Brand Manager is an important management position in the field of communication and marketing of the enterprise, responsible for the activities of building and managing the brand image. However, many people confuse this position with the position of Marketing Manager. So who is a Brand Manager? How to become a great Brand Manager? All will be revealed in the following article of Navigos Search.
1. Who is a Brand Manager?
The Brand Manager is the person who is in charge of building the enterprise’s image including but not limited to building strategies and implementing activities to help the brand image be well positioned in the market. Brand Manager will develop plans to promote and change public perception of a business’s brand.
Businesses often hire Brand Managers to work internally to build and develop only one brand. However, in some cases, Brand Manager will work at large media advertising units (also known as agencies), simultaneously building and managing brands for many different businesses. Brand Manager's most important responsibility is to ensure that the brand image is consistent across all advertising campaigns.
Brand Manager
Currently, many people are confused between a Brand Manager and a Marketing Manager. In general, these two positions are towards the common goal of maintaining and growing revenue for the business.However, the specific scope of work of each position is different.
If the Brand Manager is the person who makes customers support and love the business's brand, promoting the tendency to buy and use the business's products in the long run. The Marketing Manager is the person who finds and drives customers to buy by using marketing strategies to inspire customers to care about and trust your brand. Therefore, the Brand Manager and the Marketing Manager often work together to create strategies to build and to promote the brand of the business.
2. The role of the Brand Manager in the business
Leading
Who is a Brand Manager? They will be the head of the branding department. In this role, they must define the strategic and bold vision and instill it in the working style of the employees to create a unique culture in the department. At the same time, they will have to lead, give direction to the development and create a perfect brand message to attract potential users.
Supervising
As the head of the branding department, the Brand Manager is responsible for overseeing all employee activities within the department. Specifically: supervising the implementation of strategy and brand development, monitoring the implementation of marketing plans, monitoring the feedback of target customers.
Being a strategist
Brand Manager has a very important role in building a business brand across channels. Every week, every month, every year they will set out brand development strategies and monitor their performance to make necessary adjustments or improvements.
Analyzing
In order to propose appropriate adjustment measures in the branding process, Brand Manager must collect data, analyze and evaluate the implementation process and results of the strategic plan. The factors that they regularly research are: user tastes, user segments, competitors, industry trends, industry developments.
Through data analysis, the Brand Manager will make forecasts for the relevant department, contribute to the development of new brands and improve existing strategies, taking advantage of every opportunity to upgrade the profile of the corporate brand.
Scope of work of a Brand Manager
Being the connector
Brand Manager is an intermediary connecting the cooperation relationship between the parties involved in the development of the brand. That is the sales, marketing, human resources, IT, etc., and even the media units and partners. They will run the user-oriented brand communication method and also be the main point of marketing with external business partners to help build effective partnerships.
Being the creator
What is the next task of the Brand Manager? They will have to research and grasp industry trends to create a breakthrough strategy, come up with a superior approach to bring the business brand closer to potential customers. Doing these jobs well will help increase the level of corporate brand recognition, ensuring a competitive advantage over other competitors.
3. The secret to becoming a Brand Manager
To become a Brand Manager, check out and follow the steps below:
Accumulate knowledge
The first thing you need to do to become a Brand Manager is to study & research majors related to this field such as: management, marketing, advertising, business, communications. The proper education and training will give you a comprehensive knowledge of marketing and branding. Moreover, you will learn the method of successfully building a brand.
Companies and businesses often require a bachelor's degree for this position. However, you should also consider getting advanced degrees to have an added advantage over other candidates when applying for the Brand Manager position.
Accumulate knowledge to become a Brand Manager
Gain experience from practice
In addition to knowledge, practical experience is also a necessary requirement for a Brand Manager. Organizations and businesses often require the person holding this position to have at least 2 years of experience in the brand management field. At the same time, having experience in identifying target customers, grasping customer needs, understanding the market, knowing how to build strategies to develop brands....
To start learning and successfully achieving the Brand Manager position, you should work at the position of Assistant Brand Manager or Marketing Executive first. From those positions, you will accumulate experience in marketing, brand advertising, business management, ... very effectively. After gaining real combat experience, you can confidently move towards the position of Brand Manager.
Hone your skills and attitude
In the process of gaining practical experience, you should also focus on training the necessary skills of a Brand Manager. Those are good communication skills, negotiation and persuasion skills, analyzing and evaluating skills, situation handling, problem solving, decision making, creative thinking. In addition to those things, you also have to practice a positive, friendly attitude in branding and always consider the customer as the center, as well as prioritize the enterprise's confidentiality & security.
In fact, there are quite a few Brand Managers who start their careers from ground zero such as sales executives, communication staff, designers, employees in small advertising agencies or even part-time employees. This shows that, to achieve success, you must have determination, effort and the spirit of learning to constantly grow.
Expanding your network
Owning a network of professional relationships will help you have more opportunities to approach the position of Brand Manager at the desired unit. Therefore, you should regularly attend industry events and seminars exclusively for people working in the field of brand building & brand management.
Those meetups will help you connect with leading experts in the field. And you easily learn from their experience and get good job opportunities from their recommendation. Therefore, actively expand your network of connections and develop those relationships to get valuable referrals and move forwards to the desired position.
Pay attention to build and expand your network
Through the above article, you must have understood "Who is a Brand Manager"? This position requires candidates to have a clear direction, creativity, strategic thinking, brand positioning and many other factors.
If you are looking for advancement opportunities with this position, you will find a lot of career opportunities for yourself at Navigos Search – the most prestigious headhunter service provider in Vietnam today.
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