SO MUCH WINNING!
We hear that a lot from President Trump and his PR folks.
Our purpose in these pages is not to opine on politics, or discuss whether or not U.S. citizens are really “winning,” but I bring up the phrase because of it’s marketing value.
And if anything, President Trump undeniably knows how to market and promote.
Are We Really Winning?
“We’re winning!” is also something you hear a lot these days from leaders in the Pro-Life Movement.
They say this because 1) the number of annual abortions in our country has dropped significantly over the past 20 years, and 2) it’s good marketing.
“Proof of impact” helps attract more philanthropic funding for organizations in the Pro-Life Movement.
That’s all well and good.
As a marketer with a background in analytics, I have a problem with the Pro-Life Movement claim that “we’re winning!” simply because I haven’t seen an analysis that eliminates all other factors that could have possibly contributed to the drop in the number of abortions.
For example, has the Pro-Life Movement accounted for the effect of pornography addiction on young men and women, and how it leads to them having less desire to have sex?
And I could list other factors, but I digress….
Even if I granted that the Pro-Life Movement is winning, which I don’t grant, the same CANNOT be said for the Pro-Life Business Industry.
The Pro-Life Business Industry (PLBI) as a whole, as well as each Pregnancy Help Center (PHC) that operates within the PLBI, should measure success relative to the number of client “wins” it achieves compared to its competition: the Abortion Industry (AI).
In other words, “winning” in the Pro-Life Business Industry should be measured in terms of market share.
It is quite possible to be “winning” in the Pro-Life Movement, and “losing” in the Pro-Life Business Industry.
The problem is that because of MISTAKE #1 (see last week’s article here) – the belief by those in the Pro-Life Business Industry that their organizations are contained within the Pro-Life Movement (PLM) – Pregnancy Help Centers, and those benefactors who support them, also believe that they are winning because, hey, the Pro-Life Movement is winning, and we’re part of the Pro-Life Movement!
My response to that would be, “Planned Parenthood reported that they did 345,672 abortions last year. All of those women were also potential clients for the PLBI’s choose life services. Please show me the PLBI’s numbers for how many abortion-minded women PHCs persuaded to change their minds about getting an abortion, and choose life instead.”
Unfortunately, the PLBI doesn’t have an industry body that keeps track of such numbers, but because of the work that I do with Pregnancy Help Centers, I have access to the “save” numbers of many PHCs across the country, and I can tell you that the PLBI is NOT winning in its competitive battle against the Abortion Industry, especially against Planned Parenthood.
As a matter of fact, it’s not even a contest.
What Do the Numbers Say?
Remember that Planned Parenthood accounts for about 40% of the Abortion Industry’s total number of 800,000 annual abortions.
So as a thought experiment, let’s say last year that there were 1,000,000 abortion-minded women.
Then we could say that the Abortion Industry share was 80%, and the Pro-Life Business Industry’s share was 20%, or 200,000 women.
Oh, how I wish that were the PLBI’s market share!
Again, I hope you will trust what I’m about to say, remembering that I work directly with many PHCs around the country.
200,000 abortion-minded clients converted to choosing life instead of abortion would be a dream result for the PLBI.
We’re lucky if it’s 20,000 women, and I’m being very generous with that number.
Yes, 20,000 would equate to a 2% market share.
In my book, 2% is not exactly winning.
More tomorrow….
Regards,
Brett