What Does a Brand Manager Do? 2024 Guide

Working in brand management means developing a strategy that sets a company apart from its competitors and builds a long-lasting relationship with customers.   

Being a brand manager means taking on a broad role that often requires familiarity with many aspects of marketing, including market research, content marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, and design. Brand managers aren’t necessarily expected to perform these responsibilities, but their knowledge will help guide each respective team to develop messaging and assets that align with a brand and strengthen its position in the marketplace. 

Here, we'll go over what a brand manager’s responsibilities entail, the tools you may use in the role, and what it takes to become one.

Brand manager tasks and responsibilities 

Building a brand strategy means building a unique story and customer experience—something that connects them with a company and its products and fosters loyalty over time. 

Brand managers are responsible for overseeing any aspect of marketing related to a company’s brand, and ensuring that all branding decisions ultimately result in stronger sales. To achieve that alignment, brand managers tend to work with multiple areas of marketing, like research, content, social, and design. 

As a brand manager you may be responsible for:

• Conducting market research

• Analysing data for trends, insights, and information 

• Advising multiple teams on branding strategy

• Communicating with marketing teams to ensure brand alignment 

• Managing projects through various stages of development

• Managing budgets to support branding efforts  

• Maintaining relationships with company stakeholders 

Read more: What Is Brand Equity? (+ How to Build It)

What tools do brand managers use?

The tools you’ll use as a brand manager will differ depending on the specific responsibilities your company expects you to perform. But some standard tools for brand management include:

• Social media monitoring and listening (Sprinklr, Hootsuite, Sprout)  

• Media relationship management and listening (Meltwater, Cision, Muckrack)  

• Customer relationship management (CRM) software (Salesforce, Zoho, HubSpot) 

• Data visualisation tools (Tableau, Datawrapper, Google Charts)

What does it take to become a brand manager?

Becoming a brand manager requires a combination of higher education and experience. Marketers often hold this position after working in another type of management role, like social media or content management. Here are some steps to consider if you’d like to pursue a career as a brand manager:

Earn a degree.

Brand manager job listings vary in terms of their requirements for education. Typically, companies expect brand managers to hold a bachelor’s degree post-12th. Common degrees for brand managers are in marketing, advertising, business administration, media, and communications. Additionally, an MBA can help you hone your business administration skills and help qualify you for higher-level positions.

Develop related experience.

Candidates for brand manager positions can gain experience in entry-level roles in marketing or sales. For example, you may start as an associate brand manager and move into manager roles. 

Working as a market research analyst, social media manager, content marketing manager, or digital marketing manager can provide you with the foundation you’ll need to move into brand management. Through these roles, you can bolster your understanding of consumers and the successful messaging it takes to reach them—important components in managing a brand. 

Develop brand and marketing skills.

A brand manager typically needs to have advanced skills in the following areas:

• Writing: Messaging is at the heart of brand strategy, so strong writing skills can help you develop effective messaging while ensuring that copywriters execute it.

• Communication: Beyond messaging on behalf of the brand, you’ll need to be able to communicate with a company’s marketing team and stakeholders about your strategic recommendations.

• Strategy: Developing or improving upon a branding strategy means understanding the market, how your company fits within it, and how to reach customers.

• Project management: Your ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously will help as you oversee new campaigns and help teams execute everything from graphic overlays to email copy.

• Personnel management: Whether you manage direct reports on your branding team or oversee several teams who report to you for branding guidance, having some experience managing others will serve you well.

• Adaptability: Markets constantly change to reflect consumers’ needs, and it helps if you can be adaptable. Moreover, staying curious about trends and innovation can help you develop a more responsive brand strategy.  

Read more: Marketing Strategy: What It Is and How to Create One

Brand manager salary and job outlook

The national average salary for a brand manager in India is ₹11,60,000 annually as of February 2023, based on over 5,000 reported salaries on AmbitionBox [1]. Average salaries range from ₹3.3 lakhs to ₹31.4 lakhs depending on experience, skills, location, and the company you work for. India Today reports expected growth opportunities in many industries for brand managers. Political parties may also employ brand managers during election cycles [2].

Brand manager career advancement

Once you’ve become a brand manager, you’ll find additional roles to explore as you continue to grow in your career. Some brand managers move on to become senior brand managers or, eventually, marketing directors or product managers. The advanced communication and strategic skills you hone as part of your time as a brand manager may help you move into higher-level roles that oversee more of a company’s marketing plan.

What’s the difference between a brand manager and a marketing manager? 

A brand manager works on brand strategy—or the story a company tells about itself to customers—whereas a marketing manager oversees a number of efforts to promote the company and its offerings to customers.

Next steps 

Build job-ready skills for a career in marketing with a Google Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Professional Certificate. Learn critical subject matter that a brand manager would need to know whilst you earn a credential for your resume.