50 interview questions to ask marketing managers during hiring

Before you make the crucial decision to hire a marketing manager, you must go through a couple of stages to review your applicants’ abilities. 

First, we advise you to test your applicants’ skills and then to interview them to gain a deeper understanding of their qualities and expertise. 

As for the skill-testing phase, there are plenty of tests to help you, like our Market Analysis or Growth Marketing tests. 

But where can you get the best interview questions?

In this article, we’ve put together 50 interview questions for marketing managers to help you better understand their skills. Let’s get started with the questions right away.

15 general interview questions for marketing managers

Here, you’ll find 15 general interview questions for marketing managers. Use them at the beginning of the interview process to review your candidates’ general experience and knowledge.

1. What are the main responsibilities of marketing managers?

2. Describe the features of your ideal marketing campaign.

3. Describe your experience with managing a marketing team.

4. How important is data when making marketing decisions?

5. Which method do you use to develop a marketing strategy?

6. How important is it to track and analyze marketing initiatives?

7. Which method do you use to select the optimum marketing channels for clients?

8. What is the best way to ensure a new campaign idea gains traction with executives?

9. What makes our brand unique? How does it stand out from competitors?

10. Which method do you use to handle a project that has evolving demands?

11. Explain the four pillars of product marketing.

12. What is the main objective of marketing?

13. Why are you passionate about marketing?

14. What do you hope to achieve alongside our marketing team?

15. Which marketing skills do you need to refine? How are you working on these?

5 general interview questions for marketing managers and sample answers

Check the answers to five of the general interview questions for marketing managers to evaluate your candidates’ responses.

1. What is the best way to ensure a new campaign idea gains traction with executives?

Is your next marketing manager able to use the right techniques to ensure their new campaign idea gains traction with executives? Do they know that pitching successfully, framing the top solutions to critical issues, and using emotional intelligence and communication are vital to get executives to buy in and give a campaign the go-ahead?

2. Which method do you use to select the optimum marketing channels for a campaign?

Look for signs that your applicants know the three factors to select the best marketing channels for a campaign. 

Your applicants should understand that the process involves knowing the target audience, the available channels, and the business’ competitors. They should also understand that some experimentation with different marketing strategies can help.

3. What makes our brand unique? How does it stand out from competitors?

Your applicant must understand your brand and what you do differently from competitors. It’s also important they know what marketing methods you need to improve to perform better than your competitors. Has your next marketing manager already familiarized themselves with your brand?

4. Which method do you use to handle a project that has evolving demands?

Ask your applicants this interview question to learn whether they’re proactive and understand the importance of leveraging resources to handle evolving projects. Can they adjust quickly and use the resources that are available to them and their team to adapt to the changing requirements?

5. Which marketing skills do you need to refine? How are you working on these?

Whether the applicants you interview for your marketing-manager role need to refine their project-management or time-management skills, they must be able to explain how they’re doing this exactly. 

For example, do your applicants work on delegating tasks more efficiently by continuously reviewing the strengths of their team members? Are they taking the time to evaluate the progress of their team to make sure everything is on track?

10 digital-marketing interview questions for marketing managers

Use these 10 digital-marketing interview questions for marketing managers during the interview to learn more about your applicants’ abilities to manage digital marketing campaigns. 

1. Which types of marketing content will get us the best results for our next digital campaign?

2. Which method would you use to increase the online presence of our brand?

3. Name the tools you have used to build a digital sales funnel. What were the results?

4. Which method would you use to ensure creative writers meet deadlines? 

5. Describe a digital-marketing campaign you worked on that was a resounding success.

6. What is the main objective of digital marketing?

7. Describe the main digital channels you use and have the most experience with.

8. Describe your knowledge of marketing-analytics tools.

9. Which approach would you use to increase conversion rates?

10. Which digital marketing skills are the most important?

5 digital-marketing interview questions and answers

Check the answers to the five interview questions about digital marketing to review the answers you receive from your applicants.

1. Which method would you use to increase the online presence of our brand?

As part of their answer to this interview question for marketing managers, applicants must show their familiarity with different digital marketing channels and how they align with your customers’ pain points. 

