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PapaHR · Mike Pritula Academy · Roles

Marketing Manager: Role Profile, KPIs and Interview Questions

Find marketing responsibilities, key performance indicators (KPIs), hiring questions and an onboarding plan. Use them to agree on lead quality, budgets and results.

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Job profiles, hiring, onboarding and reviews are in PapaHR. Free for up to 25 employees.

  1. Take the profile below or build your own with the builder.
  2. In PapaHR the profile turns into a job ad, an onboarding plan and probation goals.
  3. After 90 days, review the person against the same KPIs and competencies.

Job profile

Why the role exists

Attract suitable potential customers through clear offers and controlled marketing spending.

Result in a year

The business meets its target for suitable leads, knows acquisition costs by channel and repeats campaigns with demonstrated results.

Place in the structure

  1. Reports toHead of Marketing, or the business owner without that role.
  2. Direct reportsNone; briefs designers, copywriters and advertising contractors through an agreed plan.
  3. Works withBusiness owner — goals, budget and priority products, Sales — lead quality and rejection reasons, Product team — product benefits and customer feedback, Designer and copywriter — campaign materials, Developer — pages, forms and data transfer, Accountant — spending and contractor payments
Key result areas
  1. Leads accepted by sales for follow-up — Sales-accepted lead target attainmentAt least 100% of the sales-accepted lead target.
  2. Lead acquisition within the agreed cost — Cost per sales-accepted lead performanceCost per accepted lead within target while meeting the lead volume target.
  3. Pages that turn relevant visits into leads — Landing page conversion ratePage conversion rate at or above target.
  4. Tested improvements to offers and channels — Experiment plan completionAt least 100% of planned tests completed with documented conclusions.
  5. Campaigns ready by the agreed date — On-time launch plan attainmentAt least 100% of the agreed on-time launch plan.
  6. Data connecting leads to acquisition channels — Share of leads with verified sourcesShare of leads with verified sources at or above target.
Requirements

Experience: Experience running campaigns independently, tracking costs and lead quality.

Formal: Portfolio showing personal contributions; a relevant degree is optional.

Should know

  • How customer needs shape offers and channel selection.
  • The journey from first contact to purchase.
  • The difference between enquiries, suitable prospects and paid sales.
  • How to calculate lead costs and visitor-to-lead conversion rates.
  • Experiment design basics and the limits of small samples.
  • How lead sources are identified and why data gets lost.

Should be able to

  • Interview customers without leading their answers.
  • Write clear offers and landing page briefs.
  • Plan channel spending and track the remaining budget.
  • Check forms, tracking links and data transfers.
  • Combine spending and lead data in a spreadsheet.
  • Explain campaign findings through costs and lead quality.
Competencies at three levels

Customer understanding

Attracts people with a real need for the product.

  1. Collects customer questions and identifies common reasons for enquiries.basic
  2. Tests assumptions through interviews and identifies segments with different needs.solid
  3. Finds purchase drivers, adjusts offers and verifies results through suitable customer enquiries.strong

Marketing analysis

Distinguishes useful spending from activity that produces no results.

  1. Calculates cost per lead and checks source data completeness.basic
  2. Compares channels by sales-accepted lead cost and accounts for sales delays.solid
  3. Explains discrepancies and checks whether campaigns generated additional results.strong

Clear messaging

Helps customers understand the product's value and take the next step.

  1. Writes clear copy with a benefit and specific action.basic
  2. Tailors arguments to segments and keeps ad and page promises consistent.solid
  3. Tests arguments and improves offers based on the quality of leads generated.strong

Experiment design

Reduces the risk of spending on untested assumptions.

  1. Records the hypothesis, proposed change and expected outcome.basic
  2. Defines budget, duration, outcome measure and stopping conditions before testing.solid
  3. Separates change effects from seasonality and applies verified findings to future campaigns.strong

Campaign delivery

Ensures materials, pages and tracking are ready for launch.

  1. Maintains a task list and flags delays early.basic
  2. Agrees contractor deadlines and checks the entire lead journey before launch.solid
  3. Replans when problems arise, controlling spending and protecting critical launch requirements.strong

Sales collaboration

Connects lead generation with business needs and suitable customers.

  1. Checks lead status and requests specific rejection reasons.basic
  2. Agrees lead acceptance criteria and regularly reviews disputed enquiries.solid
  3. Fixes losses between advertising and sales by agreeing changes across both teams.strong
Builder

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Tick what this person does at your company. On the right is the ready profile: copy it or open it in PapaHR.

