How to Hire the Best in Digital Marketing

Interview questions that help you discover your next top performer

Marketing professionals play an essential role within your business –– they keep buyers engaged and aware of your products, helping them to make that all-important purchasing decision. But there's so much more to the job...

The right marketing hires will find and implement ways to create and maintain demand for your goods and services while ensuring that your brand stays relevant.

Introducing the wrong people into your marketing team, however, can have the opposite effect! For example, you may remember the famous Apple X U2 marketing blunder of September 2014. U2's new album, The Edge, was forced onto 500 million Apple devices –– regardless of whether the device owners were fans or not. The reaction to Apple's "free gift" was largely negative (and costly!).

In a room (presumably) full of the world's top marketers, it's almost bewildering to think that no one raised a hand to question the ethics of this $100 million loss-making campaign. One has to wonder who's genius marketing strategy this was and whether they foresaw the privacy breach and brand-damaging implications this ill-thought move would have.

But, this does go a long way to prove that qualifications and experience aren't the only things to consider when hiring marketers. Deeper core qualities will demonstrate whether someone aligns with your company's vision and has the right industry perspective and insight to create impactful campaigns that grow your sales.

Hiring individuals who aren't afraid to tactfully go against the grain of groupthink and steer your business away from costly errors is equally important.

Key considerations when hiring marketers

Yes, qualifications and background do matter. You want to know that your new hire has the technical and strategic know-how to execute campaigns using the latest and most relevant digital marketing tools and methodologies. But here are a few key elements that should also be high on your checklist:

1. Real-world experience – this will shape their understanding of the problem your product or service solves.
2. Company culture fit – behavioural and social skills that align with your company's ethos.
3. Emotional intelligence – the ability to work pragmatically under pressure while also showing empathy and understanding towards others.
4. Strong communication skills - the ability to concisely and effectively express ideas and deliver information.
5. Proactive learners - a drive to learn, grow and stay up to date with industry insights.

Hiring, onboarding and integrating a new person into your business isn't cheap. The recruitment process can rack up many expenses, and then there's training and productivity loss to factor in.

If you've invested in the wrong person, you could lose up to 30% of the employee's wages in the first year. The negative effects of a bad hire can cascade into other people's workloads as they try to supervise, manage or compensate for the new employee's poor performance –– and you can probably see how this would impact morale and company culture.

Going beyond the CV: Powerful Interview Questions

Resumes can be pretty impressive... but they're limited in what they can reveal about the individual and their characteristics. The best way to decide whether someone is the right fit for your company is to interview them in person. This requires some prep work so that you can ask the type of questions that really draw out someone's values, competencies, behavioural tendencies, views and perspectives about your industry and the sincerity and transparency in the information they present. It's essential to create an accurate picture of what this new candidate will bring to your business and whether they'll gel with the rest of your team.

• General background
• Work experience
• Technical and personal skills
• Likelihood to fit into your company culture

General background information

1. How did you learn about this position, and what inspired you to apply?
2. What does a typical day look like in your current position?
3. How is success measured in your current job?

Skills and work experience

1. Please share some details about a successful campaign you recently worked on. What made it a success, and what was your role?
2. Let's talk about a less successful campaign. Why did it not meet expectations, and how did you handle this?
3. What do you do when a client's opinion of the work you've done doesn't match how you feel about it? Are there specific analytics you use to prove the impact of your work?

Culture fit

1. Please talk me through a time when you've made an error. What did you do when you discovered it, and how did you proceed from there?  
2. What has drawn you to our company? 
3. If there is a conflict between two team members, how would you look to create a better environment? 
4. What's your speciality, and how did you acquire your expertise in it? Can you share your knowledge with me?
5. What do you do in situations where you may be frustrated with a co-worker?
6. How do you stick to tight deadlines? What's your organisational process, and how do you manage tasks in a complex project?

Conclusion

When wrapping up your interview, be sure to ask the candidate if they have any questions for you. Remember, this is an opportunity for them also to assess whether your company is the best place for them and their career goals. By encouraging questions, you'll also learn more about the person's priorities and interests, helping you build a complete candidate profile.

A top tip for evaluating how a new employee is performing after a couple of months is to pull out the notes you made during the initial interview. Check whether their behaviour and conduct match your expectations; how does their performance hold up against the statements and initial comments made during that first interview?

If you're keen to join a team of growth-minded marketing experts who are driven to exceed customer expectations, we'd like to invite you to have a look at our recruitment page. Learn more about our business and core values and see whether your future could be with BEE.