Questions to Ask Marketing Professionals
Questions to ask a marketing professional when you have a short slot of their time: an informational interview, a class assignment, a careers event, or coffee with someone a few years ahead of you. They begin with the person's own job and week, move through how the work is made and measured, then the specialisms and how the field is changing, and finish with skills, qualifications, pay and landing a first role. A last short group works from the other side of the table, for when you are interviewing a marketer you might hire as an employee, a freelancer or an agency.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Their job
What is your job title, and what does it mean day to day?
Why ask it
Marketing titles are inconsistent from one company to the next: the same one can mean writing emails in one office and holding a budget in another. Getting this straight first tells you which of your other questions this person can answer from experience.
How did you end up in marketing? Was it planned?
Why ask it
Plenty of marketers came in sideways, from journalism, sales, design or a degree in something else, so expect a story with a swerve in it. If you hope to get in without a marketing qualification, the useful follow-up is what they had to learn after they arrived.
What did you work on last week?
Why ask it
Last week has a campaign name, a deadline and a meeting that overran in it, where 'a typical day' gets you a summary of the discipline. Keep a rough tally of how much was making things and how much was getting them approved. That split is how the job feels from the inside.
What do you like most about the job, and which part would you hand to someone else tomorrow?
Why ask it
Enthusiasm is easy to offer a stranger, so the part they would give away is the more revealing answer. Notice whether it is an occasional chore or most of the week: if it is reporting or chasing approvals, the junior version of the job is largely that.
What surprised you about the work once you were doing it full time?
Why ask it
The distance between the course or the job advert and the real thing is what you cannot get from reading. You may hear how much of the job is persuading colleagues, or how slowly results arrive. If nothing surprised them, try asking what surprises the people they hire.
Who do you report to, and how big is the team around you?
Why ask it
A marketer who answers to the head of sales has a different job from one who answers to a marketing director, even under the same title. Team size decides whether you would specialise or do a bit of everything, so get the headcount and what each person covers.
Which part of the funnel do you own, and who owns the rest?
Why ask it
The funnel is the trade's word for the route from first hearing of a product to buying it and coming back. One person rarely holds all of it, and the handovers, from ads to website or from marketing to sales, are where the arguments happen. In a very small team the answer may be 'all of it', which means the job is broad and probably stretched.
Which tools are you in every day?
Why ask it
Write the names down: an email platform, an analytics tool, a design or scheduling app. Some have free versions or free training, so you can ask which one they would learn first in your position and start on it that week. A very long list deserves a follow-up about how well any of it joins up.
What are the hours like, and how often does a busy stretch come round?
Why ask it
Launches, events and end-of-quarter pushes bunch the work together, and agency life adds client deadlines on top. The last late evening and what caused it will tell you more than a general answer about balance. A planned launch is one thing, and a habit of last-minute requests from above is another.
Which part of the job would make you leave if it got worse?
Why ask it
This invites a near-stranger to name what wears on them, so save it for late in a conversation that is going well. The answer points at the fragile part of the role: the workload, the reporting line, being pushed to make claims they do not believe. If they deflect, let it go.
The work
How do you tell whether a campaign worked, and are you judged on the same numbers?
Why ask it
Listen for what they count, whether sales, sign-ups, enquiries or awareness in a survey, and how long they wait before calling it. Marketers are often held to figures they only partly control, such as revenue that also depends on price and the sales team. How they talk about that gap shows what pressure the job carries.
How do you work out who a campaign is for?
Why ask it
Some teams have customer interviews and purchase data behind the answer, and others have a persona slide nobody has opened in years. Find out where their picture of the buyer came from and when it was last checked against real customers. If you are writing this up for a class, the method they describe here is the part worth quoting.
What is the hardest problem you are working on at the moment?
Why ask it
A live problem tells you more than a general 'biggest challenge', which tends to get the stock reply of budget or time. You might hear about a channel whose costs keep climbing, a launch with no clear audience, or a figure nobody can explain. Ask how they are going about it, because that reasoning is the job.
Which campaign or project are you proudest of, and what was your part in it?
Why ask it
People brighten at this one, and what they pick, a clever idea, a number that moved or a team they built, shows what the job rewards for them. Asking for their own part keeps it grounded, since large campaigns have many parents.
