FORCED MARRIAGE PROJECT Communications Strategy Report
Strategy Report 2012-2013 Date: March 28th 2013 By: Michelle Davis
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ........................................3 2. Executive Summary ...........................4 3. Objectives ...........................................5 4. Tools/Resources/Activities, Evaluation, & Results …….……..........5 a) Online .............................................5 i. Website – New Features & Design .....................…....5 ii. SEO .....................................5 b) Email ...............................................7 i. Email Management System (EMS) - Direct Email ...........8 ii. E-newsletter/E-blast ..........8 c) Social Media .................................9 i. Facebook ........................10 ii. Twitter ...............................11 iii. LinkedIn ............................11 iv. YouTube & Vimeo ...........12 d) Advertising ...................................13 i. Google Ads .....................13 ii. Face Book Ads ................14
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iii. iv. v. vi.
LinkedIn Ads ....................16 Charity Village Ad ...........17 Eventbrite .........................17 Other Free Online Ads …19
e) Events………………………………19 i. Service Provider Workshops ........................19 ii. One Billion Rising “VDay” .............................20 iii. FMP Roundtable Discussion on the Topic of Forced Marriage ..........................21 iv. Yes in My Back Yard (YIMBY)…………………….22 f) PR/Media......................................23 i. Radio ................................23 ii. Publications .....................24 g) Print ...............................................25 i. Outreach Materials ........25 ii. Promotional Materials ....29 5. Recommendations ..........................32 6. Conclusion ........................................34
1. Introduction This communications strategy was created as a multifaceted plan delivered through and comprised of six major tactics: Email, PR, Social Media, Online, Events and Print. Each tactic encompasses several methods (i.e. direct mail, media, social media dashboards, website, advertising, special events, workshops, and outreach and promotional materials) in which information is disseminated about the project. These methods have been integrated to create, evolve and sustain the strategy and achieve set objectives. The following Figure 1 is a snapshot of the tactics and methods used in the overall communications strategy.
FMP Communications Model Figure 1
FMP Communications Email
PR
Social Media
Email Management Sysytem (EMS)
Media
Social Media Dashboard
Radio E-Newsletter/ E-Blasts
Publications
Website
New Features & Design
SEO
LinkedIn YouTube
Events
Online
Advertising
Eventbrite Charity Village Ad Google Ads Facebook Ads Linked Ads
Vimeo
Workshops
Service Provider Training
Special Events One Billion Rising "V-Day" FMP Rountable on the Topic of Forced Marriage
YIMBY
Outreach Materials Service Provider Resource Youth Resource Community Resource Booklet
Torontoist
QR Codes
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Service Provider Training Posters & Postcards "V-Day" Event Flyers & Postcards
Service Provider Training Toolkits
FMP Promo. Business Cards
Facilitators' Guide & ESL Curriculum
Trade Show Banner
FPYN The Grid
Promotional Materials
Bus Ad
2. Executive Summary Forced marriage is an issue that affects thousands of young women and men in Canada. The Forced Marriage Project was started in 2010 as an initiative to help generate awareness and provide education about forced marriage and related topics. In order to accomplish this, the project created and implemented the communications strategy. Through the strategy, the project set out to increase awareness for the project and forced marriage in Canada, and increase access to tools and resources for victims and survivors of forced marriage and service providers that work involves forced marriage. The communications strategy is comprised of several tools, resources, and activities which have been utilized collaboratively to effectively address the issue of forced marriage and disseminate vital information. The six major components to the strategy are: Email, PR, Social Media, Online, Events, and Print. These components have resulted in the following:
Generated substantial mailing lists for the monthly e-newsletter/e-blasts that disseminate information about the project, and local and global developments regarding forced marriage Generated publicity opportunities, resulting in being on the nationally broadcasted radio show Metro Mornings, featured in a local newspaper Scarborough Mirror and SNAP online Generated a loyal following and built networking relationships on Face Book, Twitter, and LinkedIn Redesigned the website and built SEO to achieve 66% new visitors Implemented four major online ad campaigns that generated 1249 clicks directed to the website Conducted two Service Provider Training sessions that consisted of four workshops, which 22 participants completed all four and received their certificate Hosted a community event to garner support of an anti-violence against women movement and inform the public about forced marriage and related topics, which 51 members of the community attended Developed 4 outreach materials, 6 training tools/documents, and 8 promotional resources that were used to disseminate information, educate service providers, and advertise the project, and its tools and events
The project has been able to achieve these activities successfully and accomplish its objectives because of the communications strategy and the infrastructure of resources and practises that it has created. With that said, as the project enters into a new phase it would be detrimental to forego the continuation of its most lucrative activities of distributing the monthly enewsletter/e-blasts, maintaining the website, fostering social media networks, conducting training, and promoting its tools and resources. By utilizing the internet and other newer forms of media the strategy can be easily sustained with fewer resources.
