# Marketing Take-Home Assignments: Formats, How Much to Do and How to Present

> A marketing take-home assignment is a short project set during hiring, such as a campaign plan, a channel audit, a writing test or a data exercise, to see how you think. Answer exactly what was asked, keep to the stated time and format, make one clear recommendation with your reasoning, and ask about scope if the brief looks like unpaid consulting.

Canonical: https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/marketing-take-home-assignment/  
Published by the Know the Room team (https://knowtheroom.ai/authors/know-the-room-team/). Updated 2026-10-24.

## Key takeaways

- A marketing take-home assignment is a short project set during hiring, such as a campaign plan, a channel audit, a writing test or a data exercise.
- Spend roughly the time the company suggests on a take-home, and lead with one clear recommendation rather than covering everything.
- Asking two or three questions before you start a take-home is normal, and the answers often change the brief.
- If a take-home looks like unpaid consulting on a live problem, ask about scope, time and how the work will be used before you start.

## What is a marketing take-home assignment?

It's a piece of work a company asks you to do on your own time between interviews, usually after the hiring manager round and before or during the final round. You get a brief, a deadline and sometimes a format, and you hand back a document or deck that you may then present.

Companies call it different things: a take-home, a case study, a marketing assessment test, a work sample, an exercise. The purpose is the same. They want to see how you'd approach the actual job, beyond how you describe past work. If a take-home feels like a lot on top of a full week, that's a fair reaction, and the sections below help you keep it to a sensible size.

## What are the common formats?

Most marketing take-homes fall into one of these types. The format tells you what they're testing.

| Format | Example brief | What they're testing |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy or plan | "How would you grow [product] with [audience] next year?" | Prioritizing, use of evidence, a clear recommendation |
| Launch plan | "Plan the launch of [feature or product]." | Positioning, audience, channels, timing, measurement |
| Audit | "Review our [social / SEO / email / paid] program and tell us what you'd change." | Diagnosis and judgment about a real program |
| Data exercise | "Here's a spreadsheet of campaign results. What happened and what would you do?" | Analysis, spotting the one finding that matters, clarity |
| Writing test | "Write three subject lines, a landing page and a launch email." | Voice, clarity, ability to follow a brief |
| Creative or content concept | "Pitch three content ideas for [platform]." | Ideas that fit the brand and the audience |
| Live case | A short brief handed over in the interview with 20-60 minutes to prepare | Thinking under time pressure, structure |
| 30-60-90 day plan | "What would you do in your first three months?" | Judgment about where to start; see our [30-60-90 day plan](/guides/30-60-90-day-plan/) guide |

Senior roles lean toward strategy, audit and first-90-day briefs. Specialist and early-career roles lean toward writing tests, data exercises and channel-specific tasks.

## How much time should you spend on a take-home?

Spend roughly the time they say it should take, and no more than a working day unless they've agreed to pay you or explained why it needs more. If they don't give a time, ask: "How long do you expect this to take, and how will it be reviewed?"

Going far over the limit rarely helps. A 25-slide answer to a five-slide brief tells the panel you can't prioritize, and it makes the comparison with other candidates harder for them, not easier. The goal is the strongest single argument you can make in the space given.

A rough split of your time that works for most strategy briefs:

1. **Understanding the ask** (a small share): read the brief twice, write down the decision it's really about and any questions.
2. **Research** (about a third): what you can learn about the brand, its competitors and its audience from public sources.
3. **Thinking and deciding** (about a third): the insight and the recommendation.
4. **Making it presentable** (the rest): slides or document, then a run-through out loud.

## Should you ask questions before you start?

Yes. Sending two or three sensible questions is normal, and the answers often change the brief. Good ones:

- "Who will review this, and will I present it or just send it?"
- "Is there a format or length you'd like?"
- "Should I assume today's budget and team, or is that open?"
- "Is there any data you can share, or should I work from public information?"
- "Is the focus on strategy, or do you want examples of execution too?"

Keep it to one short email. If the answer is "use your judgment", state your assumptions at the start of the work and move on.

## How do you structure the answer?

Lead with your recommendation, then the evidence, then how you'd measure it and what you'd want to check. Most reviewers read the first page and skim the rest, so the first page has to stand alone.

```text
1. The ask: [the brief in one line, and the decision your answer helps them make]
2. My recommendation: [one sentence: what you'd do and why]
3. What I found: [two or three facts, each with a source]
4. The insight: [the one thing that shapes the recommendation]
5. How it works: [audience, message, channels, timing, rough split of effort]
6. How we'd measure it: [two or three KPIs, baseline if known, target]
7. What I'd do first: [the first 30-90 days, including what you'd test]
8. Assumptions and what I'd check: [what you assumed, and the data that would change your mind]
```

For a data exercise or writing test, the shape is simpler: the answer, the work behind it and a short note on what you'd do with more time or data.

