Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Brand Specialist

💰 $45,000 - $85,000 (USD, annual; varies by location and experience)

MarketingBrand ManagementCommunicationsDigital Marketing

🎯 Role Definition

The Brand Specialist is responsible for executing and optimizing brand strategy to increase awareness, preference, and loyalty. This role manages brand assets and guidelines, supports integrated marketing campaigns (digital, social, retail, and trade), coordinates creative development and production, analyzes brand performance metrics, and partners with internal and external stakeholders to ensure consistent brand experience across touchpoints. The Brand Specialist is both a tactical executor and a strategic contributor, balancing creative sensibility with data-driven decision making to drive measurable brand outcomes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Marketing Coordinator
  • Social Media Coordinator
  • Junior Brand Associate

Advancement To:

  • Brand Manager
  • Senior Brand Specialist / Brand Strategist
  • Marketing Manager (Brand)

Lateral Moves:

  • Content Marketing Manager
  • Product Marketing Specialist
  • Trade Marketing or Retail Activation Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and execute brand activation plans that translate long‑term brand strategy into measurable, channel-specific tactics across paid, owned, and earned media to grow awareness and consideration.
  • Maintain and evolve comprehensive brand guidelines — including visual identity, messaging pillars, tone of voice, and usage rules — to ensure consistency across packaging, digital properties, retail, and partner communications.
  • Lead end-to-end campaign production: brief creative agencies and internal designers, manage timelines and budgets, review creative work, coordinate QA, and sign off on final assets for launch.
  • Manage content calendars and deliverables for owned channels (website, email, social) ensuring content aligns to brand strategy, product launches, seasonal initiatives, and promotional calendars.
  • Execute go‑to‑market plans for new product launches or line extensions, coordinating cross-functional activities with product, sales, e‑commerce, customer success, and supply chain.
  • Plan and oversee point-of-sale and in-store brand activations and merchandising guidelines in collaboration with retail and trade teams to drive conversion and brand visibility at retail.
  • Monitor brand performance and health metrics — share of voice, brand awareness, consideration, NPS, purchase intent — and produce weekly/monthly reports with actionable recommendations.
  • Conduct competitive and category market research, synthesize consumer insights, and identify white-space opportunities to inform brand positioning and creative direction.
  • Manage paid media execution with media partners and internal teams, including campaign setup, targeting strategy, creative testing, pacing, and budget optimization.
  • Serve as the primary steward of brand assets in the digital asset management system, ensuring assets are current, tagged, and available to key stakeholders and agencies.
  • Execute influencer and partnership programs from outreach and negotiation to content approval and performance tracking, ensuring influencer content adheres to brand and legal guidelines.
  • Collaborate with CRM and retention teams to develop brand-forward retention programs (email flows, loyalty creatives, re-engagement campaigns) that reinforce brand affinity and lifetime value.
  • Lead creative briefs and creative review sessions, articulating strategic objectives, target audience insights, conversion goals, and measurement plans to guide agency and in-house creatives.
  • Coordinate photography and video shoots (concepting, scouting, talent, shot lists, post‑production feedback) to create on‑brand visual assets for campaigns and ecommerce.
  • Optimize product and category pages for brand storytelling and conversion: write or review product copy, hero messaging, lifestyle descriptions, and ensure SEO-friendly content.
  • Implement A/B tests and creative experiments to validate messaging, visuals, and offers; analyze test results and scale winners across channels.
  • Ensure legal, regulatory, and compliance review of claims, ingredient lists, and packaging copy in collaboration with legal and regulatory teams before public release.
  • Manage budgets for brand initiatives, track spend vs. plan, negotiate vendor and agency contracts, and ensure cost-efficient delivery of brand programs.
  • Provide training, tooling, and brand education to sales, retail, and customer-facing teams to ensure consistent brand experience and correct use of brand assets.
  • Oversee reporting of campaign KPIs and ROI, translating analytics into clear recommendations to improve future brand programs and media allocation.
  • Lead cross-functional project management for brand initiatives — run project plans, clear blockers, synchronize stakeholders, and ensure on-time delivery.
  • Advocate for the customer by integrating qualitative and quantitative consumer feedback into creative and strategic brand decisions, ensuring relevance and resonance.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc market and consumer research requests to validate hypotheses for product or messaging changes.
  • Assist in vendor selection, onboarding, and day-to-day coordination for agencies, freelance designers, photographers, and media partners.
  • Establish and maintain a repository of competitive creative examples, trend reports, and case studies to inspire campaign ideation and benchmark performance.
  • Help prepare executive summaries and presentation decks that communicate brand performance, strategic priorities, and resource needs to leadership.
  • Participate in cross-functional sprint planning and cadence meetings to align brand priorities with product launches, promotions, and sales initiatives.
  • Facilitate brand workshops and training sessions for new hires and internal teams to ensure consistent brand adoption across the organization.
  • Support merchandising and packaging updates by coordinating asset revisions and ensuring new packaging follows brand standards.
  • Contribute to crisis communications and rapid response strategy for brand reputation issues, ensuring messages remain on brand and aligned with legal/PR counsel.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Brand strategy development and brand activation planning at campaign and channel level.
  • Creative brief writing, creative direction, and experience reviewing/approving visual and verbal assets.
  • Digital marketing execution: social media management, paid social, display, and programmatic basics.
  • Content management system (CMS) experience for website updates and landing page support (e.g., Shopify, WordPress, Magento).
  • Proficiency with analytics and reporting tools: Google Analytics / GA4, brand lift measurement, and campaign tracking (UTM, attribution basics).
  • Familiarity with ad platforms and campaign management tools (Facebook/Meta Business Manager, Google Ads, DSPs).
  • Experience with email marketing platforms and CRM tools (e.g., Klaviyo, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, HubSpot) for brand-driven retention programs.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint for budget management, reporting, and executive presentations.
  • Experience managing digital asset libraries or DAM systems (e.g., Bynder, Widen) and maintaining asset governance.
  • Familiarity with creative tools or basic production workflow (Adobe Creative Suite overview, briefs for Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign).
  • Experience running A/B tests and basic statistical interpretation of test results (Optimizely, VWO, or native platform testing).
  • Knowledge of influencer marketing platforms and partnerships management, plus experience negotiating influencer deliverables and contracts.

Soft Skills

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to craft clear brand messaging and present to stakeholders.
  • Excellent project management and organizational skills to manage multiple campaigns and deadlines simultaneously.
  • Cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management: ability to influence without direct authority.
  • Creative thinking and problem-solving mindset with strong attention to visual and verbal brand detail.
  • Data-driven decision making: comfort translating analytics into actionable marketing recommendations.
  • Adaptability and comfort working in fast-paced environments with shifting priorities.
  • Strategic curiosity — proactive in surfacing consumer insights, trends, and competitive moves that impact brand strategy.
  • Negotiation and vendor management skills to manage agencies, production partners, and media suppliers.
  • Customer-centric empathy: capability to represent consumer needs within brand and product conversations.
  • Accountability and ownership — driven to deliver measurable results and iterate based on performance.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
High school diploma or equivalent; most employers prefer a bachelor's degree.

Preferred Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Advertising, or a related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Marketing
  • Communications
  • Business Administration
  • Advertising
  • Graphic Design (for creative-adjacent hires)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years in marketing, brand, or communications roles (entry-level to mid-level Brand Specialist).

Preferred:
3+ years of direct brand marketing experience supporting integrated campaigns, creative production, and cross-functional launch execution; experience in consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, DTC/e‑commerce, or agency environments is often preferred.

Explore More Careers