No matter how big or small, your brand is a precious thing. It is a dynamic entity that needs to be fed, nurtured, looked after, and treated with care.

But, it is easy to neglect your brand when you are constantly preoccupied with the day to day operations of running an organization. To ensure your brand will grow and thrive, you need to build a brand team.

What Does a Brand Team Do?

A brand team has an expansive role that reaches beyond logos, fonts, and color use. The work of a proper brand team extends to all departments. It’s like an internal agency.

Whether it’s guiding marketing, advising leadership, showcasing brand values through everyday interactions, or collaborating with HR, the members of a brand team work together to bring the brand to life at every level of a business. They take a holistic approach to growing a brand.

But, only the right brand team can build a brand with laser focus. Think of the members of your brand team as the Navy Seals of branding.

Roles You Need on Your Brand Team

You can mix and match roles within your brand team, depending on its size. For instance, your founder can function as CMO, and your marketing designer may fill in as creative director. To build a brand team that will help you grow your business, you need to find the right people to fulfill the following roles:

Chief Brand Officer

If someone’s the ultimate brand-keeper in your company, that would be your CBO. The role of a CBO is to ensure that your marketing goals go hand in hand with your brand strategy.

Their job is to bridge the gap between the business and the brand. The CBO raises red flags, pokes holes, asks questions, consults the higher-ups, but also challenges the leadership if necessary.

Many small businesses and startups cannot afford to hire a CBO, and that’s okay. But, you still need a team or a person who can perform this function.

You don’t want your CBO to be a dictator that will rule with an iron fist. Your Chief Brand Officer should be someone who empowers other employees.

Their job is to make it easy for everyone in the company to feel ownership of the brand. Everyone from your accountant to your creative direction represents your brand. Every employee is the steward of your brand, and your Chief Brand Officer is the high-level overseer.

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Chief Marketing Officer

Marketing can reinforce and support your brand. It’s a vital element of branding. But, it’s a double-edged sword as it can lead you way off course, especially in situations when you have a hard time seeing the difference between marketing and branding.

A Chief Marketing Officer (or marketing manager in some companies) will make sure you are headed in the right direction. A CMO’s job is to coordinate resources and teams, oversee content creation, craft marketing strategy, and handle everything and anything that has to do with marketing.

And, when they come across something they can’t do, or don’t know how to do, their job is to find the person that can. In some smaller companies, one person is both the CBO and the CMO. In others, the CBO and the CMO work closely together to ensure strategies are aligned.

Brand Analyst

The brand analyst in any brand team has a tough, but crucial role to play. Their job is to provide recommendations, report results, convert the brand strategy into palpable metrics, and identify new opportunities for improvement.

Your CMO and CBO will heavily rely on your brand analyst for support, so it’s a role that shouldn’t be underestimated. Whether it’s through promoting the success of a recent initiative or justifying an additional budget, it is an invaluable role that’ll help the whole team grow.

Creative Director

From your blog posts to your branded promotional materials, every piece of content you create reflects your brand and your business. Your creative director will help you decide how you will communicate your brand identity in your brand videos, banners, employee manuals, etc.

Their job is to approve and monitor the quality of your content as well. Overseeing the brand guidelines is their key responsibility. This includes the visual and verbal identity of your brand.

Communications Lead

The role of a communications lead is fairly straightforward. They need to build the brand library and document information.

They also need to communicate that information to others and educate anyone who needs to know that info, whether it’s a new freelancer, new employee, or even the new CEO. They need to make sure everything is easy to understand, easily accessible, and up to date.

People Ops Rep

A good people ops rep is someone who is dedicated to creating a healthy, happy, and fulfilling workplace. Basically, they are a culture ambassador, and, above all, a people person. Their job is to find creative and unique ways to promote brand values and help the organization walk the talk.

A great people ops rep is someone who knows how to make these abstract concepts a part of day-to-day interactions. Your people ops rep will help you integrate your brand values into every corner of your organization.

Takeaway

Just like any group endeavor, there will be some challenges, hiccups, and disagreements in your team. But, if you craft a strong brand strategy as a team, you will learn how to work as efficiently as possible—together.

Author: Michael has been working in marketing for almost a decade and has worked with a huge range of clients, which has made him knowledgeable on many different subjects. He has recently rediscovered a passion for writing and hopes to make it a daily habit. You can read more of Michael’s work at Qeedle.

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This article is published by Will Sherwood | The Sherwood Group | Strategic Graphic Design | Marketing Communications: The Sherwood Group has over 30 years of experience working with all sorts of companies, small and large. Our clients range from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 firms, in nearly every business sector, from across the street to around the world (and yes, even Europe, China, and South America).

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