Manager Digital Marketing Interview Preparation Guide

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There are always bits of jobs we don’t like, but project managers typically work on the projects that they are assigned. It’s fine to have preferences, but you’re looking for someone who can respond to business needs even if that isn’t their top choice of project.

Managing up means working well with people more senior than you. Project managers do this all the time, so it’s good to find out how they make those relationships work.

Marketing is changing constantly at a rapid pace -- so anyone in a marketing role needs to know how to stay on top of and adapt to these changes. Do they know where to look for industry news? Are they familiar with and subscribed to top marketing blogs? What do they do when they see a change has taken place, like when Google updates their algorithm?

This gives you an indication of how they do their job. Someone who spends all day at the PC may suit your environment, or you might be looking for a project manager who gets out and visits clients most days of the week. Remember that they might be prepared to do something other than what they do now, so if you hear something that doesn’t fit with the post you are recruiting for, don’t rule them out before exploring this further.

It will show you what’s important to them at work: green credentials, career progression, work/life balance, working for a big brand etc. It will also tell you if they are actively job hunting or whether they saw your ad and couldn’t resist (either is fine).

Before giving you an answer, the best candidates will come back and ask you about the blog's metrics, how many leads and customers it generates, what the goals are for it, how much you're investing in it, and so on. This is also a great way to test whether they actually prepared for the interview by reading your blog.

This will help you work out if they are happy to be honest and tell you about a time that something went wrong. This shows their capacity to learn from mistakes and how they deal with information overload. Delegating work packages is key to project work and you’ll want to hire someone who understands that.

It will show you their priorities and whether they have actually thought about what a project manager does. It will also demonstrate whether they are a good cultural fit for your team. If you have a strong focus on process and they think the most important thing is to be flexible and adapt processes as you go, then you probably won’t get on.

Not everyone has the chance to work on business critical, exciting projects that make for a great CV, but everyone has the chance to offer some suggestions for improvements (even if they aren’t taken up). Look for someone who has ideas and who isn’t afraid to put them forward.

If candidate's answer on above question is $0, they are lying. If they are unsure and say not that much. They are lying. If they are truthful and say quite a bit, and then go on to explain how that taught them lessons on strategy development, budgeting etc, then I'd hire them.

This question will help you assess a candidate's ability to explain a concept they know intimately to someone who isn't as familiar with it. If their hobby is training for a marathon, ask them what advice they'd give you if you woke up one day deciding you wanted to train for a marathon. Are they able to communicate it clearly?

One candidate taught me how to make tagliatelle, which is hand-cut Italian pasta. She gave me the full run-down on how you make the noodles, how you form them and cut them, and which ingredients go into the sauce. She relayed the step-by-step process to me in a way that was very clear and understandable. I felt like I could've gone home and made tagliatelle myself. Not only did this tell me she knows how to convey information clearly, but it was also gave me insight into her personality and interests.

If you’re doing digital communications, you’ll probably be involved with content and content management systems. Hopefully your candidate will have used a few and have been paying sufficient attention to prefer some over others, and have intelligent reasons for doing so.

Do their points suggest an awareness of the strategic issues at play in choosing a CMS? Issues like security, updating, the availability of developers to work on a particular platform, data liberation, and open source will hopefully be raised.

You should try and answer this question as honestly as you can. Think about why you applied for your first digital marketing job – was it the reputation of the industry? Its fast-paced nature? The fact high-paying salaries were on offer? Or the fact that it’s constantly changing, growing and adapting on a weekly basis?

The employer is asking this question to test your commitment to the industry and to find out what makes you tick as a digital marketing candidate – so your answer needs to convey your commitment and enthusiasm for the sector overall.

A good answer would be to say that you were attracted to the industry because it’s got a good reputation and there are lots of opportunities available to progress your career, learn new skills and expand your knowledge. This answer shows you’re committed to the sector long-term and demonstrates that you’re a candidate who’s constantly looking to improve and enhance their skills.

☛ prove that you have assessed the company's current strategy and tactics
☛ prove you can be honest about the fail points you have identified
☛ show that you can do more than just criticize by offering constructive strategies for addressing fail points
☛ prove you have the confidence to tell their future employer when they are making a mistake

Don’t dislike any part of working in the digital marketing industry? Sorry but I think you’re fibbing! And the employer will too! Why? Because there’s always something, big or small, that everyone dislikes about their job.

