Do you want to be a Brand Manager one day?
Graduates these days tend to feel lost in breaking into the job market in this pandemic. They are advised to complete many marketing certifications in order to land their first Marketing Assistant role. However, Marketing Assistant roles are usually basic steps to reach higher level marketing positions.
So what if you know that you want to be a Brand Manager in the future? Are you aware of the main skills you need to work up to your dream job? Most graduates do not know what skills are required and the responsibilities of higher-level marketing positions.
This is why we arranged our first professional meetup focusing on a Brand Manager in the beauty industry. On the 23rd of August, 20 students got close and personal with Revlon Brand Manager, Sophia Ye. She shared golden insights of her everyday experience as a Brand Manager and the lessons she learned working her way up to her managerial position.
Were you there? If not, we’ve compiled key takeaways from Sophia’s sharing for you. But, if you have, here’s a chance to refresh your mind.
Sophia’s 7 Must-Haves for a Brand Manager
1. Commercial Acumen
This refers to financial knowledge and a basic understanding of how profit and loss works. This will help you stand out as it is commercial acumen that will ultimately grow your brand.
2. Stakeholder Management
You will work with different types of people across different departments to solve problems. For Sophia, this includes her internal team, Public Relations team, and so much more. Therefore emotional intelligence and ability to form good relationships with people of various backgrounds will help you.
3. Project Management
Plans can go astray, so it is important to know how to bounce back when things go wrong. For Sophia, this meant bouncing back with a contingency plan when flights carrying her shipment halted during covid in the midst of launching products.
4. Strategic Vision
This refers to the overall vision you have for a brand. Ask yourself, what is the legacy you want to leave on the brand? This will affect your contribution as a Brand Manager.
5. Creative Flair
You will be approving marketing collateral like social media content, product packaging, and more. So while design skills are not necessary, a vision for how you want something to look or an eye for aesthetics will help.
6. Agility
You may receive assignments with zero ideas on how to do it and minimal ongoing support. Being able to learn quickly, ask questions and deal with uncertainty will help you overcome these challenges. After all, much of the experience that qualifies us to succeed in our workplace is learned on the job.
7. Sales
This refers to getting the internal team on the product you want to launch. Having them onboard will encourage them to drive the product because they believe in the product too. This also applies to making an impression on your manager which provides leverage in your career progression.
The Importance of Vision
If you are feeling a little overwhelmed, it’s okay! It’s taken Sophia 5 years to get to where she is now so this will take time.
But what you can do right now is build your vision. Dr Theresa Teo, founder of MARKCubator recommends creating a visionary board. Draw a picture of how you visualise yourself doing in Australia and place it where you will see it everyday. This will subconsciously drive you towards your dream future.
What's Next?
Before reaching your Brand Manager dream, the first step you can take in the meantime is develop skills to be job-ready for your first Marketing Assistant role. Use the checklist below to see whether you have them!
Customer Journey Mapping ❐
Digital Marketing Strategy ❐
Channel Planning ❐
Data Literacy ❐
Social Media ❐
Content Marketing Strategy ❐
If you are a 485 visa holder or graduate looking to develop these skills, learn how Beyond Horizon Project can kickstart your marketing career here.
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