Marketing

What interviewers look for

• Starting from the customer: who the audience is, what they need and where they spend their time, before choosing a channel or a design.
• Planning with a budget: a clear objective, message, channels, timeline and cost, and knowing what you would cut if the budget were halved.
• Measuring results with numbers that matter to the business (sign-ups, sales, enquiries), not only likes and views.
• Brand consistency: the same logo use, colours, tone and message across posters, social media, radio and staff.
• Clear writing in English and Somali, and cultural sense: a message that respects local values and works in Somali, not a translated advert.

Questions they ask

1. 1“How would you plan a campaign for a new product with a small budget?”

   Why they ask: The core marketing question. They check whether you follow a structure (objective, audience, message, channel, budget, measurement) or jump straight to “Facebook ads”.

   How to answer

   • Start with a measurable objective and one clear audience.
   • Choose two or three channels that audience really uses, and explain why.
   • Split the budget, set a timeline, and say how you will measure and adjust.

   First I would agree one objective with my manager, for example a set number of new sign-ups in two months. Then the audience: say university students in Hargeisa. I would run a short survey with twenty students to learn what they need and where they spend time online. With a small budget I would pick two channels: targeted social media posts and campus activations with student ambassadors. I would give every channel its own promo code or link, check the results every week and move money to what works.

2. 2“What are the 4Ps? Give an example from a local product.”

   Why they ask: A basic theory check, but they want you to apply it, not recite it from a textbook.

   How to answer

   • Name them: Product, Price, Place, Promotion.
   • Apply each one to a real local example, such as a mobile data bundle or a private university course.
   • Show that changing one P affects the others.

   Take a weekly data bundle from a telecom. Product: a set amount of data valid for seven days, aimed at students. Price: cheaper per gigabyte than daily bundles, which pushes people to commit for a week. Place: sold through the USSD menu, the app and shop agents, because students buy small amounts often. Promotion: short videos in Somali on the platforms students use, and posters near campuses. If the price goes up, the promotion has to explain the extra value clearly.

3. 3“How do you measure whether a campaign worked?”

   Why they ask: They check that you set KPIs before the campaign and can separate vanity numbers from business results.

   How to answer

   • Set KPIs linked to the objective before starting: sign-ups, enquiries, sales, cost per result.
   • Track each channel separately with codes, links, or asking “How did you hear about us?”.
   • Report honestly, including what did not work and what you would change.

   Before starting I agree two or three KPIs with my manager that match the objective, for example enquiries and new registrations, plus the cost per registration. Each channel gets its own link or code, and the front desk asks every new customer how they heard about us. Reach and likes go in the report, but only as supporting numbers. At the end I compare results with the target, show which channel gave the cheapest registrations, and say what I would drop next time.

4. 4“How would you research a market you do not know, for example a new town?”

   Why they ask: They check that you gather facts before spending money, using cheap and practical methods.

   How to answer

   • Mix desk research (reports, competitors' pages) with field research (short surveys, visits, talking to shopkeepers).
   • Say what you want to learn: who buys, why, how much, and from whom.
   • Turn the findings into a short report with a recommendation.

5. 5“How do you keep a brand consistent across many channels and staff?”

   Why they ask: Brand officers are guardians. They check that you know brand guidelines and can politely say no to off-brand requests.

   How to answer

   • Use brand guidelines: logo, colours, fonts, tone of voice and photo style.
   • Share templates so branches and partners do not design their own.
   • Review materials before they go out, and explain the reason when you ask for changes.

   At the university where I worked, each faculty made its own posters, with different logos and colours. I turned the brand guide into two pages: logo use, colours, fonts and a few examples of what to do and what not to do. Then I made Canva templates for posters, social posts and certificates and shared them with a focal person in each faculty. Everything public came to me for a quick check before printing. After one term, most materials looked like they came from one institution.

6. 6“Tell us about a campaign or post that did not work. What did you learn?”

   Why they ask: They check honesty and learning. Marketing is testing; someone who claims every campaign succeeded is not measuring.