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3. Objectives The communication strategy focuses on building the projects identity and presence. By utilizing an integrated mix and creating opportunities for a bigger and more effective reach, interaction and engagement of target audiences will be established. Ultimately, the following objectives are to be achieved: 
Increased awareness of the Forced Marriage Project among service providers and the general public in Ontario
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Increased awareness of and access to Forced Marriage Project tools and resources for service providers and the general public in Ontario on forced marriage and related topics
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Increased awareness of forced marriage in Canada
4. Tools/Resources/Activities, Evaluation & Results Communication efforts are customized to deliver a specific message, targeting a specific audience and encouraging a desired reaction. Whether it has helped to draw traffic to the website, gotten people to register for a workshop or subscribe to mailing lists, all methods helped to build awareness of the project and shed light on the topic of forced marriage. This section of the report examines the various tools, resources, and activities used throughout the strategy, the evaluation of each method and their results. a) Online The use of the various online applications has proven to be an integral part of the strategy, allowing for effective and efficient dissemination of information. By properly building the means in which online communications is carried out from the back-end to user-interface (the actual website), creditability and online presence of the project has continuously grown. i.
Website - New Features & Design The project website is the hub of communications and is constructed so that all communication efforts, both online and offline relate back to it as the main source of information. With that in mind, it was necessary for the website to remain current, engaging, visually dynamic and functional. Originally constructed in 2010, the website underwent a major overhaul in 2012 to 2013. In doing so, the project updated the design and added new features that were more beneficial to target audiences. An initial design change was to add rotating banners displaying information about forced marriage at the top of each page. This element helped to give immediate information that was eye catching. Then content and design
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features were added to give more distinction between pages targeting the general public and service providers. This consisted of editing content for conciseness and reworking navigation by prominently positioning larger navigation buttons with headings that better indicated what was on each page for easier navigation and flow. Also, additional key resources like the service directory, service provider tool kits, a facilitators guide and ESL curriculum with supplementing videos were also added. A new and interactive feature added to the website were the Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn social media feeds located on the News Alerts page to keep visitors aware of the other online entities of the project. These significant changes took place over the time frame of October 2012 to March 2013, and have resulted in a steady stream of traffic to the website. To put this into perspective, from November 2012 to February 2013, Google Analytics reports that the website received 1884 visitors, an average of 15 visitors to the website daily. Unfortunately, statistics from the prior year are not available for comparison, as there were no analytics in place. However, what recent analytics do show is that also during the time frame of November 2012 to February 2013 that 66.5% of all traffic to the website originated from new visitors. It is safe to say that this increase in new traffic is directly attributed to recent changes to the design, layout, and new content that have improved access and overall user experience. ii.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Also to further develop and maintain the project website and online presence, a great deal of attention was given to the websites back-end. In order for people to find the website it needs to be searchable. By employing SEO this has helped to ensure that the website is easily accessible. The first step in SEO was to register the domain name and associated domain names with Google Webmaster and Google Places, the most used search engine, so that the website address and the project’s physical location appears when searched. According to Google AdWords from November 2012 to February 2013, 30% of all visitors came to the website directly from typing in the URL. The next step in SEO was to ensure that the website URL link appeared or was embedded in external websites associated with the project. This has generated referrals to the website from partnering and more popular websites (i.e. ACSA), associated online networks (i.e. FaceBook), and paid ads (i.e. Google Ads).The following, Table 1 displays the top ten sources of referrals to the project website from November 2012 to February 2013:
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FMP Website Traffic Sources Ranking Rank 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Source/ Medium google.com Google Cost-per-Click Ads facebook.com agincourtcommunityservices.com iwdcanada.com cbc.ca yimbytoronto.org Charity Village E-newsletter Ad eventbrite.com bing.com Table 1
Overall, referrals to the website have accounted for 40% of all visitors according to Google Analytics over the period of November 2012 to February 2013. The last important step was Meta Tagging (the process of assigning words that are associated with the content on a websites pages to the back-end), which allowed search engines to easily find the website and display it in their search results lists. The better the keywords used to tag web pages, the higher it ranked on a search engine. When searching the words “forced marriage”, “forced marriage project”, or “forced marriage in Canada” on the internet, the project was shown to be listed on the first pages of the three most prominent search engines: Google, Bing, and Yahoo. According to Google Analytics from November 2012 to February 2013, 30% of all visitors to the website came from search engines. Though analysis of the website mainly took place from November 2012 to February 2012, it clearly shows that by continually enhancing the visuals and content on the website and by building its back-end through SEO, traffic has steadily increased. However, this process requires more than 3-4 months to show more significant impact. As long as the project commits to producing more engaging content and improving accessibility, the stronger its online presence will become. b) Email The project enlists the use of email on a daily basis to communicate information among its members (FMP staff) and partners (ACSA and SWC), that is delivered on an ad-hoc basis and is not particularly considered in the overall communication strategy. The day-to-day emails sent between staff and partners tend to be more casual since all parties are already aware of the project and a relationship has already been established. On the other hand, with external
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communications, the project has generated mailing lists which previous relationships have not been formed and required some form of engagement to take place. Mailing lists were created so that the project could communicate to a larger audience but also control who gets what type of message, and when the message is delivered. To help orchestrate this type of communications, an email management system and monthly E-newsletters/E-blasts were used. i.