What is the last campaign that did not work, and what did you take from it?
Why ask it
Anyone who has done this for a while has one, and most tell it with some relish once the sting has gone. Pay attention to what happened afterwards. A team that reviewed it and changed something is a different workplace from one that went looking for a person to blame.
Where do campaign ideas come from: a brief, the data, or a senior person's hunch?
Why ask it
This tells you how much room there is to propose things. In some teams a junior can pitch on Monday and be testing by Friday; in others the calendar is fixed a year out and the job is delivery. Where their most recent launch began is the quickest test.
What does a good brief look like, and how often do you get one?
Why ask it
The brief is where most marketing work begins, and writing a clear one is a skill you can practise before anyone employs you. Expect a laugh at the second half. Then ask what is usually missing: the audience, the budget, or what success would look like.
Where does creative work get killed in your organisation?
Why ask it
Every organisation has a stage where promising ideas stall: legal review, a founder with firm opinions, a committee that meets once a month. Whichever they name is the constraint you would inherit in a similar job. It invites a little indiscretion, so skip it if a colleague of theirs is within earshot.
How do you decide what to stop doing?
Why ask it
Channels, newsletters and weekly reports are easier to start than to end, so teams tend to carry a few that nobody would miss. A clear rule, such as a quarterly review or a cost threshold, points to a disciplined team. 'We never really stop anything' is an honest reply too, and explains how workloads grow.
How much contact do you have with actual customers?
Why ask it
Plenty of marketers work from dashboards and second-hand reports from sales, and some will admit it is not enough. Those who sit in on calls or read support tickets describe the customer in much sharper detail. If talking to people is what draws you, ask which roles get to do it.
How do you work with sales, product and finance, and where does it get tense?
Why ask it
Marketing sits between departments that each want something different from it: more leads now, a launch plan, proof the money came back. The tension they name is a routine part of the job. Consider whether that kind of negotiating would wear you out or interest you.
How much budget do you control, and who signs off on spending it?
Why ask it
Budget is a quiet marker of seniority. Someone with manager in the title may never have placed an order, while a paid media specialist two rungs down spends real money every day. Listen to how they justify the spend, since making that case is a skill few courses teach.
How much do you need to know about data and attribution?
Why ask it
Attribution means working out which ad, email or search led to a sale, and it is messier than job adverts suggest. Have them describe what they did with numbers this week: a spreadsheet formula, a dashboard somebody else built, a query they wrote themselves. That is the level to aim for, whatever the job description lists.
The field
What are the main specialisms, and which would you point a beginner towards?
Why ask it
Content, paid media, search, email and retention, product marketing, events, public relations and analytics are close to separate trades. Ask which are easiest to enter where they work and which hold their value. The answer will lean towards their own path, so put the same question to someone in a different specialism.
What is the practical difference between brand and performance roles?
Why ask it
Roughly, brand work shapes what people think of a company over years, and performance work buys clicks and sales that are counted by the week. Someone who has done both can say what a bad month looks like in each. Job titles often hide which side a role sits on, so find out how to tell from an advert.
For a first job, would you pick an agency, a large in-house team or a startup?
Why ask it
The usual trade is range and pace at an agency, training and a narrow slice of the work at a large brand, and doing everything yourself at a startup with nobody senior to copy. Check which of the three they have worked in, since most people recommend their own route. Their pick for a first two years may differ from where they would want to be now.
How different is marketing to businesses from marketing to consumers?
Why ask it
Selling software to a buying committee and selling trainers to teenagers share a vocabulary and not much else: the length of the sale, the channels and the creative freedom all change. Someone who has crossed over can say how hard the move was, which matters because a first job tends to set your lane.
Whose marketing do you admire at the moment, and why?
Why ask it
Marketers notice other companies' work the way chefs notice other restaurants, and this gets them talking about craft. The reason matters more than the name: they might praise the idea, the targeting, or the nerve to run one message for years. Have an example of your own ready, because the question usually comes straight back.
How has your work actually changed in the last year or two?
Why ask it
A question about trends gets you opinions about the industry. This one gets what changed on their own desk: a tool brought in, a channel dropped, a report nobody requests any more. Whatever moved fastest is what a new hire would be expected to handle from the start.
Where are you using AI in your work, and what do you still do by hand?
