Marketing Manager Interview Questions And Answers

Marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical application of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside enterprises and organization and on the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities.

As a marketing manager, it would be your job to plan the best ways of promoting your employer's products, services or brand. If you are organised and love communicating messages and ideas, this could be the job for you. You will need to have the management skills to lead and motivate a team.

Market research is considered a key aspect in this role and researching is crucial for a marketing manager. Based on research, the manager decides on strategies, marketing tactics, campaigns, pricing, and promotion policies. Market research allows identifying new product trends, which allows introducing new services or products into the company product line. It also allows following recent developments and competitors.

List some key qualifications and add a brief example from your professional career. Marketing managers are excellent at multitasking. They are independent problem solvers and initiative researchers. But they are also superb team players, coordinating their activities with other departments, senior management, customers, market leaders and suppliers.

The marketing manager evaluates the financial aspect of development. He adjusts the development with the company's financial goals and means (budget). He also assesses the relevance of the product to the current market. If necessary, the marketing manager suggests changes to product development in order to optimize its success among current customers.

Teamwork is important as the marketing manager does his research and makes his strategic decisions based on external resources as well as cross company personnel. He brings his team work to perfection resulting in product development, marketing initiatives, promotion and advertising. He must know how to explain, lead and instruct. He must be able to understand the goals and means of the organization in order to adapt his own decisions for optimal effect.

Talk about coordinating actions and information with the development department at every stage. Give examples of how your marketing management influences product development and vice versa.

Not necessarily all companies use marketing channels.There are some that directly market their products to consumers.

☛ Promotes communication
☛ Information provider
☛ Physical distribution
☛ Fosters relationship management

Once goods are manufactured, they must be transferred from their place of manufacturing (factory) to the end consumer otherwise the goods would remain idle. Marketing channels give movement to such goods and help them in reaching the right consumer at the right time and place.They can also be called the media or vehicle through which goods reach the target market and to the end consumer.

It may be extensive training, but you may also mention any instruction of personnel regarding your strategies, research, possible changes, new production polices, etc. Such instruction often involves presentations. Presentations are also often used when reporting to senior management.

Publicity is about getting others to know more about your organization and its business. Its objective is to gain more name and fame in the public.

Difference between publicity and promotion:
Publicity is about getting others to know more about your organization and its business. Its objective is to gain more name and fame in the public.
Promotion is much more vast in scope as compared to publicity which is just one aspect of promotion. There are other areas in promotion apart from publicity, which includes advertising, sales promotion,public relation, personal selling and direct marketing as well.

IMC or integrated marketing communication is the buzzword these days. Under this concept, all the elements of marketing communication are made to work together in order to achieve sales maximization as well as cost effectiveness of a product. All the elements including advertising, sales promotion,public relation, personal selling and direct marketing are integrated in such a way that they do not work at all in isolation, thereby contributing to a common goal. With the advent of specialized media vehicles, internet marketing and retailer dominated market, IMC has gained immense popularity among the corporate.

First of all I would identify the target market for the product. If at all the target market exists then identify if any other prospective target market could be there apart from the existing one. I would approach a celebrity to endorse it. I would also organize roadshows to publicize the product and approach the media as well. As they say 'Charity begins at Home' , so I would spread the word about the company product (name the product) to my family and friends and recommend them to use it. That would be a simple 'word of mouth' promotion.

Sometimes poor quality leads or poorly communicated messages may pose problems for marketers as well as consumers as some of such consumers may not be actually interested in the product. So much time and money may be wasted on communicating with such consumers. Sending out direct mails to the addresses to the customers may also irritate some customers. The customers may also have a feeling that their privacy is being invaded and they may not want to disclose any personal information about themselves while being asked to answer questionnaires in direct marketing. Direct marketing has to be convincing enough to win over the trust and belief of the consumers in order to overcome such challenges.

Benefits of direct marketing:
☛ Cost effectiveness - The costs of paying to the intermediaries is eliminated due to their absence.
☛ Alternative uses: apart from selling, direct marketing can be used to test new markets, offer rewards to customers, or even for market segmentation.
☛ The results of direct marketing are easier to measure as we know how many people have been directly contacted in the first place.
☛ Relationship building: it helps in building a rapport with the customers as a direct relationship is established with them and they can avail authentic information about a product or service without any manipulations.

Methods of direct marketing:
☛ Direct mail: This is the most common means of direct marketing.Under this direct postal mails are sent to the consumers' address.
☛ Telephone marketing: Via call centers products are also sold over telephone. It is also known as telemarketing.
☛ Catalog marketing: Print,video or electronic catalogs maybe sent to customers.
☛ Online marketing: The organization's products are marketed on the virtual medium through company websites and emails.

Focus on your ability to co-ordinate and delegate activities in an efficient and practical way. Detail how you defined and divided project roles and responsibilities, kept personality clashes and conflict to a minimum and monitored and fed back to the project team.

Focus on your planning and organizing skills to get the best return on the marketing budget. Detail what controls were put in place to track and stay on top of expenditure and how plans were adjusted when necessary. Discuss your ability to react quickly and accurately to meet new demands and constraints.

In answering this marketing manager interview question, focus on your skills in online marketing including search engine tactics and optimization, click-through advertising, writing for the Web using keywords, designing for customer usability, utilization of social media and tracking success of the online campaign.

It is important that you are able to recognize why a plan went wrong and to learn from the experience.
Your analytical and problem solving skills are under scrutiny. Campaigns often fail due to poor research and groundwork, inappropriate objectives or ineffective communication.

Key marketing manager competencies that this question explores include accurate research and analytical skills, the ability to develop realistic and workable objectives and the ability to initiate and monitor strategies and activities that support these objectives.
Efficient utilization of resources reflects sound judgment, planning and organizational skills. Use this question as an opportunity to highlight your strengths as a marketing manager.

Your ability to evaluate a situation, problem or opportunity and understand the action that needs to be taken is key to success as a marketing manager. Gaining a clear perspective is necessary before deciding on the focus of your innovation.

In your marketing manager interview answer show how cultural factors, social factors, personal and psychological factors all impact on consumer behavior. Provide an example of a marketing campaign or project you developed and how you utilized these four key factors to develop and optimize your project.