Email Management System (EMS) The need to target messages to specific audiences is intricate and in order to streamline this process the project used iContact an online EMS. This program was used to create professional looking direct emails that were customized to reflect the projects brand image; created a link that was placed on the website, in emails and on project social media sites to generate subscribers to the mailing list; organized mailing list contact information; archived email content; allowed for simultaneous social media sharing; safe guarded recipients from spam mail and viruses; and tracked all sent emails. The project first began using iContact in August 2012 and has since successfully generated over 400 subscribers to 4 different mailing lists.
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E-Newsletter/E-Blasts Two of the main mailing lists were created to disseminate the monthly e-newsletter and bi-weekly e-blasts. The e-newsletter was developed to showcase local and global news on forced marriage and related topics, as well as share information about the progress of the project and local events. The bi-weekly e-blasts were more geared toward promoting tools, resources, and progress of the project, but also shared local and global events and news on forced marriage and related topics. Though the e-blast started off bi-weekly, it proved to be too frequent and was changed to monthly, delivered two-weeks after each e-newsletter.
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E-Newsletter Issue #1
E-Blast #3
Overall 1454 people were emailed on a bi-weekly/monthly basis, over the period of November 2012 to February 2013. Of those who received the e-blasts and e-newsletter, 318 recipients opened their emails. This may seem insignificant but only .9% of e-newsletter/e-blast subscribers, unsubscribed. Though recipients may not have opened their emails, for the greater part remained subscribers. Thus the opportunity to further engage them was not lost. Both forms of direct mail helped to reach a target audience that were already interested/ invested in the topic of forced marriage, and has allowed the project to build and foster these relationships. As the project continues to improve its e-blasts and e-newsletter with more relevant content, it will continue to gain new subscribers, provide information and become more notable. c) Social Media Social media has been used from the beginning of the project but only with the employment of the communication strategy has it been fully leveraged to reach new audiences, share information and build followers. The following major social media networks were chosen for the demographics they reach, their ability to share information in real-time, frequently and in a variety of mediums (i.e. photos, audio, video,) easily. In order to streamline this process the use of Hootsuite, a social media dashboard was used. Hootsuite has allowed for simultaneous sharing/posting of information to multiple social media networks associated with the project consistently. Information used in the postings were gathered by setting up daily Google Alerts that collected information from the internet on forced marriage and related topics. The alerts were then aggregated and posts were scheduled a week in advance, for 2-3 posts a day to the appropriate
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project social media network using Hootsuite. Through the social media dashboard, analytics were also tracked for success. i.
Facebook The projects’ Facebook page was started in 2010 and previous to the communication strategy had less than 60 “Likes”. Since the strategy, posting has become common-place, more engaging and “Likes” have increased to 247, to date. According to Facebook insights the page demographic consists mainly of 40% female, aged 18-34, English speaking from Toronto. From November 2012 to February 2013 the project’s Facebook page has contributed to 897 referral visits, which is 48% of referral traffic to the projects’ website. FMP Facebook Page
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Twitter The projects’ Twitter account also started in 2010, but has seen little growth with 20 followers prior to the strategy, then growing to 74 presently. Though tweets (similar to posts) are frequent and engaging, building followers has lagged in comparison to Facebook. With no analytics available through Twitter, it has been difficult to improve engagement and increase followers. FMP Twitter Page
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LinkedIn In order to engage organizations and professionals that are familiar or work within the realm of forced marriage and similar women’s issues, the FMPs’ LinkedIn company page was created in late 2012. General information about the project can be found on the company page and posts are mainly related to developments in resources and tools that help service providers deal with forced marriage from the project and abroad. Also relevant statistical information from major global organizations is shared on the projects’ company page. Though the page following is small it still provides a unique forum to reach those within the sector directly. One unique instance that came from the LinkedIn company page was an inquiry to volunteer for the project. By leveraging this type of occurrence and taking time to seek out and add connections to
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organizations and individuals, the project will be able to expand followers and possibly gain more collaborative opportunities. FMP LinkedIn Page
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YouTube & Vimeo Another unique way communications was carried out using social media was through video sharing networks. YouTube and Vimeo being two of the most popular, gave the opportunity for the project to create and post multi-media content that younger demographics tend to respond to better. The projects’ YouTube channel started with content from external sources that related to forced marriage. Then in late January 2013 the project decided to create a commercial for an upcoming event, that was originally posted to YouTube then to Vimeo, and the Vimeo link was posted as a pop-up on the project website. Through YouTube alone analytics has shown that the commercial has received 131 views, since being posted January 31st 2013, with 54% viewed on mobile devices. This poses a unique opportunity to tap into an audience that the project would not typically engage. Though analytics from Vimeo was not available, a spike to traffic on the website was noticed through Google Analytics during the time the commercial pop-up was live on the project website. This further indicated that by providing dynamic content on the website traffic will increase.
