In recent years, the importance companies give to their brands has been growing steadily.
Today, “the brand” can be a great support for a company, becoming not only the face or presentation of its products but one of the company’s fundamental pillars.
With this in mind, it’s normal for companies, large or small, to invest more and more in branding, which also means improving their online reputation.
To do this, it’s essential to have the help of a brand manager, who will be the main player in the process of creating and managing the brand.
· What is a brand manager?
The brand manager, also known as brand lead in some cases, is responsible for planning and managing a company’s brand at every possible level, as well as the relationships and interactions that form around it.
You could also say that a brand manager is the person in charge of planning, developing and executing a suitable brand strategy for the company.
At this point, it’s important to understand that a company’s brand isn’t just a logo or a name.
To be fair, both are important, because the logo and the name are an important part of the brand, so much so that choosing the right name can make a big difference.
Even so, you have to understand that branding goes beyond these two aspects.
A brand manager has a perfect command of branding and knows it’s not just about the quality of a product, or about choosing the right name, the perfect logo or a well-designed image.
A good brand manager knows how to handle every situation that may arise, managing and collaborating with the teams involved in the company’s different processes to create a successful brand image in the eyes of the public.
· Characteristics of a brand manager
Because it’s a very important job for how a company or business develops, a brand manager must meet a number of requirements to be right for the role.
Some of the most important aspects that should make up a brand manager’s profile are:
- They must have excellent communication skills, with both their colleagues and the company’s audience.
- They must be able to lead and work as part of a team. But not as a “boss”: as a “leader” who pushes forward any “links” in the chain that may be lagging behind, if there are any.
- They must know how to manage interpersonal relationships and interpret people’s responses, in this case consumers’.
- They must be a creative person who knows how to tell a story. In this sense, they should have training in, or at least knowledge of, “storytelling”, a marketing technique more and more brands are turning to in order to attract potential customers.
- They must have administrative skills and analytical ability, so they can analyze all the relevant indicators or KPIs that affect how well or badly the business is doing, alert the team and come up with solutions.
- They must know how to adapt to different scenarios, even unexpected ones. As Darwin’s famous quote says, “it is those who best adapt to their environment that survive”.
- They must know how to solve any problems that come up and be able to work well under pressure.
As for education, the most sought-after degrees for the role are generally those related to business, management or marketing.
That said, people with years of experience in the marketing world who have several of the qualities the profile needs can also be considered.
· What does a brand manager do?
To understand this more clearly, the best thing is to look at the brand manager’s responsibilities, since it’s quite a versatile profession that influences several areas of a company.
The responsibilities of a brand manager are:
The design, brand vision, estimated value, style guides, design guides and base guide for the brand and its derivatives, among other important aspects.
Remember that aesthetic aspects are more important than we might think at first, since colors and typefaces, among other things, tend to stay on the user’s “retina” longer than we think.
Planning and executing branding strategies
From market and competitor research to managing the brand’s exposure in the media.
My personal advice is to invest as much time as you think necessary in this preliminary research, since it will be the foundation of the strategy you later put into practice with more or less success.
Coordinating and supporting the different teams involved in the company
From product development teams to marketing teams, as well as sales teams and basically any team directly related to the brand, the products and how they perform in the market.
And in any other digital or print medium.
In general, the brand manager makes the decisions about the information that’s leaked and that has a direct impact on the brand; that is, they decide which story to tell newspapers and magazines, at least the stories that are leaked voluntarily.
But not only that: if the business also has a social media manager, the two would have to work together, with the social media manager informing the brand manager of any social media actions that could affect the company’s online reputation, positively or negatively.
Managing the budget for promoting the products and the brand
It’s worth noting that this particular responsibility depends on how the company works internally, since, although the brand manager manages the budget for brand strategies, the company decides whether to give them control over other areas, such as managing marketing strategies.
Knowing the brand and the company inside out
In order to carry out their responsibilities. It’s important for the brand manager to have a perfect command of the company’s internal and external aspects, from relationships to product development.
They’re one of the members of the company who should best know the people and how each individual in the organization works.
Analyzing the results of marketing campaigns and brand strategies
It’s an important responsibility, considering that these results directly reflect the impact and reception of the products, and the brand behind them, in the market and among the general public.
Remember that the brand manager must know perfectly how the company works and everything related to the brand, so solving problems is also part of their job.
Though, as I mentioned earlier, this applies to problems or challenges related to the image projected to the outside world that could affect it positively or negatively.
As you can see, brand management is a profession with a broad role within companies, specifically in everything that is related to, or directly or indirectly influences, the brand or its image.
It’s easy to see how important this role is for commercial success, as I show you below:
· Why is a brand manager so important for a company? Brand examples
To answer this question, we first need to understand a little about how important a brand is for a company.
McDonald’s
Take McDonald’s, for example. It doesn’t matter whether you like this fast food chain or not, or whether you think some of its competitors are better: the fact is undeniable that when someone mentions the words “fast food chain”, most people immediately think of Ronald McDonald.
It’s not about the quality of the product, or even about price: by now it’s very hard to find someone who doesn’t recognize this famous franchise, and all this has been possible thanks to its brand…
The brand is what has made it famous, and people instantly associate the franchise with the big yellow M, thanks to the excellent branding work this company has done in recent years.
P&G
P&G is another great example: today the public associates its products with excellent quality, all thanks to the excellent branding work behind them.
It’s not even about the actual quality they may have, which isn’t bad at all; it’s that we flatly assume any product from P&G, or from the brands linked to this great company, will be good quality without even having tried it.
Brand management has an impact on every area of a company.
We’ve already stressed that the brand is important and that a business that works on it well can get many benefits: more sales and therefore more customers.
That’s why a good brand manager is needed in any business: they’re the one who makes sure the company’s brand is relevant in the market and manages to set it apart from the competition.
A quick, simple case: if two companies are competing with products that are similar in almost every respect, the brand manager will be directly responsible for one of them being more successful in the market.
Because in the long run, people will go for the brand that inspires the most trust, that they’re most familiar with or that makes the best impression on them.
Sony and Microsoft
A classic example of the importance of branding is Sony and Microsoft.
Many of us know about the endless battle between these two companies in the world of video game consoles, a battle that has to do not only with the features of the consoles themselves but with the brand representing each company.
The decisions each company makes about its brand are directly reflected in its sales, as in the case of Sony’s exclusive games for its PS4, a smart decision that has helped the company take a large share of sales since the console launched.
And this is just one of thousands of examples of how brand management influences a product’s success.
You could say that the success of a product and its brand is in the brand manager’s hands.
· Conclusions about the brand manager role
The brand manager is a key player in any company, large or small, because they’re the one who will help boost the company’s brand and image.
They’re also one of the main people responsible for the success of the marketing strategies developed, since these strategies also depend on how well the brand is received.
Denying the responsibility the brand management profession has in a business’s success is a serious mistake.
And although different companies have different needs, it’s always important to consult a branding expert, because in the long run our brand will be worth more to our consumers than our products themselves.
Their responsibilities include looking after the company’s image, which connects directly with personal branding and with knowing how to measure your brand’s reputation effectively.
In their day-to-day tasks, brand copy and copywriting play a central role in a brand manager’s work.