They should understand how to bridge the gap between your customers and your brand to improve brand awareness, recognition, and engagement. Your applicants may also note a few brands that have maintained a strong online presence.

2. Which types of marketing content will get us the best results for our next digital campaign?

It’s important that your applicants know how to customize your marketing content for the required channels using the right data, as opposed to simply trying out different types of content. 

Can your candidates explain that predicting which marketing content will get the best results depends on campaign and customer data?

3. Name the tools you have used to build a digital sales funnel. What were the results?

Various tools can help marketing managers build a digital sales funnel. 

Can your applicants name some examples, such as HubSpot or Google Analytics, and explain how they would incorporate them into their sales funnel creation process? Can they also explain why lead qualifying is fundamental to building a digital sales funnel?

4. Describe a digital-marketing campaign you worked on that was a resounding success.

When describing a successful digital-marketing campaign in response to this interview question for marketing managers, your candidate should have qualitative and quantitative data to demonstrate its success. 

Can they take you through the whole campaign and then explain the outcomes? Did they work closely with the campaign manager to achieve a good outcome? For example, the business may have seen their organic traffic or conversions increase thanks to this specific digital-marketing campaign.

Recommended reading: Looking to hire a strategic campaign manager to support your marketing team? Check out this article on hiring a campaign manager.

5. Describe your knowledge of marketing-analytics tools.

Analytics tools are crucial in digital marketing and can help with campaign optimization. Can your applicants go beyond simply listing analytics tools? Can they also explain what the tools do? 

Some examples of the tools they may list include Google Analytics for traffic-oriented tracking or BuzzSumo for content marketing analytics.

10 behavioral interview questions for marketing managers

Use these 10 behavioral interview questions for marketing managers to find out how your candidates respond to challenging situations at work.

1. Has there ever been a time you had to make a quick decision without much data?

2. Describe a time your marketing campaign failed. What action did you take?

3. Describe a new marketing method you implemented recently. 

4. Have you ever received negative brand feedback? How did you respond?

5. Which free method would you use to increase traffic to our website?

6. How frequently would you have meetings with cross-functional teams?

7. Have you ever had to resolve a disagreement between team members?

8. Name two motivational strategies you use to increase productivity.

9. Name a strategy you use to create and manage editorial calendars.

10. Name a strategy you use to plan social campaigns.

5 behavioral interview questions for marketing managers and answers

Check the answers to five of these behavioral interview questions for marketing managers to assess your candidates’ responses and knowledge.

1. Has there ever been a time you had to make a quick decision without much data?

To know if your candidate can make fast decisions under pressure, ask them this interview question. Your applicant should explain that getting the most out of the resources they have available to them and digging deeper into their knowledge of the situation are among the best solutions in such instances.

2. Which free method would you use to increase traffic to our website?

There are several free methods marketing managers may use to increase traffic to a website, such as:

• Internal linking

• Local SEO

• Community engagement

• Using free SEO tools

• Content repurposing

But can your candidate explain that each technique has unique benefits and that choosing the best one will depend on your organization’s needs? For instance, using internal linking requires a blog.

3. Name a strategy you use to plan social campaigns.

Do your candidates know that several steps are essential when planning social campaigns? These include: 

• Determining the campaign’s goal 

• Deciding on promotion methods for each channel

• Creating a content calendar 

• Scheduling posts

Your candidates should know that each step is fundamental for rolling out a successful social campaign plan.

4. Have you ever received negative brand feedback? How did you respond?

Candidates should know that it’s never helpful to ignore negative comments and that taking feedback on board is the best way to contribute to the development of the brand.

Your applicants may also explain that if the negative brand feedback is visible online, it’s important to try to shift the dialogue to a one-on-one channel of communication (such as email or phone) instead of arguing with the customer in public forums.

5. Describe a time your marketing campaign failed. What action did you take?

When answering this interview question, your applicants must be able to discuss the aspects of the campaign that led to its failure. Look for signs that your applicant sees value in experimentation and can learn from their past mistakes.