Think about which parts of your last job you dreaded and why – and consider what bugbears you have with the industry. Above all, be honest! You never know; the employer might feel the same way – and it might convince them to take you on. Similarly, if you voice your dislike of a particular task now, the employer might end up tweaking your role if they do take you on to ensure you don’t have to do something you don’ like.

Earlier this year the ICO formally began enforcing an EU privacy directive from 2009 that covers cookies. This is why you now see so many popups on websites asking you to consent for cookies.

The ICO’s guidance on consent, in the run up to the enforcement deadline, was a source of heated discussion. Shortly before enforcement began, the concept of ‘implied consent’ was introduced. Whether your candidate thinks this was sensible pragmatism from an organisation tasked with enforcing an impossible EU directive, or a frustrating last-minute change of tack that has abandoned consumers to continued electronic surveillance and marketing, the main thing is that they can give you an answer. You certainly don’t want to see a glazed expression .

It can demonstrate their awareness of PMI Code of Ethics and even if they aren’t aware of that, their general approach to work. You can also use it to open up an interesting discussion and allow you to judge how they will fit into your business culture.

We’re looking for technical skills, strategic direction, problem solving, stakeholder management, expectation management, and a drive to learn from problems and improve processes. Don’t hesitate to ask them to frame their answer differently if it’s not making sense.

With this question, it’s all going to come down to your own personal experience – so think about what you’ve done in the past and what skills you’ve picked up which they might not necessarily have in-house which could benefit the business overall. Also consider any particular digital marketing campaigns that you learnt a lot from – and how this particular knowledge could help the business or one of the business’ existing clients.

In this instance, the employer is really asking what differentiates you from the rest of the applicants – so think carefully about what makes you unique (in terms of your digital marketing skills, knowledge, experience and contacts) and how this could have a positive effect on the business.

Hopefully their response will go beyond measuring statistics like ‘time on site’ and ‘number of pages per visit’ and talk about measuring the achievement of the organisation’s aims using digital.

Ask them how they’d measure the achievement of the organisation’s aims online, and what experience they have in doing this. Of course, once you’re able to measure how well an organisation’s digital presence is helping it achieve its objectives, you can try to improve thi, in an evidence-led way.

They might also hit on the thornier question of social media measurement. They’ll hopefully talk about engagement. Perhaps they’re even reading Beth Kanter’s new book ‘Measuring the Networked Nonprofit’. Ask them how they’ve increased this, how they’ve measured their successes, and what returned has come from this.

Do they care about their field? Are they excited by it and its possibilities? Hopefully you'll sense some in their eyes as they answer this question.

This question also probes whether they have their ear to the ground. As a follow-up question you could ask: What makes for good content or a good digital campaign?

☛ Tell me what you know about SEO
☛ What is the difference between 'On Page' and 'Off Page' optimization?
☛ What is the difference between 'White Hat SEO' and 'Black Hat SEO'?
☛ Tell me about the latest Google algorithm changes.
☛ What SEO tools do you use?
☛ What tool(s) do you use to track your rankings?
☛ What is page rank or PR?
☛ What is a 'Backlink'?

☛ What is the purpose of social media?
☛ Give an example of when you have had to write a social media strategy explain how you approached this task
☛ What are the differences between writing for traditional web channels and writing for social media?
☛ Why do you think we should use social media?
☛ In what ways do we need to be careful when using these tools?
☛ How do you measure social ROI?
☛ What is your experience managing multiple social media accounts?
☛ What social media tools have you experience with?
☛ Which social media brand strategy has inspired you lately?
☛ What is your policy on moderating comments?
☛ How does social media affect SEO and your online profile?
☛ Can you tell us about some of the challenges you have faced when introducing social media in your previous job, and how you overcame them?

☛ Can you explain what PPC stands for?
☛ Do you have experience directly managing a Google Adwords campaign?
☛ How do you improve quality score?
☛ What does CPC means?
☛ With CPC ads, how can a lower click through rate lead to a higher ROI (Return on Investment)?
☛ Is it good, bad or indifferent to pay for ads on terms that you already rank on for natural search?
☛ How do you measure ROI?
☛ What’s your methodology in creating ad copies

☛ What web analysing packages are you familiar with?
☛ Why it is important to monitor your website traffic (or the lack of it)?
☛ How do you assess engagement/the value of a visitor to the business?
☛ What is 'Bounce Rate'?
☛ Explain the difference between a page view, visit, visitor and unique visitor?
☛ What does Google Webmaster Tools do?
☛ Explain what a conversion rate is.