Entry Level Qualification 

Graduate

Career Fields 

Marketing & Sales

For Specially Abled 

Career Entrance Exam 

CAT, MAT

About Career 

A product can have many classifications, but it is essentially defined as any goods or service that can satisfy a want or a need of a customer. A product can be tangible in nature, such as mobile phones, shoes, furniture, toothpaste, soaps, utensils, appliances, to name a few. Some intangible products are services such as movies, television shows, healthcare, consulting or financial services, etc.

A brand is a sign, symbol, name, logo, tagline, etc. which a company uses to distinguish itself and its products from those of other companies with which it competes in the market. A brand can be influenced by various factors like culture, visual media, opinions and social media. Some examples of Indian brands that are at par with global brands are Royal Enfield, Lakme, Patanjali, Taj Hotel, Titan, etc. So, you can understand well now – a watch is a product but Titan is a brand of watches which are different from other watches such as Timex, Rolex, Tissot, etc.

Your role will include tasks like deciding the brand name, branding style, features of a brand, packaging, price, and promotional strategies and its duration. Once the product is out there, you will also have to monitor its results by tracking indicators like revenue, cost savings, profit margin, market share, and customer feedback. Based on the product performance, you can determine actions needed to improve, upgrade or reposition products or revise the promotional strategies, and see through its execution. You must also decide whether the product needs to be discontinued and if the customers need to be driven towards a new product.

Key roles and responsibilities

Along with the responsibilities mentioned above, a product/brand manager also has to:

1. Executing activities for the brand such as events, sponsorships, and corporate responsibility programs.

2. Driving market growth based on the following current trends and predicting future ones.

3. Improving sales by studying the market and incorporating customer feedback.

4. Ensuring clarity within team members in order to enable smooth operations.

5. Regularly updating your management with your planning and strategy towards achieving your targets.

6. Motivating and mentoring your team to make sure that your plan is executed successfully from beginning to end.

7. Constantly working towards curating innovative ideas and integrate them into the product development processes.

Career Entry Pathway 

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies - Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies - Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing

After your Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, you can study Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies, getting a degree in Business Administration in Marketing will also open up many career options for you.

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies - Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies - Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing - Master in Communication Management.

On completing a Degree in Business Administration in Marketing, doing a Master’s in Communication Management will open many avenues for you in the marketing industry, including pursuing Brand or Product management as a career.

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies - Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies - Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing - MBA in Marketing and Brand Management

After finishing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in Marketing, you can further study for an MBA in Marketing and Brand Management which will prepare you for the professional world.

Required Qualification & Competencies 

Undergraduate studies after school

After the completion of your higher secondary education, to pursue a career in brand management, you can proceed to study for a Bachelor’s degree for a duration of 3 or 4 years. You can do Bachelor degree in any subject. Or you may do a Bachelor of Business Administration with specialising in Marketing.

Post Graduate Studies

After you finish your Bachelor’s degree as mentioned above, you can opt for an MBA or equivalent program with a specialisation in Marketing. This will not only give you academic qualifications, but it will also help you get higher paying job positions in the industry.

Compentencies Required

Interests

1. Enterprising: You should have interests for Enterprising Occupations. Enterprising occupations involve taking initiatives, initiating actions, and planning to achieve goals, often business goals. These involve gathering resources and leading people to get things done. These require decision making, risk taking and action orientation.

2. Conventional: You should have interests for Conventional Occupations. Conventional occupations involve repetitive and routine tasks as well as fixed processes or procedures for getting things done. These occupations involve working more with data, systems, and procedures and less with ideas or creativity.

3. Social: You should have interests for Social Occupations. Social occupations involve helping or assisting others; these involve working with and communicating with people to provide various services; these may involve educating and advising others.

Abilities

1. Abstract Reasoning: The ability to understand ideas which are not expressed in words or numbers; the ability to understand concepts which are not clearly expressed verbally or otherwise.

2. Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules and common logic to specific problems to produce answers that are logical and make sense. For example, understanding the reasons behind an event or a situation using general rules and common logic.

3. Emotional Intelligence: The ability to understand your own and others' emotions and feelings; empathy for others; adjusting your behaviour or self-control and self-regulation according to others' emptions and situations.

4. Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).

5. Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information from various sources, concepts, and theories to form general rules or conclusions. For example, analysing various events or situations to come out with a set of rules or conclusions.

6. Inter-Personal: The ability to build and maintain good relationships with others at workplaces and elsewhere.

7. Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

8. Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a long period of time without being distracted.

Knowledge

1. Marketing: Knowledge of the various principles, theories, methods, systems and processes to understand the needs of a category of customers and then creating, communicating, and delivering various products and services in order to satisfy the needs of the customers.

2. Production and Processing: Knowledge of raw materials, production machinery, production systems, production processes, quality control, and other techniques for manufacturing or construction and distribution of goods.

3. Sales and Promotion: Knowledge of the various principles, theories, methods, systems and processes to communicate and promote the benefits of various products or services of an organisation to a targeted group of customers, influencing their buying decisions and convincing them to buy the products or services.

Skills

1. Active Learning: Focused and continuous learning from various sources of information, observation and otherwise for application in getting work done.

2. Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, understanding the points being made by others, asking questions, etc.

3. Communication in English: Skills in communicating effectively in writing as well as verbally with others in English language.

