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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Brand Marketing Manager

💰 $80,000 - $140,000

MarketingBrandManagementDigital Marketing

🎯 Role Definition

The Brand Marketing Manager is responsible for defining and executing brand strategy to drive awareness, preference, and growth. This role leads integrated marketing campaigns across digital, social, PR, experiential, and partner channels, and partners cross-functionally with product, sales, creative, and analytics teams to ensure consistent brand experience, measurable ROI, and scalable go-to-market tactics.

Primary keywords: Brand Marketing Manager, brand strategy, campaign execution, go-to-market, integrated marketing, consumer insights, brand positioning, campaign analytics.


📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Marketing Specialist or Marketing Manager (2–4 years experience)
  • Product Marketing Manager with brand or lifecycle experience
  • Creative/Content Manager transitioning to strategic brand role

Advancement To:

  • Senior Brand Manager / Head of Brand Marketing
  • Director of Marketing / Director of Brand
  • VP of Marketing or Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Lateral Moves:

  • Product Marketing Manager
  • Growth Marketing Manager
  • Head of Content or Communications

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and own the brand strategy and positioning framework, translating business objectives into a multi-year brand roadmap that aligns with product, sales, and executive leadership priorities.
  • Lead end-to-end planning and execution of integrated marketing campaigns (digital, social, PR, experiential, OOH, influencer) to drive brand awareness, consideration, and intent across target segments and markets.
  • Build and manage the annual brand marketing plan and budget, prioritize investments across channels, forecast ROI, and track budget performance to meet revenue and profitability targets.
  • Define and measure key brand KPIs (brand awareness, brand equity, consideration, NPS, CAC, LTV uplift) and implement rigorous testing and measurement frameworks to attribute impact and optimize investments.
  • Create and oversee go-to-market strategies for new product launches, seasonal initiatives, or geographic expansions, coordinating cross-functional launch teams to ensure consistent messaging and on-time delivery.
  • Lead consumer research and insights programs (quantitative and qualitative), synthesize findings into actionable recommendations for product, creative, and media planning to improve relevance and resonance.
  • Partner with content, creative, and design teams to produce high-quality brand assets, content calendars, campaign copy, and visual guidelines that maintain brand consistency and elevate storytelling.
  • Manage external agencies, media partners, and creative vendors—define scopes of work, drive briefs, manage deliverables, and ensure agency performance against timelines, budgets, and KPI goals.
  • Develop and execute digital marketing strategies including paid social, paid search, programmatic display, email/DMA, and SEO, ensuring that digital campaigns reflect brand voice while meeting performance benchmarks.
  • Oversee social media strategy and community management guidelines, collaborating with social/content teams to amplify earned, owned, and paid content and measure brand sentiment and engagement.
  • Architect integrated activation plans that align brand messaging across customer lifecycle touchpoints—from awareness to retention—ensuring seamless brand experience across channels.
  • Drive thought leadership and PR strategy working with comms/PR teams to secure media coverage, manage spokespeople, and create executive-level brand narratives that strengthen market position.
  • Lead segmentation and audience targeting strategy using first- and third-party data, establishing activation audiences for personalized creative and channel-specific messaging to improve campaign relevancy and conversion.
  • Create creative briefs and provide strategic direction for ad concepts, ensuring that creative testing (A/B, multivariate) is implemented to optimize creative performance against brand and response metrics.
  • Monitor competitive activity, category trends, and emerging channels; translate insights into agile tactical shifts to protect brand equity and seize competitive advantages.
  • Implement brand governance, style guides, and asset management processes to ensure legal compliance, trademark protection, and consistent use of brand identity across global teams and partners.
  • Collaborate with sales and channel teams to build co-marketing programs, channel enablement materials, and trade campaigns that drive pipeline and convert brand demand into revenue.
  • Establish and present monthly and quarterly performance reviews to senior leadership, articulating campaign outcomes, learnings, optimization plans, and strategic recommendations.
  • Drive experimentation and optimization by developing test-and-learn plans across creative, messaging, targeting, and channels; scale winners and sunset underperforming tactics.
