Step Two: Brand needs corporate alignment
Due diligence is a vital part of the deal. Buyers need to know what’s under every stone. But in the midst of deep considerations on corporate vision and strategy, make time for a realistic assessment of how the brand portfolio is or can be aligned to articulate the strategy. A premium may have been paid for an acquired brand, so there ought to be consideration as to how this value should be maximised.

Step Three: Brand needs marketing know-how
For generations, marketing was considered the poor relation; it was sales that really mattered. You could identify in an instant who had sold what to whom; but nobody could really tell what impact, if any, that advert, that press release or that new brochure had really had. But today, things are different. New, highly sophisticated ‘marketing automation’ techniques mean that marketers can provide real-time data on the impact of their digital engagement strategies. The new battleground for value creation rallies to the cry of ‘mind share over market share’, using data analysis and richly entertaining media to build strong and powerful links between sellers and buyers, between employers and employees and between owners and investors. Today’s savvy buyers know so much more about the marketplace than they ever did, because the information is shared freely by all the participants. And it is marketing that is building this deeper and richer relationship over time, setting up the defining sales conversation.

Step Four: Brand works from inside out
A less than enlightened ex-client once asked us why his staff needed to know where the business was going. As the question was surprising, so the answer was obvious: in business-to-business, you very often have many more staff than customers, by a factor in some cases of twenty or thirty times. As the main interface between the business and its revenue sources, at its most basic level, the staff must carry and deliver the same message. Ideally based on sound and embedded company values, staff behaviour, from communication to project delivery, must bring the brand to life. If you have a choice of investing in better informing your staff, so that you can be sure they are transmitting the right messages or buying a billboard at the airport, always choose the internal option.

Step Five: Brand needs professionals
Let’s assume too, that as you are dealing with something as fragile as brand reputation, as business-to-business marketing communication is in the midst of a fundamental shift, you’ll see the need to seek the right kind of help and support. Consider the client issues that we deal with on a daily basis and ask yourself, could you or your clients provide the right solution to these questions, without professional help: