What Does an Assistant Brand Manager Do? (With How-to Steps)

Updated February 2, 2023

Assistant brand managers help an organization with brand management by determining current trends in advertising and marketing. These professionals help develop effective strategies to give a brand a competitive position in the market. Learning about this career path can help you decide if it suits you. In this article, we answer the question, "What does an assistant brand manager do?", outline steps on pursuing this career path, and explore their skills and work environment.

What does an assistant brand manager do?

To answer the question, "What does an assistant brand manager do?", these professionals provide administrative and analytical support to brand managers. They assist in the daily operations of a company's marketing team and coordinate effective strategies and policies to help the department achieve its objectives. An assistant brand manager evaluates data and presents projections on how to improve products' visibility within the company's financial budgets. These professionals coordinate brand awareness efforts and oversee consumer outreach.

Assistant brand managers interact with other department managers to ensure the marketing department's policies align with other departments' requirements or goals. The daily responsibilities of an assistant brand manager include:

meeting with a company's executive members and stakeholders to determine brand objectives and strategies
creating and executing effective ideas for marketing activities
performing administrative tasks, such as replying to e-mails and conversing with advertising agents and clients
researching materials to study to understand the company's brand image
assisting in developing annual business plans to foster company growth
helping the marketing and sales department develop marketing campaigns for product promotion and launching
managing cross-functional teams to complete projects within assigned budgets and timeline
collaborating with the market research and development team to identify profitable consumer needs and trends
coordinating teams, including sales and product development teams
working with the product development team and research and development (R&D) department to convert innovative and creative ideas into profitable offerings
tracking marketing budgets to reduce costs and maximize profit
assisting in the development of promotional initiatives to facilitate higher profit margins within budgeted parameters
preparing reports on sales, brand performance, and other marketing projects for shareholders and executive members
analyzing competitor brands and market trends to understand how to position the brand
monitoring relevant parameters, such as distribution and pricing, to better position the company's offerings
analyzing the gains and effectiveness of marketing efforts and campaigns, and creating reports to give feedback and provide recommendations

How to be an assistant brand manager

Here are steps you can follow to pursue a career as an assistant brand manager:

1. Earn a bachelor's degree

The minimum requirement for an assistant brand manager is a bachelor's degree. To work with a brand manager in improving a company's voice and image, you can major in courses such as communication, advertising, and public relations. Hiring managers may consider a degree in other business-related majors, such as business administration or management.

2. Pursue a graduate degree

Depending on the organization's size, an employer may prefer hiring candidates with a graduate degree. As an assistant brand manager may oversee the performance of other members of the brand management team, a graduate degree may help you highlight your knowledge and expertise to a hiring manager. A graduate degree may be helpful because it presents instructions on core concepts, including economics and advertising, helping assistant brand managers working in specialized areas. You can consider a graduate degree in business management if your first degree doesn't relate to brand management and development.

3. Earn relevant certifications

While a certification relating to brand management may not be a requirement, you can improve your resume by completing relevant certification programs. These certifications can help you emphasize your passion, knowledge, and dedication to a hiring manager. They can also help you prove to a hiring manager that you have the necessary competencies to perform the role's duties. You may research to identify relevant certifications that align with your career goals.

4. Gain experience

Employers typically require candidates applying for open assistant brand manager positions to have working experience in the field. To gain relevant experience, you can complete an internship or start in entry-level roles and receive valuable training in business management, advertising, and marketing. As assistant brand managers usually oversee the activities of these departments, starting an entry-level role can help you understand their work structure and operations. This may equip you with the experience necessary to develop and implement useful strategies.

5. Build a network

Building a professional network and forging relationships may position you as a valuable candidate for the company in which you intend to work. Regularly attending workshops and social events designed for networking can help you interact with other professionals in the field who can recommend certain roles for you. You can also gain valuable future referrals by fostering relationships with experts in the field.

6. Seek employment

You can browse the internet for assistant brand manager job openings. To increase your application success, you can draft your resume and cover letter to reflect the company's requirements in the job posting. You can include relevant keywords from the job description to help you rank high in the applicant tracking system (ATS). Discussing with professionals within your network may also be helpful in getting recommendations and referrals.

Skills of an assistant brand manager

Here are the skills with which assistant brand managers complete their duties:

Communication skills

As assistant brand managers typically present information to a company's executive members and oversee the activities of cross-functional teams, they require practical communication skills. These skills include written and verbal communication and are essential for conveying information and ideas to relevant parties. With effective communication skills, these professionals can explain their strategies to the sales and marketing departments and deliver relevant presentations. They also use these skills to ensure a company's branding messages are concise and clear enough to be accessible to its target audience.

Market research skills

An assistant brand manager may work with the market research team to identify useful market trends and structures. With effective market research skills, these professionals can track brand awareness using surveys. After collecting data, they use market research skills to identify the brand's key metrics and variables. Assistant brand managers typically have high proficiency in the use of research tools. They can leverage existing and new tools to meet the demands of an evolving field and ensure the brand's competitive position in the market.

Effective strategizing skills

It's typically the responsibility of an assistant brand manager to develop creative strategies to increase a brand's awareness and popularity. With effective strategy skills, these professionals can develop creative ideas to complete their tasks, regardless of the market's changing nature. They use these skills to identify buyer personas and needs. They may group these personas into different categories to ease the process of creating a personalized experience for these customers.

Social media and technology skills

Assistant brand managers typically possess the skills necessary to use social media to create successful marketing campaigns and brand strategies. These professionals also possess technical skills that enable them to use several digital marketing tools to study and learn about customers' habits and preferences across various online platforms. They use these skills to increase brand awareness by consistently interacting with customers and replying to inquiries. Assistant brand managers can also use social media management tools to track relevant analytics and manage a brand's online presence. With this, the processes of building a brand's voice and image may be more manageable.

Analytical skills

Before implementing a marketing or advertising campaign, assistant brand managers typically review marketing data, identify relevant trends, and make decisions about the data. With effective analytical skills, this process may be more manageable. Analytical skills allow these professionals to understand branding efforts using qualitative terms to analyze important variables. Assistant brand managers can find relevant insights within data and leverage them to create effective brand messages.

Work environment of an assistant brand manager

An assistant brand manager's work environment typically varies, as they may work in various companies ranging from small marketing and advertising firms to larger ones. Some assistant brand managers may work in a corporation's marketing department or a regional office. Assistant brand managers typically work normal office hours, but occasionally work overtime or on weekends during a product launch or to meet deadlines.

It's likely for an assistant brand manager to travel to attend creative meetings if it's for an international product launch. These professionals typically work in a fast-paced environment, creating sales and conversion reports to present to a company's executive members.

What Does an Assistant Brand Manager Do? (With How-to Steps)