Interview Questions & Answers for a Digital Marketing Specialist

It’s time to get ready for your interview for the role of digital marketing specialist. In 2021, it is a critical role for businesses. These are the top questions you can expect when applying for a role as a specialist in digital marketing. This Q&A can be used as a template to help you prepare and boost your confidence. 

What is a Digital Marketing Specialist?

Digital marketing specialists work within the marketing team. They are responsible for target market analysis, the development of personas, branding, and marketing campaigns.  

Interviewees require the following skills and knowledge when hiring a digital marketing specialist:

• Background in digital marketing that covers optimization, social media, content, email, and online advertising 
• Planning and time management 
• Presentation skills
• Planning, creating and implementing a marketing strategy
• Analytical and scheduling tools for digital marketing 
• Branding
• Up to date on marketing trends 
• Creativity 

Interview Q&As

1. Why are you pursuing the role of digital marketing at our company?

Express your passion for digital marketing, as well as the company. The answer should cover your optimism regarding the future of their marketing campaigns - your excitement to maximize their potential and what exactly this opportunity means to you. 

2. Do you have experience in both categorizations of digital marketing?

This is a trick question of sorts, as the interviewee wants to know if you know these categories. The categorizations are inbound (reach customers through awareness) and outbound (reaching out to leads). Express your knowledge of these and touch on your experience with them. 

3. Which marketing tools do you value most?

You likely won’t know which tools the company uses, and since many of them perform many of the same roles, the interviewee is looking to see which tools you have experience using and why. Include keyword searches to show you value optimization, an analytics tool to demonstrate that the figures matter and any other tools you see fit, like scheduling tools or customer relationship management systems. 

4. We’re looking for a specialist - tell us why that title fits for you.

Discuss what makes you an expert, not just a digital marketer. Mention which areas you specialize in and what qualifies you over and above other specialists.

5. If you could re-strategize our marketing, how would you go about it and what would you focus on?

This question is testing your processes and vision for the business, so do not take it lightly. Have a blueprint of strategic steps that you’d follow, and direction for future marketing campaigns. You need to answer with conviction and purpose, yet leave enough room to gauge the interviewees reactions, since this is by no means a fully fledged presentation. Therefore it’s best to plant seeds and build excitement with your response. Be sure to do your research on the company so that your ideas align with theirs and don’t scare them away.

6. Give us an idea of your knowledge in SEO and why it matters in digital marketing. 

For this answer, you should show your knowledge of both on-page and off-page SEO. This includes activities designed to draw traffic, like structures, linking, loading time for pages, tags, and meta descriptions for on-page optimization. Off-page is all about your other strategies to boost optimization like guest blogging, social media shares and creating backlinks. With this foundation covered, you can discuss how to increase the traffic and ranking of the page through user experience, keyword analysis, engagement, and conversions. 

7. Tell us about your experience in search engine marketing and why it’ll be an important part of the job for our next digital marketing specialist? 

Don’t expect to be asked questions like “what is” when you’re interviewing for a specialist position. You need to know about all sphere’s of digital marketing. If you don’t have much experience in a particular field, state this, but show that you do have knowledge about it. In this case, it’s about search engine marketing. Discuss the potential gains for the company when they use online advertising and some of the most effective pay-per-click models. Be sure to also mention the factors that contribute to an ad’s quality score which analyses your landing pages, keywords, and ads. The score will determine the ad rank, so it’s important to score well. 

8. What’s your take on our social media marketing?

Show your analytical skills and give insights on what you think works well, and what could do with improvement. If there are platforms that aren’t being utilized, let them know. Answer this knowing that these platforms are a driver of marketing campaigns. This is likely to be a crucial part of the company’s digital marketing, so be sure to give an in-depth response that relates to their social media activity. They could just as easily ask you about their emails, so be sure to have signed up to their newsletter and have feedback on their email marketing. 

9. What has been your most successful campaign as a digital marketer?

Share how you designed the vision for the campaign, the skills you had to make it happen, and the results that came from it. Be sure that the example you provide fits within the specialisation you’re applying for. 

10. What are your thoughts on content marketing?

Share the value that content marketing provides for a business, and link this to the company’s future. Discuss how you’d go about bringing forth the benefits of this realm of digital marketing. 

11. Where do you see digital marketing headed and your place in it down the line?

Discuss the future of marketing by expressing your passion for continuing to grow within it, and the trends you see affecting the field long-term. This question is geared towards your career goals and whether they fit in with the company’s, as well as your ability to stay up to date with the future of marketing. 

The Takeaway

Being a digital marketing specialist is a role that requires creativity, multi-tasking and analytical capabilities. You should be ready to answer the questions listed above in addition to general interview questions. Well thought-out answers are sure to impress the interviewee, so take a deep breath and ensure you’re prepared. Best wishes!