Questions to Ask Marketing Professionals
Questions for an informational conversation with someone working in marketing, whether you are considering the field, changing into it, or trying to understand what the job involves beyond the job title. They cover the daily work, how it is measured, pay, and the routes in.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What is your actual job title, and what does that mean day to day?
Why ask it
Marketing titles are inconsistent between companies, and the same title can mean writing emails at one and running a budget at another. Starting here prevents the rest of the conversation being at cross purposes.
How did you end up in marketing? Was it planned?
Why ask it
Most people arrived sideways, from journalism, sales, design or an unrelated degree. The route matters if you are trying to get in without a marketing qualification, and it is usually more encouraging than you expect.
What did you work on last week?
Why ask it
Produces the real texture of the job rather than a description of the discipline. Count how much of the week was making things against getting approval for them, because that ratio is what the work actually feels like.
Which part of the funnel do you own, and who owns the rest?
Why ask it
Shows how the work is divided and where the boundaries cause friction. Someone who cannot answer is either very junior or in a small team where they do everything, and both are useful to know.
How much of your week is writing, analysis, meetings, or coordinating other teams?
Why ask it
Splits the job into hours rather than responsibilities. People considering marketing for the creative part are often surprised by how much of it is coordination, and this is where they find out.
Which tools are you in every day?
Why ask it
Names the practical skills worth learning first, and there are usually only three or four that matter. It also indicates the maturity of their setup, since a long list often means nothing is properly integrated.
How is your work measured, and does the measure feel fair?
Why ask it
The second half is where the honesty is. Marketers are frequently judged on numbers they only partly control, and how they talk about that tells you what pressure the job carries.
What is the last campaign that did not work, and what did you take from it?
Why ask it
Anyone with real experience has one. The answer shows whether their organisation treats failure as information or as blame, and it is a better guide to the culture than any values statement.
How do you decide what to stop doing?
Why ask it
Most marketing teams accumulate channels and reports nobody reads. Someone with a clear answer is unusually disciplined; the more common reply, that nothing ever gets stopped, describes the actual state of the field.
Where does creative work get killed in your organisation?
Why ask it
Direct and slightly indiscreet, which is why it works. The answer names the real constraint, whether that is legal review, a founder with opinions, or a committee, and it is the constraint you would inherit.
How much do you need to know about data and attribution?
Why ask it
Expectations have moved, and many roles now assume comfort with spreadsheets and dashboards. Ask what level they use in practice rather than what job descriptions demand.
What is the practical difference between brand and performance roles?
Why ask it
The two paths involve different daily work, different timescales and different kinds of pressure, and job titles obscure which one you would be doing. Someone who has done both will give you a straight comparison.
How has your work actually changed in the last year or two?
Why ask it
Better than asking about trends, because it produces specifics rather than opinion. Whatever is changing fastest in their work is what you would need to be able to do.
For someone starting out, would you recommend an agency or an in-house team?
Why ask it
A genuine fork in the field, with real trade-offs: range and pace against depth and ownership. Most people have views based on having done one and observed the other, and it is worth asking which.
What does the pay ladder look like from entry to senior in your market?
Why ask it
Ask about ranges rather than their salary and most people will answer. Pay varies enormously by city, sector and whether the company sells to businesses or consumers, so ask for their market specifically.
What does a portfolio need to show for someone with no experience?
Why ask it
Practical and actionable. Answers usually favour a small number of real projects with results over polished speculative work, and they will often tell you what they screen for when hiring.
What do junior hires get wrong in their first six months?
Why ask it
Easier to answer than a question about qualities, and more useful. The reply is often about not asking questions, or presenting work without the reasoning, both of which you can avoid deliberately.
Who else should I be talking to?
Why ask it
The question that turns one conversation into three. Ask for a name and whether they would introduce you, since a referred approach gets answered far more often than a cold one.
Which part of the job would make you leave if it got worse?
Why ask it
Names the fragile part of the role: workload, reporting lines, being asked to make claims they do not believe. It is the closest you will get to a warning about the field.
If you were starting again, would you still choose marketing?
Why ask it
A closing question that produces a considered answer rather than a pitch. The qualifications people attach, a different sector, a different size of company, are usually the most valuable thing you take away.
Running an informational conversation
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.
During the conversation
- Ask about last week rather than the industry. Concrete beats general every time.
- Do not spend the first ten minutes on your own story. Two sentences of context is enough.
- Follow the answer that surprised you rather than sticking to your list.
- Take notes visibly. People give better answers when they can see you are using them.
- 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 rather than something to average out.