15 Essential Digital Marketing Interview Questions Every Marketer Should Ask

To help marketers ace their job interviews, we’ve gathered fifteen insightful digital marketing interview questions from top Marketing Directors and Digital Marketing Consultants. From asking about a candidate’s proudest achievement to querying a company’s approach to attribution, these experts share the key questions every marketer should ask during an interview.

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Digital Marketing Interview Questions: Ask About Proudest Achievement

“What is something you’re proud of? It can be something you’ve worked on like a campaign, project, initiative, or a personal accomplishment. Walk me through what that was and why you look back on it with high regard.”

I like asking these digital marketing interview questions because, if answered thoroughly, I can get a sense for their leadership skills, commitment level, and passions. All are beneficial attributes of a great marketer.

Kareem Cervantes, Marketing Director, NVE Experience Agency

Inquire About Team Composition

One of the Digital Marketing Interview Questions I ask is, “What does the current marketing team look like?” As a marketer, it’s important to know your strengths and weaknesses, as well as what you like doing and what you don’t like doing. If you don’t have an eye for design, or simply don’t enjoy design work, make sure the team has a talented graphic designer you can rely on. 

I personally love content creation, especially writing, but prefer to rely on other team members to launch Google AdWords campaigns, for example.

Zev Newman, Marketing Director, Adfire Health

Understand the Organization Structure

One of the digital marketing interview questions I ask is, “What’s the organization structure?” This answer can be incredibly informative and give you a window into how the potential employer works. 

Asking follow-up questions will help you understand the chain of command, approval processes, who owns what, and how different stakeholders might define success in the role. Asking about these processes can help you level-set and consider how your work style would fit or need to adapt if you were to take the role.

Andy Stone, Growth Marketing and Brand Consultant, Rock Candy Suite

Probe Internal Marketing Practices

It is important to assess how a company defines its company culture. As marketers, it’s imperative to understand how we fit into an organization and how we can help highlight the internal processes. The inside workings of the company can be shown externally for clients to truly buy into an organization. One of the digital marketing interview questions I ask is, “What does your internal marketing look like at this organization?”

Jennifer Khalema, Marketing Consultant, Indeeza Creative Studio

Combine Role-Specific Marketing Questions

If I’m hiring a digital marketer, I would probably ask one of the digital marketing interview questions, “What are the most important metrics you need to track in any campaign?”

And, if I’m hiring a direct marketer or a telemarketer, I would ask one of the two questions below:

a. “This is a pen. Can you try to sell it to me?”

b. “If a customer says, ‘I’ll think about it,’ what should be your next action?”

These answers will give me a clear idea of how effective they will be when they work under me.

C Shakhawat Sultan, Marketing Manager, WPFunnels

Uncover Unresolved Company Issues

“What is the one thing that stays unresolved at your company, and how would my resolving it drive growth and value to the company?” That digital marketing interview questions can be asked of anyone you speak to at a company and can yield very different results. It might tell you more about the culture you’re stepping into; it gives you greater insights into pain points in the company. 

And, if you’re speaking with a senior leader, you now know what that “one thing” is that you can tackle. This paints you as a hero and a team player, but also someone who is dependable to take on problems others before you could not solve. For you, it gives you immeasurable insight into the type of company you’d be stepping into, the people you work with, and how you can best leave your mark.

Michelle Brammer, Director of Marketing, GaggleAMP

Assess Relevance of Marketing Tools

“Are my marketing tools and tactics up-to-date with the audience I’m trying to reach?” There are several social media platforms, channels, and websites used across the board. However, this doesn’t mean they all measure up equally when it comes to who we are trying to reach. Start by setting aside time to focus on just those metrics.

Rebecca Hughes, Social Media Marketing Specialist, Equity Payment Merchant Processing

Evaluate Creativity in Budget-less Campaigns

As a marketing consultant with experience working mainly with small businesses, I find that one of the digital marketing interview questions a marketer should ask during a job interview is, “How would you create a marketing campaign with no budget?”

Small businesses often have limited resources or don’t even have a specific marketing department, so it’s important to be able to think creatively and come up with innovative marketing solutions. This question helps me assess a candidate’s ability to do just that.

I also find this question to be a good indicator of a candidate’s creativity, adaptability, and problem-solving skills. I want to understand if he or she can think outside the box and come up with solutions.

When evaluating a candidate’s response to this question, I look for the following:

• A clear understanding of the target audience and the unique challenges of marketing for small businesses.
• A creative and innovative approach to marketing without a budget.
• A focus on measurable results.

Sacha Benda, Digital Marketing Consultant, Blink

Test Crisis Management Skills

Say you are in the middle of a live launch, and we make the decision to pivot all of our messaging in our sales content, including social media, emails, etc., and we are 24 hours away from the open-cart date. How do you handle this situation, and walk me through what action steps you’d take when given this information.

Avery Schrantz, Marketing Manager, Dreampro

Challenge Conventional Grammar Rules

Every marketer should ask at least one of the digital marketing interview questions: “Are you willing to bend and forget all the rules of grammar, spelling, and diction?” If you are, then you are in the right place since the best marketing is always a result of thinking outside of the box and pushing those rules!

Jacqueline Ball, Digital Marketing Consultant and Strategist, Sozoe Creative

Request for Portfolio

When I am looking for a new team member, there are many digital marketing interview questions that come to mind depending on the position to be filled. However, one question is asked regardless of the available position: “Do you have a portfolio?” I want to see a portfolio of work before any hiring considerations are made. 

If you are a graphic designer, I want to see your designs. If you are a copywriter, I want to see your copy. If you are an account executive, I want to see who your clients were and how you interacted with them. Whether you are a custodian or a CEO, you have to be a salesperson. If you can’t sell yourself, how do I know you will be able to help our team sell our company?

Peter Kelly, Marketing Director

Explore Support for Marketing Results

Regarding digital marketing interview questions, How does the company support the marketing team’s efforts to track and report on results and success? How would the company qualify a campaign as effective? Understanding how the C-suite and executive functions view success will directly impact the shape and scope of the marketing roadmap.

Bernadette Orscher, Director of Marketing, Geeks Who Drink

Investigate CEO’s View on Marketing

“How will you support this marketing role? How does the CEO support you?”

Understanding how the Director of Marketing/CMO describes what support looks like will tell you about their management style. Pay attention to the examples and language they use to see if this aligns with the leadership style you are looking for. 

Understanding the CEO’s view on marketing will help you know the resources the team will have at their disposal. Things are a lot easier for a marketing team when the CEO views marketing as a key revenue-driver and includes the team in the conversation at the highest leadership level!

Lisa Cox, Director of Marketing, Teak & Twine

Seek Past Performance Rating

When interviewing a marketer one of the digital marketing interview questions I like to ask is, “When I speak with your past boss, how will they rate your performance?” This powerful technique encourages applicants to give a more honest answer. 

They know they can’t over-hype, and it scares off many liars and poor performers. They will often say, “I’m probably talking myself out of a job, but…” Overall, you’ll make better decisions and waste less time with inappropriate candidates.

Geoff Newman, Founder, Starget.co.uk

Query Company’s Approach to Attribution

When interviewing for a marketing job, a good litmus test for the sophistication of a company’s marketing is asking about how the company approaches attribution.

In a digital-marketing landscape that is becoming increasingly complex due to tracking challenges and additional marketing touchpoints, attempting to understand attribution is important. How a company views this task and the tools they have in place to help solve the issue can tell you a lot about the organization that you’d be working with.

Michael LaLonde, Digital Marketing Consultant, LDM

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