Marketing Interview Questions and Answers

Marketing is a medium through which the producers anticipates the demand of the consumers and sell the required product or service to satisfy their want. It is a broader platform where activities like brand management, brand promotion, and sales are all clubbed towards reaching the ultimate object of creating and retaining a market.

Online marketing is a new platform for producers and service providers to sell or market their products and services through the virtual medium of internet. It is also called internet marketing, web marketing and website marketing. This virtual platform enables the seller to directly or indirectly interact with end users. Some of the strategies used are SEO, Email marketing and also online promotions.

In this new form of marketing, all marketing resources and assets are brought online so customers (or affiliates) can develop, modify, use, and share them. Consider how Amazon.com gets customers to buy digital books, movies, and televisions shows in a digital library that is accessible in the customer’s online account or on their digital device like their Kindle Fire.

Any type of business, whether an organization, individual, government or other institution that markets to other businesses is involved in business to business marketing. Since B2B marketing involves companies trying to sell mass quantities of product to one another, there is a more personal relationship that needs to be established between businesses. If your company sells to other businesses, your marketing efforts will most likely be more direct.

The ultimate goal of B2C marketing (business-to-consumer marketing) is to convert shoppers into buyers as aggressively and consistently as possible. B2C marketers employ merchandising activities like coupons, displays, store fronts (both real and online) and special offers to entice the target market to buy. B2C marketing campaigns are focused on a transaction, are shorter in duration, and need to capture the customer’s interest immediately. These campaigns often offer special deals, discounts, or vouchers that can be used both online and in the store.

Affiliate marketing most likely involves four different groups that contribute to the marketing effort. The Merchant is the company that is producing and selling the product, the Network is the outlet that is used to promote the affiliate link, the Publisher or Affiliate is the person who has the website with the affiliate ad and of course the customer doing the purchasing. Affiliate links are found on all types of websites, and they are used to drive traffic to outside websites.

Video marketing is fairly simple to understand. It involves the use of video content for marketing purposes. This type of marketing comes in many types, including explainer videos, whiteboard animations, social ads, and more. Any strong online marketing campaign will include video content. Some of the most effective forms of video marketing include customer testimonials and how-to videos.

Segmenting market is to segment the customer and organizations so that each segment needs can be recognized and fulfilled properly. The advantage is that there is no need of selling the product to all the segments of market infact a particular segment can be targeted according to their requirements. Market segmentation is done in two steps:

1. First step is to identify and classify people into homogeneous groupings which are called segments.
2. Second step is finding out which of these segments are target markets.

Niche Market is a specific part of the market that a seller is focusing. This market is normal overlooked or ignored by the larger section of the producers. The small sellers may try to tap the potential of this niche market but normally fail due to cost factor. Niche market is concerned about customizing the service or product to meet the specific need of the consumer. As such the cost factor may at times go up.

Promotional marketing is a business marketing strategy designed to stimulate a customer to take action towards a buying decision. Promotional marketing is a technique that includes various incentives to buy,

Social network marketing and social media campaigns provide a window to market a product or service on the Internet through different social networks. Companies can use these outlets for their marketing, customer service and sales. The most common and successful means of social media marketing are found on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and even company blogs.

This type of marketing relies on the message of a marketer being spread quickly through various social networks in order to increase brand awareness. The name viral marketing stems from the rapid spread of viruses in general. Typically, a viral marketing campaign will not last as long as other marketing efforts, but if a company can come up with a good idea for viral marketing and reach the right people, it will become highly successful in a short amount of time.

CTA Marketing refers to methods of converting web traffic into leads or sales on websites using text, graphics, or other elements of web design. Conversion strategies help improve the percentage of online visitors who become customers or who join the mailing list.

Street team marketing uses personal interaction to express the virtues of a product, service or event to potential customers. Street marketing typically targets consumers directly in front of a venue or store, and provides an entertaining way of getting across the seller’s personality with costumes and antics performed by the team.

Interruption marketing can be defined as promoting a product by the means of advertising, public relation and sales. It is not suitable every time and depends upon company to company. It is very many sales directed, so if a company has limited funds to invest for advertising and wants quick results then interruption marketing is best. But at times it is not considered a fruitful way of marketing.

Guerilla marketing can combine many of the other marketing types, but is typified by how it takes consumers by surprise and makes a lasting impression. Guerilla marketing usually involves unconventional uses of traditional marketing.

One of the most important marketing strategies is public relations. Many effective marketers work with the media to bring awareness to their products and the benefits their products offer. Also, in many cases where things go wrong, a good PR marketing strategy is vital. When Apple’s founder Steve Jobs was alive, Apple held a major press conference to announce every new product. This tradition is now continued by their new Apple CEO and CMO.

Companies often have customers calling them for various reasons. This can present a great opportunity to sell customers additional products and services they currently don’t have. When business customers call to check their balances, the business bank Chase often takes the opportunity to ask if they are interest in a credit line, a 401 k plan, or a variety of other services the bank offers.

