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Examples of Interview Questions for Sports Marketing

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Entering into a career in sports marketing immediately says about you that you have a love of sports and are comfortable with sales and advertising. In sports marketing you're not just creating campaigns for your favorite sports teams, you're working with sporting and athletic equipment, suppliers, sports teams and athletes. When interviewing for this position be prepared to discuss your sports, sales and branding experience.

Sports Teams

One question that you should be prepared to answer in your sports marketing interview is one about what sports teams you like. Once you've identified the teams, be ready to explain how you would design a marketing campaign for one of your teams and what you would expect the outcome to be. You should also be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current marketing endeavors of any team that you name. Also be prepared to discuss your personal experience playing on sports teams. Name the team, what position you played, what type of sport and how long you played. Answering these questions displays your understanding of sports as both a player and a fan.

Talk About You

One of the most difficult questions you may face in a sports marketing interview is to be asked to tell the interviewer about yourself. Questions like this are where you may be tempted to hesitate or use filler words such as "Um" that should be avoided during an interview. Instead, practice answering the question before your interview. Consider why you believe that you are the best person for this position. List the experience and skills that you can bring to the marketing company that no one else can. Remember that sports marketing is about being able to sell an image to sports fans; you must be able to sell yourself in much the same way to the interviewer.

Successes and Failures

Being asked what your successes and failures are from your marketing work experiences is very similar to being asked what your strengths and weaknesses are but it is presented in a way that you can provide a quantifiable answer to the interviewer. To answer, describe a successful sports marketing campaign that you worked on. Give the interviewer actual profit numbers if possible when talking about the campaign, including why it was a success, what the purpose of the campaign was, even if it wasn't sports-related, and what your role was. When discussing a marketing failure, remember to relay why you feel that the campaign failed and what you learned from it. Always speak in a positive manner, even about your failures.

Work Experience

Just because you list your sports and marketing experience on your resume doesn't mean that the interviewer doesn't have any questions about it. Make sure that you review your previous work experience before the interview. Be prepared to answer questions, particularly if your previous work experience was not in sports marketing. You should also know precisely why you want to change careers to sports marketing, even if you've worked in marketing in the past. The interviewer will want to know why you feel qualified to make the change.

Writer

Residing in Los Angeles, Kristin Swain has been a professional writer since 2008. Her experience includes finance, travel, marketing and television. Swain holds a Bachelor of Arts in communication from Georgia State University.

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