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Basics of Marketing - Kotler Philip

Contact Audiences

The marketing environment includes various contact audiences of the company. We define the contact audience as follows:

A contact audience ? Any group that shows real or potential interest in the organization or has an impact on its ability to achieve its goals.

A contact audience can either contribute or counteract the firm's efforts to service markets. A beneficent audience ? A group whose interest in the firm is very beneficial (for example, the donors). Seeking audience ? The person whose interest the firm is looking for, but does not always find (for example, the media). An unwanted audience ? Group, the interest of which the firm tries not to attract, but has to reckon with it, if it manifests itself (for example, consumer groups of the boycott).

The firm can develop marketing plans for all its main contact audiences, as well as for all client markets. Suppose a firm wants to get a response from a particular contact audience in the form of favor , approving reviews or donations of time or money. To do this, the company will need to design a product that is attractive for this particular contact audience.

Any firm operates in the environment of contact audiences of seven types (see Figure 26).

Fig. 26. Varieties of contact audiences of the firm

1. Financial circles. Influence the firm's ability to provide capital. The main contact audiences of the financial sphere are banks, investment companies, brokerage firms of the stock exchange, shareholders. The firm "Schwinn" achieves the welfare of these audiences, publishing annual reports, giving answers to questions relating to all financial activities, and presenting the financial community with evidence of its financial sustainability.

2. Contact audiences of the media. Audiences of the media? Organizations that distribute news, articles and editorial comments. First of all, these are newspapers, magazines, radio stations and telecentres. "Schwinn" is interested in the media better and better covering its activities, perhaps through articles about a good exercise, which is cycling, or articles about the charity activities of the company.

3. Contact audiences of state institutions. Management must take into account everything that happens in the public sphere. The market makers of the company "Schwinn" must respond to the problems of product safety, truth in advertising, dealer rights, and so on. The "Schwinn" company should think about getting in touch with other bicycle manufacturers in order to jointly pursue more benevolent laws.

4. Civil Action Groups. Marketing decisions taken by the firm can cause questions from consumer organizations, environmental groups, representatives of national minorities, etc. Parents, for example, are trying to improve the safety of bicycles. The company "Schwinn" has the opportunity to become a leader in the design of the safest bicycles. The company's public opinion management department can help maintain a permanent contact of the firm with all consumer groups (another example is shown in box 8).

5. Local contact audiences. Any firm deals with local contact audiences, such as neighborhood residents and community organizations. To work with the local population, large companies usually appoint a special liaison officer, who is present at the meetings of the members of the niches, answers questions, contributes to the resolution of pressing problems.

6. The general public. The firm needs to be meticulously observing the opinion of the general public about its products and its activities. And although the general public does not act in relation to the firm in the form of an organized force, the image of the company in the eyes of the public affects its commercial activities. To create a solid image of "citizenship", "Schwinn" will allocate its representatives to participate in fund-raising campaigns in favor of the community, make substantial donations for charitable purposes and develop a procedure for considering claims of consumers.

7. Internal contact audiences. The internal contact audiences of the firm include its own workers and employees, voluntary assistants, managers, members of the board of directors. To inform and motivate members of their internal contact audiences, large firms publish newsletters and resort to other forms of communication. When the workers and employees are well attuned to their own firm, their positive attitude extends to other contact audiences.

Box 8. The Civil Action Group Calls for a Boycott of Nestle Products

Even the most respected company on the market may one day cause attacks by civil action groups on any of its products if, in the opinion of these groups, the firm acts irresponsibly. By the way, most likely the dissatisfied group will call for a boycott of all the company's products, even if only one came under the fire of criticism. Publicity in connection with such a boycott may damage the good name of the company, the formation of which took many years.

In 1978, Nestle became the target of such attacks. This company, headquartered in Switzerland, produces such well-known products as chocolate bars, coffee, a whole range of frozen food products. It also produces a mixture for baby food.

The group that made accusations against the company is known as "Infakt", or "Coalition of Action Against the Spread of Mixtures for Baby Food". According to the group, the company Nestle aggressively imposes its mixture on mothers in Third World countries, who do not know how to use it correctly. The mixture is often diluted with dirty water, stored in poorly washed bottles and not always able to keep it in the refrigerator. As a result, children fall ill. There were also deaths.
The Infact group called for a worldwide boycott of all Nestlé products. The campaign of direct mail advertising organized by her contained the call "This should be known by as many people as possible" and a request for financial assistance to organize a wider circulation of the group's appeal. In the letters of the group "Infakt" all the branded goods of "Nestle" were listed, which consumers had to boycott.

The firm, for its part, claimed that it was responsible for marketing the mixture responsibly and that often this mixture turns out to be the best nutrition for babies under certain conditions. And yet, the negative publicity was very unpleasant for the company. In March 1982, Nestlé agreed to adhere to the provisions of the "Code of Health", developed by the United Nations and designed to encourage breastfeeding. "Code" prohibits the advertising of mixtures for baby food, the distribution of their free samples and the payment of commission to sellers.