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FMP YouTube Page
Overall social media has attributed to 5% of traffic to the project website, according to Google Analytics. With social media’s endless opportunities to reach and target specific markets, the project will need to continue to foster these connects and relationships that have been made. By improving opportunities for engagement and offering more interactive content, the project will be able to build its creditability and create loyalty and retention among its social media networks. d) Advertising (Online) The project enlisted the use of online advertising, both paid and free to help promote its events and for the project itself. All online ads were created and ran at the same time in efforts to have a unified and more impactful affect. Each ad used the same images and similar content/wording. This was intentionally done so that if someone were to see more than one of the ads they would be able to easily identify and quickly associate it with the project. It was important to utilize online promotions because it offered a means to reach larger audiences with fewer resources than traditional methods of promotion and outreach allow. i.
Google Ads The project first decided to launch two paid online promotional campaigns through Google Ads that continually ran through December 2012 to February 2013. The total cost of the campaigns was $400 and received an additional $100 promotional credit, for a total ad budget of $500. The first campaign ( Figure 2) was created to promote awareness of the project and the second ( Figure 3) was to promote the service provider training workshop series. These ads appeared throughout and along-side related Google searches. The following are the ads as they appeared on Google, the target audience and related keywords to which the ads appeared when searched:
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Google Ads
Figure 2
Figure 3
Target: Toronto, Ontario, all devices and networks Keywords: counselor training, counseling, FMP, forced marriage, early marriage, training tool kit, stop forced marriage, forced marriage training, community service training, workshop tool kit, service provider training, free community services, victims of forced marriage, Forced Marriage Project, forced marriage in Canada, training for service providers, arranged marriage in Canada, under age marriage For the lifetime of both campaigns according to Google AdWords, they received 254 clicks, 197,119 impressions (views), with an overall click through rate (CTR) of 0.13%. In comparison to ads that may receive a higher CTR above 1%, with the very specific nature of the project it has done relatively well, appearing on average 3rd place on Google search result lists. Also as a result of the Google Ads, this has directly translated into referrals to the project website and a spark in new visitor traffic. ii.
Facebook Ads Similar to the Google Ads, the project began a Facebook Ad campaign that ran from December 2012 to February 2013 and cost $340 for the lifetime of the campaign. The campaign intended to generate awareness of the project and direct viewers to the website. The first type of ad (Figure 4) appeared as a regular ad, on targeted audiences Facebook pages. The second type of ad appeared as a Sponsored Story (Figure 5) that was again targeted to a select audience and appeared along-side of Facebook pages. The following are samples of the ads as they appeared on Facebook and their set target audiences: Facebook - Ad
Figure 4
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Ad targeted 70,100 users: who live in Canada who live in Toronto, ON who like Community service, Non-profit organization, women’s rights, Social work, Young Women (organization), Divorce, Youth, Activism, social activism, Social actions, Intervention (counseling), Mental health, Domestic violence, Women's health or Immigration to Canada. Facebook - Sponsored Story
Figure 5
Sponsored Story targeted 9,380 users: who live in Canada who live in Ontario who like women’s issues, Social work, Youth, Forced marriage, #Activism, Violence against women, stop female foeticide, stop sexual assault, Women's rights, Education, Domestic violence, Gender equality, Sexual slavery, Female genital mutilation or Feminism friends of people who liked the page Forced Marriage Project, friends of people who liked a post by Forced Marriage Project on its wall, friends of people who commented on a post by Forced Marriage Project on its wall, or whose friends are already connected to Forced Marriage Project Combined the ads received 939 direct clicks, 1,950,209 impressions (views), a 0.048% CTR, and produced over 144 new “Likes” to the projects’ Facebook page. This was significant because prior to the ads the page had below 30 likes. Though the ads were not totally the cause in the spike to page “Likes”, the regular postings have also contributed to new “Likes” as outlined in the Social Media section of the report. The increase in popularity of the projects’ Facebook page has also created referrals to the project website accounting for 92 new visits. It was important that people not only “Like” the Facebook page, but for that to translate into them accessing the website for more information.