   How to answer

   • Pick a real, small failure and give the numbers you saw.
   • Explain the cause you found, not an excuse.
   • Say what you changed and what happened next.

7. 7“Our budget for next quarter is cut in half. What would you keep and what would you cut?”

   Why they ask: A decision under constraints. They check that you use past results to set priorities, not personal preference.

   How to answer

   • Look at the cost per result for each channel and keep what brought results cheaply.
   • Protect the one objective that matters most this quarter.
   • Use free or low-cost options: organic social media, partnerships, staff and customer referrals.

Example answers are in English, the language most panels use. Say it in your own words.

Topics to revise

• Target audience and segmentationSplitting the market into groups (students, traders, diaspora senders, women-owned businesses) and choosing which ones to serve. Expect: “Who is the target audience for this product, and why?”
• The 4Ps (marketing mix)Product, Price, Place and Promotion: the four decisions a marketer controls. You may be asked to apply them to the employer's own product, so study it before the interview.
• SWOT analysisStrengths and weaknesses (inside the organisation), opportunities and threats (outside it). Often the start of a marketing plan. Keep each point specific to the product, not generic.
• SMART objectivesSpecific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. “More awareness” is not SMART; “a set number of new student registrations by the end of March” is.
• Campaign brief and budgetA one-page plan: objective, audience, key message, channels, timeline, budget per line and KPIs. Panels may ask you to write one in 45–60 minutes.
• Organic vs paid digital marketingOrganic posts reach people for free, through followers and shares. Paid ads are targeted by location, age and interests. Know the difference between boosting a post and running an ad campaign with a clear objective.
• Reach, impressions, engagement, CTRReach: the number of different people who saw it. Impressions: the total times it was shown. Engagement: likes, comments and shares. CTR (click-through rate): clicks divided by impressions. Expect a question on which one matters for a given objective.
• Conversion and cost per resultA conversion is the action you want: a registration, a call, a purchase. Cost per result is money spent divided by results. It is the fairest way to compare channels.
• Brand guidelinesThe rulebook for a brand: logo sizes and clear space, colours with their codes, fonts, tone of voice and photo style. Know why consistency builds trust and recognition.
• Marketing reportA monthly or end-of-campaign report: objective, what was done, results against KPIs, spend, lessons and next steps. Short, with one chart or table, and honest about what failed.

Practical tasks you may get

1. 1Campaign brief test (45–90 minutes): you get a product and a budget and must write a plan. Practise with a real local product: objective, audience, message, three channels, a budget table and KPIs on one or two pages.
2. 2Social media task: write three posts for a product in English and Somali, or review the employer's own page. Look at their pages before the interview and note one thing that works and one you would improve.
3. 3Data task: a small table of campaign results by channel; you work out the cost per result and recommend where to spend next. Practise dividing spend by results in Excel and explaining it in two sentences.
4. 4Short presentation (10 minutes): present your plan or a past campaign. Prepare five slides at most: problem, audience, idea, budget, and results or KPIs.

Portfolio questions

• Bring three to five pieces of real work: posts, posters, a campaign report, a brief. For each one, be ready to say the objective, your part and the result.
• Be clear about team work: “I wrote the posts; the designer made the visuals.” Never present other people's work as yours.
• No job yet? Use a volunteer campaign, a student club, a family business page or a practice brief, and say so honestly.
• Keep it on your phone and as a simple PDF, so you can show it even if there is no internet in the room.

Mistakes to avoid

• Answering every question with “social media”, with no objective, audience or budget.
• Reporting likes and followers as success when the objective was sales or registrations.
• Translating an English advert word for word into Somali. Write the Somali message fresh, for the local audience.
• Knowing nothing about the employer's current brand and campaigns. Check their pages, posters and adverts before the interview.
• Criticising the employer's marketing harshly in the interview. Give one respectful suggestion with a reason instead.

Quick check

5 questions. Answer each one to see the explanation.