SM Lite Key social marketing terms Below are important terms used in social marketing. Many of these elements are borrowed from the field of commercial marketing.
Audience orientation Social marketing planners take time to learn what the target audience currently knows, believes and does. All decisions are made with the audience’s perspective in mind. The program is designed to fulfil the audience’s needs and wants. Often, those who are already working in the field of ICM for their municipalities or cities think they already know a lot about their target audience and have some general ideas about activities that worked in other municipalities. It can be tempting to “copy” or start planning based on these preconceived ideas, but social marketing requires that these notions are first tested with the target audience first. These assumptions may be right, but as have been found by those who have implemented SM Lite, they were surprised at what their target audience actually thinks and says. For example, in Suyac Island of Sagay City, the SM Lite planners composed of the Tourism Office and Museo Sang Bata initially had assumed that the coastal residents of the Island were aloof regarding the Sagay Marine Reserve’s rules and regulations, but results gathered from their Pre Knowledge, Attitude, Practices survey revealed, and they did not expect, that the coastal residents’ ‘aloofness’ was deeper than just lack of awareness on MPAs. Upon hearing of the SM Lite intervention, their attitudes were highly resistant to any government programs as they assumed that being involved in one would lead the local government to tell them to evacuate and take away their island from them. The process of orientation is iterative, and not a one-time deal, as several visits back to the island meant deepening the interpersonal exchanges between the LGU and the residents to clarify doubts and translate negative perceptions into a shared vision to enable them to be part of the protection and conservation efforts for the Sagay Marine Reserve.
Audience segmentation and selection Audience segmentation is the process of dividing a broad target audience into more homogeneous subgroups, called audience segments. The purpose of dividing up an audience into segments is to make the SM Lite program more effective and to use resources wisely. The formative research will enable the SM Lite planners to determine who among the concerned audiences to prioritize, and select accordingly with considerations also of what are the current capacity and resources of the SM lite planners. A program developed for the “general public” will likely not be really effective for any one person or group. But, by tailoring efforts to a particular 30
Social Marketing Lite Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Areas ACCCoast Project
