This is the 18th in a series of business tips from industry leaders that Enterprise Times has interviewed.
Enterprise Times recently interviewed Paul Stoddart, CMO of Epicor about its recent brand refresh. Epicor has a long history of acquisitions and recently completed the acquisition of KBMax. Enterprise asked him to share a tip from a marketing perspective, around bringing a new brand into an enterprise through acquisition.
Stoddart replied: “It’s definitely ‘be deliberate and have the uncomfortable conversations upfront’. We are a company that has grown through acquisition. Any company that’s done so, and you know my background, I was at IBM and Microsoft, so any companies that go through acquisitions, you need to determine, why you’re acquiring them.
“Then, making sure that things like the brand naming, for instance, has been really key for us as we’ve gone through our brand refresh, simplifying an experience, making it clear to customers, what we do and where we do it.
“As you go through an acquisition, you’re probably bringing on a new brand name. How does that dock in? How do you manage that integration strategy? Have those conversations upfront. Maybe even just say, “Hey, we’re going to need to have this conversation in six months time.” Acknowledge the tough conversations, that’s the key to it all. You don’t have to have the answer on day one, but you do have to acknowledge that you’re gonna have to have the conversation.”
