Marketing Objectives in a Merger: A Case Study

Company Merger – How should the brands be positioned to meet marketing objectives?

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The Situation:

Our client EPS* is a long established company supplying building supplies mainly to the trade sector. With the acquisition of MDC*, an online direct-to-consumer business, EPS needed guidance on the best way forward to ensure that they meet their marketing objectives, as well as retain their current trade sales, maximise the opportunity with MDC with the most efficient and effective growth strategy.

While MDC was doing well online, there was still a lot of room for growth including possibility of retail presence. EPS also needed to explore other opportunities to move forward within the well established trade sector while achieving their marketing objectives.

What we did:

• Identifying and analysing EPS and MDC audiences in order to segment them into ‘marketable and profitable’ segments
• Identifying the needs and key messages that will resonate with each segment
• Develop a brand positioning and strategy – whether the brands should merge or remain as two separate identities
• Developing a marketing strategy based on robust insights including industry trends, influences and changes
• Creating an effective marketing plan on a macro level for the long term and micro levels that includes the right channels to use in order to future-proof the business for the next 4-7 years.

We also:

• Evaluated their current marketing objectives to measure effectiveness and identify areas for improvement
• Review MDC E-commerce website to increase traffic and conversion
• Created an effective email marketing and social media to grow retail customers
• Analysed customer feedback vs cost and effectiveness of their monthly magazine

The outcomes of focusing on clear marketing objectives:

We identified that from the customer’s point of view, there needed to be a clear separation between the trade and direct-to-consumer brands, while being positioned as complementary brands. This would maintain brand integrity, retain the customers and maximise their different brand positions.

Armed with this new knowledge and insight, EPS was able to set their company vision in motion and a strong foundation of marketing objectives to build their success on.

They established the separation of each business entity and brands so that each could play to its own strengths. This was further supported with a step by step realistic marketing plan.

This has resulted in a clear brand identity for both EPS and MDC and with their strategy focusing on marketing objectives, they are enjoying growth in both brands.

 

* The Company name has been changed to protect the privacy of the client.