Skilled brand managers are sought after in many organizations today. They are priceless in determining how successful an organization can be in the market. Hence, corporations today invest heavily in individuals that help drive their brands effectively in the market. This article will give you an insight into the traits that are required of you if you want to be a brand manager who others use as a reference point.
In most organizations, the role of a brand manager is interchangeable with that of a marketing manager. In other organizations, the brand manager is a sub-division under that of the marketing department. Whether you call it marketing or brand management, the following are some of the requirements you need to fulfill when you are called upon to manage a brand.
He Is Always In Charge
Although you are an employee with an organization, that you have been named the brand manager means that you have to take full charge. When you do this, you will be able to make decisions that will serve to promote your brands positively in the perspectives of your target market.
At inception, it is expected to get knowledge of product, information about organizational goals they have set for you and the financial wherewithal to deliver. Thereafter, they may see you as lacking competence when you keep coming back especially to report challenges and complaints. A competent brand manager who has assumed that the business is his own will find solution at all cost based on the theory that the business does not belong to someone else but him.
He Knows How To Strategize
A skilled brand manager is one who spends his wake and sleeping time dwelling on ways that he can penetrate (in the case of a new product) and take over the market. Even if he has acquired formal skills in the art of brand management from the university, he adopts and adapt such skills to his current situation.
He sees ways through which he can turn the seeming weaknesses of the brand he is representing to strengths. He peeps into what competition is doing to lead in the market and endeavor to do this and more. He considers what the target market wants and is passionate about, and try and work on their psyche to warm and win their hearts.
A skilled brand manager is not a follower, he is a trail blazer who is always several steps ahead of competition. It is his headache to constantly think of new ways to sell old and new things. He is a master market strategist.
Doesn’t Get Tired of Education
Education here is not limited to the one you acquired in the tertiary institution or from professional marketing bodies. It is about updating yourself of what is making waves in the market based in your country and other foreign countries. A skilled brand manager picks interests in inventions and innovations that directly and indirectly affects the brand he is promoting.
Since there will always be a new way of doing old things, he is ready to explore such new ways. Even if he is currently enjoying a measure of success adopting a method now, part of his responsibility is to foresee and prevent the challenges that this method might have in the future.
A skilled brand manager should not limit himself to new things in the market, he should also learn about the past. There are records of those who have made landmark sales achievements in the past, going through their records will help him to imitate them. There are also those whose failures have been documented, he should be interested in learning about them and avoid making the same mistakes.
Know When And How To Delegate
As a brand manager, you cannot achieve all the sales targets single-handedly. You definitely need a team. However, how much of your team mates are you incorporating in your plans? It is possible that the much skills you have acquired makes you reason that your subordinates or team members can never be capable of delivering set target.
It is a wrong reasoning. Thinking so may be a factor slowing you down from achieving what you need to achieve.
If you want to prove that you are a skilled brand manager, you should be able to trust others to get the work done. Even if you sense a level of incapability on their part, endeavor to train them on the job.
When you delegate, you will not only prevent weariness, you will get more done in a little time. You will be able to comb your market effectively and create the needed awareness required for you to achieve your goals.
Can Handle Pressure
The pressure associated with being an effective brand manager cannot be quantified. You are faced with a lot of things. You have deadline to meet, customers that are complaining, competitions that you have to beat in the market, superiors that are demanding, there are workers and contractors that can be lazy as well, thus inhibiting your market progress, you have your private life and home to tend to, you are pressurized.
If you want to be successful, you have to learn the art of managing this pressure and bringing out the best in your market. Ability to handle them does not mean you don’t have plans or foresight, that the problems just come when you don’t expect. It means that you are organized enough to properly manage your life. Hence handle the pressure by preventing pressurizing situations. Schedule your activities and stick to your schedule. Rest and play well when it is time to do so. This will help you to be productive. Even when situations that you do not foresee come up, it will not weigh you down.
When your target seems to be too high, break it down into stages and set up deadline for each stage. Establish a good relationship with your dealers and retailers, they are instrumental in helping you achieve your targets.
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