Why ask it
Ask for one task it has taken over and one where they tried it and went back. A working marketer's account is more use than a headline about the field. Follow with which entry-level tasks they expect to survive, and do not be surprised by an unsure answer.
How do you keep up: what do you read, listen to or follow?
Why ask it
Press for names: a newsletter, a podcast, a community, one person whose posts they always open. You leave with a reading list chosen by someone doing the job, and something specific to mention in your thank-you note. An answer of 'I have no time' is information about the pace.
What do people outside marketing get wrong about it?
Why ask it
A common complaint is being seen as the department that makes things look nice. Their reply shows what they believe the job is for, and whether they have to defend it inside their own company. It is also a relaxed question, good for when the conversation needs air.
Where do marketers end up after ten years or so?
Why ask it
The ladder is less marked than in law or accounting. Some lead teams, some go deep in one specialism, and others leave for product, sales, consulting or a business of their own. Ask what became of the people they started alongside, which is a truer picture than any career diagram.
Getting in
Which skills matter most for someone starting out now?
Why ask it
Clear writing usually comes up, along with ease with numbers and curiosity about why people buy. Push past the general words to something you could practise this month. If the list is all software, ask which of those tools they learned on the job.
Do I need a marketing degree, or is there another way in?
Why ask it
Practice differs by country, employer and specialism: some graduate schemes screen on the degree, and plenty of teams hire on evidence of work. Ask what the last few people to join their team had studied. Treat the answer as one team's habit and not a rule for the field.
Are certificates and short courses worth the time?
Why ask it
Opinion divides. Some hiring managers read a platform certificate as proof you can find your way round an ad account, and others skim straight past. Find out which one, if any, they would notice on an application, and whether a small real project would impress them more.
What does a portfolio need to show for someone with no experience?
Why ask it
Get the specifics: how many pieces, whether results have to be attached, whether invented briefs for real brands count. Many marketers would rather see one small real project with numbers than a polished imaginary campaign, though that varies by specialism, so check. If they screen applications themselves, find out what makes them stop reading.
What could I do in the next three months that would count as experience?
Why ask it
Typical suggestions are running the email or social account for a club, charity or family business, or growing an audience for something of your own and writing up what happened. Describe briefly what you have done so far, because their reaction to it is the valuable part.
Which entry-level job titles should I be searching for?
Why ask it
Coordinator, assistant, executive and associate sit at different levels in different countries, and some good first jobs do not have marketing in the title at all. Write down the exact wording they give you. Ask too which adverts to be wary of, such as commission-only sales roles labelled as marketing.
When you hire a junior, what makes one application stand out?
Why ask it
From someone who reads applications you get the screener's view, which is often a short letter showing the applicant studied the company's marketing and had a thought about it. If they have never hired, switch to what got them their own first interview.
What do junior hires get wrong in their first six months?
Why ask it
Mistakes are easier to recall than virtues, so this gets a sharper answer than asking what makes a good junior. Typical replies are sitting on a question for a day when asking would have taken a minute, or showing finished work with none of the reasoning behind it. Both are habits you can decide against before your first day.
What does the pay ladder look like from entry to senior in your market?
Why ask it
Ask for ranges at each level, which most people will give, and never for their own salary. Pay differs a great deal by city, sector and company size, so have them name the market they are describing. Then compare it with current job adverts where you live.
What advice would you give someone entering marketing this year?
Why ask it
Hold this one until late, when they know enough about you to tailor it; asked cold, it gets a slogan about staying curious. The words 'this year' are deliberate, because advice from the year they started may describe a field that has since moved.
If you were starting again, would you still choose marketing?
Why ask it
Few people give a flat yes or no. The conditions they attach, such as a different sector, a smaller company or specialising sooner, are the useful part, because those choices are still open to you.
Would you be willing to look over my resume or portfolio sometime?
Why ask it
Save this for a conversation that has gone well, and phrase it so that no is easy to say. Marketers cut copy for a living, so their edits tend to be blunt and worth having. Send it within a couple of days with one specific question attached, not a request for general thoughts.
Who else should I be talking to?
Why ask it
One conversation becomes three if you ask this before you leave. A message that opens with a mutual contact is much harder to ignore than one from a stranger, so ask for a name and whether they would introduce you. If they agree, send two lines they can simply forward.
