When it comes to selling your business, your primary concerns may focus on how the sale will affect your operations, teams, product offerings, and customers. But have you ever considered how it might affect your brand?

Acquisition provides a fantastic opportunity for a brand refresh, but branding is a concept that is frequently overlooked during M&A processes. When we talk about branding, we don’t just mean your brand name, but also the factors that influence how your company is perceived by employees and potential and existing customers. If done correctly, a rebrand can provide you with a refreshed and relevant market positioning, giving you a competitive advantage over competitors.

Here are six things to think about when considering selling your software company.

Understanding Brand Equity

It is best to begin by understanding the market in which your company operates. Consider the brand equity of your company in the marketplace and how it compares to competitors and potential buyers. While your product may have similar functionalities to others on the market, establishing a strong market presence ensures that your solution remains the consumer’s first choice.

Due to the excellent brand equity of particular brands, 77% of people refer to certain items by brand names. Think astroturf, biro, bubble wrap, and hoover. This consumer behaviour speaks to the importance of brand equity as establishing your company as a major player. By surveying competitors, you can learn whether your branding and messaging align with others in the industry, whether it stands out, and if it doesn’t, how you can make it!

What Do Your Employees Think?

Aside from your customers, you should consider how your internal talent feels about branding and, more importantly, what effects a change in branding may have. Take the time to collaborate with your teams to understand their perceptions of your brand, and make sure to involve them and incorporate their feedback throughout any rebranding process. Planning that includes all departments in your company can reduce potential obstacles and allow you to focus on beating your competition!

What Do Your Customer Think?

Customers are frequently top of mind during the M&A process, and the same should apply when it comes to branding. Brand equity is an important component of your branding strategy, and in order to build valuable brand equity, your company must cultivate genuine rapport and trust with its target audience.

Take the time to understand how your customers perceive your brand and consider the implications of a rebrand. Interestingly, 60% of consumers avoid companies with unappealing logos, even if the company has good reviews! As a result, understanding attitudes toward your current visual branding or potential rebranding is also very important.

Consider the History and Future of Branding

Have you ever rebranded your company? What were the reactions of employees, customers, and prospects? To ensure that a future rebrand is successful and not detrimental to your business, consider the lessons you learned from previous mistakes or successes. It’s also important to consider current audience attitudes and ideas to branding.

Current studies show that presenting your brand consistently can increase revenue by up to 23%. According to additional research, companies that present consistent branding are also 3.5 times more likely to enjoy excellent brand visibility than those that present inconsistent brand presentation. By considering past, present, and future attitudes toward branding, you can ensure that the first steps you take are positive and contribute to successful branding.

Where Is Your Business Operating?

When you sell your business, you may very well be exposed to markets outside of your current geography. This not only has a big impact on operations but on branding. Consider, does your current messaging and branding need to adapt to new markets? Collaborating with leaders in your new geography can be a great way to garner a better understanding of this.

At Volaris Net Europe, we understand that we can learn just as much from the companies we acquire as they can learn from us. We foster a culture of collaboration among our business and encourage best practice sharing between our senior leaders and across organisations. Through such collaboration, you can ensure the decisions you make are based on best practice.

Your Industry Will Define Your Branding

Your branding will be defined by the industry in which you operate. Do you, however, operate in more than one? Different industries will have different competitors along with different audiences who are accustomed to a specific style of messaging. It is critical to ensure that your branding and messaging are aligned for these audiences. It’s worth thinking about whether dividing your company into separate brands would benefit your business by allowing you to deliver more targeted and thus more effective messaging.

When it comes to post-acquisition rebranding, it is clear that there is much more to consider than just your brand name. In considering all of the above you can gain a better idea of what you want your company to look like post-acquisition and how to do it successfully.