Organic growth has quietly become one of the most scrutinized elements of RIA dealmaking. Buyers ask about it earlier. Sellers are expected to explain it more clearly. And once diligence begins, vague answers don’t travel very far.
On the latest episode of Marketing Matchup, Corey Kupfer, founder of Kupfer., PLLC, and Jessica Polito, founder of Turkey Hill Management, spoke about the link between marketing and growth from the deal table perspective. The biggest advantage of a sound marketing strategy, in their eyes, is the ability to explain growth in a way that a buyer can understand.
When done well, marketing formalizes consistent habits that the advisor firm has built around growth, and delivers concrete evidence. Even modest, repeatable behaviors can materially change outcomes. Firms growing just a few percentage points outside of market performance are viewed very differently than firms growing by accident.
Corey reinforced that point from the diligence side. Buyers are not impressed by stories. They are looking for durability.
“Everything you do to increase enterprise value, that makes yourself more attractive, more valuable, and getting you more terms on the multiple, is also a best practice for you while you operate,” he said.
Earnouts quietly turn marketing into deal math
The connection between marketing and money becomes clear when observing earnouts, Corey and Jessica said.
Corey explained that earnouts are not payments for what a firm has already built. They are payments for future growth that has not yet happened. For sellers who have never grown at the levels buyers expect, that distinction matters. Agreeing to an earnout without a clear path to growth is effectively betting that something changes after the deal closes.
Jessica added that this is often where marketing shifts from abstract to tangible for sellers. Meetings with a buyer’s marketing leadership can change the emotional tenor of a deal.
“We’ll spend an hour with the chief marketing officer going through everything that becomes available to these sellers once they join with the partner,” she said. “That’s often when the process starts to become very exciting.”
From an M&A lens, marketing determines whether earnouts feel achievable or quietly discounted in valuation discussions.
Buyers are now judged on growth the same way sellers are
One of the more subtle shifts discussed in the episode is that organic growth is no longer just a seller issue. Buyers are now evaluated through the same lens. In many ways, marketing has become a credibility test on both sides of the table.
Jessica noted that firms entering the acquisition market without strong growth raise immediate questions.
“If you are entering the market as a buyer and you have an organic growth rate excluding market of two or three percent,” she said, “people are going to say, ‘What’s wrong with you?’”
Corey echoed that buyers now actively sell their own growth story.
“Every one of them mentioned their organic growth rates and the ability to help advisors grow more quickly,” he said, pointing to conversations with serial acquirers. “All the marketing capabilities and support and brand recognition.”
Watch the full conversation below, or download Marketing Matchup on your podcast platform of choice!
