Skills Required to be an Advertising and Branding Consultant

If Maggi had not cleverly promoted its product as ‘Two-minute Maggi,’ it would have been another one lost in a vast sea of competitors. If Apple hadn’t modified its business branding, it would’ve never been able to beat Microsoft.

What do you think that the founders of Maggi and Apple have in common?

How did they position themselves differently from their competitors so firmly that it led to the acquisition of a significant market share?

The recipe for a brand’s success is undoubtedly complex, but one thing is easy to figure out. Both the brands have tried to enhance their brand value and equity by achieving a meaningful and emotional connection with their audience. Sadly, other brands cannot copy or emulate the same with their business. They need to come up with a different strategy that reflects their brand. This is where a brand consultant comes into the picture.

What does a brand consultant do?

As a brand and advertising consultant, your role is to help your clients build, manage, or revive their brand image. You will have to work with the client’s merchandising, marketing, advertising, and legal divisions. Further, you will be responsible for handling the commercial aspects, consumer connect, market opportunity, and future brand scenarios.

You need to create the brand’s image, define its character, architecture, and how it interacts with its audience. Brand consulting is one arena where you get to work in multiple fields at once, and it can be a fantastic experience.

There is much more than what meets the eye when it comes to being an advertising and branding consultant. Did you know that careers in this field are expected to grow by 8% by 2028? Yes, you read that, right!

If you also have the knack for weaving engaging stories, creatively connecting them with brands, and helping them sell their products/services to a niche audience, you can land lucrative opportunities. All you need to do is hone your talent and inculcate skills that enable you to be the best version of yourself.

Most-needed skills for an advertising and branding consultant

• Strong business acumen
• The ability to communicate freely is crucial. Advertising requires you to communicate effectively both orally and in writing. You need to listen actively, analyse emotions, give and receive feedback, handle objections, listen and interview, negotiate, network and engage in public speaking.
• Project management skills: You need to do effective research, report the results, manage projects and time efficiently, understand the stats and work with other teams cooperatively.
• Interpersonal skills that involve critical thinking, focus, originality, leadership, persuasion, and dynamic thinking are necessary.
• Media skills include direct marketing, search engine optimisation, knowledge of designing media strategy, digital media strategy, and brand strategy.
• Business storytelling and writing
• The curiosity that drives you to understand the company and its audience better.
• Analytical skills that help you grasp information about the brand and its niche audience.
• Creative skills that enable you to design strategies, branding plans and establish the brand’s connection with its target audience. Moreover, it is your unique perspective that is beneficial in bringing effective advertising campaigns to life.
• Marketing skills like content marketing, pricing, promotions, public relations, and managing sales.
• Hard skills like computer skills, marketing skills, design skills, and the likes.

Although the right skills deem you fit for the job role, a proper foundation course will ensure that your advertising career gets the right kick-start. Pursue communication design courses from reputed institutions like the Pearl Academy to get equipped with various skills, ranging from content development in diverse media to developing the artistic flair!