Hiring a marketer
Walk me through the last campaign you ran from start to finish.
Why ask it
Ask for the sequence: who decided what, what was built, what it cost, what happened. Detail is hard to fake, and the parts they skip are usually the parts they were not close to.
What did you inherit when you started your last role, and what did you change first?
Why ask it
Marketers arriving into a working machine can look far better than they are. The first change they made tells you what they notice and whether they fix measurement, positioning, or spend before adding activity.
Which numbers did you report in your last role, and which of them did you trust?
Why ask it
A candidate who lists figures without ranking them has been passing on a dashboard. A stronger reply names one number they argued to drop or add, and what happened when they raised it. Find out who read the report, because that shows who they were really working for.
How do you handle it when a senior stakeholder wants a campaign you think is wrong?
Why ask it
Ask for the last time it happened and how it ended. Marketers who always won, or always complied, are both describing a problem, and the second kind will burn your budget on someone's pet idea without saying so.
Which part of marketing are you weakest at, and who covered it on your last team?
Why ask it
Nobody is good at all of it, and a candidate who claims to be is either average across the board or bluffing. You are checking that the gap is not the thing you most need. Who covered it shows whether they know how to lean on a specialist or an agency instead of muddling through.
What have you noticed about our marketing so far?
Why ask it
A serious candidate will have looked at your website, signed up to your emails or searched for what you sell. One specific observation, even an unflattering one, is worth more than general praise. If they have not looked, you have learned how they would prepare for your customers.
What would you want to see in your first two weeks here before changing anything?
Why ask it
Good marketers ask for access before they offer plans: customer calls, last year's results, whoever handles complaints. A candidate who turns up with a finished plan for a business seen only from outside is showing confidence, and you have to judge whether any listening sits behind it.
How soon would we know whether it was working, and what would you be watching?
Why ask it
Nobody can honestly promise a result by a date, but a capable marketer can name the early signs they would watch, such as enquiries, sign-ups or cost per lead, and the point at which they would change course. Be wary of a guarantee, and just as wary of an answer that puts any verdict a year away.
If we took you on as a freelancer or an agency, how would you charge, and who would do the work day to day?
Why ask it
Retainers, day rates, project fees and a percentage of ad spend all exist, so find out what the figure covers and what is billed on top. At an agency the person who pitches is not always the person who runs the account, so ask to meet whoever would. Get the terms in writing, including who keeps the ad accounts and the data if you part ways.
How to interview a marketing professional
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Set it up so they say yes
Ask for a short specific slot, twenty minutes rather than a coffee, and say why you approached them in particular. Do not ask for a job or a referral in the first message. Send two or three of your questions in advance so they can think, and confirm the day before.
Picking questions for the time you have
A short conversation has room for six to eight questions once you allow for follow-ups, so do not try to work down the page. Take two about their own job, three or four from the group closest to what you are deciding, and close with who else to talk to. For a class assignment where you have to report back, lean on the first two groups, which produce facts you can quote. If you are changing career, spend most of the time on getting in, and leave pay and favours until the conversation has warmed up.
During the conversation
- Ask about last week before you ask about the industry. A named campaign or a real deadline gives you more to follow up than an opinion does.
- Do not spend the first ten minutes on your own story. Two sentences of context is enough.
- Follow the answer that surprised you, even if it means dropping the next question on your list.
- Take notes where they can see you doing it, so it is clear the answers are going somewhere.
- Watch the clock and end on time. Offering to stop is often what earns you the extra ten minutes.
Afterwards
- Send a short thank you the same day naming one thing you will act on.
- Follow up on any names they gave you, mentioning who suggested you get in touch.
- Come back a few months later with what you did about their advice. This is what turns a contact into someone who will recommend you.
What not to expect
One conversation will not tell you whether marketing suits you, because the field ranges from writing copy to running budgets to building reports. Talk to three or four people in different kinds of role, and treat the differences between them as the real finding, not as something to average out.
If you are the one hiring
The last group is for a different meeting: interviewing a marketer you might employ or contract. Ask for the most recent real example each time, and put the same questions to every candidate so the answers can be compared. With a freelancer or an agency, have the fee, what it covers and who keeps the accounts and data written down before any work starts. If you cannot judge the replies yourself, bring someone who has run marketing into the second conversation.