Generally, a brand strategist is a marketing professional who is responsible for the messaging and strategy of a company. Effective brand strategists are able to design a customer experience that results in sales based on their understanding of their company’s product and target audience. It is possible to become a brand strategist regardless of one’s educational background, training, or qualifications.
Exactly What Is a Brand Strategist?
An organization’s brand strategist analyzes the market and formulates a plan to influence the opinions and purchasing decisions of its target audience. A variety of written, verbal, and visual methods are used to describe and portray the brand to potential customers. It is important for them to ensure that their product or service provides a solution for the problem of their ideal customer. Brand strategists strive to gain the approval and trust of their target audience so that they will eventually recommend or purchase the company’s products and services.
What Is the Role of a Brand Strategist?
Creating brand messaging and ensuring consistency across all media and platforms is the responsibility of a brand strategist. They may be responsible for the following tasks:
- Identifying current market trends and predicting future trends that could affect the success of their product or service
- Developing a marketing plan based on market data, customer feedback, and survey results
- Developing effective brand names for new products and services
- The rebranding of existing products or services
- Conducting research on target audiences
- As part of brand positioning, you should define what the target audience thinks of when they hear the brand’s name
- In order to create buyer personas, a company needs to explain the characteristics of its ideal customer, including their age, lifestyle, personality, goals, needs, and challenges
- Performing audits every year or two to determine the brand’s status in the market and ways to improve it
- Designing the brand architecture, including the logo, messaging, creative materials, and marketing campaigns
- Making brand stories that engage customers and help them form an emotional connection with a product or service
- Responsible for overseeing the creation of all brand collateral, including advertisements, presentations, catalogs, sales sheets, social media campaigns, blog posts, and testimonials, ensuring they have a consistent tone and message
- Creating marketing materials with consistent content
- Researching competitors and their products in order to determine their strengths and weaknesses
A brand strategist is usually responsible for reporting to a brand manager or marketing director. It may be necessary for them to work closely with the marketing department, the advertising department, the sales department, copywriters, graphic designers, agencies, and video producers, depending on the size and scope of the company. In order to ensure a consistent message is conveyed to consumers, brand strategists spend most of their time working in an office and may travel to shoots for photos or videos.
How Does a Career in Brand Strategy Look?
The teaching of brand strategy is one of our favorite things to do at IP. Our team enjoys presenting talks and conducting workshops for high school and college students, sharing information about brand strategy as a career and our work. It is not uncommon for students to react at our sessions by stating that they do not know what brand strategy is or that it is a career path that people pursue. It is our goal to open minds and doors to the world of brand strategy.
Most students are unfamiliar with the profession, which is not surprising. There is no degree program in brand strategy, as there is in engineering or marketing. Communication classes often include brand strategy as a component, but it is rarely the primary focus. Many people mistakenly believe that brand strategy is synonymous with public relations or advertising.
The fact that people from many different backgrounds are interested in brand strategy and end up entering the field from different entry points may be the reason why it is an interesting field filled with different perspectives and experiences. However, we share one trait in common – innate curiosity and a solution-oriented approach to problem-solving.
Become Familiar with Digital Marketing
The role of digital marketing in branding and sales is becoming increasingly important. Study the concepts and practices of digital marketing, such as search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, website design and optimization, email marketing, social media campaigns, online advertising, and metrics analysis. Additionally, you may be able to take digital marketing courses online, some of which will provide you with a certificate once you have completed them.
Learn How to Become a Certified Brand Strategist
The achievement of certification shows employers that you are committed to your career and motivated to learn more about it. A brand strategist certification can also assist you in preparing for your career if you have a bachelor’s degree in a subject that is unrelated to marketing or who do not have any previous marketing experience.
Conclusion
It is generally required that candidates for brand strategist positions possess a four-year bachelor’s degree. The following degrees can provide brand strategists with the education and background they need to begin their careers: English, marketing, psychology, business, design, economics, and communications. You will gain a solid foundation in areas such as writing, analysis, strategy, and research through these programs.
