How to become an Advertisement & Brand Manager

A Brand Manager is responsible for the development of the company's brand strategy. They tailor all communications between the brand and the customers, including marketing and advertisement strategies, to ensure that the right message is being delivered. Their efforts are aimed at ensuring that the customers view the brand favourably in order to drive customer engagement. They are responsible for curating the brand's image and reputation in the market that produces a lasting impression on their customers. 

Drawing from their knowledge about the market and the company's target customers, they contribute to the creation of brand guidelines to assure that all marketing communications convey a consistent, clear, and favourable message that resonates with the consumers. Brand managers are in charge of a range of business functions, from product development to offline/online marketing. Purchasing incentives, pricing strategies, as well as business partnerships with influential entities are informed by the insights of these business-savvy brand managers.

While the particulars of their job duties may vary with regards to the specific organization and its goals; brand managers responsibilities typically include: 

• Evaluating the brand's current position in the market, creating brand guidelines and vision 
• Conducting market research and gaining a thorough understanding of the brand's consumers including their needs and spending habits
• Continually monitor the market trends to identify areas for investment and keep a track of the competitor's activities 
• Anticipating consumer demands and markets trends to ensure that the branding is aligned with such changes
• Determining the current and projected demand for the product by collecting data through surveys, polls, and other relevant methods
• Devise growth strategies using insights from the data collected 
• Supervise and review the materials used for marketing and advertising to ensure compliance with the brand's image 
• Coordinate with several departments in the company as well as external agencies for marketing campaigns and product launch events
• Evaluate and report the performance data of all marketing campaigns including consumer response and sales
• Manage the budgets for marketing and advertisement activities 

As a brand manager, first and foremost, the individual must be skilled at understanding consumer behaviour to ensure that the brand resonates with existing and prospective consumers. An exhaustive understanding of the market and the consumer needs to be supplemented with that of the company and its product. Highly developed consumer research skills shall be needed to pilot the marketing and advertising strategies of the brand. Familiarity with marketing tools and the latest technologies in designing and production of promotional material is needed as well. This shall also require excellent analytical abilities to derive actionable insights from the data obtained from market research as well as performance data of all advertising/promotional strategies in use. They should be highly detail-oriented with the ability to think strategically and efficiently multitask.

Creativity, innovation, and storytelling abilities are critical to define and communicate the essence of the brand. Since Brand managers have to work collaboratively with other professionals, they should possess strong communication skills. Their ability to lead a team as well as organization and time management skills shall be frequently put to use on this job. They should be adept at managing monetary resources to ensure a productive cost-benefit ratio of the promotional activities undertaken for the brand.