4. Coordination: Skills in working together with other people to get things done.

5. Directing: Skills in directing others' actions to get things done.

6. Judgment and Decision Making: Skills in considering pros and cons of various decision alternatives; considering costs and benefits; taking appropriate and suitable decisions.

7. Service Orientation: Skills in or keen interest to help and assist people.

8. Supervising: Skills in Supervising and monitoring performance of others, businesses, and different projects.

​​​​​​​Personality

1. You are always or mostly organised in your day-to-day life and activities.

2. You always feel secure in your surroundings and in most situations.

3. You are always self-satisfied or feel satisfied with your life in most situations.

4. You are helpful to others sometimes.

5. You remain calm in difficult situations sometimes but some other times you are anxious.

6. You are imaginative sometimes.

7. You are friendly and outgoing sometimes, but not always.

8. You prefer company of people sometimes but not always.

Career - Job Opportunities & Profiles 

After you complete your MBA, some of the entry level jobs you can aim for are:

1. Management Trainee: After getting training for 2 years, you can get placed as a Product / Brand Manager

2. Brand Executive

3. Sales Executive or Sales Trainee: After gaining work experience for 5 to 6 years, you can aim for getting promoted as a Product / Brand Manager.

Some of the organizations that hire for the above-listed job roles include: PepsiCo, Tata Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Dentsu Communications Pvt. Ltd., Colgate Palmolive, ITC Ltd., Godrej Group, Hindustan Unilever Limited, ect.

Work Environment

The job one a brand manager is quite demanding since one has to learn to thrive under pressure and meet the targets and deadlines on time. The more efficiently the work is done, the quicker you climb up the corporate ladder. Sometimes the working hour's many overlaps on weekends too and it may be more than a 9 to 5 job. You may also be expected to take your work home if you’re approaching a tight deadline. While this is mostly an office job, it does involve a lot of traveling especially if you have to visit clients or pitch to potential business partners.

Specialisation Tracks In This Career

Luxury Branding

As a luxury brand manager, you must have knowledge of service development media and product design. You will help brands develop values, convey powerful messages to their customers and provide them with unforgettable experiences. You can work in various sectors like luxury hotels and resorts, fine dining, food and wine, personal luxury goods, yachts, private jets and automobiles, to name a few.

Corporate Branding

Corporate branding is the communication a company uses to define its identity as a whole, and not just its products and services. To successfully build or maintain a corporate brand, you should know the business philosophies, nature of the brand, and the company objectives. Part of this also involves designing the logo, tagline or even selecting a brand ambassador. Once this is in place, the brand manager has to see to it that the company campaign gets enough visibility and inspires brand loyalty amongst its customers.

Celebrity/Personal Branding

As celebrity or personal brand manager, you could be working for a musician, politician or even the CEO of a company. You would be in charge of every aspect of the individual such as attending public events, endorsing brands or products, social media activity, deciding what to say and wear in public and various means of networking.

Digital Branding

Digital branding refers to highlighting the most underlying values of a company, rather than just one product. It helps raise brand awareness through various means such as SEO, online advertising, content marketing and influencer marketing. As a digital marketer, your role involves building, planning and managing a strategy, preparing the budget, research and forecast sales and performance trends and provide suggestions for improvement.

Career Growth

Initially, you will start out on an entry-level job such as a trainee, a brand executive or a sales executive for 2-3 years. However, over a period of 5-8 years, each path can lead you to become a brand manager or a VP in marketing. The career growth path is as follows:

1. Management Trainee - Brand/Product Manager - Assistant VP Product/Branding - Associate VP Product/Branding - VP Marketing

2. Brand/Product Executive - Brand/Product Manager - Assistant VP Product/Branding - VP Marketing

3. Sales Trainee - Sales Executive - Sales Manager - Brand/Product Manager - Assistant VP Product/Branding - Associate VP Product / Branding - VP Marketing

Salary Offered  

The salary of professionals varies depending on the size of the company as well as the level of management. As you go a level higher in management, your salary will increase accordingly. For example, an entry level and junior position job may bring a salary of around Rs. 35,000 - Rs. 1,50,000 or more per month, whereas a mid-level and senior level job may bring you a salary of Rs. 1,50,000 - Rs. 5,00,000 or even more per month.

Monthly Earnings In Indian Rupee

1. Entry level: 0 - 2 years of work experience 

2. Junior Level: From 1 to 12 years of work experience 

3. Mid-Level: From 5 to 20+ years of work experience 

4. Senior Level: From 10 to 25+ years of work experience (there could be exceptions in some high-end technical, financial, engineering, creative, management, sports, and other careers; also in the near future, people will reach these levels much faster in many careers and in some careers, these levels will have no meaning as those careers will be completely tech skill driven such as even now, there is almost no level in a Cyber Security Expert’s job)

Famous Personalities 

Information not available.

Work Activities 

A product/brand manager plays many different roles in the company, and is also responsible for defining the what, when and why of the product that his team must work on. Some of his other tasks include:

1. Providing cross-organization leadership between various departments of an organization.

2. Analyzing your competition and creating products to stand out

3. Staying updated with the relevant online/offline platforms and tools.

4. Working collaboratively in teams and communicating effectively.

5. Handling various departments and dealing with unforeseen obstacles.

6. Keeping a track on the rate of progress made by your team, and taking necessary decisions where needed.