The answer is: Everyone.
Everyone that works at a company, large or small or micro, has a hand in how the company’s brand of product or service is perceived by the marketplace. Why is that?
Because a brand is simply a name that is applied to a collection of product attributes and features that are bundled together to meet a customer’s needs or to solve their problems. The brand quickly communicates a certain level of quality to the marketplace. Everyone who works at a company contributes to the final level of quality that the company pushes out the door.
But remember. The answer to our question “Who Wants to Be a Brand Manager?” is Everyone. Today, it’s not only everyone who works in a company that is the brand manager, but it’s also the customers that buy the products or services who contribute to the management of the brand. That is to say, it is the marketplace that helps to communicate the level of quality of a particular product or service. And not just through economic votes, meaning sales.
Through social media, everyone and anyone can become a “virtual brand manager,” communicating certain pieces of information about the product or service. Hopefully, all of that information will be true, but it’s almost inevitable that total truth won’t be achieved.
Because with social media everyone can now be a brand manager, it’s imperative that companies expand their influence into the realm of social media to ensure that their brands are not being redefined by the unofficial virtual brand managers out there. If redefinition is occurring, then it is very important that the company counteract any inaccurate redefinition.
