Mergers and acquisitions are tricky business. While it’s an exciting time, the stakes are high… and so is the stress for a smooth transition. And as if the pressure of negotiations and legalese aren’t enough, you’ve got to figure out how you’re going to open once necessary approvals are finalized—with every location being completely re-merchandised to your brand. 

What do you do? How do you manage it all?  That’s a lot on anyone’s plate.  

Lucky for you, we’re a pretty hungry bunch (usually for dessert, but data works too), and devoured all the latest stats, how-to's, best practices, plus gotcha’s and deduced them into this handy blog for making the branding and re-merchandising process even easier...

What Consistent Branding Looks Like

• Similar Design - Both inside and out, the design features of your branches should all be similar. In other words, if you're going for a bright and modern interior, all of our branches should match this theme.
• Colors & Imagery - When a client walks into your branch, whatever branch, the branding and the experience should be the same.If your company color is red, all of your branches should have red incorporated into them. Also stick to similar imagery and regular placement of your logo.
• Matching Messaging - Be sure that all of your branches are being ran by the same communication standard so that the message is always in-sync and the voice is always on-brand.
• Synchronized Operations - From the way your staff interact with clients to the actual flow of your floor plan, you want your branches to feel similar so clients can more quickly become comfortable.

Why Consistent Branding Matters

• Easy Recognition - If your clients can't recognize your branches from your competitors, you can just forget about foot traffic.
• A Reliable Experience -  Client experience is a differentiation for most financial institutions. The way a client is treated is a big reason behind who they choose to bank with, so ensuring this promised experience is delivered across your entire network is critical.

3 Easy Ways To Accomplish Branch Consistency

• Run an Audit: Take invetory of all your branches and look at them in detail. From design to tech to branding and beyond; the fuller the picture you can get the better. You can then use this data to identify patterns and differentiation to build a plan for creating consistency.
• Build a Team of Executors: Part of building a plan worth executing on is having a team of people you trust helping to build that plan. We recommend including your marketing department, operations department, and in-branch managers in this team.
• Use this Checklist: When it comes to building the actual plan, we have this handy-dandy M&A checklist you can use: Download now!