5-Min Read
February 2022
Exit Strategy: Why Your Brand and Marketing Matter
Expert Opinions on why your brand and marketing matters when looking to sell your company.
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Insight Details
3 Reasons Brand Marketing is Important When Looking to Sell your Business
Planning an exit strategy is an exciting and rewarding experience. You’ve thrown your heart and soul into your business for many years and selling your company or handing over the ship to someone else can sometimes seem daunting. When it comes to an exit strategy, marketing strategy is not commonly considered when planning the mergers and acquisitions process.
Typically you’re thinking about preparation for sale, identifying buyers list, due diligence etc. While those are extremely important, your brand can be a deal breaker for a strategic buyer.
Your Brand is your Product
Sounds very trivial, but it’s true. Branding goes beyond your logo and colors on your website. Everything your company produces speaks to your overarching brand. Your brand is a reflection of your company’s core values. If your website is out-of-date, it leads people to assume that your company is outdated and not up to the best practices of current trends. Is your website digital friendly? If you’re looking to book patients at your clinic, are they able to book them online?
According to Adobe, “57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website.” When a buyer is considering purchasing a company, you can absolutely assume they will be analyzing your website; the last thing you want is a strategic buyer to have a negative impression of your website before you’ve had the chance to put your best foot forward through a meeting.
Updated and Thoughtful Strategy
The value of a company is not determined by any single characteristic. Valuations are determined by the value the buyer places on the asset. Whatever vertical you play in, its important to have a thought-out marketing plan, set of processes and execution of the best practices to generate demand or develop a fly-wheel. Buyers want to know that you have this in place and can adjust and optimize over time.
What does your content strategy look like? Are you building domain authority and expanding your presence across platforms? If you’re in search of capital, where will you spend those dollars and how will you grow your marketing strategy?
Not only do you want to have a well-developed plan, how is it fairing with your competitor’s strategies? Are you keeping up with the latest marketing best practices? These are all things that a strategic buyer may be thinking about.
Sustainability and Agility
We all know that 2020 was a hard year for businesses. With unprecedented challenges, how did your company fair adapt and adjust? Were you able to tailor your marketing strategy for the changing times? Buyers want to see that even during the most dire of situations you’re able to adapt to the adversity and overcome no matter what gets thrown your way. This means keeping a constant communication with your customers through a variety of channels and meeting your customers where they are, whether that’s online or through your physical location, etc.
Building a marketing strategy is something a strategic buyer will want to see when going through the due diligence process. If you’re interested in what else might pop up during due diligence read the article What to Expect During Due Diligence.
If you’re in need of help on where to improve your brand or marketing, Encore AMC can help you work through brand or marketing challenges.
Start the Process
Today’s companies need agility, fresh thinking and a high tolerance for disruption to seize market opportunities and embrace new business models. We combine creativity and forward-thinking from a team of executive leaders who can advise, maximize value through M&A, and consult on strategic initiatives.
We combine entrepreneurial empathy and deep expertise in leading M&A and financing transactions to plan and execute effective acquisition and exit strategies, in harmony, with our clients. Our goal? Your encore.
If you would like more information, please contact us today.
Makenzie Hammond
Makenzie Hammond leads the firm’s M&A sell-side outreach, research, and analysis. Makenzie originates the initial strategic acquirer and financial investor profiles to produce the M&A buyer list. She also maintains oversight of all MD&A meetings on behalf of client leadership teams, Encore partners and prospective buy-side acquirers and investors.
Additionally, Makenzie heads the firm’s marketing internal and external teams, which includes spearheading Encore’s social media, content marketing, e.g., strategy related to the firm’s Insights website page, Linked page, podcasts and brand management.
Makenzie began her career working for leading marketing agencies, including overseeing digital marketing for such accounts as La-Z-Boy and Honda.
Makenzie offices out of the firm’s HQ in Newport Beach, California.
