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In recent years, digital marketing has become one of the fastest-growing areas for both offline and online businesses, spanning across almost every industry. This extends over a wide range, including social media, SEO, pay-per-click, branding and content marketing.
As companies increasingly rely on online engagement to grow their business, the field of digital marketing is expected to dominate in the coming years and generate a huge amount of job opportunities.
Receiving an interview for a digital marketing role is a crucial step toward your dream job in the field. Whether your background was in data analytics, content strategy or public relations, make sure to stand out in your digital marketing interview to position yourself as a top candidate and land your dream job.
Some key qualities of specialists in the digital marketing field you need to have include being curious about new knowledge, collaborative in teams and responsive to constructive feedback.
Apart from those qualities, your digital marketing knowledge and technical skills are likely to be assessed during your interview. Make sure you are well-prepared by understanding the company’s strategy and values, and showcasing what you can bring to the company.
Now that you have booked your interview, you should spend time understanding the role you have applied for in more depth, the responsibilities that are expected and the company that you might be working for. This will help you prepare to answer digital marketing interview questions. Below are some tips that will help you ace your digital marketing interview.
One of the most successful methods in convincing your interviewer that you are the person for the job is having visible evidence that showcases what you have accomplished in the past and what you can bring to the table.
Preparing a winning portfolio for your digital marketing interview will not only demonstrate that you are someone that pays great attention to detail, but also make you stand out among other candidates, by proving that you can back up what you said.
📚 Further reading: 5 Steps to Creating an Impressive Marketing Portfolio
One of the key skills of a digital marketing specialist is the ability to utilize data and analytics to help form judgments in creating digital marketing strategies and agendas.
Demonstrate that you are comfortable with analytics in your digital marketing interview by showing what analytical tools you are familiar with and how you have translated the consumer behavior observed into actionable campaigns.
As with any interview, you should aim to avoid any jargon when answering digital marketing interview questions.
Unless you are certain such jargon is commonly used in everyday conversations, or that the interviewer has otherwise specified, answer digital marketing interview questions with simple language.
Talking as if the audience have no knowledge about the digital marketing field would be a better idea in case someone in the interview panel does not have the relevant background.
If you are not sure about how to start preparing for your upcoming digital marketing interview, take a look below at some role-specific digital marketing interview questions and answers that will help you get started.
This is likely one of the most common interview questions they will ask for your digital marketing internship interview. Be prepared to showcase your interest in the digital marketing field and any related experience you have from the past in your interview.
This could be where you managed social media accounts in the past for your college society, or when you carried out research on digital marketing concepts.
“I am currently a digital marketing student, also the student marketing officer for the business school. I completed an internship last year in a marketing agency, where I looked after content generation and planning for our client’s social media accounts. I would like to gain more exposure in the digital marketing industry, particularly on SEO and brand marketing.”
As there are numerous internship opportunities students and young professionals can apply for, it is thus important to demonstrate why you have applied to this particular internship at this company.
Make sure to research the programme and company beforehand, and prepare to answer what attracted you to apply as well as what you’re hoping to get out of it in your digital marketing interview.
“I applied to be a marketing intern at your company as I would like to continue to gain skills related to digital marketing and experience working in a multinational company. I am attracted to this programme as it offers the opportunity to complete a hands-on project, also your company as your focus on integrating martech aligns with my interest.”
This may seem like a vague question, but your interviewer is looking for responses that will demonstrate how well your past experience and personal traits match the digital marketing position they are recruiting for in your interview.
“I am about to complete my studies in digital marketing and I am extremely enthusiastic to continue working in the digital marketing industry. I have completed various internships in the past, including those focused on social media marketing, online advertising and campaign management. I am also skilled in using Google Analytics and Adobe suite to create engaging content.”
Your interviewer will ask you this question during your digital marketing interview to determine how your college, internship and volunteer experiences have helped you develop any digital marketing skills and whether this has advanced over time.
Make sure you answer by giving examples of the skills you gained and how they can be transferred to the role you have applied.
“I have been running a local organization’s social media channels for the past year whilst studying, which has really helped develop my digital marketing knowledge and skills. I learnt that it’s crucial to keep the same tone of voice and create a brand persona regardless of the content being produced. My volunteering position for the fundraising club has strengthened my organization and communication abilities which I believe will help me succeed in this role.”
You might be asked this question in your digital marketing interview, as your recruiter wants to know how you define success and what you are capable of accomplishing.
Structure your response by outlining the campaign objectives and results achieved, as well as the role you played in the campaign.
