Selling companies?
With a strong brand, the price goes up.
Figures and clauses are examined in detail, but don't forget the brand. There can be a lot of hidden value here. See our checklist below.
Trademarks
When selling a business, the focus is often on the numbers. But the buyer's willingness to pay also depends on other factors. We are talking about brand equity. A company is easier to sell if it is well-known, if it stands out and if it inspires confidence.
In Swedish, we talk about trademarks. In English it is more educational: we divide the trademark into two parts, trade mark and brand. You can own and legally defend a trade mark. It can be a name and logo, packaging design, sound (Hemglass has exclusive rights to its little tune) or a slogan.
A brand is something completely different. A company does not own its own brand, it is usually said that it is owned by the market. A brand exists in people's minds, it is a perception and a variety of associations associated with the brand. Brand management is the art of managing and influencing how our brand is perceived. This is what we work with.
Before a sale, all contact with customers and other target groups - such as the media and partners - is important to review. There are always things that should be fixed and cleaned up, even in the short term. Many people will be Googling and searching for information in all sorts of ways when we are on sale.
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Here are 11 points (there are more!) to keep in mind.
Checklist
- Do we have relevant data? How well known is our brand? How do we rank in our market? How do we compare with our competitors?
- How do our messages stand up? Are we saying the right things? Are we good at something that the market would have valued highly but that they don't know about?
- What is our visual image? How do we look in pictures? Do we have a graphic profile?
- How do we describe ourselves in text? Is the text convincing and accurate?
- How is our digital presence? How do we manage our social media?
- How are we ranked by Google?
- Is our site search engine optimized? Have we done our keyword analysis? Is the site technically optimized?
- Do we have clear KPIs for the sale? What do we measure, how do we follow up? Should we have a dedicated landing page for prospective buyers?
- Do we have a plan for dealing with the media? Should we prepare one or more press releases? Should we contact the trade press?
- How do we find a buyer? What channels do we use? Do we have a plan to work on A and B tests for advertising on Google and social media?
- Do we have a good pitch deck?
