The Scenario
A mid-size PE firm had just acquired a life science company and was looking to redefine its marketing strategy and brand presence pending another large-scale acquisition. With the goal of seamlessly merging identities while maintaining their distinct offering, the company’s leadership and investment partners realized they may need support aligning their new brand strategy with the expectations of a competitive and specialized industry.
The Challenge
Post-acquisition, the company faced critical hurdles in marketing and branding efforts, including:
- Collaborating with marketing firms outside of the life sciences that lacked a deep, crucial understanding of their specific life science services and solutions sector.
- Merging their brand identity with the acquiring company while preserving the essence of the original brand.
- Addressing stakeholder resistance to changes in branding, including logos and color schemes.
Overhauling an outdated website to reflect their new identity and engage with their target audience effectively.
The Strategy
Seeking a marketing agency that understood these unique challenges, the PE firm brought in support from Bracken’s Marketing Services team. The company partnered with Bracken for our unique integrated approach—instead of needing to choose between a marketing agency or a consultant, Bracken provides access to both options, and deep domain expertise in both areas. Bracken’s experts developed a comprehensive approach to address the company’s marketing transformation, including:
- Market Assessment & Strategic Planning: In-depth analysis of the niche market, key opportunity identification, and go-to-market strategy development. This assessment informed the development of a targeted go-to-market strategy that emphasized the company’s strengths and positioned it as a leader in its space.
- Unified Rebranding: Combining all new, merged, and acquired businesses under the parent company’s umbrella. The new identity unified the legacy of merged and acquired businesses, honored the original brand, and symbolized a forward-looking vision.
- Website Optimization & Positioning: Solidifying brand awareness through a targeted, tailored SEO strategy and campaign development. This was a two-phase project: the first was moving their main website to the redesigned one; the second was bringing their legacy sites to the consolidated website. Additionally, follow-up (and ongoing) campaigns were launched to sustain engagement and drive leads post-launch.
The Results
Bracken’s strategic approach delivered measurable outcomes for the company. Within 6 months, the company’s brand presence and marketing capabilities were transformed, leading to positive feedback from stakeholders and clients alike.
- Web Traffic: Increased by 290%
- Clicks from Google Search: Increased by 15.6%
- Impressions on Google: Increased by 4.11%
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): Improved from 6.9% to 7.6%
Bracken became their in-house marketing team, fostering ongoing collaboration through regular business development discussions and strategic input. The company’s #1 priority is brand awareness. All of these statistics align with and support that objective. Bracken’s work with the company demonstrates the value of combining marketing expertise with deep industry knowledge. By aligning market-analyzed branding and data-driven strategy, Bracken helped the company navigate its post-acquisition transition, differentiate and grow their business in an untapped market—and stand apart in the crowd.
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