Maximise the sale value of your business
Five tips to help you get your marketing aligned before the buyers arrive.
You’ve arrived at that point when you want to sell your business. So understandably you want to maximise the value and get the result you’ve worked hard to achieve.
Financial and legal due diligence are standard processes. So you’ll rightly be focussing on ensuring the accounts and forecasts are buttoned down, legal commitments clarified.
And of course, M&A firms and prospective buyers will be looking at the strength of your management team, recurring revenue streams and the adaptability of your employees among many other things.
But who is performing the due diligence on one of the key drivers of growth – your marketing?
Memorable, consistent and effective marketing will add to the value of your business.
Here’s five tips to help you get your marketing aligned.
1. Articulate a clear purpose
Whatever you’d like to believe your customers don’t think about your brand nearly as much as you do. In fact people don’t think about brands much at all. Largely they actively avoid it – choice fatigue.
So why does your business exist?
What role does it have in the life of your customer?
Have you articulated this through your marketing comms?
2. Develop a distinct customer value proposition
People talk about marketing differentiation. For some it’s achievable. For most having a distinct proposition is more important than differentiation.
Is that what you’ve got?
Have you brought it to life?
Does it stand out against your competitors?
3. Have a marketing strategy
There are a remarkable number of businesses that don’t have one. While there might be many reasons for this it generally means there are no clear objectives and therefore makes success difficult to judge.
Do you have a marketing strategy?
Are you able to demonstrate where you’ve set objectives and met them. Or not?
Can you demonstrate what you’ve learned about your customer behaviour and what it means for the future?
4. Make your communications memorable
Creating distinct and consistent marketing is one of the toughest challenges. With most sectors crowded, if not over-supplied, you need to create an exciting brand that is part of the future.
Do your comms grab attention and drive action?
Do they authentically represent your brand?
Are you communicating emotionally as well as rationally?
5. Demonstrate marketing effectiveness
Your marketing metrics should be aligned behind what drives commercial growth. Too often businesses waste time by analysing stats that frankly don’t matter.
Are you using behavioural insight to drive communications?
Have you identified your primary, secondary and tertiary segments?
Can you represent how you’ve applied Test and Learn techniques?
Are you using data to inform insight, targeting, timing, location and media?
By conducting a Marketing Audit you can ensure that the strategic, creative and effectiveness narrative of your assets are all aligned – the ducks are all in a row. And any wrinkles, like an out-of-date website, are ironed out well ahead of the buyers arriving.
Firehaus delivers Glow – a marketing audit that gives business owners an expert, unbiased review of their marketing communications to evaluate distinctiveness, clarity, innovation and effectiveness – helping to maximise your business value.
For further information contact us here.