What Is Brand Management?

Consumers often have a choice when it comes to purchasing products and services. A company with thoughtful brand management can set itself apart from competitors, building loyalty among customers and increasing the perceived value of the company and what it sells.

Brand management is a strategic approach to managing a company's reputation and perceived value. It has many goals, including building brand awareness, fostering brand loyalty, and differentiating a brand from its competitors. Discover more about brand management, its benefits, and some key strategic factors.

What is brand management and why is it important?

Brand management refers to the process of creating and maintaining a strong, recognizable brand. Typically, brand management is a crucial part of marketing, with brand managers understanding the intersection of business goals, marketing, and sales.

Brand management is important because it can help companies achieve a larger customer base at a lower cost. Since it can be expensive to create, launch, and sell new products and services, effective brand management is one way to build awareness, loyalty, and equity in the marketplace.

Brand management benefits

There are many benefits to brand management. For instance, successful brands can often charge more for products and services because the perceived value for these items may be higher among loyal consumers, they can spend less on advertising, and they can easily create new products.

• Higher product prices: If customers believe in a brand's perceived value, they may be willing to pay more for products and services.

• Reduced advertising spending: With loyal customers and word of mouth, brands don't need to spend as much on advertising to reach them or acquire new customers.

• Defensive market position: Strong brand management can help when new competitors enter the marketplace with enticing products or services.

• Increased sales volume: Brands with clear, cohesive values and messaging may find that they have larger sales volumes thanks to customer loyalty.

• Easier product launches: A strong, cohesive brand may find it easier to launch new products because its loyal customer base and perceived brand equity make any new product desirable to purchase.

Brand management principles

Managing a brand includes understanding key principles, such as:

• Brand positioning: Sometimes called differentiation, brand positioning involves establishing your brand and what makes it different from competitors.

• Brand awareness: A well-planned and cohesive brand can make it easier to build awareness of your brand, attracting new customers and expanding into new markets, which means a lower spend per sale. 

• Brand recognition: Once consumers become aware of your brand, brand recognition is the act of maintaining your company's visibility and reputation in the marketplace.

• Brand equity: Brand equity A well-managed brand can help you improve your company’s impression and help you earn a higher price for your products or services. 

• Brand loyalty: Brand loyalty occurs when customers prefer to buy a specific brand without considering if other items are available. 

• Brand reputation: Once you have established your brand, it's important to effectively management it moving forward so you can help your company protect its intellectual property and defend itself against imitators.

Learn more about how to build an effective brand strategy.

Brand management vs. brand marketing

Brand management involves setting an overall brand strategy, which includes conducting market research to understand customer needs and competitors, ensuring brand alignment across marketing channels, and managing budgets to support branding efforts. Once a strategy has been established, brand management also undertakes the work of managing the brand, including refining the strategy as needed.

Brand marketing, on the other hand, refers to promoting a company’s brand as a whole rather than highlighting individual products and services. Brand marketing, in many ways, feeds into the work of brand management.

Brand management career paths

If you're interested in working in brand management, there are many ways to develop experience and skills to grow toward a brand manager role—and beyond. We've outlined some of the junior, mid-level, and senior roles you can target.

Junior brand management roles

At the junior level, you may be expected to execute marketing plans, conduct market research, and analyze data to determine the effectiveness of marketing programs. The following are entry-level and junior roles that can lead into full brand management: 

• Marketing coordinator

• Social media manager

• Associate brand manager

• Market research analyst

Mid-level brand management roles

Mid-level roles in brand management tend to involve more strategic planning and decision-making. As a mid-level brand manager, you'll develop long-term marketing strategies, set budgets, and oversee the execution of marketing plans. You'll also monitor competitors’ activities and developments in the marketplace.

• Brand manager

• Marketing manager

• Senior brand manager

• Product manager

Senior brand management roles

Senior roles in brand management involve even more strategic thinking and decision-making. As a senior brand manager, you'll be responsible for: 

• Developing an overall branding strategy for a company

• Managing complex budgets

• Ensuring that all marketing initiatives align with the company’s overall business strategy

• Leading a team of brand managers and other marketing professionals

You may also be responsible for developing long-term brand plans, managing multiple brands, or working with international markets. As you progress in your career and build your competencies, you may be able to look at board-level roles, such as:

• Director of marketing

• Vice president of marketing

• Chief marketing officer (CMO)

Brand management skills 

When applying for brand management jobs, your resume must demonstrate that you've built the knowledge and skills to do the job. Here are some technical and workplace skills important to brand management:

• An understanding of brand awareness and the marketing mix

• Knowledge of product packaging and retail

• Data analytics

• Project management

• Communication

• Collaboration and teamwork

• Relationship management

• Business acumen

• Creative thinking

• Leadership

Learn brand management on Coursera

Interested in a career in brand management? Consider building job-relevant skills on Coursera with a range of courses, specializations, and Professional Certificates. In the University of London's Brand Management: Aligning Business, Brand and Behavior Course, you'll learn how to build brands and lead brand culture change with HR practices.

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