Strategies




 * Communications Strategy: **

The main objective is to promote awareness and decrease the abuse of females in society, which is a statistically measurable and attainable outcome. This objective is influenced by the stories of friends, family and co-workers who have encountered tragic abusive situations. Our main goal is to educate society about issues concerning the abuse of females and offer means of support to individuals who are involved in abusive situations, while reducing the stigmas that prevent females from seeking help. Specifically, we want to target a young demographic because they are the future and can facilitate change. We want to enable females to take a stand against violence in order to achieve our overall objective of decreasing levels of women abuse.
 * Objective **
 * Goal **
 * Audience

** The target for this initiative is females, 10-25 years of age. The problem of abuse affects men and women alike, and we therefore want to disseminate our message to the general public, to promote overall societal change. Although, Statistics Canada reports that, “ A higher proportion of women than men are victims of crimes against persons,” and that is why we have chosen to focus on the female demographic (Some Facts, 1999). Moreover, we are targeting young females as according to the McCreary Adolescent Health Survey, “35% of girls and 16% of boys between grades 7 - 12 had been sexually and/or physically abused” and “1 in 3 females and 1 in 6 males in Canada experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18” (Abuse Statistics, 2008). ** 1) Women abuse affects everyone, either directly or indirectly, and needs to stop. 2) Women should not be embarrassed about being abused; it’s ok to come forward and get help. 3) There are many different forms of abuse and victims in the situation may not realize that they are being abused. 4) Children from abusive households are at greater risks of being abused, incurring emotional damage, or becoming abusers themselves in the future.
 * Key Messages:
 * Strategy **

Our overall strategy focuses on conveying our four main messages. As part of our strategy, to get our messages across, we intend to use an informational brochure, posters, commercials, and a website. Likewise, since we are targeting such a young demographic, it is also imperative that we take advantage of social networking mediums, such as Twitter and Facebook. Our strategy involves a number of selectively chosen mediums that will allow us to effectively communicate messages that will incite change. It is time to speak out against women abuse!

The main goal of this group is to educate society about issues concerning the abuse of females and offer means of support to individuals who are involved in abusive situations, while deconstructing any stigmas that prevent females from seeking help. There are many outlets that people have to overcome these tragic situations and it is important to constantly create awareness and extend a helpful hand to those who are uncomfortable with expressing their situation in order to seek help. This group strives to create awareness and allow many to raise their voices in unison because together we can all stand up and say "I'm Okay."

Our slogan of "I'm Okay" reflects the ability of one to realize that there are people who love and care for you, people who will stand with you and do all they can to get you out of the situation. "I'm Okay" is a common phrase we all say and today we can all stand and say "I'm Okay," realizing that we can overcome the obstacles of life. Similarly, "It's Not Okay" conveys action. It signifies that it is not okay to accept abuse from anyone. This particular message encourages the victims to react on these abuses, do something and communicate that abuse is not okay.

This group is a place where we can all join together to become a support system for those who have experienced abuse, a place where we can educate ourselves about women abuse and more importantly, a place where we can all come together and say woman abuse is not okay. ** Although our strategy is ambitious in the number of mediums we wish to employ, we have established a series of tactics that are achievable in order to promote our overall strategy and goals. The brochure will act as a hub of information addressing the definition, types, and signs of abuse, along with who is most affected by this issue. Another major emphasis of the brochure is to suggest the ways in which one can receive help if one knows someone or is personally experiencing abuse. In addition, we want to create a website that contains all of this information and a series of commercials that we are going to produce to advocate our cause. It will also feature links to other related organizations, which are helping prevent the abuse of women. From our website, one can also access our Facebook group and informational blog on Twitter.
 * Tactics

Furthermore, we would like to make various posters that reinforce our main messages and can be put up around schools, universities, malls, workplaces and other public locations, to raise awareness and provide contact information for our website and other sources of help. Also, we plan to create a Television Advertisement to create awareness about the social issue. This will consist of a 30 to 60 seconds long television advertisement. It is because "Advertising on television allows [us] to show and tell a wide audience of [our social cause]" (Television Advertising Pros and Cons, 2009). It will assist us to broaden our mass audience since our advertisement can reach different parts of the world with the technologies available such as Satellites and Computers. Television advertising is a great medium to also explain about the cause because it uses video and audio, which is easier to understand than print medium's advertising through text and images.

We also want to implement a program in schools and universities that provides free information and distributes our brochures, to reach our target demographic. If we were to actually implement our plan and had the financial resources, we would also like schools, universities, and workplaces to offer self-defense instruction for females and provide accompanying self-defence dvds. ** This communications strategy was designed so that if it was actually implemented, one could attain measurable results. With government and societal support the outcomes could be measured; one could select a specific area in which our communications strategy was implemented, so that it could be compared with an area that did not benefit from our strategy for this social cause. The results of the study would reveal whether or not our plan is effective, which mediums of communication best serve our objective, and any possible changes that would help make our plan more successful and valuable. At this point, we are just aiming to raise awareness about our social issue and offer realistic solutions that could be further developed with proper funding and resources. "Abuse Statistics." 13 June 2008. Ministry of Children and Family Development. 28 Feb. 2009. "Some Facts on Violence Against Women." 06 Dec. 1999. Status of Women Canada. 28 Feb. 2009. "Television Advertising Pros and Cons" 2009 All Business: A D&B Company  4 Mar 2009.
 * Measurement
 * Works Cited: **