Sometimes it’s important for companies to let their potential customers know they exist. By developing a list of prospects a company can begin to reach out to their individual target groups in order to find new customers. When Microsoft was selling their accounting software they often used outbound marketing to identify potential targets before trying to call the companies for an in-person meeting.

A form of direct marketing, telemarketing’s focus is on reaching consumers by phone. Most of what we think of as telemarketing is cold call marketing, which is unpopular and leads to laws being created against it. However, telemarketing can be effective if the right person is reached on the phone at the right time

Along with Internet marketing, mobile marketing is part of the newest groups of marketing activities. Companies have been experimenting with the certain ways to reach consumers through their phones, especially with the rise of Apple’s iphone. Some ways to marketing a product or service through a mobile phone include SMS marketing, in-game marketing, banner marketing on different web pages and location based marketing.

Considering marketing ethics in the process of marketing is called ethical marketing. Briefly, if we explain it is the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular marketing issues that are matters of moral judgment. It results into business community which is much more responsible socially and culturally.It’s existence is very much beneficial to the society also. It should be the part of business ethics because it plays a very significant part in any business model. It gives those benefits to it’s customers which other companies does not even recognise.

Most people receive large quantities of marketing material in the mail, which is considered direct mail marketing. Companies will send paper mail with promotions or other information to a list of addresses, usually in a common geographical area. This form of marketing is also called junk mail by some, because the customers receiving the mail aren’t expecting it and usually don’t want to open it.

Marketing communication can be defined as the efforts made by the seller to convey his message to his buyers and to accept it in retrievable form. The main point of communication process is persuasion. It is totally goal oriented. It is not an haphazard activity. Each of its tool consists of specific complexities and potentialities that justify managerial specialization.

Real time marketing can be defined as marketing done to a customer in a particular time and place. It is the kind of marketing which seeks the most appropriate offer for a particular customer. Real-time marketing is the outcome of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions in major companies. Over time Real-time marketing became a big solution for vendors and maturing customers. Vendors found themselves re-branding real-time marketing products to suggest a more holistic appreciation of enterprise interaction decision management.

Diversity Marketing focuses on creating effective communication methods and mixing with each of the diverse groups active in the market. Because different consumer groups have experiences in different cultural and social settings, therefore diversity marketing recognizes the importance of cultural programming and acknowledges the consumers accordingly. Different cultural programming, the tastes, values, expectations, beliefs, ways of interaction, ways of entertainment, and lifestyle preferences of these groups tend to be different from others so these differences require the creation of customised marketing strategies.

Database Marketing is a form of direct marketing using databases of customers or potential customers to generate personalized messages in order to promote a product or service for marketing purposes. The method of communication can be any addressable medium, as in direct marketing. The distinction between direct marketing and database marketing stems primarily from the attention paid to the analysis of data. Database marketing emphasizes the use of statistical techniques to develop models of customer behavior, which are then used to select customers for communications. As a consequence, database marketers also tend to be heavy users of data warehouses, because having a greater amount of data about customers increase the likelihood that a more accurate model can be built.

Multi-level marketing is a form of direct sales that involves a chain of connections through which the company recruits and sells its products. Multi-level marketing is also called network marketing because salespeople earn commissions on the products they sell as well as on the sales made by their network.

Write and publish content to educate potential customers about your products and services. For the appropriate businesses, this can be an effective means of influencing them without using direct selling methods.

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter offer a unique opportunity for savvy businesses willing to invest in customer engagement. Social media marketing is still in its infancy but is growing up rather quickly. Companies like Southwest Airlines have departments of over 30 people whose primary responsibility is to actively engage with customers on social media.

Web marketing research is about conducting research (usually statistical analyses) to understand web marketing issues. The process of a research project includes finding a market issue, translate it into a marketing research project, design survey questionnaire, collect information from a survey, conduct analyses and report the findings and marketing implementations. Web marketing research focuses on web marketing issues only.

 If you are interviewing for a B2B profile and you have only worked in a B2C profile, be sure to show how you can transfer your skills in that area to the current situation.

Natural search is also known as an organic search, these are the search results that most people think of when they use a search engine. Unlike a sponsored link or a paid for placement, natural search results get presented as a direct result of the search engine’s indexing and search algorithms. Usually you do not pay for a natural search listing.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is designing, writing, and coding (in HTML) your entire web site so that there is a good chance that your web pages will appear at the top of search engine queries for your selected keywords and key phrases

WebCMO is a web site dedicated to web marketing research. WebCMO stands for Web Chief Marketing Officer.

 Marketing:

Marketing is the promotion of the products and services in the defined market to a set of target audience. Marketing plans the approach and the strategy required to be implemented. It uses both the traditional and modern promotional vehicles. Marketing includes activities like brand promotion, brand awareness and sales.

Sales:

Sales are a part of the marketing activities. It is the process through which a product is sold to the defined target audience. Sales are the final stage in the marketing process. A product or service may be sold to the end user or in case of a B2B model it may be sold to another business.

