There are two things that are essential to put you in the driving seat:

1. Be Yourself
2. Preparation & Research

Be Yourself

Finding the right cultural environment is so important and authenticity at interview is key to finding that match. Be honest and genuine. You have done the research and you know your stuff. You can’t control who else is interviewing you can only show who you are.

Preparation and Research

Like any successful Marketing campaign – poor research and ineffective communication can often be the reason interviews don’t quite get the results we desire.

Whether you are interviewing in a board room with a CEO or via Zoom from your bedroom preparation and research is key.

Research the Company

Employee Value Proposition

Most businesses will have a comprehensive Careers page where you can learn about their Employer Value Proposition and what life is like to work there

As you read this write down what makes you excited about joining the business. Review this list and find your top 3 things and make sure you can get them across in the interview

Company Performance and News

As well as looking at the direct website make sure you look at any recent Media or Reports about

the Company and show you have your finger on the pulse of any new products, new initiatives and company updates and have an opinion on them. Be sure to show this at the interview.

Research the Role

What is it about this role that excites you? What value can you bring? What value will this role add to your career?

Review the Job Description/Advert and write down the key responsibilities you know you can nail, the key responsibilities that will be a learning opportunity for you and the key responsibilities you know will be part of the role but don’t really excite you and get honest.

Is this the role for you? Yes, great make sure you put your all into getting it.

Research the Interviewers

No need to get all Private Eye but make sure you have a look at their LinkedIn profile and how they have developed their career. How long have they been with the business and where were they before? Look for common ground or people you have in common or any questions you have on their background feel free to ask.

By this point you should be starting to feel very excited and therefore maybe a little, or more nervous

This is where great preparation will mean that you have nothing to worry about on the day

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

Your interview will be split into a combination of Behavioural Questions and Technical Questions.

A good idea to start your preparation is to list down all the products and campaigns you’ve worked on so you remember them, this will help the examples come with ease.

Storytelling and Communication

When it comes to any interview question the STAR approach is tried & tested for a reason.

When preparing answers follow this simple format.

Situation	Task	Action	Result
Create the Story – Provide Context and Background	Describe the problem and the challenges	Explain what YOU did	Quantify the Outcome

Go back to the JD/ Advert again and as you work through the responsibilities create a story for each one.

Now you are in the habit try these common B2B Marketing questions and how the STAR approach can be used to answer them

Give an example recent marketing project you developed

Describe the brief, how you clarified the outcomes of the campaign or project and how you focussed on what needs to be achieved – and then achieved it.

• Situation – what were the marketing objectives, what were the primary audience and target market, what would the measures of success be (revenue, leads, conversion rates etc)
• Task – what research did you use? What were the attitudes and behaviour of the target market, what channels could you use, what options were on the table,
• Action – what decisions did you make? what did you do to influence the target market’s behaviour, what was the key message of the initiative,
• Result – what was the commercial outcome

Give an example of how you have effectively managed a tight budget to accomplish a marketing activity

• Situation – what was the budget and what had to be delivered. Why was this tight? Set the scene
• Task – how did you use your planning and organising skills to get the best return on the marketing budget.
• Action – what controls were put in place to track and stay on top of expenditure, how did you adjust the plan/ channel to stay within budget
• Result – did you make it? What did you deliver? What did you learn that you can use in future?

What leadership challenges have you faced and what did you learn from them?

• Situation – what was the challenge, was it a business, particular employee, stakeholder management, disengaged team a disagreement between marketing and technology? A disagreement between marketing and sales?
• Task – how did you approach it? Did you seek council if yes from who?
• Action – what did you decide to do? How quickly did you make this decision?
• Result – what changed? What was the impact on the relationships in future? What would you do differently in this situation again?

Technical Questions to Consider

• How do you balance delivering short term business objectives with making long term strategic capability investments?
• Here’s our marketing funnel. How would you improve it?
• Tell me about the KPIs you pay attention to, and at what intervals.
• How do you quickly assess whether you’ve made the best marketing investments?
• Do you manage a team now? How is your team structured and why? What do you do yourself versus assign to them?
• How do you want to be measured in this role?
• What is the financial impact you’ve had on your current company?
• How will you learn what you need to learn in this role?
• What factors do you consider the most important when attempting to influence buyer behaviour?
• How do you envision working with sales, in an ideal environment?
• How will you advocate for marketing in the organisation?
• What are the biggest challenges marketing faces today?
• What are the 5 most important aspects of successful marketing?
• What are the main data sources you work with? Who owns this data? What are the pros and cons of that ownership model?
• Describe your most significant experience with integrations.
• What should we be doing to capitalize on (something “new” like virtual reality or artificial intelligencee) and why?
• How do you balance experimenting with new technologies versus investing in better adoption/value from technologies that you already have?
• Can you tell me a story about how you’ve used an existing technology in your stack to solve a new business challenge?
• You are going to select and deploy a new CRM provider. Where do you start?
• How do you make sure a martech stack aligns with business strategy?

Behavioural Questions to Consider

• Have you been involved in a failed marketing campaign? If yes, what do you think went wrong, and what was your lesson from it?
• How do you make sure you and your team members communicate effectively?
• How do you keep up-to-date with the latest industry and market trends?
• Why does this role excite you more than your current position?
• What has been the hardest challenge of your career and how did you deal with it?
• What is the toughest decision you have had to make?
• Describe a target or objective you have failed to meet and how you dealt with the failure.
• What do you want to achieve in your first 100 days to feel successful in your new role?

Prepare the Questions You Will Ask – Interviews are a Two Way Street

Phew you made it. Finally, the interviewer hands over to you to ask questions and your mind goes blank. Or maybe you have had your earlier prepared questions answered through the interview

As much as the interviewers are assessing your skills you are also assessing if you are the right fit for them. Feel free to ask anything that has come to mind so you can make a fully informed decision on if this is the right career move for you.

• What does Success Generally Look Like? If I’m in this role in 6 months / 1 year and have been successful, what will be different for the business and team?
• How do you Measure Success? What were the measures of success in this role before (specific metrics)? Do you expect these measures to you change? How will I be measured and at what intervals?
• What are the business expectations? What is the businesses greatest concern about this role as it relates to the business goals / strategic plan?
• What are the biggest challenges? What do you expect the person taking this position will find to be the greatest challenge? What do you think might be the biggest surprise for an external candidate taking the position?
• What is the Degree of Managerial Discretion Afforded this Position? How do decisions get made? What is the signing authority of the individual in this role? Does this individual have the right to hire and fire candidates as needed or is there a formal process that is followed? What does that process consist of?

Best of luck with the interview and if we can help with any additional information please don’t hesitate to contact me.