{Most professional} providers companies that need to develop ultimately run into no less than one in every of three obstacles:
- No title recognition in new markets
- Established competitors that’s onerous to beat
- An inadequate pool of certified job candidates
Some of the efficient methods to beat these hurdles is to amass companies that have already got the traits they want.
The truth is, greater than 46% of high-growth companies engaged in a merger or acquisition final 12 months. Whereas buying a agency can supply on the spot entry to new markets, a bigger buyer base and a brand new income stream, it additionally raises a variety of branding questions.
The query I hear most frequently is whether or not to fold the acquired agency into the customer’s personal model or preserve it separate. It is a downside of name structure, and the way you select to reply it may have broad implications in your agency and the way it’s perceived. In the present day, I need to give attention to the strategy most acquirers desire: the unified model.
The Unified Model: A Seamless Integration
Once I say unified model, I imply the acquired agency is absolutely built-in into the father or mother firm, adopting its title, brand, tradition and messaging. This technique has the benefit of simplicity and readability. There’s no confusion within the market about who you might be or what you do.
Nonetheless, reaching a very unified model is usually simpler stated than performed. Companies typically purchase different companies for strategic causes with out absolutely contemplating how they’ll combine the brand new staff. This may be particularly difficult when the 2 companies have very completely different cultures or enterprise fashions.
As an illustration, we labored with a conventional on-site accounting agency that purchased a extremely entrepreneurial agency with a completely distant staff and whose purchasers paid on a subscription mannequin. The acquirer wished to assimilate the acquired agency into its conventional tradition. You possibly can think about the issues they have been having! Whereas we have been nicely suited to handle their model and messaging challenges, the cultural points have been outdoors our space of experience.
Primarily based on this and lots of comparable experiences, I strongly advocate that any agency that’s about to make, or not too long ago has made, an acquisition to work with a post-merger marketing consultant. They can assist you see challenges within the offing and develop methods to resolve any variations—or decide {that a} unified model strategy isn’t going to work.
How A number of Manufacturers Can Change into One
As soon as any variations are addressed, it’s typically simple for an acquired agency to turn out to be a definite service line below the grasp model. This easy strategy is smart when the acquired agency brings a completely new skillset or market focus to your online business.
For instance, a consulting agency would possibly purchase a smaller agency that makes a speciality of government teaching and rebrand it because the “Govt Teaching Division” of the father or mother firm. This permits the acquired agency to retain a level of its specialised id whereas nonetheless benefiting from the sources and status of the bigger group. It is a traditional instance of a branded home technique, the place all acquired companies inherit the title and brand of the father or mother agency however are additionally recognized by their space of experience.
This strategy has a number of benefits. It permits you to every enterprise unit to compete with specialist companies. On the identical time, any enterprise unit can faucet into the varied vary of in-house experience when wanted, creating new alternatives for collaboration and cross-selling. Nonetheless, it may be troublesome for a enterprise unit to tell apart itself from the general agency, and specialised rivals should have a perceived benefit. Usually, nonetheless, potential purchasers are on the lookout for a agency with a variety of experience, offsetting the specialist’s benefit in some circumstances.
In lots of conditions, nonetheless, the acquired agency is both similar to the acquirer or there’s a lot overlap of their capabilities. In these circumstances, the buying agency will typically assign the folks within the acquired agency to the follow areas or enterprise models most related to their experience.
The Position of a Branding Agency and Integration Marketing consultant
Navigating the complexities of post-acquisition branding is one thing no agency ought to do alone. A branding agency will be a useful associate on this course of. They can assist you construction your post-acquisition model structure, whether or not you select a unified model, a home of manufacturers, or a branded home strategy. They’ll additionally make it easier to create a cohesive visible id that displays your new, expanded group.
Maybe most significantly, they can assist you develop considerate messaging that explains the rationale behind the acquisition to each inside and exterior audiences, which is essential for minimizing model confusion and anxiousness within the market.
It’s additionally sensible to have interaction a marketing consultant to advise you on the mixing course of itself. The secret’s to anticipate the challenges forward and to have a transparent plan to handle them. With the correct technique and assist, an acquisition could be a highly effective instrument to develop in measurement, expertise and specialised experience.
