A brand consultant is a marketing professional that provides guidance and advice to help businesses grow. They typically work independently or as part of a brand consultancy agency or firm depending on the scope and scale of branding services required. They provide a range of services and tasks such as competitor analysis, audience research, positioning strategy development, key messaging and storytelling, brand design and implementation to name just a few.
Branding is one of the most important elements of a business, helping to define and communicate the unique value proposition of a product or service, as well as create customer loyalty and trust. Branding specialists combine market insight and consumer understanding with creativity to build a strong business branding strategy that sets you apart from your competition, and leaves an unforgettable impression in the minds of potential customers.
Considering the importance of branding, it’s no wonder that 59% of consumers say they prefer to buy from brands they are familiar with. Effective and consistent branding enables businesses to stand out in the competitive marketplace, increase memorability and recognition across all brand touchpoints, and ultimately drive business growth.
So what does a brand consultant do? The role can vary a lot, but a general day-to-day involves delivering brand strategy workshops and developing brand guidelines to support companies in their strategic journey. They will also produce a brand audit to take stock of existing branding and understand the current positioning of a company within the marketplace.
A brand consultant can also play a crucial role in supporting a client’s creative team in creating the design assets that will form the core of their brand. This could be anything from a logo to an entire website or digital advertising campaign. Branding professionals are also often asked to provide a full brand project brief, outlining all the brand assets and requirements that will need to be produced.
Another important part of a brand consultant’s job is establishing and maintaining open lines of communication with clients. They will need to respond to feedback promptly, as well as act on customer insights from surveys, social media posts and other forms of consumer engagement. This is particularly important when building a new brand, as it allows for the necessary adjustments to be made to ensure that the brand is on the right track from the outset.
To become a brand consultant, it’s necessary to have a number of qualifications, the most important being a degree in marketing or branding. However, plenty of brand consultants start out their careers as marketing coordinators or junior brand managers, working their way up to the role by building a portfolio of successful projects. The key is to get the balance right between education and practical experience, with the former providing the foundations and the latter enabling you to offer more specialised advice and expertise.