“You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar
I’ve known this quote from Zig Ziglar for quite some time.
Direct marketers often use a variation of this, “Find out what people want, and give it to them.”
Returning to the concept I proposed yesterday of adopting a mindset that the benefactors of a Pregnancy Help Center (PHC) are its “owners,” then the PHC’s Board of Directors should be focused on ONE question: “What do our owners want?”
In my experience interacting with hundreds of pro-life benefactors who invest in Pregnancy Help Centers, I believe the answer to that question is overwhelmingly, “We want to save as many babies’ lives from abortion as possible.”
That answer should give great comfort to the Board of Directors of a PHC because it is so direct, so clear, with no ambiguity.
Who Are the Team Players?
With that answer in hand about what the “owners” of a PHC want, the core questions of a PHC Board’s strategic planning become very clear: 1) How do we save as many babies’ lives from abortion as possible?, and 2) How do we measure success concerning question 1?
I believe all other strategic questions are of secondary importance.
What I find interesting is that both of those strategic planning questions are marketing questions.
“How do we save as many babies’ lives from abortion as possible?” asks what is our “4 Ps (Product, Price, Promotion, Placement)” strategy for abortion-minded women?
And “How do we measure success concerning question 1?” asks what is our market share relative to our PHC’s competitors: Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities.
If I’m right about this, then it seems to me that the “leadership team” that the PHC should field for this intense competitive battle should be made up of savvy, experienced marketers.
Making It to the Major Leagues
Again, please remember that I work with many PHCs across the country, so I can assure you that the leadership teams – meaning the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Director – of most PHCs are not made up of savvy, experienced marketers.
Many PHC leadership teams do not have any marketers on the team, at all.
This fact goes a long way in explaining why the majority of women in the United States do not even know what a Pregnancy Help Center is.
Marketing is everything.
As long as the leadership team of a PHC does not acknowledge this, they will not be able to successfully deliver what the “owners” of the PHC want more than anything else: as many babies’ lives saved from abortion as possible.
The PHC will remain in the minor leagues when they could be playing in the major leagues.
Tomorrow, we will consider how a PHC playing in the minors can graduate to the majors.
Regards,
Brett