For a lot of businesses, their main product is also their brand. For instance, let’s take Skype, which is a product, but at the same time a brand. Your first association of Skype is probably a convenient app that’s located on your computer desktop, used for calls, and messaging.
Overall, this is the product. But, on the other hand, have you thought about how this app revolutionized the way we speak and think? All these factors determine one brand.
However, these terms can be confusing, but we are going to help you discover differences between brand manager vs. product manager and how these positions work together.
Differences between products and brands
To better understand their roles, you first need to know what they actually manage. As we already mentioned, a particular product can be a service or goods provided to clients for benefits.
On the other hand, the brand is a bit abstract and more challenging to understand. The brand usually consists of “what” and “why” of one company or organization. Also, it is referred to how one organization is viewed by customers. Additionally, the brand involves a set of memories, expectations, connections, and stories.
Product manager
A product manager is mostly focused on design, as well as features of a particular product. He can be highly logical, as well as technical, maintaining close relationships with developers, executives, marketing, and sales.
Additionally, product managers wish to upgrade, support, and improve the proper functioning of the products, with a strong emphasis on how clients interact with products. Basically, they deliver the goods people utilize.
Brand manager
On the other hand, the brand manager firstly assembles the team, who will build a public image, as well as an audience relationship with a new product. Their role is quite complex, which involves a high-level of curation, for both the company’s image and practical steps that are necessary to maintain a public image.
Additionally, they aim to boots, inspire, and maintain interest in their brand, with a strong focus on marketing and how their company is perceived.
Why are they different?
Now that we underlined the main differences, it is essential to point out what it is. After all, these days, a lot of digital leaders invest plenty of time and recourses into becoming recognized brands. For that reason, we can hardly disconnect the brand from the product.
However, the brand manager is missing a couple of essential formulas that define branding.
Function – whether or not you believe that you are solving problems or helping the users finish tasks and assisting companies in cutting down costs, you are most certainly fulfilling a specific function. However, we can define this in many ways. For instance, don’t be restrictive, since some products can be useless, mostly designed to waste your time.
The “function” we mentioned earlier also refers to the ways you use to structure products, to receive input. However, brand managers aren’t particularly interested in these two elements, tasks, and data, since their objective to improve the company’s image.
Attachment – this function is closer to the brand’s manager, but it’s not exactly the same. Branding involves developing emotions from familiarity and recognition. On the other hand, attachment for product managers isn’t only the part of their strategy; it is the way they add to the product. In this case, website and management apps, to targeting the audience.
In most cases, product managers observe user loyalty and as the most valued metrics, while traditional branding is a significant part of it.
How do they work?
Brand manager – he or she will assemble the team and start working on the public image while paying attention to numerous factors such as tradition, name, reputation, and so on.
Product manager – he or she will assemble the product team and start defining a vision for the product.