Marketing Manager

Attract suitable potential customers through clear offers and controlled marketing spending.

Duties
  1. Research customer needs through interviews, enquiries and rejection reasons.
  2. Choose audience segments with the owner and sales team.
  3. Explain who the offer helps, how and why choose it.
  4. Plan campaigns with budgets, deadlines and expected lead volumes.
  5. Brief copywriters and designers on ads, pages and campaign materials.
  6. Launch campaigns and check the journey from ad to enquiry.
  7. Set up tracking links and transfer sources into customer records.
  8. Review lead quality and rejection reasons with sales.
  9. Compare spending and sales-accepted leads for each channel.
  10. Test ideas and reallocate budgets using verified results.
  11. Organise webinars and track enquiries after each event.
  12. Run partner campaigns with separate source tracking.
  13. Develop a referral programme for existing customers.
  14. Prepare email campaigns for agreed customer segments.
  15. Coordinate participation in trade shows and industry events.
  16. Collect feedback and turn it into customer stories.
  17. Brief specialists on improving the website's search visibility.
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Marketing manager KPIs

  1. Sales-accepted lead target attainment — Sales-accepted leads / lead target × 100%. Mistake: Counting duplicate enquiries or leads that fail agreed acceptance criteria.weight 30% · month
  2. Cost per sales-accepted lead performance — Target cost per accepted lead / actual cost × 100%. Mistake: Calculating costs with no accepted leads or excluding campaign preparation spending.weight 25% · month
  3. Landing page conversion rate — Visitors submitting an enquiry / page visitors × 100%. Mistake: Comparing pages serving different audiences or counting duplicate form submissions.weight 15% · month
  4. Experiment plan completion — Completed tests with conclusions / planned tests × 100%. Mistake: Counting a launch as a completed test without sufficient data or documented conclusions.weight 10% · month
  5. On-time launch plan attainment — Campaigns launched on time / planned launches × 100%. Mistake: Moving an agreed deadline after a delay to meet the metric.weight 10% · month
  6. Share of leads with verified sources — Leads with verified sources / all leads × 100%. Mistake: Presenting an assumed source as verified data.weight 10% · month
Calculator

Work out the KPI bonus

Enter how much of each target was met, in percent, and the bonus at 100%. You can change the weights.

KPIWeight, %Achieved, %Share
Sales-accepted lead target attainment
Cost per sales-accepted lead performance
Landing page conversion rate
Experiment plan completion
On-time launch plan attainment
Share of leads with verified sources
KPI total
Bonus
Sum of weights

The weights are an example. They should add up to 100%.

Interview questions

Scorecard

Run the interview and get the result

Score each answer from 1 to 5 and the total is worked out by competency. Keep this page open on your phone during the interview.

Customer understanding

Describe how customer conversations changed a campaign. What did you learn, what did you personally change and what happened?

✓ Listen for: Specific customer words, offer changes, personal actions and verified results.

⚑ Red flag: Defines audiences only by age and income; never spoke to customers.

Tell me about a segment you stopped targeting. What data informed your decision, and what changed afterwards?

✓ Listen for: Segment needs, rejection reasons, acquisition costs and consequences of the decision.

⚑ Red flag: Dropped a segment based on personal impressions without checking results.

Marketing analysis

Describe a campaign with cheap leads but poor sales. How did you identify the cause, what changed and what happened?

✓ Listen for: Links between spending and lead status, data checks and assessment of changes.

⚑ Red flag: Treats low lead costs as sufficient proof of success.

Describe conflicting figures in advertising reports and customer records. How did you investigate, what did you fix and what resulted?

✓ Listen for: Checks of duplicates, tags, forms, dates and missing sources.

⚑ Red flag: Chose the more favourable figure without investigating the discrepancy.

Clear messaging

Describe a landing page offer you changed. What failed, what copy did you personally propose and how did you assess results?

✓ Listen for: Clear customer need, supporting argument, copy change and lead comparison before and after.

⚑ Red flag: Discusses attractive wording but cannot explain customer response.

Tell me about a product whose value was difficult to explain. How did you simplify the message, test it and assess results?

✓ Listen for: Customer language, specific benefits and checks that people understood the offer.

⚑ Red flag: Replaced the explanation with vague, unsupported promises.

