Brand Manager Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a brand manager. Feel free to use our job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a brand manager.
Who is a Brand Manager?
A brand manager is a person who creates a brand’s image and strategy. Their work involves developing, executing, and maintaining a comprehensive marketing strategy. They also communicate with other departments, such as sales and marketing, to develop brands with a cohesive message. They work with advertising agencies, product developers, and other organizations to ensure that their brands are achieving their goals. They are responsible for a wide range of tasks, including creating and presenting reports and other marketing materials.
The role of a brand manager is not simply selling a product. They sell the whole experience that a product provides. They have strong analytical skills and broad knowledge of the products they manage. These qualities are crucial in the role of a brand manager. In addition, brand managers should have a background in marketing or a related field. Some certifications are available to those who wish to become brand managers.
To become a brand manager, you must have the desire and determination to succeed. You must be passionate about marketing and have a keen understanding of the industry. It does not matter what type of marketing degree you have, as long as you have a passion for it, you can be successful as a brand manager. You should have a keen eye for detail and a keen understanding of the customer base. As a brand manager, your job is to develop a brand’s value proposition and product offerings.
A brand manager also manages a marketing team. Their role is to determine the right mix of creative and tactical development that will motivate the target audience. They also establish the cost and price parameters, market applications, and sales estimates for a product. The job requires a great deal of creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit. The right person can mold a brand’s perception, which is essential for success. He/she must be able to achieve these objectives and grow the business.
The brand manager’s role is vital to the success of a brand. They have to keep track of new technology, customer behaviors, and global culture to stay ahead of the curve. If you’re interested in working in this field, you should learn as much as you can about the various aspects of the job. You may even be pleasantly surprised at the career prospects. In the end, your passion for a particular brand will make you a successful brand manager.
The words that a brand manager uses to create a story are the foundation of the brand’s identity. It is the most important aspect of a brand’s marketing. And, a good brand manager is a “jack of all trades” who can do anything. They are a team player and great motivators.
Brand Manager Job Description
Below are the brand manager job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a brand manager job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The job and duties of a brand manager include the following:
- Researching and developing new brands
- Maintaining and expanding different brands
- Increasing brand recognition
- Managing crisis, for example in the case of product recalls
- Protecting the legal trademark of the company
- Defining the brand identity, the basic values of the brand, and its target group
- Analyzing the market: supply and demand of similar products on the market, behavior, and preferences of consumers and actions of competitors
- Creating and implementing an effective marketing plan and optimizing the budget for the brand
- Controlling and evaluating the marketing measures taken: profitability, customer satisfaction, achievement of sales targets
- Drafting new strategies or possible corrective measures to improve performance
- Promoting new initiatives and trade policies, in close contact with sales
- Identifying new business opportunities
- Conducting market research studies and market analysis to gather key brand data
- Developing a cross-product strategy plan
- Positioning and coordination of the brand or image
- Definition of brand identity
- Optimizing the budget for the brand
- Controlling and evaluating the marketing measures carried out
- Promoting new initiatives
- Maintaining contact with suppliers for feedback on how the product design could be improved
- Formulating the company’s brand development strategy and national promotion plan
- Organizing and building a brand management system
- Establishing and maintaining the company’s product brand positioning.
- Ensuring that brand identity is properly applied and continue to enhance brand competitiveness
- Putting forward reasonable suggestions from the perspective of market brands in improving old products and developing new products.
- Formulating specific measures for brand management
- Optimizing business processes
- Training employees for brand awareness.
- Formulating a full-year brand promotion plan and investment cost budget
- Formulating the department’s asset management, document management, quality management, budget management, etc., to improve the efficiency of the department.
- Creating and maintaining brand consistency.
- Doing a good job in the target consumer group survey and brand follow-up survey to ensure that all communications can increase the brand experience
- Ensuring that the product culture meets more accurate and deeper user needs
- Bringing a positive impact on the brand, and enhancing the brand’s image.
- Tracking sales status and writing sub-regional promotion plans.
- The brand manager plans the cross-product strategy and always has the entire company in view. He controls the brand’s external communication with various measures.
The overriding goal is to gain customers’ trust.
The brand manager determines the brand identity in detail. The brand identity is based on visual elements, properties, values, and associated emotions. The consumer should associate a very specific, emotional image with the brand.
To implement this image for consumers, the brand manager designs media campaigns – he defines the marketing strategy for the brand, ensures that the appropriate advertising campaigns are played out in various media, and also analyzes the success of the campaigns.
The brand manager is then responsible for optimizing these measures. Another task is the creation of a market, consumer, and competitor analysis. With the help of these analyzes, he plans and realizes marketing projects and uses them for strategy development and product expansion.
The brand manager is responsible for the operational implementation of marketing measures. He is also responsible for the organization and implementation of events and the maintenance and conclusion of collaborations.
In everyday life, the brand manager deals extensively with market analysis, identifies supply and demand for similar products, and records the behavior and preferences of the target group. He also keeps an eye on competitor measures. The brand manager also creates an effective marketing plan and coordinates the implementation of this plan with the help of the marketing department.
