Olin Marketing Association

NBMBAA Interview Prep 2013Interview 101

Interview Objectives• Get to know you and your background, assess fit– Conversational questions

• Understand how you frame problems in a business setting and how your personal attributes fit with the company’s core competencies– Behavioral questions

• Measure your passion for marketing and their company– Marketing related questions

• See how you think on your feet– Case questions (not as common!)

Conversational• Walk me through your resume• Why Marketing / Brand Management?

Be ready to: – explain abnormalities in your resume– focus on transitions between roles (both reverse and

forward chronologically)– explain (particularly if you are a Career Switcher) what

interests you about marketing– tie your personal values / attributes to those that the

company values and marketingThese questions may not come up with every interviewer, so don’t base your interview on your ability to explain this

Conversational• Why this company?

You should: – know the company’s values and attributes

• Interview Wiki• Online forums• Job description• 2nd years

– be able to speak about the company’s products• company website• store visit to understand channel and competitive products

– think through the company or product’s value proposition from a consumer standpoint

Behavioral Objectives• Behavioral questions are designed to explore your personal

attributes that align with the firms recruiting competencies• Examples:• Examples:

– Strong leadership– Team contributor– Analytical mindset– Creativity– Flexibility / Adaptability– Strong communication skills

– Results-orientation– Insight– Know Yourself– Curiosity– Initiative– Influence

Behavioral• Describe a situation when you had to make an important decision

when you did not have all of the necessary information.• Tell me about a time when you managed a cross-functional team.• Tell me about a time when you exerted influence over people that

you had no control over.• Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your manager.• Give me an example of a time when you failed.• Tell me about a time when you had to make an unpopular decision• Tell me about a tough boss that you had and how you handled it• Have you been in a situation when you received critical feedback.

How did you adjust?• How do you feel varied perspectives enable a group to create a

superior product / idea?

STAR Interview FormatSituation

Task

Action

Result

BRIEFLY set up the situation

Explain the task that you had to complete or the problem that you had to solve. Some refer to the “T” as Thinking.

Describe the actions that you took to complete the task / solve the problem.

Be SPECIFIC

Explain the result of your efforts. Quantify if possible.

Focus your answer on the Action and Result, Take OWNERSHIP of your part

STAR Preparation Tactics• Create a database / spreadsheet of key work experiences

described in STAR format– Have at least 15 experiences in mind– In many interviews it’s not ideal to repeat experiences; however,

repeating an experience while shedding light on a different attribute is better than fumbling to find a suitable experience

• Apply key work experiences to different attributes– Practice flexibility in your stories’ emphasis

• Practice, practice, practice!– Answers should be in the 2-3 minute range, the interviewer may

dig in and ask more questions

Applying Flexibility• Not every question is going to exactly correspond to an

experience– Practice telling your stories with slightly different emphases

• Examples– Competitive report failure also told as adaptability– Vendors overstepping client relationship told as a power to

influence and difficulty working with a boss– Intern onboarding development told as having an idea and

building a process– Issue with stakeholders at organization told as researching

issue and working across stakeholders

Competency: Marketing relevance: Strong examples:

Leadership

• Marketing drives the business• “Hub of the wheel”• Voice of the consumer• Project management

• Anything where you were in charge and moved something forward

• Motivated those who didn’t report to you• Influenced decisions of high-level stakeholders

Teamwork• Build trust and rapport with your brand

and agency teams• Foster teamwork

• Worked cross functionally to solve a problem• Leveraged other perspectives to complete work

Analytical/Problem Solving

• Understanding of the business, category, and the marketplace

• Address complex and ambiguous situations in the marketplace

• Approach to a complex issue / situation• Discovering an underlying issue that was causing a

problem and developing a solution• Conducting research to solve a problem

Creativity

• Find a new way to tackle an old problem

• Solutions are not always apparent

• A situation in which you developed a unique and resourceful solution to a difficult problem

• Discuss the source of your idea: what triggered it? How did you come up with it?

Flexibility / Adaptability

• Driving a brand requires the ability to juggle multiple tasks effectively

• Circumstances and market conditions change, must be able to quickly reprioritize and address issues

• A situation in which you adjusted quickly to a significant change in team priorities

• Response to unexpected change within an organization

• How you handled a decision without having all of the information in hand

Communication

• Communicate in a way that enhances your teams commitment to your priorities

• Strong written and oral communication is essential as a brand manager

• A situation in which you needed to communicate important information to a large group while making an impact

• How you communicated difficult information to a group

Marketing Questions• What is a product or service that is marketed

well / poorly? Innovative?• Have you seen any good / bad commercials?• How would you market _____?• What brand do you associate with?• Tell me about a well-marketed web site• What has been a successful brand extension?• For any specific company, pick a brand from that

company and have an analysis of their positions and what they are missing

Marketing Questions• What is a product or service that is marketed well / poorly? Innovative?

