Interview scorecard by role
Marketing Manager Interview Scorecard & Questions
A marketing manager at a small company is a strategist and a doer: they choose channels, run campaigns, write or brief content and prove what worked. Prioritize candidates who talk in numbers and experiments, not just creative ideas.
What to assess: 5 core competencies
Copy this scorecard. Assign each competency to one interviewer, rate it 1–5 and write down the evidence before discussing the candidate with anyone.
| Competency | What good looks like | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy and positioning | understands the audience and crafts a clear message. | ||
| Channel execution | runs campaigns across chosen channels efficiently. | ||
| Analytics | measures CAC, conversion and attribution and acts on the data. | ||
| Experimentation | tests ideas quickly and cheaply. | ||
| Cross-functional work | aligns with sales and product on goals and lead quality. | ||
| Overall | ☐ Strong no ☐ No ☐ Yes ☐ Strong yes | ||
10 structured interview questions for a marketing manager
Ask the same core questions, in the same order, to every candidate. Probe with "What did you do?" and "What was the result?"
- Walk me through a campaign you ran end to end, including budget and results.
- Tell me about a campaign that failed. How did you know, and what did you change?
- With a $5,000 monthly budget, how would you allocate it for our business?
- How do you define a qualified lead with sales?
- Which metrics do you report weekly, and why?
- Describe an experiment you ran and what you learned.
- How do you decide on positioning for a new product?
- Tell me about managing agencies or freelancers.
- What's a channel you'd stop investing in, and how would you decide?
- Exercise: critique our homepage and propose three tests.
Rating anchors for the critical competencies
Anchors stop one interviewer's "4" from being another's "2". These cover the two competencies that most often separate strong and weak marketing manager hires. Read our interview rating scale guide to write anchors for the rest.
Analytics
| 1 — Below the bar | Reports impressions and likes; can't link activity to revenue. |
|---|---|
| 3 — Meets the bar | Tracks funnel conversion and cost per lead by channel. |
| 5 — Exceptional | Builds attribution good enough to make budget decisions and reallocates spend based on CAC and payback. |
Experimentation
| 1 — Below the bar | Launches big campaigns with no hypothesis. |
|---|---|
| 3 — Meets the bar | Runs simple A/B tests with clear metrics. |
| 5 — Exceptional | Maintains a test backlog, sizes impact, and compounds learnings into strategy. |
Red flags to watch for
- No numbers in any campaign story.
- Proposes the same playbook regardless of company stage.
- Blames sales for all lead-quality issues.
30-60-90 day plan outline for a new marketing manager
| Days 1–30: Learn | Audit current channels, analytics and messaging; interview 5 customers; agree goals with leadership. |
|---|---|
| Days 31–60: Contribute | Launch two quick-win experiments; fix tracking gaps; align lead definitions with sales. |
| Days 61–90: Own | Present a 6-month plan with budget, run the first scaled campaign and report results. |
Turn this into a full plan with goals and check-ins using our 30-60-90 day plan guide or the 30-60-90 Day Onboarding Kit.
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How many interview rounds should a marketing manager go through?
Two or three focused stages are usually enough for a small company: a short screen, a structured interview using the questions above, and a practical exercise or final interview. Score every stage on the same 1–5 scale.
What is the most predictive part of a marketing manager interview?
The practical exercise — "critique our homepage and propose three tests." — because it shows real work rather than descriptions of it. Score it against the anchors on this page.
Generate more questions with the free interview question generator.