Use this guide to evaluate strategic and executional marketing skills. Each question includes suggested follow‑ups and what strong answers often include.

Strategy & Market Understanding

Walk me through a marketing strategy you created that changed the trajectory of a product or business.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Starts with diagnosis of market, customer, category, and competition
• Defines clear objectives and where to play/how to win
• Prioritizes bets and channels; sets measurement plan
• Quantified business impact (pipeline, revenue, CAC/LTV, share)

How do you size and prioritize opportunities across segments or geographies?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Uses TAM/SAM/SOM or demand proxies; cohort and ICP clarity
• Considers implementation cost and payback
• Explains trade-offs and sequencing

Customer Research, Segmentation & Insights

Describe how you’ve turned research into actionable insights.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Combines qual (interviews, win/loss) and quant (surveys, product data)
• Identifies jobs-to-be-done and pains/gains
• Influences roadmap and messaging; shows outcomes

How do you build and validate ICPs/personas?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Behavioral/firmographic variables that predict value
• Backed by data from CRM/product/paid platforms
• Used in targeting, content, and sales plays

Positioning & Messaging

Give an example of positioning a product against strong competitors.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Clear frame of reference and differentiators
• Proof points and reasons to believe
• Messaging tested with target audience; improved win rate

How do you adapt messaging across segments and lifecycle stages?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Problem/benefit hierarchy; value props per segment
• Lifecycle‑specific CTAs; avoids feature‑speaking
• Maintains brand voice and consistency

Go‑to‑Market & Launches

Tell me about a launch you led—what made it successful?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Tiering framework; cross‑functional plan and owners
• Enablement for Sales/CS, content stack, PR/AR (if relevant)
• KPIs by phase (awareness → adoption); post‑launch learnings

How do you decide between soft launch, beta, and GA?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Hypotheses to validate; risk and readiness criteria
• Target cohorts and feedback loops
• Measurement and exit criteria

Demand Generation & Pipeline

What’s your approach to building pipeline quality, not just volume?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Aligned definitions (MQL/SQL/SAL) and SLAs with Sales
• Source/assist modeling; negative signals filtering
• Programs tuned to ICP and buying stage; nurture flows

Share a campaign that underperformed initially—how did you turn it around?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Rapid diagnostics across audience, offer, creative, channel
• Iterative testing plan; adjusted economics
• Outcome improvement with specific metrics

Product Marketing

How have you influenced product roadmap from the market?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Win/loss and churn reasons; segment economics
• Narrative market mapping; POV content
• Clear cases that changed prioritization

Explain how you enable Sales to win competitive deals.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Competitive battlecards; objection handling
• Reference assets and social proof
• Training, role‑plays, and feedback loop to update assets

Lifecycle/CRM & Retention

Walk through your lifecycle strategy from signup to expansion.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Journey mapping; aha/time‑to‑value; activation milestones
• Personalized messaging by behavior and segment
• Retention/expansion plays and measurement

How do you run effective nurture programs?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Hypothesis‑led segmentation and content
• Cadence and deliverability hygiene
• A/B tests and incremental lift analysis

Performance Marketing (Paid)

How do you manage paid channels to hit CAC/LTV targets?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Granular structure and creative testing
• Bid/budget allocation by marginal ROI
• Incrementality testing and channel saturation awareness

Describe an experiment that changed your paid mix.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Holdouts/geo tests or ghost ads where possible
• Creative/message-market fit learnings
• Budget reallocation with results

SEO & Content

What’s your SEO strategy for a competitive space?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Topic clusters and intent mapping
• Technical hygiene; velocity and quality signals
• Content distribution and internal partnership

Give an example of content that moved a core metric.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Clear target persona and stage
• Distribution plan beyond publish (email, social, partners)
• Attributable pipeline/revenue or retention impact

Brand, Creative & Communications

How do you measure brand building’s impact?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Brand tracking (awareness, consideration) and search/share of voice
• Correlates with efficiency downstream
• Uses experiments or MMM where feasible

Tell me about a creative process that delivered standout work.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Brief with problem and insight; distinct idea
• Rapid concept testing; craft and consistency
• Legal/compliance alignment where relevant

Social, Community & Advocacy

What role do community and advocates play in your strategy?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Programs (UGC, referrals, peer groups) with incentives
• Moderation and value delivery first
• Measures: engagement quality, referrals, influence on pipeline

How do you handle social crises or negative virality?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Monitor and triage; own the narrative
• Cross‑functional response; clear updates
• Post‑mortem and policy improvements

Analytics, Attribution & Experimentation

How do you attribute revenue across channels credibly?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Understands model limitations; triangulates (MTA, MMM, lift)
• Uses experiments/holdouts when possible
• Aligns with Finance/Sales on definitions

Describe your experimentation framework.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Prioritization by impact/effort and evidence
• Proper randomization/controls; power where possible
• Readouts with decisions, not just dashboards

Pricing, Packaging & Revenue

Have you led any pricing or packaging changes? What happened?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Customer research and willingness‑to‑pay methods
• Scenario modeling and sales enablement
• Post‑change metrics (ARPU, win rate, churn)

How do you partner with Finance and Product on monetization?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Shared objectives and guardrails
• Pilot phases and comms plan
• Monitoring and iteration

Budgeting, Forecasting & Ops

Walk me through your planning and budget allocation process.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Top‑down goals and bottom‑up plans
• Marginal ROI optimization and contingency
• Shared dashboards with cadence

What’s your marketing ops stack and why?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• CRM/automation/CDP, attribution/BI, experimentation
• Data quality and governance processes
• Change management and training

Leadership & Team

How do you build a high‑performing marketing team?

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Competency matrix and leveling
• In‑house vs. agency mix; clear ownership
• Coaching, feedback, and career paths

Describe a time you protected brand trust under pressure.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Principled decisions over short‑term metrics
• Transparent comms; measurable recovery
• Learning institutionalized

Red Flags

Signals of weak marketing judgment

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Channel-first thinking without customer/strategy linkage
• No clear hypotheses or measurement plan
• Relies on vanity metrics; unaware of incrementality
• Inconsistent partnership with Sales/Product/Finance

Scenario Exercises (Live or Take‑Home)

Given a €500k quarterly budget for a new ICP, create a 90‑day GTM plan and measurement framework.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Objectives, segments, and positioning
• Channel mix, offers, and creative hypotheses
• Attribution, experiments, and weekly operating cadence

Your paid CAC has doubled in 60 days. Diagnose and propose actions.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Break down by channel, audience, creative, bids, and landing pages
• Test plan for incrementality and saturation
• Budget reallocation with expected impact

Launch a major feature in 6 weeks. Outline tiering, enablement, and success metrics.

Follow‑ups: What was the context? Who were the customers and segments? What options did you consider? What did you do and why? How did you measure impact? What would you do differently?

What good looks like:

• Launch tiers and cross‑functional plan
• Content and PR/AR (if relevant); sales plays
• Adoption metrics and post‑launch review

Evaluation Rubric (Anchor Examples)

• 4 – Excellent: Strategy grounded in insight; crisp positioning; disciplined execution and measurement; strong cross‑functional leadership; measurable business impact.
• 3 – Strong: Solid strategy and execution with minor gaps in experimentation or attribution.
• 2 – Mixed: Channel‑centric or anecdotal; limited linkage to business metrics; inconsistent learning loop.
• 1 – Weak: Tactics without strategy; vanity metrics; poor partnership and weak outcomes.