Write the content in your own voice, not in consultant-speak. The reviewers are picturing you on the team, and a take-home that sounds like you, opinions included, tells them far more than one that sounds like a template.

## Where do you get the facts?

From public information, with a source next to every number. Our [competitive analysis template](/guides/competitive-analysis-template/) and [brand audit checklist](/guides/brand-audit/) list what to collect for a brand or growth brief. If you estimate, say it's an estimate and how you got it: reviewers forgive a labeled guess, not a confident number that turns out to be made up.

## How do you present a take-home?

Open with the recommendation in your first minute, name the assumptions you made where data was missing, and leave at least half the session for questions. When they give you new information, say what you'd change rather than defending the old point. The [case study presentation guide](/guides/marketing-case-study-presentation/) covers handling the panel's questions in more detail.

If you're only sending the work and not presenting it, add a short cover note: the recommendation in two sentences, the assumptions, and an offer to walk them through it.

## When should you push back on an unpaid take-home?

Push back, politely, when the brief looks like real consulting work: a full plan for a live launch, a complete audit of their accounts, campaign creative they could run, or a task that clearly takes more than a day. Asking for a reasonable scope is normal, and how a company responds tells you something about how it treats people.

Options, from softest to firmest:

- **Ask about scope:** "To make sure I put my time in the right place, which part of this matters most to you?"
- **Propose a smaller version:** "I can do a focused version on [one part] in about [time]. Would that work?"
- **Offer an alternative:** a walkthrough of a similar project you've done, or a live session instead of a written plan.
- **Ask about payment** for a large task: some companies pay for take-homes, and it's reasonable to ask.
- **Protect your work:** put your name on every page and send a PDF rather than an editable file if you're uneasy.
- **Decline:** if the task is very large and they won't adjust, it's fair to step out of the process.

```text
Hi [name],

Thanks for sending the assignment. I'm keen to do it well. Before I start, I want to check scope: as written it looks like [estimate of the time it would take], and the brief mentions [part that looks like live work].

Would a focused version on [the part that matters most] work, in around [time]? I'm also happy to walk the panel through [a similar project I've done] if that would help.

Best,
[your name]
```

## Common mistakes in marketing take-homes

- **Answering a different question** from the one they asked. Restate the ask on your first page and check every section against it.
- **No recommendation,** just a survey of options. Pick one and say why.
- **Generic tactics** that would fit any company ("post more on TikTok") with no reason they fit this one. Tie each tactic to something you found.
- **Unsourced numbers** or invented benchmarks. Source each figure or label it as an estimate.
- **Ignoring constraints** in the brief, such as budget, audience or length. Work inside them; that's part of the test.
- **Over-designing** the deck while the thinking stays thin. Spend the time on the insight first, then the polish.

## FAQ

### Is it normal to get a take-home assignment for a marketing job?

Yes, especially for mid-level and senior roles and for writing, analytics and channel-specialist roles. Not every company uses them; some use a live case in the final round instead.

### How long should a marketing take-home presentation be?

As long as the brief says. If it doesn't say, seven or eight slides for a 20-minute presentation is a sensible default, with an appendix for supporting detail.

### Will the company use my take-home work?

Most won't, but you can't be sure. Keep the work at the level of strategy and examples, avoid producing finished assets they could run, and ask about scope if the brief asks for more.

### What if I run out of time?

Hand in what you have with a clear recommendation and a short note on what you'd add with more time. A focused, finished answer to part of the brief beats a rushed answer to all of it.

## More on Interview rounds

- [How to prepare for an interview](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/how-to-prepare-for-an-interview.md)
- [How to research a company before an interview](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/how-to-research-a-company-before-an-interview.md)
- [Phone screen interview questions](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/phone-screen-interview-questions.md)
- [Video interview tips](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/video-interview-tips.md)
- [Panel interview tips](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/panel-interview-tips.md)
- [Group interview questions](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/group-interview-questions.md)
- [Second interview questions](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/second-interview-questions.md)
- [Marketing case study presentation](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/marketing-case-study-presentation.md)
- [Mock interview questions](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/mock-interview-questions.md)
- [What to wear to an interview](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/what-to-wear-to-an-interview.md)