Pruning for Potential: How to Prepare Your Company for a Strategic Sale
So, you’ve decided to package your company to appeal to a strategic buyer. Now that you’ve identified your ideal buyer audience, it’s time to get into the weeds. This isn’t just about polishing your numbers or sprucing up your pitch deck. While your baseline financial and operational metrics— such as EBITDA growth rates, revenue, employee retention, and IP— should always be top priority since all buyers look at these when conducting due diligence, it is important to consider how buyer audiences differ in terms of which features they focus on and prioritize. This article discusses how businesses can develop their marketing and communications efforts to align with what strategics are looking for — allowing them to make a lasting impact that can affect outcomes such as valuation.
Often, what grabs the attention of a strategic buyer are the many intangibles that don’t show up in your financial statements or in the deal room. These buyers are looking for strategic fit — that is, a business whose products or services leadership, talent, and market position can allow them to expand into new markets, expand their technical capabilities, or both.
If a strategic sale is of interest to you, it will be valuable to start laying the groundwork in the digital realm long before you even begin the process of selling. Devote 12-18 months to tailor your story to a strategic audience, distilling your value proposition and defining your “special sauce” that sets your business apart.
What does this look like exactly? You may need to spend time adding to your website, or on your marketing campaigns promoting your services and solutions for prospective and current customers. Corporate development offices of large strategic acquirers are always on the hunt for deal flow, so be sure to comb and research companies that pop up on their radar in certain categories. Ideally, you’ll continue to emerge at the top before an initial call is even made.
What catches a strategic acquirer’s attention?
By staying consistently active in your ecosystem and industry through communication and thought leadership tactics, companies can highlight their unique expertise to strategic audiences. Here are some examples to put into your toolkit:
Authored Articles: Write bylined pieces on specialized topics in the publications that potential acquirers frequently read. Corporate development teams actively scan industry outlets for credible voices and emerging leaders.
Highlighting Leadership Across Channels: Build out bios for CXO / fractional leadership and communicate updates about your leadership team on your website, on social media, and through press releases. This boosts your company’s credibility and showcases talent.
Blog Posts: Maintain an active blog to showcase your expertise and control your company narrative. This serves as a direct line to both clients and potential suitors evaluating your market authority.
Speaking Engagements: Industry conferences and trade shows offer high-visibility platforms to demonstrate expertise. If you land a speaking slot, repurpose it — record the session, post a recap, or turn key insights into a LinkedIn article.
Website Adjustments: Create a resources page highlighting your methodologies, research, and case studies. Consider updating your home page with testimonials from past and current clients.
Social Media Engagement: Staying active – especially on Linkedin – is key for staying engaging in your industry and ecosystem. Share insights, comment on trends, and engage with peers to keep your brand visible in the right circles.
Analyst Relations: If your industry is covered by research firms like Gartner, Forrester, or niche analysts, cultivate those relationships. Positive mentions in analyst reports can significantly influence buyer perception.
Podcasts: Join relevant podcasts as a guest or launch your own featuring clients, partners, SMEs, and thought leaders. It’s a dynamic way to expand reach and highlight your network.
Ebooks: Compile your top-performing content such as blog posts and articles into an ebook. It reinforces your authority, supports lead generation, and provides easily shareable proof of your industry depth.
It should be noted that not all of this must be executed by the founder or CEO. In fact, it’s better if these communications are spread across multiple levels of leadership to demonstrate a solid bench of expertise. Hire a content writer, a PR firm or marketing agency to help produce the content, and be sure to share that it’s with a strategic suitor in mind, as well as for lead generation purposes.
Setting Up For Success
When you’re preparing a business for sale, think of it like tending to a tree you’ve spent years growing — with sturdy roots, healthy branches, and maybe a few wild twigs that could use a little trimming. The goal isn’t to change what makes your company special; it’s to prune strategically using purposeful communications tactics and thought leadership initiatives so your strongest qualities shine through to the right buyer.