Who is a Digital Brand Manager? Salary, Skills & Career

No matter how good a product is, a company always faces the challenge of standing out in the competitive market. There are situations when even the highest-grade product cannot capture customers’ attention due to a lack of convincing brand image. This is where brand managers come into the picture.
Brand managers can make a product memorable and build a consumer-brand relationship. Continue reading to know more about the position.

Who is a digital brand manager?

Brand managers design marketing strategies using customer and trend research to transform how people perceive the brand. They are involved in supervising advertisement, design, and event planning.
The brand manager acts as a brand guardian and maintains brand integrity across the market by managing a portfolio of products.

What does a digital brand manager do?

As per the definition, a brand manager is responsible for presenting a product or service to the market in the best possible way. To ensure this, the different responsibilities handled by a brand manager include:

• Carrying out market research to keep updated with customer trends and predict future trends.
• Developing strategies and managing digital marketing campaigns on different online platforms.
• Ensuring the products and services fulfil customers’ expectations to build brand credibility.
• Analysing the success of marketing drives and developing reports.
• Supervising promotion, product design and branding to maintain brand consistency.
• Meeting with vendors and working with associates across multiple elements of a product.
• Organising events like product launches, presentations, and photo shoots to grasp attention for products.
• Assisting in developing annual, long- and short-term marketing plans.
• Providing brand reviews for all marketing content and ensuring they align with general brand positioning and SEO
• Managing budgets to support branding measures.
• Ensuring the whole organisation understands the significance of brand awareness campaigns.
• Leading new product launches for sale across different online platforms.

What skills do digital brand managers need to excel in the role?

Brand managers may need to possess several skills depending on the industry requirement. Here are some skills that apply to almost all brand manager roles:

Market research

Most of the brand managers’ responsibilities revolve around how well they perform market research. Good market research skills help target potential consumers for growing brand awareness.

Trend awareness

The knowledge to track current market trends helps brand managers build effective strategies to target maximum customers.

Strategy building

Brand managers build strategies to raise brand awareness, commitment, and sales effectively.

Communication

Brand managers constantly communicate with co-workers, vendors, and consumers to give or take a review of the product and services. They should possess excellent verbal and written communication skills to convey the requirements clearly and understand customers’ requirements.

Creativity

Market trends keep changing, and what customers find attractive today might not suffice in months. A brand manager must have the vision to create new products or services to match market needs.

Data analysis

Brand managers often need to analyse data and trends. The data analysis skills help transform data into actionable insights which can be used for forthcoming campaigns.

Budget management

Brand managers are often needed to design and create campaigns for products and accomplish them within a budget. The knowledge of financial aptitudes will help plan campaigns within budget.

Time management

Timing plays a crucial role in brand campaigns. The right campaign at the right time can hit the right audience and vice versa. Thus, brand managers should have the skills to plan and implement brand campaigns keeping the time at target.

Team management

A brand manager works with various teams, vendors, buyers, and consumers. Effective leadership and team management skills will help build a cooperative work environment.

How much does a brand manager earn?

The salary of brand managers in India ranges between ₹ 3-4 Lakhs and goes up to ₹ 30-32 Lakhs [Source]. The annual average salary range between ₹ 12-13 Lakhs [Source].

The salary of a brand manager differs depending on aspects like educational background, experience, organisation size and location. For example, an entry-level brand manager would make less than someone with 5-10 years of experience.

What does it take to become a brand manager?

The educational requirement for a brand manager depends on the type of industry they want to work in. Some may ask for a bachelor’s degree in management studies or a related subject. In comparison, others may look for more specific skills in marketing and advertising.

For educational prospects, you can go with the traditional curriculum. However, for acquiring in-demand skills that can help you get professional opportunities with a competitive salary,  it is highly recommended to take up in-person and online digital marketing courses.

Emeritus India offers a range of such learning opportunities in collaboration with well-known universities like IIM, IIT and ISB to familiarise you with new technologies and trends and concepts like brand positioning, brand awareness, and digital branding. Furthermore, such courses help you develop and build brand models that pave the way for you to become a dynamic brand manager.

Once you step into the brand manager position, you can find different roles to examine and grow in your career and eventually transition to positions like the senior brand manager and marketing director. Your cutting-edge communication and strategic skills will help you move to higher roles that govern a company’s marketing plan.