of these steps, with enough research to impress your interviewer.
1. Research the Company’s Website and Social Media
Starting with the basics: Doing all the necessary research on the business you’re interviewing for.
This means looking on the company’s website, social media, and any news websites or articles that feature the business. You’re looking to understand exactly what the company does, the kinds of clients they work with, the reviews of the business, and reading their client case studies.
Showing that you’ve done your research is essential to being confident in the interview. In fact, 47% of interviewers said they wouldn’t hire someone who had little knowledge of the company.
But that’s not all. It also shows the interviewer that you’ve taken the time to do the research because you really want the job.
Which can often be a deciding factor between you and a similarly experienced candidate.
2. Do your Research on the Interviewers
Similarly to the above, it’s also a great idea to take the time to research the interviewers themselves, (if you have access to that information).
This allows you to tailor any questions you ask to the interviewer directly, and understand who you’ll be working with and where you will fit into the company. And it also impresses the interviewer by showing that you understand the organisation.
If you work with a recruiter, then they will be able to provide you with this information directly, and in greater detail than from what you’ll be able to find from just LinkedIn.
3. Revisit and Analyse the Job Advert/ Job Description
The job advert that you applied to is your biggest asset before heading into the interview. It should contain all the information you need about the role, the skills and experience you need and the responsibilities of the role.
Which is crucial to understand, as employers gave “a lack of understanding of the role”, as the most common reason why candidates fail their job interview.
A read through these will tell you exactly what the interviewers want to hear about, what’s most important to this specific position, and what you should aim to talk about.
Because while one SEO Manager position may want a rounded SEO covering being hands-on with technical, off-page and content SEO, the next may be an SEO Manager focusing predominantly on content strategy and team management.
4. Prepare Answers for the Questions You’ll Likely be Asked
Analysing the job description will also give you some insight into the questions you’re likely to face from the interviewer. So take the time to prepare answers and examples of your experience, for questions centred around the skills, experience and responsibilities listed in the job advert.
This will look something like this:
In the interview, you’re asked this question:
“Can you tell me about your experience creating reports on Amazon Ad campaigns and creating optimisations on your insights?”
And unfortunately, while you have experience working on Amazon Ad campaigns, you’ve never done reporting on them.
But because you’ve analysed the job description and prepared, you’re prepared for this question. So instead of simply stating that you don’t Amazon Ads reporting experience or making up an answer on the spot, you can reply with this:
“While I don’t have experience with reporting Amazon Ads, I do have experience with creating reports on Google Search Ads that have led to improvements on ROI of up to 120%. Additionally, I have previous experience managing and optimising Amazon Ads.
I believe these previous experiences will allow me to quickly learn how to create reports on Amazon Ads, and I look forward to the challenge.”
5. Prepare Examples of Previous Successful Campaigns or Projects
Like we did in the example above, it’s a great idea to have a list of examples of your successful campaigns and projects you’ve worked on before you head into your interview.
Ideally these examples will cover any variety of the questions you can be asked, and can be adaptable for multiple questions you will be asked.
For example, let’s say you’re applying for an SEO Account Manager position. You know the responsibilities of the role are varied, so you will want to prepare examples of times that you:
- Were effective in regards to technical SEO and website performance.
- Created effective content and digital PR campaigns that increased organic traffic.
- Client relationship management, handling difficult clients or times that clients were happy with your work.
- Improved SEO strategy or processes, and the results.
- Examples of exemplary SEO Executive development or management.
- Were instrumental in new business pitches or winning.
While these are just general examples, analysing the job advert will help you to prepare more tailored responses before you head into the interview.
6. Prepare Some Questions for the Interviewer
The interviewer is your opportunity to find out if this is a role you want and a company you want to work for. So you should aim to have a variety of questions prepared to ask the interviewers.
These questions should obviously be tailored to the role you’re applying for, to the company, and to the interviewers themselves.
The questions you ask can be about anything: About the role, the training and development on offer, personal progression opportunities, questions about the interviewer’s experience, or about the company culture.
What you should absolutely avoid is asking no questions, which could show that you’re not that interested in the position.
See here for a list of the best questions to ask at the end of your interview.
