How to become a Brand Manager

A brand manager works closely with an individual brand and creates its image, ethos and marketing procedures. The job involves works with the sales, production and marketing departments to ensure that the brand is developing.

Being a brand manager is a varied role. The job will involve working with sales, production, marketing, and financial teams to create a brand that is in line with its strategy and to present it to the public in an engaging way. Brand managers must have a clear image of the brand’s ethos and message, and revisit this often. It is essential for people in this career to define the USP well and make sure that the brand is related to this in the public spectrum.

Research is a huge part of a brand manager’s role, and brand managers should keep a frequently updated analysis of competing brands and their marketing techniques. It is also important to constantly evaluate the target audience and ensure that their needs are being met, as well as studying how the product can appeal to a broader range of people without losing its USP.

Depending on the size of the company, brand managers may find themselves working on social media and traditional marketing; if it is a larger company, they are likely to oversee dedicated staff in these departments. Likewise, brand managers will need to keep up to date with production processes and be involved when required. They may also need to calculate budgets, and be in charge of outreach and finding suitable networking opportunities with related brands. 

Brand managers should be excellent verbal and written communicators, have professional time management skills, be great with budgets and have a flair for deep analysis. It goes without saying that people in this career should have a broad understanding of the brand that they are promoting and a passion for marketing it.

Brand managers are often business or marketing graduates who have then taken on a graduate job in the marketing field. By the time they become a brand manager, they will typically have a few years’ work in the discipline and have acquired and demonstrated the brand manager skills listed above.