How would you approach this product marketing interview assignment?

Sorry, that didn't work out! Here's how I would approach this assignment:  Study Certain's website to understand their current product messaging and positioning. And make sure your draft is different from this but not drastically different.  Play closer attention to their customer stories/testimonials to understand their use cases. This gives you a glimpse of what features to highlight in your GTM strategy.  The goal is to get more leads, so take a look at their pricing and packaging to see if t ...Read More

First off, I'll say that I'm never a fan of making someone create messaging/positioning and defining a GTM plan about the interviewing company's product because you're never going to get to the level of knowledge as someone in the company...and it takes way longer to do it right. OK, rant over. :) Typically when I ask candidates to give a presentation, it's less about the specific products they're presenting, but rather HOW they present it. Can the candidate articulate how they effectively appro ...Read More

Pulling this one up. It's outside the realm of KPIs and measurement, but I think it's really critical. And I have a few strong opinions here.  If I can summarize this back, as part of your interview process, you were given an assignment to build an overall strategic plan to take a flagship product to market, do it under extreme time and emotional pressure, and summarize it all in a few hundred words.  To put it bluntly, this is a terrible way to assess someone's skills, is antithetical to what w ...Read More

I have no idea how you prep your presentation. But for an assignment like this one, I think what employers want to test is your ability to assess the problem and provide a solution. So before I would even start on the assignment, I would try to highlight the problem statement. What problem is this product trying to solve? Who are you solving it for? And importantly, is this a problem, the user recognizes or not at all? These questions will help you detail your strategy before you go into messagi ...Read More

I don't think I can help you on the full assignment within the scope of an AMA; especially since the sub-question reads like the company probably is going to be using this question for other candidates in the future. However, here are a few tips for any take-home interview round like this: If you're given the opportunity to ask follow-up questions, make sure you do so; one key part of the exercise is seeing how you learn and research. Make sure you do your homework; know what the current messagi ...Read More

I often find these assignments are about your approach to problem solving, positioning, and alignment rather than the work you actually produce. This is how I evaluate candidates. To me, it's all about their approach, rather than their output. You can't be expected to be an expert on the product or target audience before you even join an organization. I would recommend "showing your work" and helping the interviewing team understand your approach, as well as how you would measure success if you ...Read More

This question really hits hard. I once got a very specific 2-page assignment like this where the expectation was a deck with a complete GTM plan with messaging, positioning, plan per engagement channel, and more. I received this assignment before I was even invited to interview with the team. Huge turnoff. To answer your question, I would research the product, category, buyer group, competitors. Thankfully, this is a breeze with AI. Where I would really spend time, is coming up with a unique POV ...Read More