Manager Digital Marketing Interview Preparation Guide

This question isn’t coming from a particular angle, but should hopefully see how they combine problem solving, instincts, data, initiative and creativity, as well as their ability to deal with uncertainty.

This question lets the employer know that the potential employee understands the importance of interacting with people online and not just scheduling daily posts.

This is a slightly mean but actually very manageable question about search engine optimisation (SEO), designed to trip up charlatans. If knowledge of SEO is on the job description, don't be satisfied with waffle about keywords and page rank.

This question refers to two big changes to the workings of the Google search algorithm in the last year or so. These are the 'Panda' and 'Penguin' updates. So this question will tease out whether they keep up-to-date with search engine optimisation (SEO).

In short, Panda aimed to reward sites with quality content, and to punish sites with low quality and duplicate content. The Penguin update aimed to tackle sites that manipulate search engines to rank more highly than they deserve to be ranked. This includes tactics like stuffing pages with keywords, or obtaining links from disreputable websites in an attempt to pretend that a website is seen as useful.

This will show you how they value their career and whether they see themselves progressing in a PM role. Ask them why they chose that rating.

You want to hire someone who's both qualified and has the desire to do the work. Otherwise, why would they work for you instead of the company next door?

Part of their answer will lie in their body language and enthusiasm. The other part will lie in how concrete their answer is. Get at the details by asking a follow-up question, like: "Let's say you're at home, kicking around, and doing something related to marketing. What is it that you're doing?" Perhaps they're reading their five favorite marketing sites, or analyzing traffic patterns of websites for fun, or writing in their personal blog, or optimizing their LinkedIn profile. Whatever it is, you want to be sure they're deeply passionate about the subject matter you'd hire them for.

With this question, the employer is testing you to see how much ambition you have and to see how much you’ve thought about where your career is going to go. Now, we’ve addressed this one on our Blog before but in regards to digital marketing, if you really want this particular role, I’d urge you to think about the role you’re being interviewed for and how you might be able to progress within that particular company before you give you answer.

It’s OK to be ambitious – but you also need to be realistic too. If you’re interviewing for a digital marketing executive role, you could say you’d like to be a digital marketing manager either in-house or in an agency – which will show the employer you’re keen to progress and take on extra responsibility – possibly at their business. On the other hand, if you’re applying for a digital marketing manager vacancy, you could say you see yourself in a Head of Digital role – or running your own digital marketing agency. Although the latter might put a few employers off, it shows you’re keen to be successful and not just stagnate in one role.

With this question, the employer is asking why you applied for the job so it goes without saying that your answer needs to reflect the job advert and the business you’d be working in. Think back to when you first saw the job advert and ask yourself what it was that made you click ‘apply’ – was it the actual role itself? The business? The location? Or was it the salary? Normally I’d urge you to be honest, but if you did apply for the job because it had a great salary, I’d urge you to keep quiet in this instance – you don’t want the employer to think you’re greedy!

Again, with this answer, it’s best to be honest. Consider which tasks you look forward to in your day and which areas you particularly enjoy working in… but be careful not to just go for the ‘easy’ tasks. The employer wants to hear that you enjoy being challenged and is again looking for an insight into who you are as a candidate.

With this answer, it’s best to list a couple of things, preferably across a range of niches (eg. SEO, PPC, Social, Affiliates etc) to demonstrate your skills and your passion for the sector overall and to show that you’re not a ‘one trick pony’.

It’s worth probing the technical skills of candidates. Can they talk knowledgably about fishbone diagrams, De Bono’s thinking hats, role play? Branch out to talk about the last project issue they resolved with creative thinking.

Do they know who the main user group is? How do they know this? What sort of testing have they done to find out? What sort of data have they used? Have they made assumptions?