In our podcast episode, Mergers and Acquisitions: Opportunities and Pitfalls, Julia and Laura discussed the importance of mergers and acquisitions when it comes to business strategy, especially the importance of building trust and rapport with the affected parties before signing on the line. In this article, we’ll explore another aspect of M&A: how marketing factors into it. This marketer’s perspective on mergers & acquisitions will include the marketing around such actions and the pros and cons of using M&A to build a marketing department for your business.
A Merger or Acquisition Always Means New Marketing
While business brokers are always interested in the PR surrounding a business’s merger or acquisition, a press release is only part of the marketing that needs to be completed around such an action. More must be done to capitalize on the M&A, especially its online presence.
- Rebranding and Brand Management: A merger or acquisition typically means one or more businesses will need to rebrand—a process that’s a lot harder online than many people realize. After that, it’s essential to keep brands consistent online.
- PR and Reputation Management: Besides the press release, there are many other public relations facets to consider. Managing and redirecting websites, social media, business listings, and ratings or reviews are all part of keeping this new customer base happy.
- Changing Your Target Demographics: The merger or acquisition will open up new markets and demographics. Changes in geography, industry, and even age and gender need to be taken into consideration to retarget advertising and marketing.
Building Your Marketing Department: Hire, Acquire, or Outsource?
With our long history in the marketing industry working for clients in New England and beyond, we’ve seen a lot of mergers, including ones where our contract moved from one business to another during M&A. We’ve also seen businesses who struggle with their own marketing looking at options to bring on a marketing department.
In-House or Outsource Your Marketing?
As our CEO Laura DiBenedetto said in the Worcester Business Journal article, Marketing: In-house or Outsource?, it’s all about the resources you can devote to building the team. Building your marketing department from scratch requires a lot of work: not only finding and hiring skilled individuals but giving them the support (mentoring, oversight, budgeting, etc.) they need to succeed. Acquiring a marketing agency can circumvent many of these problems, but it costs far more than building a marketing partnership with an agency that already has the marketing resources you need without the spendy price tag.
About the enVisioning Success Podcast
This article is based on topics discussed in enVisioning Success, our weekly podcast hosted by Vision CEO Laura DiBenedetto and COO Julia Becker Collins. In it, they discuss all things business and marketing, from lead generation to leadership. Find us on PodBean to download from your platform of choice, or subscribe to our mailing list to get new episodes and other news delivered directly to your inbox.
Marketing is an important part of mergers and acquisitions, both a tool to maximize those investments and a potential investment itself. While a marketing M&A sometimes makes sense, finding a marketing agency as part of a strategic partnership means you can do more with less. Here at Vision, we’ve helped countless clients not just outsource their marketing but build a partnership where consultation, reporting, and expertise meet to provide in-house levels of support for your business. Contact us today to learn more and get started.