Experiment design

Describe a hypothesis that failed its test. What did you expect, how did you limit spending, what did you learn and decide?

✓ Listen for: Criteria set before launch, spending limits, conclusions and next steps.

⚑ Red flag: Changed the success measure after seeing an inconvenient result.

Describe a test that generated too few leads. How did you assess uncertainty, what did you do and how did it end?

✓ Listen for: Acknowledges missing data, justifies continuing or stopping and draws cautious conclusions.

⚑ Red flag: Declared a winner after one enquiry and immediately increased spending.

Campaign delivery

Describe a launch threatened by a contractor delay. What did you personally do, how did you agree changes and what launched?

✓ Listen for: Task dependencies, early warnings, essential materials and the outcome.

⚑ Red flag: Reported the delay on launch day and blamed others.

Describe a form or page error before launch. How did you find it, fix it and prevent recurrence?

✓ Listen for: Customer journey checks, a test enquiry and an updated checklist.

⚑ Red flag: Launched ads without checking the form or lead handover to sales.

Sales collaboration

Describe a disagreement with sales about lead quality. Which enquiries did you review, what did you agree and what changed?

✓ Listen for: Specific enquiries, shared quality criteria and follow-up checks.

⚑ Red flag: Blames sales for every rejection and never reviews enquiries.

Describe a lead lost between advertising and sales. How did you locate the gap, who changed what and what happened?

✓ Listen for: Handover checks, response times, personal actions and the result of the fix.

⚑ Red flag: Considers form submission the end of marketing's responsibility.

Score at least one answer and the result shows up here. ·
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Test task

Choose the next step for a small business campaign · 2 hours

Practice case: a business sells recurring cleaning services to small offices. A suitable lead includes contact details for an office decision-maker within the service area. Fictional monthly data: channel A — $300 spent, 600 visitors, 30 leads, 6 accepted by sales; channel B — $300 spent, 200 visitors, 10 leads, 8 accepted. Spending includes material preparation. All enquiries have been reviewed; there are no duplicates. No sales from these leads have closed yet. The next practice budget is $600. Calculate cost per lead, cost per sales-accepted lead and visitor-to-lead conversion for each channel. Propose a budget allocation, explaining assumptions and risks. Write an offer for one segment and a plan for one test: change, outcome measure, budget, duration and stopping condition. Identify missing data. Submit a calculation spreadsheet and a note of up to two pages; no advertising launch is required.

How to assess it

  • Calculations are correct; total leads and sales-accepted leads are separated.
  • Conclusions account for lead quality and the absence of closed sales.
  • Allocation stays within budget and recognises uncertainty when scaling.
  • The offer addresses the needs of a specific office segment.
  • The test specifies one change, an outcome measure and stopping conditions.
  • Requests purchase, profitability and lead rejection data.

Ready job ad

Marketing Manager at [company]

Help [audience] discover [product], managing lead quality and marketing costs.

What you will do

  • Research customers and refine the offer with sales.
  • Plan campaigns within the agreed budget.
  • Brief specialists on ads, pages and campaign materials.
  • Launch campaigns and check lead handovers.
  • Compare channels by the cost of suitable enquiries.
  • Test ideas and explain decisions using data.

What we need

  • Campaign experience covering budgets and lead quality.
  • A portfolio showing your decisions and results.
  • Skills in spreadsheets, web analytics and advertising platforms.
  • Clear offer writing and contractor briefing skills.
  • Ability to agree lead quality criteria with sales.

What we offer

  • Pay: [salary in $]; bonus: [bonus terms].
  • Working arrangement: [arrangement]; location: [city].
  • Schedule: [schedule]; team availability: [core hours].
  • Campaign budget: [budget in $]; approvals: [approval process].
  • Support: [designer, copywriter, developer or contractors].
  • Reports to: [role]; probation period goals: [goals].

In PapaHR this text becomes a job opening with a careers page and a candidate pipeline.