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LinkedIn Ads With the intension of growing the professional network of the project a LinkedIn Ad campaign was created and ran from December 2012 to February 2013. The ad campaign cost $6.00 with a $50.00 promotional credit, totalling for a budget of $56.00. There were two versions of the LinkedIn Ads. The first was a Project Awareness Ad (Figure 6) and the other was a Service Provider Training Promotional Ad (Figure 7). The following are the ads as they appeared on LinkedIn pages and target audiences: FMP-ACSA LinkedIn Awareness Ad
Figure 6
Targeted Audience: 133,053 LinkedIn Members Industry: Primary/Secondary Education, Higher Education, Law Enforcement, International Affairs, Legal Services, Mental Health Care, Hospital & Health Care, Non-profit Organization Management, Individual & Family Services, Civic & Social Organization Geography: Toronto, Canada Area; London, Canada Area; Kitchener, Canada Area; Ottawa, Canada Area; Ontario, Canada To date the ad depicted in Figure 6 has received 10 clicks, 48,237 impressions, and a CTR of 0.021%, as reported through LinkedIn Ad analytics. This Ad helped generate direct clicks to the projects website. FMP- ACSA LinkedIn Service Provider Training Promo. Ad
Figure 7
Targeted Audience: 122,990 LinkedIn Members Industry: Primary/Secondary Education, Higher Education, Law Enforcement, International Affairs, Legal Services, Mental Health Care, Hospital & Health Care, Civic & Social Organization, Individual & Family Services, Program Development Geography: Ontario, Canada
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To date the ad depicted in Figure 7 has received 9 clicks, 45,743 impressions, and a CTR of 0.019%, using campaign statistics generated by LinkedIn Ad reports. Those that clicked on the ad were directed to the projects Eventbrite registration page for its service provider workshops. By doing this it helped to not only promote project workshops but also awareness of what the project had to offer. iv.
Charity Village Ad Advertising on Charity Village and Village Vibes, a popular online network for non-profit organizations and its online publication with 30,000 subscribers, provided a great platform in which the project was able to directly connect with like minded sector individuals. In addition to a paid ad, information on the project and its resources were posted to Charity Villages free events section. The paid ad ran in the “Product Showcase” position of Charity Villages’ weekly e-newsletter Village Vibes, once a week for the month of January 2013 to coincide with the service provider workshops that took place from January 14 to February 4, 2013. The ad was linked to both the projects’ website and its Eventbrite registration page. The image below (Figure 8) is the Village Vibes Ad as it appeared in the online circulation. Village Vibes Ad
Figure 8
The ad received 47 clicks, 24,825 impressions (views), which attributed for a 0.19% click through rate. The overall cost of the ad was $656.00. This ad again not only promoted workshops but also the project. v.
Eventbrite Many people use and rely on Eventbrite to find out about events happening around them. Through the use of Eventbrite the project was able to advertise and tap into one of the most popular online event management resource, which has sold 98,426,789 tickets to date. By creating an Eventbrite page the project advertised events, registered and kept track of participants, and created additional opportunities to engage audiences. The project was able to send information regarding events and the project, and send reminders which greatly helped to build
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relationships through engagement. Eventbrite also provided a customizable link, unique to each event, which was placed on promotional material (both print and electronic) to advertise events. This also provided the opportunity to utilize a popular promotional tool called QR Codes (Quick Response Code) Figure 9. A QR Code acts like a barcode that can be placed on print and can be scanned by a mobile phones’ camera, which then displays the information that is linked to the QR Code. In the case of the project, the QR Codes created were linked to the Eventbrite registration page. QR Code
Figure 9
Using Eventbrite also helped to collect important information about participants, like their occupation, geographical location and gender, which were useful in helping customize and improve future events. Analytics were also provided through Eventbrite, and the option to survey participants on their experience post event. However, it was challenging to get people to respond to the post-event surveys. FMP Eventbrite Profile Page
To date the project has posted 9 events, released 275 tickets, of which 87% were sold. Eventbrite has proven to be a very successful tool not only for organizing and advertising events but also provided opportunities to further engage audiences, which helped for better attendance at events and exposure/awareness of the project. 18
vi.