“One of my most successful digital marketing campaigns was a marketing funnel to sell a new product for a major client. I worked closely with them to design each stage of the funnel and oversaw the entire project. We exceeded the revenue goal by 130% and the client hired my company as a result for its next product launch.”
Your interviewer will likely ask you this to understand how you exhibit leadership and manage conflict amongst your team when you are interviewing for a digital marketing manager role. Give a background to the situation and explain how you led your team to iron out the issue.
“While I was leading a car automation marketing campaign, some of my team members disagreed with the strategy I proposed. I discussed with each team member to understand their concerns, and then came together as a team to finalize a decision. My strategy was ultimately modified and the campaign ran successfully.”
Recruiters tend to ask this in a digital marketing interview to assess your level of knowledge in digital marketing and its wider components. You may showcase your understanding by explaining the main points of both types of marketing and the importance of employing both.
“Inbound and outbound marketing complement each other in my experience. Most businesses require a mixture of inbound approaches such as social media and blogs to attract customers’ attention, and outbound approaches such as paid search engine advertisements and event sponsorship. Hence, I believe a well-planned digital marketing strategy is one that both of these are considered.”
This question will likely come up in your digital marketing interview, especially for a position at the executive level. Prepare your answer by researching the evidence that will support your statement and the trends you would like to discuss.
“I believe that programmatic advertising with the integration of marketing technology is a forthcoming trend. These automated platforms can process hundreds of targeting signals at once, in comparison to manual advertising which can only manage three to four targets. Programmatic advertising can speed up ad buying, resulting in lower acquisition costs and higher conversion rates.”
Your recruiter is likely asking you this in the interview to understand your motivation in applying for this position and assess your knowledge of the industry, as well as why you think data analysis is important in digital marketing.
“I spent some time working in a marketing agency after graduation as part of the digital team. I was able to see first-hand the importance of managing and measuring a digital marketing strategy, and how it affects the return on investment. These insights help lead to better business decisions and I would like to contribute through this position.”
To prepare for this digital marketing interview question, go through projects where you have handled data and list out what your contributions were. Explain during your interview what digital marketing data analysis tool you used and what skills you have gained from the experience.
“I was responsible for the mental health awareness campaign when I worked as the digital marketing data analyst at my local mental health fund. I ran data from the previous campaign using Apache Spark and Tableau, and looked at areas that didn’t perform so well. I worked with the digital marketing team to come up with improvement ideas and the engagement rate for the new campaign increased by 35%. I hope to apply the data interpretation and visualization skills to this role.”
Content strategy and marketing have been an increasingly popular method for brands to engage and build loyalty with their customers.
If asked this during your digital marketing interview, make sure to demonstrate how you have taken the initiative to learn new skills, ask questions and keep up with industry trends.
“When I worked as a content creator, I have noticed some brands are telling stories with their social media presence recently. To find out why, I started a few LinkedIn Learning courses and sat in on planning sessions with my organization’s social media team to understand the process better. I ended up brainstorming and executing a series of story-telling posts that helped gain 65% more followers and tripled our engagement rate.”
You will likely be asked such questions during your digital marketing interview, as your recruiter will want to test your knowledge in content marketing and whether you are aware of the differences in terminologies.
So before you go to the interview, make sure you review digital marketing terms.
“In my understanding, content is the main material available for the audience to perceive, while context is the positioning of such content to an overall storyline or purpose that provides value to the audience.
In your digital marketing interview, showcase to your interviewer that you are aware of the importance of measurement and how it relates to social media optimization. Be specific about the metrics used and explain what a successful case looks like.
“The success in social media marketing is measured by utilizing different metrics, such as clients, leads and traffic. Knowing the number of followers on your accounts can help you understand your reach through social media, by looking at factors like customer conversion rate, number of qualified leads and traffic driven to your website. Companies should thus rely on the right data when measuring success.”
If asked this in your digital marketing interview, demonstrate to your interviewer that you are aware of the various KPIs used in social media marketing and their importance in optimization.
“KPIs are Key Performance Indicators, which are used to measure the engagement and reach of a company’s social media accounts. For social media marketers, KPIs can include likes, shares, brand mentions and traffic data to name a few. Companies can use these metrics to make decisions on their social media strategy.”
At the end of your digital marketing interview, make sure to ask the right questions to demonstrate that you are considering this role seriously and that you are eager to understand the details involved.
Example questions to ask in a digital marketing interview:
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--- Originally written by Wayne Chang ---
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