I am on my sixth year working closely with Pregnancy Help Centers around the country, helping them with direct response marketing.
Recalling my article on Monday about the “4 Ps” of marketing, my general assessment of PHCs is that they are, for the most part, reasonably competent at the “Product” part of the 4 Ps.
And they are very good at the “Price” part of the 4 Ps because PHCs offer their services for FREE – that price is the most powerful motivator in direct response marketing.
On the “Placement (Distribution)” aspect, it’s a mixed bag.
Some PHCs have very convenient locations, at times right near a Planned Parenthood.
Others are tucked away in hard-to-find places, or located in areas far from where there is significant demand for abortion.
My overall grade on “Placement” from a Pro-Life Business Industry-wide perspective would be below average.
Promotion – You Are the Weakest Link
Where the Pro-Life Business Industry falls apart from a “4 Ps” perspective is on “Promotion.”
It might come as a shock to you to learn that less than half of women in our country know what a Pregnancy Help Center is, much less any particular brand name of a PHC.
Remember that I said on Monday that the “4 Ps” are a package deal.
You can be great at three of them, but if you are awful at even just one of them, it can substantially decrease your success in the market.
And I don’t hesitate to say that the vast majority, over 90%, of PHCs are awful at Promotion.
Mesmerized by the Shine on that Product
From a “4 Ps” perspective, PHCs focus most of their efforts on the “Product.”
For example, the strongest movement in the Pro-Life Business Industry is the trend of making PHCs more “medical,” meaning PHCs offer more services related to women’s healthcare.
Granted, “Product” is the most important of the 4 Ps, so this trend is probably a positive development as long as it’s in alignment with what women actually want.
However, if no woman knows about the great product your PHC offers, what does it matter how great it is?
An over-emphasis on product development and delivery, while giving insufficient attention to the other three Ps, leads to the the beliefs that “If you build it, they will come,” because the “product is so good, it sells itself.”
This thinking is completely WRONG.
Experienced marketers know this because we have suffered failure before from falling into the trap of these erroneous beliefs.
Even if your product is the top of the class in its category, it will not “sell itself.”
You’ve got to market and sell it aggressively, all the time.
For most PHCs, this will require a mindset shift from thinking of marketing and sales activities as expenses, to thinking of them as investments.
Tomorrow, we’ll explore some reasons why PHCs are so deficient at “Promotion.”
Regards,
Brett