During the Interview
7. Present Confident and Clearly
Easier said than done. But that doesn’t make it any less crucial.
Because how you present yourself and communicate with your interviewers will absolutely make or break your marketing interview.
So make the conscious effort in your interview to speak confidently and clearly. Take your time with your answers, avoid rushing, and use your body language to help you communicate.
8. Think About Your Body Language
Speaking of body language, how you present yourself in regards to your body language in your interview, is key.
Here at Herd, we’ve seen candidates rejected from the process due to closed off body language, a lack of presenting skills, or seemingly overly nervous in an interview. Because for roles where you’re presenting to clients, things like this can be crucial.
And even for other roles, interviewers are going to be looking for someone who can handle themselves under pressure.
So make sure to be in control of your posture, the eye contact you make, your facial expression, and what your hands are doing.
For a guide on body language in interviews, have a look here.
9. Take Your Time With Difficult Questions…
Despite all your preparation you may still face difficult questions that you aren’t 100% prepared for. So what do you do then?
Well the first thing to do is take a moment. Say to the interviewer that it’s a good question and you’d like a moment to think about it.
Because it’s much better to take the time you need to formulate a coherent answer, than to try and bluff your way through a question.
10. Or Don’t Answer Them at All, Right Now
Or if you’re really stumped by a question, then there’s no shame in saying that you don’t have an answer for them right now. But that you’d love some time to think about it, and if it’s okay, you’d like to follow up with an email.
Of course you can always try to come up with an answer on the spot. But if you really don’t know, then asking to give them an answer later is better than not answering a question at all.
After the Interview
After the interview is done, so is most of your work, and the results are largely out of your hands. But there are a few small steps you can take to slightly improve your chances.
11. Reiterate Your Interest in the Role
When the interview is finished it’s always a good idea to thank the interviewer for their time and restate how interested in the role you are.
Ending the interview by reaffirming your interest in the role and desire to work for the company can be one of those small things that actually makes a big difference. Because employers only want to make a job offer to someone who they are convinced will accept it.
Otherwise they run the risk of making an offer and waiting a week for a decision: And when that decision is a no, it can be too late, with their other candidates no longer available.
12. Follow-up After the Interviewer With an Email
Sending a follow-up email after your interview can be much more helpful to securing your next role than many consider.
A follow-up email can range from simply thanking the interviewer for their time, to reminding them of the reasons why they should choose you as a candidate, and even correcting any mistakes or errors that you made in the interview.
We’ve put together a guide on how to write a follow-up email, with templates and examples here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I introduce myself in an interview?
Sometimes you’ll be asked to introduce yourself at the start of an interview.
You should aim to give an overall view of your professional experience and your career, with some of your non-professional life sprinkled in for good measure. Because the interviewer needs to know where you’ve worked, what you’ve learned, and your career goals. But they also want to make sure that you’re a cultural fit for the company, and someone they would enjoy working with.
What we would advise avoiding is simply restating exactly what is written on your CV: Because the interviewer will know what your CV says. They want to see that you can talk confidently about a subject you know.
What’s a good weakness to say in an interview?
Despite what some people say, when an interviewer asks to hear a weakness, they actually want to hear about a weakness. So forget about answering with any of the cliches: “I don’t have any weaknesses”, or “I’m a perfectionist”.
Instead, address a genuine weakness in your professional skill set and experience that you have identified, and how you have, or actively are, working to overcome it.
What should you do if you answer a question poorly during an interview?
Chances are, you’re going to answer a question poorly. Or at least, not as well as you would like. So what do you do then?
Following up with an email stating that the quality of the answer you gave wasn’t representative of your level of understanding and expertise, was due to interview nerves.
And then give the answer you wish you would’ve given in the interview.
How should you dress for an interview?
We find that the majority of businesses don’t expect full business wear anymore. So while you still may choose to dress in a full suit and tie, it’s not as expected as it used to be.
We would still strongly suggest still dressing smart. Just because it’s not expected for you to wear a suit for example, it’s better to be overdressed than under.
Especially for a more senior position. Once you reach management, leadership or c-suite roles, you’ll likely be expected to dress more formally.
