Being a brand manager is more than mediating the relationship between a company and its customer. It involves keeping a close eye on a competitive market and ensuring that the target audience resonates with the products and services. As a brand manager, you’ll be responsible for brand integrity and initiative. The role highlights how much of a hands-on attitude you can display than just your textbook knowledge.
Typically, a brand manager’s resume features a degree in Business, Economics, Engineering, or Marketing. The role almost always requires fluency in English and several years of marketing experience. Recruiters will be looking for an MBA or certifications of a postgraduate qualification. Brand managers could eventually become marketing managers/directors.
You might think that brand managing is all about advertising and promotion, but it is much more. It depends on assisting with product development, developing new business opportunities, and writing sales forecasts. It requires a high awareness of the changing market. As such, companies value brand managers who communicate brand awareness and are highly analytical.
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A brand manager mediates the relationship between brand strategy and target audience. Just as the role involves advertising, promotion, and protecting brand integrity, it includes setting a brand strategy, executing all communication, managing the promotional budget, and reporting on product sales. A skilled brand manager maintains quality relationships with customers and employees alike while displaying high communication skills, relationship management, and perseverance.
This resume illustrates a qualified brand manager. It highlights a strong base with a B.S. in Business Administration, hands-on marketing experience, and result-focused descriptions. It effectively portrays the roles of each experience - design, positioning, and social media - which helps recruiters understand the skills included and their results - in product sales improvement and company growth.
Notice how this resume describes each marketing experience in detail, including sales lifts, expansions, and the number of units managed. You should always include this information to show recruiters that your work is result-oriented and pays off.
Notice how this resume applies tools such as social media marketing to real-world experiences such as launching 15 digital campaigns on Facebook. This shows recruiters the initiative brand managers need, their practical outlook, and the skills to execute it.
A brand activation manager is another form of brand managing. It focuses on product promotion and development by overseeing the design and marketing strategies tailored for a specific product. A brand activation manager’s primary responsibility is finding new customers and ensuring existing ones are satisfied.
This resume illustrates an experienced brand activation manager. Their education is heavily related to the field with a B.A. in Communications and Marketing. It sheds light on sales lifts and creative launches with results of increasing revenue and meeting customer needs. There’s a specific list of effective techniques and efficient CRM software. This shows recruiters real-world plan-to-action progression and initiative.
Notice how this resume includes numerics. There are percentages of growth listed based on marketing campaigns and expansions. You should be as detailed as possible in showing the results of your work because it shows recruiters your credibility and execution.
Notice how this resume lists its techniques, software, and languages. This shows recruiters your creativity and capacity to learn and apply. You should include all the diversified skills you employ to show your innovation and willingness to learn.
A brand marketing manager is responsible for ensuring that a company’s brand expectations, targets, and strategies are met. The role focuses on developing a brand marketing strategy and partnership. It maintains the budget, collaborates with marketing management, and reports performance.
This resume illustrates an experienced brand marketing manager. As mentioned before, it’s favorable for any brand manager to have a postgraduate qualification, so this resume cites an MBA. It focuses on public relations and their upholding, opportunity awareness, and effective plan development. This resume highlights the skills implicit in work experience more than it lists them. This helps recruiters understand the detail-oriented eye, good work ethic, and communicative abilities.
Notice how this resume underscores relations with customers and qualified personnel in other departments. There are significant words such as “inspired and mentored” as well as public relations in the use of marketing tactics. You should be as open as possible about your capacity of satisfying customers and your ability to uphold relations amongst coworkers. This shows recruiters what they need: quality relationship management.
Notice how this resume lists engagement and satisfaction. Just as growth is needed, establishing a secure base is too. Showing customer satisfaction and engagement proves to recruiters that you understand the depth of consumer relations and you can effectively maintain it.
An assistant brand manager is focused on marketing trends and reporting on sales. They brainstorm and present creative ideas for brand strategies to meet sales objectives and marketing expectations. The role enhances brand awareness through research skills, analyses, and result orientations.
With an Economics Degree that proves critical thinking skills and more, the resume establishes a strong educational base. It lists the manager’s diversified ideas according to context and situation which shows recruiters the capacity to brainstorm and develop creative ideas, improving both the company and customer experience.
Notice how this resume highlights different methods of problem-solving - how one plan reduced costs while another resulted in growth. You should include how each of your creative ideas helped the company. This proves to recruiters your capacity for innovation, brainstorming, and creative thinking.
Notice how this resume lists collaboration with brand managers and advertising personnel. This shows recruiters a willingness to collaborate, communication and teamwork skills, and a results-driven attitude.
A digital brand manager is, as the name implies, a digitally-focused role. It’s in such high demand in the technological age due to the importance of a company’s digital image. Digital brand managers develop branding and communications throughout the digital world and are responsible for converting physical brand management and channeling it into social media. Examples of digital areas of branding include website branding, social media marketing campaigns, and SEO -search engine optimization, content/email marketing, and online events/presence. Such a manager needs a high awareness and adaptability for quickly emerging trends to continue enhancing a company’s image - content strategy, social persona development, etc.
This resume illustrates a successful digital manager. With an MBA and a crucial major in Business Analytics, the resume shows that the manager is skilled with analyses. It lists the growth of social media presence, specifically in following and revenue after implementing digital marketing plans. This shows recruiters creative capacity and emerging development in successful digital plans.
