Selling a business: using marketing to increase value before you sell, part 3

Know the potential return on your advertising investment.

Last post, we talked about a) understanding who you are or want to be, b) identifying your target market and c) ensuring that everything you do is consistent with the image you are trying to create in order to be the very best supplier to your target market.

Today, we’ll address ways of communicating with your prospects.

Most of us are familiar with the standard advertising media such as direct mail, telemarketing, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, coupons, flyers, billboards and signage. These paid media can be effective if you have properly identified the audience you are trying to reach and the message you are trying to get across and you commit to the time it takes to achieve results. You need to determine who you are trying to reach and with what message, in order to choose the media that will be the most effective for your purposes.

You should also be looking at the potential return on your advertising investment. Higher revenue and higher profits (all else being equal) will result in a higher selling price for your business. I highly recommend getting expert advice about your advertising investment. Some simple rules such as including a call to action apply– if your outlay does not result in a prospect taking some action towards becoming a client then what is it accomplishing? Knowledgeable media sales people with personal integrity will help you make appropriate decisions about your advertising mix.  Advertising firms who help with your creative materials are also a good source of such information.

Selling a business: using marketing to increase value before you sell, part 2

Last post we talked about understanding your market niche and applying focus and consistency of image in product or service delivery to ensure you dominate that niche.  Today, I want to expand on how you touch your prospects and how a consistent image results in a better business.

Business owners often overlook prospect and client education, peer or client recognition, ambiance and effective testing to understand prospect and client perceptions.  Large companies regularly hire services to collect, analyze and report on their prospects and clients perceptions but those of us in small- and medium-sized businesses often ignore this or make assumptions that are wrong.

I was approached by a client some years ago to sell a number of their locations. They were not doing well.  After visiting some, I asked the client what business he thought they were in.  He said that they were in the business of selling bagels. I said that he was in the business of making his clients feel a bit better about themselves because they had patronized his location.