Marketing Communications

TARGET GROUPS, OBJECTIVES AND TASKS 323

Th e fi rst important distinction that can be made is between corporate and marketing PR.

Th e main diff erence between the two is that corporate PR is mainly aimed at maintaining

good relations and creating goodwill with all kinds of audiences who may be important for

the company in the long run. In marketing PR , the direct or indirect profi tability of the PR

activity is more important. Marketing PR is targeted at commercial stakeholders, such as

distributors, suppliers, competitors and potential customers, and is more in direct support of

marketing communications. Evidently, in an environment of growing integrated commun-

ications, both types of PR will not be mutually exclusive, but will support one another.

Th e second important distinction is between internal and external corporate PR. Internal

PR is aimed at internal stakeholders, such as employees and their families and shareholders.

Th e latter could also be defi ned as an internal fi nancial audience. External PR – the oldest form

of PR activity – is directed towards various types of external target groups. Th ree important types

of external corporate PR and PR target groups can be distinguished, namely public aff airs,

fi nancial and media PR.

Apart from this typology, sometimes a distinction is made between direct and indirect PR.

Direct PR activity is directly aimed at the stakeholders of interest, while indirect PR tries to

reach them indirectly through other publics. In that respect, employees, consultants and

especially the media can be considered as indirect PR audiences. Keeping good relations with

the media, consultants and other opinion leaders is not important as such. It is because of

their role as intermediate groups between the company and important ‘end-audiences’ that

they are important PR target groups. It is no coincidence that media PR is the oldest and still

a very important form of corporate PR.

Table 10.1 Audiences of different types of PR

Corporate Marketing

Internal External

Public affairs Financial Media

Employees General public Investors Television Suppliers

Families of employees Local community Bankers Radio Distributors

Government Consultants Press Competitors

Trade unions Trade associations Stock exchange Trade press Wholesalers

Shareholders Pressure groups Retailers

A study by the Dutch National Institute for Finance Information among 2122 students revealed that the average

Dutch student has a debt of €15 360 on graduation, a number that had increased by 25% over the previous four

years. The study also showed that students knew surprisingly little about the consequences of borrowing money

(e.g. interest rates and redemption terms) and that about 20% of Dutch students are always or regularly in the red.

Building on these figures and taking into account that financial institutions in the wake of the financial crisis were

pressured by governments to show responsibility, MasterCard decided to launch its ‘Smart Study = Money

BUSINESS INSIGHT

Smart Study = Money Management

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