“Somewhere in your data, something incredible is waiting to be known”. The world of Digital Marketing is heavily reliant on data. From Amazon to Google, from big MNCs to small upcoming startups - everyone has their hands deep inside the world of data. The boom of the internet in the early 21st century has made everyone a netizen, and each citizen of the internet provides data in one form or another. Such large volumes of data have within them insights which can help businesses grow and get closer to their customers.
Data and the insights it provides has transformed the field of marketing as well and has given birth to a whole new field called Marketing Analytics, which is essentially a tool marketers use to evaluate the success of their marketing efforts, based on data-driven reports. With Marketing Analytics, marketers can answer questions like:
- How are my Marketing efforts performing today? How will they perform in the longer term? How can performance be improved?
- What are our competitors doing? What channels are they exploring to reach out to their audience? Where are they spending their money, and how much are they spending?
- What's to be done next? Are our marketing initiatives optimal?
As more companies rely on data to drive their marketing efforts, roles in the field of Marketing Analytics, such as that of a Web Analyst, Data Analyst, and Marketing Analyst, are aplenty.
So, say you were to make a career in this booming field. What kind of skills would you need to have to sit for an interview for a Marketing Analytics job? What kind of interview questions would you face? To find out, we reached out to
Mr. Manishi Sanwal - an IIM Ahmedabad graduate (Class of 2000) who has previously Headed Sales & Marketing for the Tag Heuer brand in China, has been a CEO at Flamingo Travel Retail, and is now a Managing Director at Voiceback Analytics!
Manishi shared with us some crucial questions that budding Web Analysts and Data Analysts should be prepared to answer in interviews and also explained what interviewers look for in ideal candidates.
Did you know - InsideIIM will be conducting a series of sessions on careers in the field of Marketing Analytics! Sign-up now for Marketing Analytics 101!
Commonly Asked Questions In A Web Analytics Interview:
The following are questions to ask if a candidate understands the theory and the practical application of a Facebook dashboard or a Google Analytics dashboard:
Q1. Have you worked on an Analytics dashboard? What are the top reports that analytics platforms like Google Analytics provide? Which are the most useful, according to you?
What the interviewer is looking for - By asking this question, the interviewers is looking for basic familiarity with popular analytics platforms like Google Analytics and social media dashboards like the Facebook dashboard. By asking about the top reports, the interviewer is again testing your familiarity with these platforms and is also checking your understanding of how to make the best use of the data that these platforms provide. If you didn't know, these are the
7 most popular reports that Google Analytics provides which can be leveraged by Marketeers.
Q2. Are you familiar with the concept of the Google Tag Manager? If yes, please explain in brief what it is.
What the interviewer is looking for - Google Analytics on its own is a very handy tool for Web Analysts, but in combination with Google Tag Manager, you're able to collect more data than you are otherwise. By asking this question, the interviewer is looking at the scope of your understanding of how to enhance the quality of data you gather. You should be able to define what tags are, how they work, and what they're used for.
You should be able to explain the pros and cons of using GTM, and
what its various components are.
Other examples of questions asked in jobs pertinent to Marketing Analytics skills include:
Q3. You are running a campaign with 5 bloggers. How do you set up to see which blogger would give the best response?
Q4. What is difference between a hit level dimension and a session level dimension?
Q5. What is the concept of a Campaign Goal?
These are more technical questions, some of which have objective answers that rely on your understanding of the world of Marketing Analytics. If you want to find out how to answer these questions and other commonly asked questions in Marketing Analytics interviews, we highly recommend that you sign-up for a series of highly insightful sessions with Manishi Sanwal - an IIM Ahmedabad graduate who is an expert in this field!
Concepts Tested In A Data Analytics Interview:
1. Familiarity with various techniques at a conceptual level, such as Recency Frequency Matrix, Segmentation, Market Basket Analytics etc.
What the interviewer is looking for -
"I personally try to test for common sense and general comfort and familiarity to concepts," says Manishi. "If a candidate can explain in plain English what these algorithms do, its good enough. They may not be able to write the code [but that's alright]."
2. Familiarity with R/Python.
What the interviewer is looking for -
"Again, we look for basic comfort on these. You need not be an expert in coding but you must be able to do coding if pushed to the wall."
3. Familiarity with Power BI.
What the interviewer is looking for - Microsoft Power BI is a business analytics service that provides interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities with an interface simple enough for end users to create their own reports and dashboards.
"A candidate must have familiarity with database structures, and must have the ability to understand concept of Tables and Unique Keys," says Manishi.
Being an expert in this field and someone who is a part of the hiring process for Marketing Analytics professionals, Manishi Sanwal has a lot of insights that he wants to share with all budding Marketing professionals! I
f you're looking to make a career in the booming world of Marketing Analytics, sign-up now for Marketing Analytics 101!