Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are common in many industries, including tech, financial services and healthcare. Following are some communication tips for making sure your combined brand is positioned positively before, during and after the M&A:
1. Look within. While you may initially want to focus on what to say to the public, your first priority should be to internal audiences, such as the staff of both companies, shareholders, etc. These will be the people who help promulgate your messages to external audiences, such as customers and community leaders. If layoffs will occur, you want to tell employees directly and help quash the rumor mill.
2. Don’t work in a silo. Your public relations team should work with marketing, legal, HR, etc. to make sure everyone is on the same page. For example, you would hate to have someone post on Facebook about how much your company loves being a part of a certain community, only to announce shortly after that you’re relocating your office.
3. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Develop a contingency plan in case of new timelines, deals falling through or someone leaking information publicly. In other words, you shouldn’t be caught off-guard when the original plan goes to hell.