15 interview questions for marketing managers about skills and values

Use these 15 interview questions about skills and values to determine whether your applicants’ experience matches the demands of your role.

1. How would your team rate your leadership skills as a marketing manager?

2. How would you rate your time-management skills as a marketing leader?

3. How would your team rate your motivational skills as a marketing leader?

4. Describe your communication style when collaborating with senior leadership.

5. Describe your communication style when collaborating with team members.

6. How would your team rate your delegation skills as a marketing leader?

7. How would you rate your ability to provide feedback to team members?

8. How would you rate your problem-solving skills as a marketing manager?

9. How would senior management rate your attention-to-detail skills?

10. How developed are your SEO skills, and why are they important?

11. How would your team rate your critical-thinking skills?

12. What are your values when it comes to managing a marketing team?

13. Is being innovative important as a marketing manager?

14. How would you rate your data-analysis skills?

15. Why are UX design skills necessary for marketing managers?

5 interview questions and answers about skills and values

Check the answers to these five interview questions for marketing managers about skills and values to gauge your applicants’ experience and abilities.

1. Why are UX design skills necessary for marketing managers?

Not only should marketing managers know why UX design skills are important, but they should also be able to show they have the necessary UX design skills to enhance a user’s experience. 

Can they explain that UX skills enable them to work effectively with a UX designer to minimize negative user experiences during website navigation? 

If you need to test your candidates’ UX skills, our UX / UI Design test is the best option for a bias-free skill review.

2. How would you rate your problem-solving skills as a marketing manager?

Your next marketing manager should have excellent problem-solving skills to help them with complex tasks. 

For instance, if they need to increase traffic to a website, they must first identify why the traffic is low and think of cost- and time-efficient solutions. If you need to review your applicants’ problem-solving skills, consider using our Problem-solving skills test.

3. How developed are your SEO skills, and why are they important?

SEO is a vital skill for marketing teams looking to increase traffic (visitors) to a website, and a marketing manager must understand the key SEO processes to assist in optimization. 

Can your candidate explain why technical SEO skills are important? 

If you’re looking for evidence that your applicants’ SEO skills align with your expectations, use our Technical SEO skills test or our SEO Copywriting test.

4. How would your team rate your leadership skills as a marketing manager?

Asking your applicant this interview question will help you learn whether your applicants have the right skills to effectively lead a team. 

Learn whether they can delegate effectively, support the marketing team’s development, offer the right feedback by asking this question, or use our Leadership and People Management test to review these skills.

5. Describe your communication style when collaborating with team members.

Does your next marketing manager have a communication style that facilitates openness and collaboration? Do they have a communication style that makes it easier to give feedback? 

It’s important they can communicate efficiently to clarify requirements for their team and use active listening to understand any queries the team may have. Check their communication skills with our Communication skills test.

At which stage of the hiring process should you use these interview questions for marketing managers?

Unsure when is the best time to use these interview questions for marketing managers?

The perfect moment to interview applicants is after you’ve tested their skills with the help of skills tests. 

This approach involves sourcing applicants first and then asking them to complete an assessment by sending them an invitation via your applicant tracking system or your skills-assessment platform. Once they complete the assessments, you’ll be able to identify the most skilled candidates and invite them to an interview. 

This approach is ideal for shortlisting candidates. It’s the fastest way to eliminate applicants whose skills simply don’t match your requirements. It’s also the easiest way to evaluate candidates’ skills accurately and objectively. 

Use our skills tests and interview questions for hiring managers to hire an expert

You now have all the interview questions you need to hire a skilled marketing manager. 

But what’s next? 

Now it’s time to source candidates and head to TestGorilla’s test library to create your first skills assessment. Select up to five skills tests you want to include in your assessment to evaluate applicants’ skills in depth, such as our Email Marketing or Mobile Marketing test.

You can then interview your most talented applicants and choose the most suitable marketing manager for your business. 

That’s all there is to it! If you follow these steps, you’ll easily find the right talent for your team. 

Hire talented marketing managers with the right knowledge and experience using our interview questions and skills tests.  Register for free today and start making better hiring decisions, faster and bias-free.