In addition, he is directly responsible for the monitoring – i.e. the control and evaluation of the measures taken – the factors profitability, customer satisfaction and the achievement of sales targets play an important role. Depending on the success or failure of the measures, the brand manager drafts new strategies and corrective measures.
In close contact with sales, the brand manager also develops and identifies new business opportunities.
Requirements
- Experience as a brand manager, or in a similar marketing position
- A portfolio of branding projects can be a bonus
- Great knowledge of all aspects of marketing
- Experience in the development of marketing strategies that are based on market segmentation
- Data-oriented thinking
- Creativity
- BSc / MA in Marketing or a related subject
Essential Skills
Organized, versatile, and responsive, the brand manager also stands out for his creativity. His excellent interpersonal skills allow him to win those around him to his cause. He is a brilliant mind endowed with great analytical power. This ability is essential for him to monitor market trends and redefine the development strategy of a product line if necessary. The accuracy of his observations and the relevance of his decisions make him a key player in a company. The brand manager also remains open to comments from his collaborators.
Brand managers are generally required to have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, to be curious and creative, to demonstrate negotiation skills, and to have excellent product and market knowledge.
How to Become a Brand Manager
Choosing the right undergraduate degree can be important as it is usually a prerequisite to becoming a brand manager. A bachelor’s degree in marketing or communications can be a great first step. Other possible degree programs include general business, sales, finance, or accounting. Regardless of which area you have chosen, a business-related bachelor’s degree is usually the prerequisite for starting your career.
Typically, to become a brand manager and advance from the assistant level, one must earn a Master’s Degree in Business. This often happens while working as an assistant. Many companies will help with paying for a college degree.
Doing the job of an assistant brand manager well is a good first step towards progress. In the entry-level position, the prospective brand manager should demonstrate that they can identify the needs of the brand and run effective campaigns to promote them. At the same time, the assistant who wants to move up must have strong interpersonal, managerial, and financial skills. At this level, future brand managers also show that they can deal with increasing responsibility, work under pressure and make informed business decisions.
The job of a brand manager is similar to running a company. Because of this, many have characteristics that are similar to those of entrepreneurs. The job requires foresight, creativity, sales talent, leadership, and accountability and is a key role in most companies. Therefore, rather long-term training with three to five years of successful experience is usually a necessary prerequisite for the profession.
Where to Work
Marketing agencies are the most popular and well-known employers for brand managers. You may have to manage multiple brands for different clients. Marketing agencies offer extensive experience that will help you build a strong portfolio. Some large retailers, manufacturers, and private companies may also have a marketing department. These branding managers manage the brand and ensure consistency across all platforms. A branding manager may be hired by public agencies, charities, and political campaigns to promote their work. Although you may be able to work remotely or independently, it is not usually possible to work with large businesses. This may make it difficult for new graduates looking to gain more experience.
Marketing is essential for any company’s survival. Brand managers are therefore a must-have. They are typically employed in sales and marketing departments. Many of the top technology-based startups, service-aggregators, and app-based businesses rely heavily upon offline marketing techniques to attract customers. These companies often have their marketing departments and high-requirement marketing executives.
Brand Management professionals have many career options in the marketing and client servicing industry. These agencies are often used by smaller companies and industries that don’t have the resources or budget to create a separate marketing department.
Brand managers are known for their top-ranked areas of recruitment, including:
- E-Commerce Companies
- Tech-based Startups
- Service Aggregator Companies
- Advertising and Marketing Agencies
- PR Agencies
- Telecoms
- Companies, Marketing Departments
The following are some of the most reputable companies for Brand Managers:
- Hindustan Unilever
- Airtel
- Coca-Cola
- Samsung Electronics
- Cadbury
- Maruti Udyog
- Hero MotoCorp
- Godrej India
- Nokia
- Tata Teleservices etc.
Brand Manager Salary Scale
A brand manager is an engine behind the progress of a company. His role is to develop a brand so that consumers would pay attention to it and love it. The salary scale for a brand manager starts from $56,000 a year for a new entrant and can go up to $157,000 for experienced brand managers. A newly graduated brand manager may earn up to $106,000 per year. Internships are an ideal way to gain experience and develop skills. An experienced brand management professional can expect to earn an annual salary of $147,000 or more, depending on experience and location.
Salaries for brand managers can vary greatly depending on the industry. Some industries pay more than others, such as health care and pharmaceuticals. Experienced brand managers may aim to gain experience in higher-paying industries. While working in a higher-paying industry is the preferred route for many brand managers, some may find it more fulfilling to work in their preferred industries. For example, some individuals enjoy working in media and publishing, while others would rather work in health care or insurance.
Those with less than one year of experience will receive lower salaries. On the other hand, those with at least two years of experience will likely make more than triple that. The salary scale for senior brand managers is a little more expansive, with average salaries ranging from $94,000 to $151,260 in the United States.