Notice how this resume starts with a progression of increasing following and presence incrementally into cost reduction plans and new products launches. You should highlight your skill progression and how that impacted the company. It shows recruiters your creative thought development and problem-solving skills.
A creative brand manager is an experienced marketing professional who oversees how the brand is seen and received by consumers. The creative brand manager makes sure the brand is always reaching the right demographic. They have several duties including analyzing sales data, interpreting data on brand awareness, choosing the graphics and copywriting for the brand, and more.
To get noticed by a hiring manager for this role, you’ll need a relevant Bachelor’s degree, preferably in marketing or business. A creative brand manager is a senior role, so you’ll also need several years of experience working in marketing, advertising or PR to be considered. Hiring managers will want to see a combination of education, experience, and related technical skills like market analysis.
Typically, the creative brand manager oversees all items relating to the brand at a company and therefore is a senior-level position. To have the best chance at landing a role as a creative brand manager, you’ll want relevant experiences like previous roles as a creative designer, assistant brand manager, or public relations associate.
Today most companies use online platforms to advertise their brand. Digital marketing is a powerful tool, but it requires skill to execute effectively. You can take courses in aspects of digital marketing such as email campaign software, digital ads, SEO, and more. Hiring managers will like to see a candidate with knowledge and experience executing digital marketing campaigns.
A retail brand manager acts as a liaison between customers, the company, and the brand. The retail brand manager oversees how a particular retail brand is perceived by consumers. They also ensure consumers maintain a positive outlook of individual retail branches and the brand at large.
To land a job as a retail brand manager, it’s recommended to have a degree in marketing or business. Hiring managers will also be looking for a candidate with professional experience in marketing, retail management, or as an assistant brand manager. Your resume will stand out to hiring managers if you have experience with digital marketing or social media.
If you have helped a company increase sales, achieve a higher public approval rating, or achieve an enhanced visibility on online platforms, it should be noted in your resume. It’s important to add figures and numbers to support the success you describe. For example, if you enhanced a brand’s social media presence, you should note the percent at which the online following grew.
Prior experience as a retail store manager will stand out to a recruiter. Hands-on retail experience will show a hiring manager you have interacted with a brand's customer demographic and understand them, as well as how retail sales work. Noting successes you had in your retail position, such as boosting sales or decreasing retention levels, will be attractive to hiring managers.
Associate brand managers work to make sure that a company’s brand is well-defined and well-marketed to its customer base. Tasks you can expect in this position include defining the company’s brand, creating goals and plans with the marketing team on how to market the brand, doing research to find out how to best position the brand, etc. Recruiters will expect you to have a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related field and will want to see a strong marketing background. Very strong communication and interpersonal skills are also vital for this role. Here is a successful resume sample.
Metrics make a resume more digestible and make one's experience look more successful. For this position, use metrics to show your success in increasing brand awareness, sales, or customers. This applicant has very impressive metrics throughout their resume.
Show recruiters that your work stood out and earned you recognition in previous positions. It is an easy way to indicate your skill level and to present yourself as the best among your peers. Take a look at this applicant’s listed award.
We consulted with hiring managers at top companies like Nike, Coca-Cola, and Apple to gather their insights on what makes a strong brand manager resume. Based on their feedback and our analysis of successful resumes, we've compiled a list of essential tips to help you craft a compelling resume that will catch the attention of potential employers in this competitive field.
Recruiters want to see that you have a proven track record of developing and executing effective brand strategies. When describing your past roles, emphasize your contributions to:
For example, instead of simply stating "Developed brand strategy," you could say:
A resume summary for a Brand Manager position is optional, but it can be a great way to provide additional context about your career goals and highlight your most relevant skills and experiences. While a resume objective is outdated and should never be used, a well-crafted summary can help you stand out from other candidates and showcase your unique value proposition.
When writing your summary, avoid repeating information that's already included in other sections of your resume. Instead, focus on providing new insights and details that can help hiring managers quickly understand why you're the best fit for the role. Keep your summary concise and to the point, ideally no more than a few sentences or a short paragraph.
The work experience section is the heart of your resume as a brand manager. It's where you show the impact you've had in your previous roles. Aim to go beyond just your day-to-day responsibilities and highlight your biggest wins.
Let's break down step-by-step how to write an effective work experience section that will impress hiring managers and help you land your next brand manager role.
The education section of your brand manager resume should be concise yet impactful. It's an opportunity to showcase your relevant academic background and any specialized training that qualifies you for the role. Follow these tips to craft a compelling education section that catches the attention of hiring managers.
As a brand manager, it’s important to be hands-on. This is why you need to use these action words to begin sentences on your resume, specifically for work experience. Here are some beneficial examples of effective action verbs you can use to write your brand manager resume. Brand managers tend to organize and collaborate across departments and with personnel, which means action verbs showing initiative, creativity, and leadership are what you want to include. Use these verbs wisely.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
In your resume, it’s important to include these skills in a way that fits the job description and the core qualities recruiters are looking for.
Adjust and highlight qualities to each job you apply for accordingly and try to make your resume as tailored to the description and requirements as possible.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Brand Manager job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