Other Free Online Ads The project sought out other forms of free online advertising that proved to be effective in reaching larger audiences and specific demographics. Frontline Partners with Youth Network (FPYN) website proved to be one such online venue that the project used to advertise for free. Being a highly visited website by youth-oriented organizations and grassroots groups, it was ideal that the project utilize this platform to help promote its events. In order to tap into more mainstream audiences, young professionals, and the socially aware demographics the project also advertised on The Grid TO, Toronto Life, NOW, and Torontoist online publications. These websites provided free events posting that were specific to Toronto neighbourhoods. Although it is difficult to measure how effective placing advertising on these websites are, it still made sense to explore these options to help spread awareness of the project and its events. This proved to be the case as the project received the opportunity to be interviewed on CBC’s Metro Mornings, after one of its producers found an ad for the projects’ workshops online.
e) Events The project also hosted and participated in various events that stemmed from training workshops to community events. By hosting and participating in these types of events the project was able to connect with people to educate and build awareness about forced marriage, the project and its resources. It was important to engage the community and sector individuals in order to spark dialogue and garner support. The project held several service provider workshops on forced marriage, hosted an anti-violence against women event, held a round table discussion with organizations and sector individuals, and participated in an event that showcased innovative community initiatives. i.
Service Provider Training (SPT) In order to educate service providers, students, and grassroots groups about forced marriage and equip them with resources to prevent and recognise the signs of forced marriage, the project conducted two training workshop series in January/February and March 2013. Each series consisted of 4 workshops on the following topics:
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Introduction to Forced Marriage Working with Parents
Engaging Youth Intervention in Cases of Forced Marriage
The workshops were free and participants were given printed copies and access to online toolkits containing additional resources to assist their work around forced marriage. Those who took part in all four workshops also received a certificate of completion. To date, 41 participants attended the workshops with 22 certificates of completion issued. The most attended workshop was “Introduction to Forced Marriage”, in which 82% of all participants attended. FMP SPT Workshops
The workshops have been so successful that they have expanded to outside the GTA. Through collaboration with Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region and Supportive Housing of Waterloo, the project will be bringing its workshops to the Kitchener-Waterloo area in April 2013. ii.
One Billion Rising “V-Day” In order to generate more awareness for the project on a community level, the FMP piggybacked on a worldwide annual event in support of anti-violence against women called One Billion Rising “VDay”. Through research on global women’s events, the project came upon the One Billion Rising “VDay” movement. Originally started by Eve Ensler, creator of the Vagina Monologues, “VDay” is a platform to raise awareness of gender violence and rape culture globally. Forced marriage being considered a form of violence that rape often takes place within the context of, made it fitting to align the project with this event to garner support and awareness of these issues. The event, which took place on Valentine’s Day consisted of a partial screening of a project document
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about a young women’s spoken word workshop that explored relationships, gender, and consent; spoken word performances about rape and gender violence; cultural dance performances that celebrated women; information of the One Billion Rising movement, the Forced Marriage Project, and its youth initiative “I do!” Project; and gave away Valentine’s Day themed door prizes. FMP One Billion Rising V-Day Event
The One Billion Rising “VDay” was attended by fifty community members and helped inform them about forced marriage, rape culture, and ways in which they could help to prevent unjust and violent gender practices. iii.
FMP Roundtable Discussion on the Topic of Forced Marriage Another event the FMP held was a Roundtable Discussion in November 2012. The Roundtable Discussion was an invite only event for sector professionals to engage in a dialogue on the topic of forced marriage. FMP Roundtable Invite
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The Roundtable Discussion was attended by twenty participants varying in their knowledge and experience with the topic of forced marriage. This event helped the project to make crucial connections between sector individuals and organizations to work together on issues of forced marriage, giving the project and participants the opportunity to share ideas and resources. iv.
YIMBY In February 2013 the project participated in the annual Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) Festival at the Toronto Reference Library. This event was a family event to showcase organizations and groups from around Toronto, with discussions and presentations. The project had an information booth, where festival patrons could ask questions from the Project Coordinator and receive resources filled with information about forced marriage and the project. FMP Booth at YIMBY
By participating in YIMBY, the project was again able to connect with the community at large, who may not be familiar with or have even heard of forced marriage, to provide important information and resources.
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f) PR/Media Media and public relations were used to help the project reach audiences that would not usually hear or know about forced marriage. Two unique opportunities presented themselves as a national radio broadcast and two local newspapers that reached out to the project to do stories on the topic of forced marriage, the project and its events. Through this type of exposure the project was able to access new audiences, inform them about forced marriage, and provide resources that they may not even be aware of exist. i.
Radio In January 2013 the project was approached by a CBC Radio One producer of Metro Morning, to do an interview with its host Matt Galloway on the topic of forced marriage. The interview was with the project coordinator and forced marriage survivor, Jasmeet, who has worked with the project in the past. The project was contacted through the producer seeing one of the online ads for its workshops. This interview has helped expose the topic of forced marriage to an audience that may not be aware that these cases exist in Canada. This opportunity has helped the project to open dialogue on forced marriage and garner more support for victims and survivors. FMP Interview on Metro Mornings
ii.
