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When a B2B company is preparing for an IPO, seeking venture capital, or attracting private equity, branding is about more than winning customers—it’s about reinforcing long-term value for investors.
But aligning a brand with investor expectations isn’t always straightforward. What resonates with customers may signal risk or inefficiency to those evaluating the business through a different lens.
Take the case of a fast-growing data analytics company we partnered with. The business had outpaced larger, more established competitors by offering hands-on, high-touch, over-the-top customer service. A compelling differentiator for customers—one that seemed like a natural pillar for the brand. But as leadership prepared the company to go public, key questions emerged:
- Would investors see “high touch” as “high cost”?
- Could the business scale while maintaining this level of service?
This tension between customer appeal and investor confidence is a challenge many companies face. The right brand strategy must strike a balance, articulating a company’s market strength while reinforcing its growth potential.
We did in fact build a brand inspired by our client’s above-and-beyond client service. But the brand emphasized the overall client experience rather than specifics of what the company did. This played well to client needs and aspirations—while avoiding frightening off investors.
To Align or Not To Align
The story of our data analytics client illustrates an all-too-common conundrum for public companies (or companies that anticipate going public): how to create a brand that resonates with an investor audience as well as all the other people who matter to the business: clients, prospects, partners, influencers, employees and recruits.
Service isn’t the only potential territory of conflict within the brandscape. A commitment to R&D can help position a company as innovative and forward looking, but investors may see R&D as a cost, not an opportunity. Pharmaceutical companies in particular face pressure from investors to rein in R&D costs, which can make it tough for them to build a brand around innovation and the quest for new life-saving drugs.
Smart technology companies often create brands built on the benefits of their IP rather than the IP itself. But investors tend to assign a higher multiple to pure tech plays with proprietary IP.
The challenge is heightened because you really can’t create a pure “investor brand” distinct from your company’s brand. This may have been possible once, but today’s brands live across platforms and communications channels. Investors will visit your website, check you out on social media, perhaps even kick the tires at a trade show. Your brand needs to be synchronized across all channels, and that means a single brand deployed consistently, everywhere.
Where to Start
For all these reasons, we highly recommend including investor audiences in any rebranding research. This is true even for private companies, because most of them will need to finance their growth at some point—whether through a public offering, by attracting venture capital, or even through a commercial loan.
This research might involve:
- Evaluating a company’s “comparables” (the public companies with which it competes) to gauge what investors are looking for
- Speaking to current or prospective investors, who can be very helpful in understanding a company’s business model, growth potential and even its value proposition
Professional investors can also be a great resource during the branding process itself. They’re objective, unsentimental evaluators who make their living studying companies. They almost always look beyond financial statements to evaluate customer loyalty trends, sales momentum and the competitive arena.
An energy company rebranded to attract tech investment
We rebranded and renamed an energy consulting firm to emphasize the company’s proprietary technology and data resources rather than its methodology—the focus of its legacy brand. This differentiated the company from competitors, but it also positioned it as a technology player that could appeal to tech investors.
Two years following the rebranding, the company received a major investment from one of Silicon Valley’s largest and most admired venture capital firms. This VC firm does not invest in consulting firms. It invests in technology companies.
Putting It All Together
Investors look for different things in different industries and companies. But they always focus on the future. Your customers want to know what you or your product can do for them today; investors want to know where the company is headed. So the brand needs to convey a vision for investors as well as a value proposition for customers.
These shouldn’t be in conflict; in fact, ideally they will complement and reinforce each other. In addition, your messaging platform should enable you to amp up specific messages for the investor audience while staying within the brand framework.
A well-crafted brand bridges the gap between customer engagement and investor confidence. It tells a cohesive story—one that reinforces business momentum, signals long-term value, and resonates across audiences. By integrating investor insights into brand strategy from the start, companies can ensure their brand isn’t only compelling, but also aligned with the expectations of those who help drive its future.
Want to build a compelling brand story that connects with investors? Let’s talk.
Originally published April 1, 2016.