– Platinum, Black Crown• Have you seen any good / bad commercials?

– Go Daddy kiss / Southern Comfort– Effective commercial versus good marketing.

• How would you market _____? – What is value proposition and who will appreciate that value?

• What brand do you associate with? – Be personal!

• Tell me about a well-marketed web site / good customer experience– Be personal, what do you use

• For any specific company, pick a brand from that company and have an analysis of their positions and what they are missing– Research

Marketing Frameworks• To answer these questions, apply your

marketing frameworks:– Macro environment• Porter’s 5 Forces (sometimes too broad)• 3 Cs: Customers, Competitors, Company

• Product environment• STP: Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning

• Execution• 4 Ps: Product, Place Promotion, Price

Porter’s Five Forces3 CsSTP4 Ps

Five Forces• Economies of scale• Capital costs• Cost advantage of existing

competitors• Barriers to exit• Patents

Barriers To Entry

• Number and size of competitors• Industry growth rate• Product differentiation factors• Industry margins/pricing

Market Rivalry

• Relative price/value of the substitute compared to industry’s product

• Cost of switching to substitute• Buyers’ propensity to switch

Substitutes

• Number and size of suppliers• Switching costs/product

differentiation• Availability of substitutes• Possibility of forward integration

Supplier Power• Significance of the purchase

relative to cost structure• Switching costs• Purchase volume• Threat of backward

integration

Buyer Power

3CsMarket Positioning of XYZ Company

• Customer Base New/existing Loyal/

switchers

• Profitability by Customer Segment How much do they

purchase? At what price?

• Target Customers Who are they? What are their habits?

• Major competitors Traditional Unexpected substitutes

• Competitors Strengths and Weaknesses Profits Costs

• Market Share of Competitors

Customers Competitors

• Core Strengths and Goals

• Sources of Advantage

• Impact of Strategies on Market Positioning

• Relative Importance of Proposed Marketing Initiatives to Others Within the Company

Company

Segmentation/Targeting/Positioning

• Divides market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics or behavior— Geographic: division by

state, country, location, etc.

— Demographic: division by age, gender, income, family size, education, etc.

— Psychographic: division by social class, lifestyle, or personality characteristics

— Behavioral: division by knowledge, attitudes, uses, or responses to a product

• After evaluating different segments, you must decide which and how many segments to serve

• A target market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve

• The place the product occupies in the consumers’ minds, relative to competing products

• May be positioned based on attributes, usage occasions, users, against a competitor, away from a competitor, or based on product classes— Positioning statement: To

(target market), X is the brand of (frame of reference) that (benefit/ point of difference) because of (product attribute)

Segmenting Targeting Positioning

4Ps (“Marketing Mix”)

ProductPhysical Good

ServiceFeatures

Quality LevelAccessoriesInstallationInstructions

WarrantyProduct Lines or

ExtensionsPackagingBranding

PlaceChannel Type

Market ExposureMiddlemen

Kinds and Locations of Stores

Transporting and Storing

Service LevelsManaging Channels

PriceFlexibility

Level Over Product Lifecycle

Geographic TermsDiscounts

AllowancesElasticity

PromotionPromotion Blend

Salespeople:Kind

NumberSelectionTraining

MotivationAdvertising:

TargetsKinds

Media TypeCopy

Sales PromotionPublicity

Product that is marketed well: Chobani

Product• Natural yogurt, innovation of Greek yogurt into the nonfat

yogurt space• First mover advantage• Innovation of packaging

Promotion• Natural yogurt, innovation of Greek yogurt into the nonfat

yogurt space• First mover advantage

Place• Minimal distribution in high end grocery stores brings the

luxury of greek yogurt to everyone• Yogurt pop-up boutique in New York East Village

Price• Were able to command a price premium upon launch, but

entrance of competitors has introduced price pressures• Need to innovate to keep market share strong

Pick it apart

Chobani had a very strong product and marketing opportunities in the beginning. A lack of promotion as to roots of company (small farm co-op) and entrants of competitors has eroded market share. They were slow to introduce innovations, but have done so under the added competitive pressure.

What’s next?

Capitalize on opportunity to grow brand as healthy indulgence by opening yogurt dessert shops (similar to self serve yogurt trend). Will not likely cause increase in revenues but will introduce new eating / cooking occasions with yogurt and will reinforce brand recognition

Marketing Questions• Have you seen any good / bad commercials? – Toyota RAV4– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iymBRSUfz9U– Segmentation– Targeting– Positioning?– Tap King– http://www.creativebloq.com/3d/top-tv-commerc

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Case Questions• Product launch• Market sizing• More on this on 9/20