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O P I N I O N
You need an M&A marketing strategy The close of the deal isn’t the time to sit back and relax; smart firms will come together to create a strategy to make the transition easier.
S o, you’ve decided on a merger and acquisition growth strategy, identified your target, negotiated the key points, and are eager to close the deal. Instead of sitting back and taking a few much-earned days off to catch up on sleep, smart acquirers use the time before closing to develop post-acquisition integration strategies. A well- developed integration strategy is one that has an action plan to marry the firms operationally, with individual plans and strategies for each department or function within the firm, from human resources to project management to marketing. The focus of this article is on internal and external marketing and communications integration strategies.
Jamie Claire Kiser
An M&A marketing and communication strategy will prepare both firms for sharing the details of the transaction and any important changes with clients, employees, investors, and the outside world. The strategy is designed to emphasize consistency in the messages shared with these key groups, with the ultimate goal of minimizing interruptions in business as usual. 1)Focus on the assets inside of the firm: your staff. Communication with your employees needs to be confident, open, and even-handed. As a leader, you have one – yes, one – opportunity to get this pitch right. Announcing an M&A internally is a make- or-break opportunity. If your staff starts posting resumes online, your deal is pretty well killed. Why is this a good opportunity for your employees? Who is this other company? Is this a good thing for us or
a bad thing? How will this impact the career develop- ment of the professionals at your firm? If you aren’t armed with the information that your employees need, know that they will fill in the blanks them- selves, with wild guesses and conjectures, and this misinformation will build upon itself like an awful game of telephone. 2)Discuss your core values with the target firm to develop a joint mission and vision statement, and share these statements widely. We recom- mend doing this at a joint strategic planning session. Firms can align their core values, develop an inte- gration strategy, and decide how to communicate changes internally and externally through an intense but informal session focused on creating the blue- print for the future. In addition to making decisions
See M&A, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 12, 2015, ISSUE 1123
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