Publications In addition to radio, the project had the opportunity to appear in two popular local publications, Scarborough Mirror and SNAP. During the planning of the One Billion Rising “VDay� event, the project reached out to several media outlets, of which representatives from SNAP and the Scarborough Mirror attended. The Scarborough Mirror placed an article prior to the event in their newspaper that showcased the event and the project, helping to advertise the event and promote the project. SNAP attended the event and featured the story on their online publication.
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Both opportunities greatly helped the project to gain expose in the community and helped to showcase a significant accomplishment of the project. Photo for SNAP Scarborough - FMP VDay
FMP SNAP VDay Online Article
By employing the use of the media and building public relations the project has been able to feature its accomplishments and work on a larger scale. Also tapping into these new audiences has helped to expose and inform people that may not be aware of these types of issues, helping to inform them and break stigmas.
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g) Print Throughout the project there have been several resources and tools developed to assist in outreach and promotions. These resources and tools have been created as informational and educational materials, used by project staff and distributed among the community, at events, in workshops, and online. The following are the resources and tools created and used by the project. i.
Outreach Materials (Click Images to View the Full Document) FMP Resource Brochure
FMP Resource Brochure – This resource is used as a general informational pamphlet
FMP Service Provider Resource
FMP Service Provider Resource – This resource contains information targeting community service providers
FMP Youth Resource
FMP Youth Resource – This resource contains information targeting service providers that deal mainly with youth
FMP Community Resource Booklet
FMP Community Resource Booklet – This resource provides detailed information on services throughout Toronto, which people that maybe in a forced marriage situation and the general public will find useful
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Introduction to Forced Marriage – Toolkit 1
Introduction to Forced Marriage Toolkit – This toolkit provides information for service providers and the general public on forced marriage and related topics
Working with Parents – Toolkit 2
Working with Parents Toolkit – This toolkit provides information for service providers that mainly work with parents that may be at risk of forcing their children into marriage
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Engaging Youth - Toolkit 3
Engaging Youth Toolkit – This toolkit provides information for service providers that mainly work with youth that may be at risk of a forced marriage
Intervention in Cases of Forced Marriage – Toolkit 4
Intervention in Cases of Forced Marriage Toolkit – This toolkit provides information for service providers, teachers, counsellors, grassroots groups and trained volunteers on how to spot the signs and help in cases of forced marriage
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Facilitators’ Guide
Facilitators’ Guide – This tool was created as a guide for ESL teachers on how to use the ESL Curriculum
ESL Curriculum
ESL Curriculum – This tool was created as an ESL teacher’s lesson plan that incorporates forced marriage and related topics into English vocabulary development.
These tools and resources were carefully developed to target specific audiences, provide vital information on forced marriage, and promote the project. With the introduction of each of these tools and resources the project has been able to effectively conduct outreach by distributing and disseminating tangible information that audiences can take away and reference, leaving a more lasting and impactful impression of the project.
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ii.
Promotional Materials In order to help promote the projects’ events, resources, and tools several promotional materials have been created. Similar to the outreach materials, each promotion targets specific audiences and provides information. The following are the promotional materials developed by the project and a description of each: Service Provider Training Poster
Service Provider Training Poster – This poster was created to promote the series of training workshops conducted by the project. It depicted infographs with several facts about forced marriage, and the information pertaining to workshops were updated in regards to dates, times, locations and registration information. This poster was posted on community event listing websites, emailed to project and associated mailing lists, and posted in the offices of various service providers throughout Scarborough.
Outreach Postcard – Front
Outreach Postcard - Back
Outreach Postcard – This postcard was created to advertise the project as well as its training workshops. The postcard featured images from the websites’ rotating banners with statements about forced marriage, information about the training workshops, and direct contact information. They were distributed at sector events which the project attended.
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Outreach Business Card - Front
Outreach Business Card - Back
Outreach Business Card – This business card was created to promote the project at public events. It featured one of the projects’ main taglines, logo, and website address, which was also used in a TTC ad. They were intentionally created to be small for easy and quick transfer. One Billion Rising VDay Thumbnail
VDay Thumbnail – This thumbnail was created for online promotional campaign for the One Billion Rising “VDay” event. The image features a pop culture phrase that incorporated the event slogan. The thumbnail was placed on the projects’ Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Eventbrite pages, and other online community event listing websites.
One Billion Rising VDay Postcard - Front
One Billion Rising VDay Postcard - Back
VDay Postcard – This postcard was used as a printed handout to promote the One Billion Rising “VDay” event and was distributed at local high schools, colleges, universities, community centres and service providers throughout Scarborough. It featured an event slogan, event details, contact and registration information, and the projects’ website address, Twitter handle and event hash tag.
