Planning for Business Exiting? Is Your Marketing Plan Prepared, Too?
As a business owner, are you preparing for business exiting in the next year? Three years? Five years?
When selling your business, it is equally important to invest in your business’ growth because, in order to successfully sell, you must be able to prove your company’s value.
This is where marketing becomes your best friend. From jump-starting a new marketing strategy to revamping your existing marketing plan, it plays a significant role in elevating your business for exiting.
Let’s consider the following scenarios.
What if as the business owner you are the primary revenue generator? Since most of the sales are built on personal relationships with the business owner, rather than with the brand, then when the company is sold it risks losing those existing customers and lowering the value of the company.
What if you sell your company and the existing sales team doesn’t approve of the new compensation plan and they leave, how will you get business in the door? Without targeting and generating new sales, the new owner may not be able to continue paying you the buyout plan.
What if there is a conflict with the new management? Do you have enough time to put a plan in place all while keeping new business coming in the door?
When a business has a brand that represents the company’s values while promoting the products and services to establish reliable sales, then the owner can safely exit without worrying about the business experiencing setbacks or downfalls.
How Marketing Increases the Value of Your Business
Grow Your Business
When a business has a proven process for marketing and business development it is more appealing for the new buyer to step into the ownership role while confidently knowing the sales will sustain. Investing in your marketing plan increases the value of your business, ensures a reliable pipeline, and provides security for exiting. It is not enough to have a generic marketing plan but to develop a marketing strategy that incorporates the considerations and goals of business exiting. An exiting marketing strategy should promote your brand to separate sales dependent on the business owner, create product and service awareness designed for the targeted audience, and overall heighten your business for established growth.
Proven Cash Flow
When you have a solid marketing plan that has been successfully driving leads with the historical data to prove it, you are able to effectively predict future revenue that the business can count. This in return drives the worth of your company. Having a glimpse of what revenue can be earned from future sales is like having future cash in the bank, it’s that crystal ball every business owner craves. When a prospect sees that your company’s organic cash flow is sustainable and the process is in place, well-documented, and easily executed, there is less risk involved in buying the business. Therefore the value of your business is increased because you are able to prove your cash flow.
Prepared for the Unexpected
Business is unpredictable. It experiences rapid changes and unexpected pivots which often results in reactive methods to compensate for the developments. There are 5 D’s that have the potential to significantly impair a business:
- Divorce
- Disagreement
- Disability
- Death
- Disaster
Having a comprehensive marketing plan allows your business to pivot quickly and respond to the market changes. In order to effectively prepare for exiting, you need to be ready for the unexpected. A marketing plan that has received ongoing and constant attention to align with different trends, industry changes, and encompassing news will be better equipped with the ability to quickly adjust to developments.
This year is the perfect example of how nimble messaging and proactive planning can limit the hindrances or misfortunes many businesses experienced. From a worldwide pandemic to an economic downfall, businesses have experienced a vast range of the unexpected. Yet the businesses that had the processes available to pivot and swiftly address the challenges are able to continue operating at a dependable level. An attentive marketing plan provides the resources for nimble messaging and efforts that adhere to the inevitable unknowns that keep your business on track for exiting.
Marketing Brings Value to the Business
When a solid marketing strategy and processes in place provide the new owner or management team to focus on other operations of the business, such as merging two companies, revitalizing the culture, or establishing new vendor relationships to negotiate better contract terms. A solid marketing plan not only elevates the business, but it also provides the necessary time and resources for the new owners to regulate attention to other areas that may need upgrading.
In order to establish this growth foundation, you need to allocate an imperative budget to marketing. Since marketing, today is not what it was ten, five, or even a few years ago, there are multiple platforms that your business needs to target in order to reach your ideal audience.
Building brand recognition requires multiple initiatives that build off one another and encourage conversions through multi-step marketing along the customer journey. To establish sales, you must first build cross-platform brand awareness through strategic marketing efforts. Modern marketing encourages business growth from a variety of platforms and initiatives since they all collaborate to drive leads to compensate for the evolving marketing and consumer expectations.
Nowadays, your audience is not contained to one platform, therefore your business must develop a marketing plan that addresses multiple platforms based on your industry and ideal audience. From social posting to paid advertising to blog posts, your audience may respond to different activities therefore your marketing plan should reflect those preferences and patterns.
As mentioned, traditional business development is often reliant on personal relationships and networking. While this offers significant value, in a world where business partnerships can be cultivated on a significantly larger scale through online interactions, it is critical to ensure your business is using that space. This means promoting your brand outside your direct geographical reach or to a new generation of decision-makers. Therefore, advanced marketing offers the opportunity to grow your business outside the business owner’s direct network which ultimately grows the brand for dependable exiting.
Marketing Your Business Should Invest In
A marketing plan built on modern business development that incorporates the current methods of building business relationships and brand loyalty includes using trending platforms and new means of mass communication.
Here are several examples of marketing areas your company can invest in that will elevate its standard of marketing.
- Brand refresh to reflect modern standards and ensure your brand remains current for new and existing customers
- Defined and consistent messaging across your website and additional marketing material to enable brand recognition
- Detailed editorial/content calendar that outlines content such as blogs, social media, email campaigns, paid advertising, and more
- CRM and email automation system for tracking sales funnel and streamlining marketing efforts for effective analyses and improvement
- Upgraded website design and functionality as a website is a business’ most powerful marketing asset
- Industry-specific marketing efforts, such as commercials, videos, trade show material, social media activity, and more
Next Steps
Having a solid marketing plan should be part of your transition strategy. Being able to grow your business, prove cash flow, and prepare for the unexpected allows your business to exit swiftly and successfully. Business exiting is only as good as your ability to sustain its success after it is sold, and marketing can get you there.
To learn more about building a marketing strategy when preparing for business exiting, get in touch with our team at Evolve Systems. We can explain how we can assist your business to develop and execute a marketing plan that will give value to your business for exit. Fill out the form below!
