8 Interview Questions for Prospective Marketing Directors

Looking to hire a marketing director to propel your business forward? We’ve collected a few of the top marketing director interview questions to pose to a candidate.

The marketing director is responsible for interpreting market data while developing and guiding the marketing staff. Candidates must create excellent marketing strategies, motivate the team and also pinpoint room for improvement. A candidate should express a true passion for marketing—challenges and all.

Top Marketing Director Interview Questions

What is your current employer doing better than we are?

The candidate should have done his or her research prior to the interview. You might offer this follow-up question to the candidate: “Based on our website and marketing materials, what’s the first thing you would do to enact immediate improvements?”

What was the most comprehensive marketing strategy you created and executed?

This is one of the best marketing director interview questions, as it invites specific anecdotes from the candidate. How did the strategy execution go? What were the candidate’s main challenges in creating the strategy and bringing it to life with a team?

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Every great candidate should have a rough idea of a five-year plan. Is his or her future with your company? Leading a team? Pushing the business forward? This shouldn’t elicit an “I don’t know” response.

How do you work with other departments or teams within the company to accomplish a project?

This is a must on your marketing director interview questions list. Is he or she a true team player? How well does the candidate jive with other teams and departments and working styles? Dig deep on this one.

We have two potential designs for our website homepage, but we have no clue which one to use. The CEO prefers one, and the COO likes the other. Half of the company likes one, and the other half of the company likes the other. Which should we use?

This should bring up many questions from the candidate, such as who the target audience for the homepage is. If the candidate only responds with a blank stare, he or she may not have enough know-how to address the situation. Find out how the candidate might work through this conundrum.

If they do choose one homepage layout and give you a reason, ask the candidate what the goals are for the homepage and how he or she would meet them. 

We have a new product coming out in four months. What would you do in order to launch it?

This will show you how well a candidate understands the various tactics of marketing as well as how to tie them together into a solid plan. You’ll also gain insight into how creative he or she is, and whether the candidate can formulate new ways to do marketing.

Someone just posted a negative review on the company’s Facebook page and you have to respond. How do you handle it?

A great marketing director would handle this situation with grace, openness and an attitude of assistance. Beware the candidate who feels deleting the reviews or ignoring them is the best approach.

Give an example of a campaign that didn’t work out as you had planned.

This is one of the best marketing director interview questions, because it allows the candidate to recognize why a plan went wrong and to learn from the experience. Both analytical and problem solving skills are being scrutinized with this question. Often, campaigns fail as a result of poor research, non-solidified objectives or ineffective communication.

Do you have any more marketing director interview questions to add to this list? Let us know!

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