How to Market Your Business to Potential Buyers

Tony Vaughan
Jul 28, 2025
3 min read

When it comes to selling your business, simply listing it for sale isn’t enough.To attract serious, motivated buyers — and maximise value — you need a carefully planned and confidential marketing strategy.

At EXITS.co.uk, we’ve worked with hundreds of UK business owners to prepare and position their businesses for sale. In our experience, how you market your business can make the difference between a quick, high-value deal and months of silence or price-chipping.

Why Marketing Matters in Business Sales

Marketing your business for sale isn’t about shouting loudly — it’s about targeting smartly. Unlike selling a product or service, a business sale needs to:

Attract a limited but relevant audience
Protect confidentiality
Build credibility and buyer trust
Create competitive tension to drive up offers

Done well, your marketing should generate quality conversations — not time-wasting enquiries.

1. Prepare Before You Promote

Before you even think about marketing your business, make sure you’re ready:

Tidy up financials and produce clean, reliable management accounts
Identify key value drivers (e.g. recurring revenue, customer contracts, IP, systems)
Prepare an Information Memorandum (IM) — a detailed, professional sales document
Ensure confidentiality is in place, including a robust NDA (non-disclosure agreement)

This preparation phase signals to buyers that your business is credible, well-run, and worth taking seriously.

2. Define Your Ideal Buyer

Not every buyer is the right buyer. Understanding who you’re targeting will shape your entire marketing approach:

Trade buyers (competitors, suppliers, or companies in adjacent markets)
Private investors or high-net-worth individuals
Private equity firms or family offices
Employee ownership structures (EOTs)
Management buy-ins/buy-outs (MBI/MBO)

Each group responds to different messaging and channels — and may have different deal structures or expectations.

3. Use Confidential and Targeted Channels

At EXITS.co.uk, we use a mix of confidential marketing strategies designed to protect your business identity while generating strong buyer interest:

Blind Listings: Advertising key information without disclosing your company name
Direct Outreach: Targeted approaches to pre-qualified trade buyers or investors
Buyer Databases: Accessing curated buyer lists segmented by sector and deal size
Industry Platforms: Listing on trusted business-for-sale sites under NDA control
Referral Networks: Leveraging accountants, lawyers, and intermediaries who may know active acquirers

The goal is to spark interest from those who can buy and want to buy — without alerting staff, customers, or competitors unnecessarily.

4. Create Competitive Tension

One of the best ways to maximise price and terms is by creating competitive tension between multiple buyers. To do this, you need:

A broad but qualified pool of potential buyers
A clear deadline or staged process (e.g. offers invited by a specific date)
A professional adviser to manage conversations and avoid disclosing too much too soon
A structured route to Heads of Terms and exclusivity

Buyers are far more likely to move quickly and offer stronger terms when they know others are also interested.

5. Manage Enquiries Professionally

Once enquiries start coming in, how you respond is key. At EXITS.co.uk, we manage this process on behalf of our clients to:

Qualify interest and financial ability
Issue and track signed NDAs
Control the release of the Information Memorandum
Handle initial Q&A
Maintain deal momentum

A disciplined, professional process helps filter time-wasters, maintains confidentiality, and sets the tone for serious negotiations.

6. Tell the Right Story

Buyers aren’t just buying numbers — they’re buying future opportunity. Your marketing materials (and conversations) should focus on:

Growth potential
Market position and reputation
Customer relationships
Operational strengths and systems
Opportunities to scale or improve margins

Framing the business as a strategic opportunity — not just a financial investment — helps command a higher value.

7. Don’t Go It Alone

Marketing a business for sale is a specialist task. Attempting to manage it yourself can lead to:

Leaked information
Poor buyer targeting
Time-wasting enquiries
Missed opportunities to create competitive tension
Lower final offers

Working with an experienced, results-driven broker like EXITS.co.uk ensures the process is confidential, structured, and focused on securing the best possible outcome.

Marketing Is a Value Driver

How you market your business shapes the kind of buyers you attract — and the price you achieve. A proactive, professional marketing approach builds trust, increases interest, and sets the stage for a successful deal.