Many people like to feel important, so they create fancy names for the work they do. For example, a garbage man is not a garbage man but a sanitation engineer. These fancy names provide some level of status to the worker and help make them feel good.
A brand strategist makes decisions regarding the direction that a brand should move. Brands appeal to client bases, and they do so by evoking a feeling within their clientele. Brand strategists are responsible for crafting this feeling in order to maximize the brand’s influence.
The term brand strategist employment may be a bit more complicated and involves a lot more work than a sanitation engineer does. However, it is how people perceive you that makes the difference.
Being seen as a brand strategist sparks interest in people and gets them talking about what those people actually do. If you are not sure about what a brand strategist does, just continue to read our article to get the definition and the details of their work.
What is a brand strategist?
This is the most important aspect of this topic as understanding who they are, helps you understand exactly what they do. A brand strategist is an independent contractor for the most part and they help people make sales.
But instead of acting like a salesman, these people do a lot of research to find the best ways to market your products to your company’s target audience. Part of their duties will include comparing your products, company name and other factors with your competitors’. Then they figure out the best way for you to proceed.
In other words, these are people you employ to help you drive sales and have a successful year or career in your business venture. Not every business owner is a good marketer of their own products thus they need this brand strategist to help get their name out to the public.
What is a brand strategy?
The definition of the brand strategy may be a bit confusing as it simply states that a brand strategy is a set plan to develop your brand. But the keyword here is brand which is not identified in that definition.
All the word brand means is your company’s identity. For example, Coca-Cola makes soft drinks and its brand or identity is the simple word ‘coke’. When someone says the term coke, you usually think of coca-Cola and not one of its many competitors like RC Cola or Pepsi Cola.
A brand strategy, then, will help you build an easy-to-remember identity that when your fellow citizens use the simple word to describe your business, everyone knows exactly what is being talked about in the conversation.
To get to that point, you need a good specific plan or set of goals to implement that objective. That is where the brand strategist comes in.
What exactly does a brand strategist do?
There are many duties that a brand specialist carries out for you. Here are just a few of them so you get a better idea w=of what they do exactly:
#1. The get to know your business
The brand strategist cannot formulate a good plan of action without knowing you and your business. The first step in their work is to learn everything they can about your company and where you see your business in the near future. They will ask key questions to get the information they need.
#2. They do research
The business discovery is just the first step and after that, the brand strategist will research your target audience to get to know them. Then they analyze the market, industry you are in as well as your competitors to see what they are doing.
The brand strategist will look for trends and ways to help your business grow.
#3. Formulate the brand strategy
This is where they start to form a plan of action to help your business become better known. This strategy includes identifying your key values, create your mission statement, and more.
All of this is designed to help you and your company stand out from the rest of the crowd.
#4. Brand inspiration
This duty is to provide your brand and company with a look that will present a great first impression. This look includes designing your logo, font style, the colors you will use, the type of stationery you will use as well as packaging design, and so on.
#5. Tools for marketing
This may be in the form of a handy guide laying out everything you need to do to be a success. This is an in-depth guide to make sure you know how to launch and market your company and its products.
What skills do you need to be a brand strategist?
One of the skills you will need is the ability to do good and thorough research. Getting the right information is vital if you want to be an aid to your clients. Knowing what is taking place in the industry and with your clients’ competitors is essential to good business strategies.
Then, you will need to be able to spot social media and other trends quickly. Along with that, a good brand specialist needs to identify the social media participants’ personas’. Not only that, they need to identify the right solutions those participants are looking for.
Also, these people would need to know top SEO tools, how they work and how they can be used to your clients’ advantage. Along with those skills, the brand strategist needs to be honest and know how to avoid cutting corners.
Is brand strategist a good career?
If you are good at this type of work and can spot trends, identify brands and build a good strategy, then yes, it can be a good career. Also, if you are good at laying out great marketing strategies and know-how to package a business so that it looks good, you could do well in this industry.
This job will keep you on your toes as you have to monitor different social media sights, understand marketing techniques, as well as enjoy doing a lot of research. it is a demanding industry as many companies live or die by your brand strategy.
Over the years, there have been many incredible failures that have cost companies millions of dollars. That is something you have to learn how to handle in the correct way and bounce back very quickly.
The pay may be good but you have to make sure you can handle the pressure and make the right decisions for your clients.
How much do brand strategists earn?
The financial compensation for this employment position is quite lucrative. A person with less than one year of experience can make approx. $40,000 per year. That amount goes up if you already have 1 to 4 years of experience in this industry. This group of brand strategists makes approx. $60,000.
Some people make more than that and it is said that in America the average brand strategist salary is over $100,000 per year. Other countries are not as high as that but the position pays very well.
Not all brand strategists hold that title. There are different names for this position and they can make different salaries depending on their title, region of the country, and the type of employer they have.
For example, a brand consultant can make roughly $94,000 per year, while a brand management employee can command the same amount. A brand manager has the ability to make $101,000+ a year while someone in brand marketing will make the same as those people who are brand consultants.
Many companies do not pay that well and you should do your research into this area before applying for a job at a particular company.
Why you may need a brand strategist
There are three good reasons why you may need to hire a brand strategist to give your business the right shot in the arm. Here are those reasons:
#1. Business is stagnating but not decreasing in sales volume
This is where your company’s sales and growth are leveling off. If you have driven the company to this high level of business, you may have reached the upper limit where you can take the company.
#2. You know your limits
This is where the most successful businessmen excel. They know their limits and where they need to hire people with the strengths to cover their weaknesses. Also, hiring a professional brand strategist provides you and your company with fresh eyes that help see key issues that need to be rectified.
#3. You have a changing client base
A brand strategist can see these changes and make the right recommendations to help your business keep its strong customer base thriving.
Some final words
While you may not recognize the term you now know what a brand strategist does. It is a person who helps your company get more sales. Their job is to help your company stay profitable and grow to new levels.
Without their help, you may still be in business but do not experience any more growth.