90-day onboarding plan

Before day one

  1. Send the joining plan and team contacts.HR
  2. Prepare marketing goals, budget and campaign history.Manager
  3. Prepare access to analytics, advertising platforms and customer records.IT

Day one

  1. Explain the product, customers and limits on advertising claims.Manager
  2. Show the lead journey from form submission to sales response.Mentor
  3. Check access and submit a test enquiry.New hire

First week

  1. Review customer enquiries and conduct initial interviews.New hire
  2. Reconcile past campaign spending, sources and lead statuses.New hire
  3. Agree lead acceptance criteria with sales.Manager
  4. Review initial findings and explain data gaps.Mentor

30 days

  1. Build a campaign plan with costs, deadlines and outcome measures.New hire
  2. Approve lead targets, acquisition costs and budget authority.Manager
  3. Fix identified source tracking losses during lead handovers.IT
  4. Prepare the first offer test and agree stopping conditions.New hire

60 days

  1. Launch approved campaigns and record initial results.New hire
  2. Review accepted and rejected leads with sales.New hire
  3. Review spending and the reasoning behind budget changes.Manager

90 days

  1. Compare campaign results with the agreed plan.New hire
  2. Propose future campaigns based on completed tests.New hire
  3. Review probation period goals and agree future responsibilities.Manager

Probation period goals

  1. Agree a suitable lead acquisition plan by day 30.Segments, lead acceptance criteria, budget, deadlines and performance targets are approved.
  2. Establish a verifiable lead journey by day 30.A test enquiry from every active channel reaches sales with the correct source; identified losses are fixed.
  3. Complete the first agreed offer test by day 60.Budget limits are met; data, limitations and the next decision are documented.
  4. Meet the agreed sales-accepted lead target by day 90.Achieves 100% of target at the agreed cost; sales confirms lead statuses.

Career path

Marketing Assistant

Prepares materials and collects data following a mentor's plan.

To move up: Run a campaign independently, from brief to lead quality reporting.

Marketing Manager

Runs campaigns, controls spending and agrees lead quality with sales.

To move up: Demonstrate results across several campaign cycles and justify budget allocation.

Senior Marketing Manager

Prioritises channels, leads complex tests and supports colleagues.

To move up: Learn to plan the overall budget and deliver through a team.

Head of Marketing

Owns the marketing plan, team and campaigns' business contribution.

To move up: Take responsibility for new markets or products as the business grows.

Questions for a 1:1 meeting

  1. Which leads did sales reject, and what does that tell us about our ads?
  2. Which channel's cost per accepted lead rose, and why?
  3. Where do customers drop out between the ad, page and sales conversation?
  4. Which test changed your next budget decision?
  5. What data is missing for a confident campaign assessment?
  6. What is blocking the next launch, and what decision do you need from me?
  7. Which task should we drop to focus on suitable leads?

Mistakes in hiring and managing

  1. Hiring one person to handle strategy, advertising, design and development simultaneously.
    Better: Choose priority channels and arrange contractor support in advance.
  2. Judging marketing only by views and total enquiries.
    Better: Agree lead acceptance criteria and track the cost of accepted leads.
  3. Demanding sales growth without access to lead statuses.
    Better: Provide follow-up outcomes and regularly review reasons for lost leads.
  4. Changing the audience, offer and page simultaneously in every test.
    Better: Choose one change and define the outcome measure in advance.
  5. Increasing spending immediately after a few promising leads.
    Better: Check data quality and increase spending gradually while monitoring acquisition costs.
HR in money

What a bad hire costs: Marketing manager

The same calculation as in PapaHR «HR in money»: the cost of hiring plus the salary for the months the new hire worked at half capacity.

One leaver
A year

In the first months a new hire delivers about half the result, so the company pays the other half of the salary for learning. In PapaHR the calculation uses your real leavers.

Questions and answers

What does a marketing manager do in a small business?

A marketing manager researches customers, shapes offers and generates enquiries. They review lead quality with sales and explain how the budget was spent. Channel choice depends on the product and available resources.

How does a marketing manager differ from a sales manager?

Marketing helps potential customers discover a product and contact the business. Sales clarifies buying needs, makes proposals and manages deals. Both roles need shared lead acceptance criteria and feedback on outcomes.

Which KPIs should a marketing manager have?

Start with sales-accepted lead volume and acquisition costs. Add conversion, testing and data completeness measures when they help manage the work. Agree targets after reviewing the baseline data and budget.

Should a marketing manager write copy and set up ads?

In a small business, they can do both within an agreed workload. Contractors can handle design, development or complex advertising channels. The marketing manager remains responsible for the brief and checking results.

How do you assess a marketing manager in an interview?

Ask them to explain a past campaign: budget, personal actions, accepted leads and findings. Then give a short practice case involving acquisition cost calculations. A strong candidate explains data limitations and avoids promising sales before understanding the product.

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