  • Lead cross-functional workshops and alignment sessions (positioning, messaging architecture, launch readiness) to align stakeholders, prioritize initiatives, and maintain clarity on brand goals.
  • Mentor, hire, and develop a high-performing brand marketing team or manage matrixed contributors, setting clear performance goals and career development plans.
  • Oversee CRM and lifecycle campaigns in coordination with retention and email teams to ensure brand consistency while maximizing customer lifetime value and repeat purchase behavior.
  • Ensure accessibility, inclusivity, and cultural relevance in brand campaigns by embedding diverse perspectives into creative development and campaign planning.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc analytics requests and collaborate with analytics teams to answer business questions related to brand lift, attribution, and channel efficiency.
  • Contribute to the organization’s marketing data strategy by recommending measurement frameworks and tooling (DMP, CDP, analytics platforms).
  • Assist product and sales teams with translating brand messaging into enablement materials, one-pagers, and sales presentations for external partners.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies when collaborating with digital, growth, or product squads to align marketing workstreams with product releases.
  • Coordinate event marketing and experiential activations including trade shows, sponsorships, and brand pop-ups, managing logistics and onsite execution.
  • Manage creative production schedules, vendor contracts, and post-production workflows to ensure timely delivery of campaign assets.
  • Provide training and brand advocacy materials for internal stakeholders to ensure proper use of brand assets and messaging consistency across departments.
  • Facilitate customer feedback loops by partnering with CX and product teams to feed qualitative insights into future creative and product decisions.
  • Lead requirement gathering and prioritization for marketing technology needs, working with IT and martech owners to deploy tools that enhance brand measurement and personalization.
  • Support crisis communications and rapid response efforts in coordination with PR and legal teams to protect brand reputation in sensitive situations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Brand strategy development and brand architecture experience
  • Integrated marketing campaign planning and execution (paid, owned, earned media)
  • Digital advertising: paid social, paid search, programmatic, display, and DSP knowledge
  • Marketing analytics and measurement: GA4, marketing mix modeling, brand lift studies, attribution models
  • A/B testing and experimentation frameworks (Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize or similar)
  • CRM and lifecycle campaign management (Salesforce Marketing Cloud, HubSpot, Klaviyo)
  • Content strategy and workflow: content calendars, editorial planning, content management systems
  • SEO and organic content optimization fundamentals
  • Experience managing marketing budgets, forecasting, and P&L accountability
  • Agency and vendor management, contracting, and brief development
  • Creative brief writing and creative review processes
  • Consumer research methodologies: surveys, focus groups, segmentation, persona development
  • Martech fundamentals: CDP, DMP, analytics platforms, tag management
  • Basic data literacy: SQL familiarity or ability to partner with analytics teams effectively
  • Familiarity with social listening and sentiment analysis tools (Brandwatch, Sprinklr, Meltwater)

Soft Skills

  • Strategic thinking with an ability to translate high-level vision into executable plans
  • Strong cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management skills
  • Excellent written and verbal communication; able to present to senior leaders
  • Creative problem solving and ideation under ambiguity
  • Analytical mindset with a focus on measurable outcomes and ROI
  • Project management and prioritization in fast-paced environments
  • Leadership and team development; coaching experience
  • Attention to detail and brand stewardship
  • Agility and adaptability to changing market and business demands
  • Negotiation and vendor relationship building

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Advertising, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or Master’s degree in Marketing, Brand Management, or related field preferred but not required.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Marketing
  • Communications
  • Business Administration
  • Advertising
  • Consumer Psychology
  • Public Relations

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 4–8 years of progressive marketing experience with at least 2–4 years in brand marketing or integrated campaign roles.

Preferred:

  • 7+ years of experience building and scaling brand programs in B2C or B2B2C environments, with proven track record managing budgets, cross-channel campaigns, and multi-disciplinary teams. Experience in category-defining launches, global brand programs, or agency leadership is highly desirable.