False advertising is using false statements to promote products and increase profit lines for a company or a brand. Such advertisements use deception to persuade people. Such advertisements completely deny the right to know for consumers and are banned in many countries. Still they have been a trend by finding legal ways to deceive people.

Various types of marketing research are:

Field research: It is related to the research for a specific purpose.

Desk research: Usually it is conducted for one purpose initially but gradually it is used to support another goal.

Xploratory research: It investigates an assumption..

Predictive research: This type of research is done to predict any future occurrence.

Conclusive research: This type of research is done to derive a conclusion of a research process

You can use this reply – The marketing manager evaluates the financial aspect of development. He adjusts development with company’s financial goals and means (budget). He also assesses the relevance of the product to the current market. If necessary, the marketing manager suggests changes to product development in order to optimize its success among current customers.

As you answer questions about your accomplishments with other companies, be specific. Simply stating, “I ran several online marketing campaigns” does not adequately show what you can do for the company.  Better answers should resemble, “I started a social media campaign that utilized targeted advertising systems to market the company’s services to youth in North America.” You will also need to elaborate. Use numbers that support the campaign, such as “Within three financial quarters, sales increased by 427% and brand recognition vastly improved by 10% within the target demographic.”

Put a number on the skills so that you can structure your sales interview answer around this. For example, “I think the 3 most important sales skills are.” Rather than referring to specific sales techniques focus on competencies and abilities that every successful salesperson needs, such as:

• The ability to adjust your approach to different people and situations
• The ability to ask the right questions and listen careful
• The ability to deal with disappointment and rejection
• The ability to stay motivated with a high energy level
• The ability to plan and prepare
• The ability to influence and persuade
• The ability to negotiate and reach agreement

Keys to marketing success can be summarized in below mentioned points:

The foremost important point is to “satisfy the customer”.

A company should have a clear image in order to achieve marketing success.

Thirdly work should be clearly distinct from other business activities in an organization. It should be central to the entire organization.

Fourthly business should develop a unique strategy that is consistent with the circumstances that it faces

Marketing Management is a skill of managing the market and consumers. It is a kind of activity in which product is supplied to the consumers and also making new consumers in the market. A marketing manager uses different techniques in order to increasing the sales and promotion of a goods and services. There are different steps by which a marketing manager has to go in order to achieve success.

Coming up with new and effective ways to market a product in such a tight economy is a tough challenge. Customers have more power than ever and marketing initiatives have to meet these new customer demands and give the customer what they want. There is enormous accountability for marketing managers to ensure that the marketing operation is efficient and cost-effective and to show how marketing spend translates into growth and profitability for the company. In such a highly competitive market standing out from other organizations is an ongoing challenge. Additionally there is the pressure to keep up with technology and how to use it optimally for marketing activity. Relate your personal experience of the challenges you have encountered and discuss how you handled them.

It involves the organization in making more then one marketing decisions across the nations.

There are many reasons to enter an international market led by large market size and diversification.

There are also several reasons to avoid entering international markets, including too much red tape, trade barriers, and transportation difficulties.

The stages of going international are as follows: exporting, licensing, joint ventures, direct investment, U.S. commercial centers, trade intermediaries, and alliances.

This is one of the crucial things to do before you appear for the interview. The question is common in the marketing interview. You should visit the profile of the company and collect the necessary information about the products and services. Give a crisp answer highlighting the existing policies of marketing for the particular product you would like to talk about. It would also be ideal to share your inputs on how the marketing mechanism may be strengthened. “The product ‘X’, I believe, has one of the most interesting marketing strategies. The product is being nicely promoted by the use of traditional and digital media. This has also increased the penetration rate of the product…”

This is one of the common questions in a marketing interview. The interviewer(s) is likely to evaluate your presence of mind and also how good salesperson you are. You may go for the following lines to sale the product:

The only temperature you can regulate to keep things fresh is that of the refrigerator.

The only thing that saves beers from freezing and meat from tuning into ice is refrigerator. Manages temperature and almost everything.

The AIDA Model, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action model, is an advertising effect model that identifies the stages that an individual goes during the process of purchasing a product Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) measures the “direct cost” incurred in the production of any goods or services. It includes material cost, direct labour cost, and direct factory overheads, and is directly proportional to revenue. As revenue increases, more resources are required to produce the goods or service. COGS are often or service Job Order Costing Guide Job Order Costing is used to allocate costs based on a specific job order. This guide will provide the job order costing formula and how to calculate it. As an example, law firms or accounting firms would use job order costing because every client is different and unique. Process-costing, on the other hand can be used. The AIDA model is commonly used in digital marketing, sales strategies Knocking on Door Knocking on Door is a lead generation strategy used by investment banking advisors looking to secure prospects for business while keeping expenses at a minimum. The strategy started in the early 20th century when insurance agents would go knocking on people’s doors., and public relations campaigns.