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FMP One Billion Rising VDay Poster
VDay Poster – This poster was created to promote the One Billion Rising “VDay” event both online and in printed format. It featured the projects’ social media links, logos, contact and registration information, event details and slogan. The poster was posted on Eventbrite, various local event listing websites, and at service providers, schools, and community centres throughout Scarborough.
FMP Trade Show Banner
Tradeshow Banner – This banner was used to promote the project at community events. It features the four major taglines of the project that are also featured on the project website as rotating banners.
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FMP TTC Bus Ad
TTC Bus Ad – This advertisement was created to promote the project website and was featured inside TTC buses and streetcars throughout the city of Toronto. The bus ad ran for three months, at the end of 2012 and ran over into 2013. It again featured one of the projects main taglines, logos, and the website address. Both outreach and promotional materials have been crucial to effective communications, through reaching target audiences with important project information, and resources and tools to help sector individuals and the general public understand forced marriage. By developing and disseminating outreach and promotional materials the project has been able to build project recognition, equip the community with vital information, and increase understanding and awareness of what forced marriage is and how to help prevent it. 5. Recommendations Continuity and resources are required for any communication strategy to be sustained and be effective. However, with future changes to the project structure, this may prove problematic as resources will be limited or non-existent in continuing certain communication activities. With that said, it will be detrimental for the project to completely eliminate the following strategic communication activities which have proven to be effective, efficient and successful in generating awareness of the project, its resources and tools, and garnering recognition and support for the issue of forced marriage in Canada. Website The operation of the website is crucial because it is the main source of information dissemination and is a direct representation of the project that can be readily accessed by the public. Though the initial development of the website required a large amount of resources, maintaining it can be accomplished by budgeting a minimal amount of money for web maintenance to take care of any technical issues that may arise, and by appointing a volunteer with technical skills to update content periodically and SEO. Since the website has already been designed, all it requires is maintenance, which if successful done will increase visitors to the website. This further has the potential for the website to become self sufficient. Currently the website features a “Donate Now� button
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that is linked to ACSA’s fundraising website. This link can be used to raise money that can go to the upkeep of the project’s website. Social Media The project has put much effort into growing its online presence and has been able to garner a significant amount of support through social media. Now that the project has established networks with loyal followers and has created a creditable reputation, it can continue to foster these relationships by regularly posting engaging content which can be done through a volunteer. This process will be easy with the use of the project’s free social media dashboard, Hootsuite, which posts simultaneously to social media sites, and tracks success. Since social media sites and employing a volunteer are free, no money will be needed to continue these efforts. Email Management & E-Newsletter/ E-Blasts Through the use of iContact email management, the project has been able to generate substantial emailing distribution lists and develop dynamic and engaging monthly e-newsletters/e-blasts. Currently, iContact is being used through paid subscription which ends in August 2013. There after continued use will have limited functions that will affect the benefits of using this online tool. However, despite the limitations the distribution lists and e-newsletter/e-blast templates can still be utilized, and a volunteer can be used to put them together and upload content to the project website. Alternatively, the newsletter post links from the website can be cut and pasted into a regular email format and sent manually through a regular email provider. This will cost no additional money and use few resources. Tools, Resources & Training Through the tools and resources created and training facilitated by the project, it has been able to gain positive recognition and increase awareness and education of forced marriage among the public and service providers. Since these major tools and activities have already been established, it is extremely important to ensure that they are publicized and accessible. With the continuation of the website, social media and e-newsletters, these can be used as vehicles to further promote and share tools, resources, and training. Resource tools have already been made available on the project website, and to promote them, a social media and email campaign can be created, which will not require any additional funds. With training, they can be recorded as webcasts and uploaded to the website and social media. This could also be used to generate funds for the project by conducting training on a fee-perservice basis where a facilitator would organize and conduct training workshops upon request. Currently, on the website there is a section for service providers where they can request workshops free of charge and find additional resources. These structures and practices established through the strategy have proven to be vital to its growth. Even with little to no additional funds allocated to carry out most of these activities, they are sustainable with slight modifications. Further, by
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utilizing innovative tools like the website, social media, direct email, and webcasts, the project will be able to continue dissemination of critical information that positively affects social change and the environment of forced marriage in Canada. 6. Conclusion Overall, by implementing the communications strategy the project has streamlined processes, efficiently utilized its resources, enhanced information dissemination for effectiveness, created sustainable practises, and most importantly increased awareness of forced marriage in Canada. In addition, with the tools and resources created, networks developed and fostered, and the reputation built from past activities, a strong infrastructure has been set that can be easily, efficiently and effectively continued into the next phase of the project.
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