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Guide

How to Research a Company Before an Interview (Marketing Roles)

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Look at five things: how the business is doing, how the brand shows up, what its audience says about it, how it compares with its main rivals and who you're meeting. Then pick two or three findings you can bring into the conversation, each with a source, and one open question you'd want answered.

Key takeaways

What should you research before an interview?

Five things: the business, the brand, the audience, the competition and the people. For a marketing role, the brand and the audience matter most, because that’s what you’d be hired to change.

You’re not trying to know everything, which makes this much more manageable than it sounds. You’re looking for two or three specific findings you can use in your answers and questions. One sharp observation beats ten general facts.

The business: how is the company doing?

Start with whether the company is growing, flat or shrinking, because it changes what marketing is being asked to do.

The brand: how does it show up?

Look at the brand the way a customer would, then the way a marketer would.

The audience: what do people say?

Read what customers say in their own words. It’s the closest you’ll get to the brand’s real position.

Note the themes, good and bad, and copy one or two short quotes. They’re useful in an interview: “people in the comments keep asking for X” is more convincing than “I think customers want X”.

The competition: who are they up against?

Pick the three or four rivals customers actually choose between, then compare the brand with them on a few things you can see: search demand, social following and engagement, the ads they run and how their homepages position them.

You’ll often find one clear difference worth raising. That’s the kind of thing a hiring manager remembers.

The people: who are you meeting?

Look up everyone on your interview schedule.

Use this to predict what each person will care about. A finance partner will ask about budgets and measurement; a creative lead will ask about work you’re proud of. Keep it to public, professional information.

Turning research into talking points

Research only helps if it comes up in the conversation. Before the interview, write it down in this form.

FINDING: [what I noticed, e.g. their TikTok posts get far more engagement than any rival's]
SOURCE: [where I saw it, and when]
WHY IT MATTERS: [what it suggests for the business]
HOW I'D USE IT: [the answer or question it fits, e.g. "What would you do first?"]
WHAT I DON'T KNOW: [the question I'd want answered before acting on it]

Bring two or three of these. Raise them with curiosity, not as verdicts. “I noticed X. Is that something the team is working on?” lands better than “your X is broken.” Put the finding in your own words, the way you’d mention it to a colleague; your genuine reaction to their marketing is part of what makes you memorable.

How long should company research take?

About an hour for a first-round interview, and two to four for a final round. Past that, you get diminishing returns, and the time is better spent practicing your answers.

Recon does this research for you: a brief on the company with every figure sourced. You can see what that looks like in the sample brief on Duolingo, or browse our company marketing teardowns.

FAQ

How do I research a company before an interview for free?

Use the company’s own site and social accounts, its press releases, the SEC’s EDGAR search for public companies, Google Trends, the Meta Ad Library, Google’s Ads Transparency Center, Reddit and app store reviews. All of them are free.

How much should I know about a company before an interview?

Enough to explain what it sells, to whom, how it’s doing and one thing about its marketing you’d want to discuss. Nobody expects you to know their internal numbers, so focus on what you can see.

Should I mention my research in the interview?

Yes, when it fits a question. Weave it into answers and questions rather than reciting it all at once at the start.

What if I find something negative about the company?

Raise it as a question, not a criticism, and only if it’s relevant to the role. “I saw branded search has dipped this year. Is that something marketing is focused on?” shows you looked without putting anyone on the defensive.

How do you research a startup with little public information?

Start with what the founders and early team say: their LinkedIn posts, podcast interviews and launch announcements. Then use the product itself: sign up, read the onboarding emails and check app-store or review-site feedback. Funding announcements tell you the stage and what investors will expect next. Bring a question about the gaps; at a startup, a thoughtful question about priorities counts as research too.

Why should you research a company before an interview?

Because it changes what you can say. With research you can answer “why us” with something specific, tie your examples to their problems and ask questions only an informed candidate would ask. It also helps you decide whether you want the job.

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