Lewis C. Lin - The Marketing Interview: 50 Answers to the Toughest Questions

TheMarketing Interview

50 Answers to the Toughest Questions

by

LEWIS C. LIN

Praisefor THE MARKETING INTERVIEW

Foraspiring marketers, Lewis Lin's The Marketing Interviewprovides a solid grounding, with concrete examples and exercises, onhow to stand out during a marketing interview and land that job ofyour dreams.

LuanneCalvert, Former Chief Marketing Officer, VIRGIN AMERICA

Theresso much confusion on how to succeed at the marketing interview,especially tough case questions. The Marketing Interviewexamines the most common and challenging interview questionsincluding developing marketing plans, launching new products anddealing with private label competition.

Philippvon Holtzendorff-Fehling, Former Vice President Marketing, T-MOBILEUSA

LewisLin presents both classic and new marketing cases, along with rightand wrong approaches, to sharpen your interview impact. Useful fornew graduates and mid-career professionals, The MarketingInterview contains marketing analogs and role plays to help youelevate yourself above other candidates.

DanFrechtling, Former Vice President, MATTEL

"Ihave interviewed countless candidates for marketing roles, and I wishmore of them could attack problems this smartly. Follow thestep-by-step guidance in this book, and you will set yourself apartfrom other candidates and succeed in your marketing interviews."

ScottShrum, Former Brand Manager, S.C. JOHNSON & SON

Withthe intense competition out there for top marketing jobs, TheMarketing Interview is a practical yet thorough guide on how youcan ace your interview and land the job of your dreams.

-Jason Jennings, Former Senior Marketing Manager, GENERAL MILLS

ALSOBY LEWIS C. LIN

71 Brilliant Salary NegotiationEmail Samples

Be the Greatest Product ManagerEver

Case Interview Questions for TechCompanies

Decode and Conquer

Interview Math

The Product Manager Interview

Secrets of the Product ManagerInterview

To my wife, a talented marketer,whose keen instincts tell her what makes me happy.

Copyright 2019 by Lewis C. Lin.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic ormechanical means including information storage and retrieval systemswithout the prior written permission from the publisher.

Published by Impact Interview, 115North 85th St., Suite 202, Seattle, WA 98103.

Several fictitious examples havebeen used in this book; these examples involve names of real people,places and organizations. Any slights of people, places, ororganizations are unintentional.

The author and publisher have madeevery effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of informationcontained in this book. However, we assume no responsibility forerrors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein.

Corporations, organizations andeducational institutions: bulk quantity pricing is available. Forinformation, contact .

SECOND EDITION

Lin, Lewis C.

The Marketing Interview: 50 Answersto the Toughest Questions / Lewis C. Lin.

Tableof Contents

ItsAbout the Marketing Interview

Marketingand brand management interviews have only become tougher. Its nolonger sufficient to charm the interviewer with a compellingbehavioral story. Instead, many interviewers want you to proveyou can do the job with a marketing case.

Amarketing case is an interview question that revolves around ahypothetical business problem or challenge. Here are some examples:

Whatpromotional strategies would you use for a Honey Nut Cheerioscampaign?

KitKat sales declined year-over-year. Why is that, and what would you doto address it?

ShouldHidden Valley increase the price of its ranch dressing?

Hiringmanagers have good reason to ask these interview questions. Marketingcases help interviewers evaluate your ability to:

Solveproblems

Handlestress

Dealwith ambiguity

Butthe most compelling reason why they ask these questions: these arethe same business problems a candidate will encounter on the job. Ifthe candidate cant solve those problems during the interview, itsunlikely the candidate can solve those problems on the job.

Inthe book, Ive included examples, answers and advice on solvingtough marketing case interview questions. Ive also includedsections on answering behavioral and off-the-wall interview questionstoo.

Forthe sake of simplicity, I refer to hypothetical candidates as heand hypothetical interviewers as she.

Howto Get the Most Out of this Book

Manyof you will appreciate that The Marketing Interview has sampleanswers to marketing interview questions. You wont find theseanswers anywhere else. However, dont get tempted into reading theanswers as if you were reading a novel!

Instead,when you reach the practice questions I recommend that you:

Closethe book

Trysolving the question(s) on your own

Compareyour response with the sample answer

Bydoing so, youll get comfortable answering questions that mostcandidates find difficult. Youll also absorb marketing conceptsmore deeply. And youll create an efficient feedback learning loopwhere youll deduce where your response came up short and where itsurpassed the sample answer.

Scorecard

Eachone of the sample answers is given a grade: excellent, above average,average, below average or poor. Each response is evaluated along thefollowing dimensions:

MarketingAptitude

Doesthe candidate demonstrate mastery of marketing fundamentals? In anexcellent response, a candidates answer appreciates the nuances ofmarketing strategy and tactics. He also applies strategic andtactical elements appropriately.

In apoor response, the candidate recites canned marketing frameworkswithout full understanding of why its important and how it appliesto the bigger picture. Also, he utilizes marketing terminology andconcepts incorrectly. Lastly, inexperienced candidates are morelikely to limit their marketing plan to a single tactic such associal media.

Plan

Doesthe candidate know how to approach the question? In an excellentresponse, the candidate shares how he plans to tackle a hypotheticalmarketing situation. An excellent response focuses on critical issuesand ignores trivial ones.

Apoor response meanders through the question, asking for irrelevantdetails. The interviewer is often confused by the goal, direction andintent of the candidates response.

CommunicationSkills

Doesthe candidate communicate his ideas clearly and succinctly? Anexcellent response demonstrates impact and answers the who, what,why, when and where.

Apoor response struggles to answer what is happening and the contextsurrounding an issue. The interviewer must ask repeated follow-upquestions to understand the situation and why its important. Ifits a behavioral question, the interviewer may be confused withthe candidates role in the situation.

Composure

Doesthe candidate demonstrate composure when responding? Would theinterviewer feel comfortable having the candidate present to a seniorexecutive or an important client? An excellent candidate will exudeconfidence and mastery of details. He will also react appropriatelyto constructive criticism.

Apoor candidate will hesitate to answer a question. He will be afraidto take a stand, fearing that hell say the wrong thing. If aninterviewer reacts to his response with a critical comment, he isunsure of how to respond. He may even get defensive when facingcriticism.

SatisfyingConclusion

Anexcellent response has a satisfying conclusion. The response makessense, and there are no lingering doubts. If a clear opinion isrequired, the candidate states it. If the candidate is asked to makea recommendation, the interviewer is clear on what the next stepsshould be.