GENERAL MARKETING
While Abort73 offers a broad, abortion education to people of all ages, we are the most anxious to reach students and young adults. Why? Because young people tend to be more open-minded, more willing to change their mind, and less-likely to have a personal stake in justifying abortion. Plus, more than half of all abortions are performed on women younger than 25. Changing the way America thinks about abortion begins with changing the way that American students think about abortion.

For the most part, our general marketing efforts introduce people to the website, without giving away what the website is actually about. We're playing upon their curiosity, realizing that, left to themselves, most students don't have much interest in learning about abortion. Once someone reaches the site, we use our front-page teaser video to let them know that the powers that be are keeping them in the dark, but that Abort73 offers them a complete and source-able education. Our general marketing efforts include:

• Abort73 Gear
  The backbone of our general marketing efforts are the Abort73 shirts, hats, stickers and web banners. This is grassroots marketing at its finest. Though finances and ideology prevent us from having a formal presence on most campuses, giving pro-life students a variety of low-cost ways to advertise Abort73 makes it possible to still have a massive campus impact. And it need not be limited just to campuses. Shirts and bumper stickers can have a great influence in the community at large.
  
  
• Abort73 Videos
  The Abort73 videos have taken on a life of their own beyond just the website, having educational value in themselves, but also pointing people to Abort73.com. They have been posted to a variety of online video libraries like YouTube and MySpace ("This is Abortion" received more than 100,000 views on MySpace before they deleted our original account). Since all of our videos can be freely downloaded at broadcast-resolution, our videos are also being incorporated into various types of group presentations.
  
  
• Search Engines
  Roughly 25% of the current visitors to Abort73 come by way of Google or Yahoo. While most of our marketing efforts aim at reaching people who probably aren't thinking about abortion, we certainly want to reach those who already are. To date, we haven't been able to get past page 2 on Google's returns for the search term "abortion", and we generally linger around page 4 (which might as well be page 100). According to Yahoo, the word "abortion" was queried more than 126,000 times in February, 2007. It is imperative that we find a way to get those people to Abort73.com (lest their understanding of abortion be defined by Planned Parenthood or NARAL). We've dabbled with Pay-per-click Advertising in the past, but without much success. It is fairly expensive and a number of our listings were pulled down by both Google and Yahoo for linking to "graphic imagery" (apparently, pornographers are allowed to advertise links to their sites, but websites which show abortion photos may not be). We feel our efforts to climb the search engine rankings will be much better served by a structural redesign, currently in development. Because we're already well-linked by 3rd party websites, and have massive amounts of applicable content, we're optimistic that this will ultimately close the gap. Once the new site is in place, if we still fail to land on page one for the most strategic abortion-related search terms, we'll once again give more thought to pay per click advertising.
  
  
• MySpace
  We've had some highs and lows with the Abort73 MySpace page (MySpace.com/abort73). Our first account was deleted without warning or explanation (probably because we linked to our This is Abortion video which contains graphic abortion content). That cost us close to 6,000 "friends", but our second account is up and running again, and MySpace remains a tremendous way to spread the word about Abort73. By making Abort73 a "top friend", or adding our banners to their profile, users can easily point everyone who visits their page to Abort73.com.
  
  
• Resource Distribution
  The Abort73 pens and DVDs are ideal for campus distribution. They're great for individual students to keep on hand in their locker or book bag, and they work even better for broader distribution. Our Campus Ministry Packs provide student groups with an appropriate assortment of pens, DVDs and shirts, along with a gameplan for handing them out on or near campus. Lead with the pens (which are a lot less likely to be thrown away than a brochure), and follow up with the DVDs!
  
  
• College Campus Outreach (Awaiting Implementation)
  This is a focused approach at introducing an entire college campus to the Abort73 website by exposing students to the Abort73 URL on a variety of fronts. Some portions of the week long "blitzkrieg" can be done from afar, but others will require the participation of a partnering campus ministry. Exposure would come by way of a 5-day campus newspaper ad campaign, Abort73 flyers posted to bulletin boards across campus, 3-5 pen and DVD distributions at key campus spots, Abort73 shirts worn by as many participating students as possible, mailbox insertion (for those campuses which permit advertisers to place literature directly in student mailboxes), targeted MySpace friend invites, and a summary press release to be delivered to the school and local newspapers.
  
  
• Advertisements in HS Yearbooks & Athletic Programs (Awaiting Implementation)
  A full-page ad in a high school yearbook generally costs about $200. Because of the shelf life of yearbooks (and the great enthusiasm most students have for them at year end), this is a tremendous advertising value. Placing the ad can be a little tricky, though. It generally requires calling up the school office, being directed to the teacher who happens to oversee the yearbook, and hoping that's (s)he's on a break. The only way we'll be able to get into yearbooks across the country is if we can find people to buy and place the ads for us. We'll provide the artwork. You buy the ad. For a couple hundred dollars you could introduce all sorts of students at your local high school(s) or alma mater to Abort73.com! The ad deadline usually lands somewhere near the end of the calendar year, and we need to do some more research on getting an Abort73 ad into a football or basketball program. Stay tuned!
  
  
• Sidewalk Counselor Resources (Still in Development)
  Sidewalk counselors are those faithful men and women across the country who spend much of their time outside of abortion clinics, praying and trying to dissuade women from aborting their babies. Because it is so hard for these counselors to actually gain an audience with the women planning to abort, we're going to start producing 2-sided, hand-held signs that will help bridge the gap. To accompany the sign will be a new Abort73 DVD, tailored to someone facing a crisis pregnancy, and an accompanying brochure (for those who need immediate access to pertinent abortion information).
  
  
• Crisis Pregnancy Center Resources (Still in Development)
  These will consist of the same DVD and brochure mentioned above. Our goal would be to put these in every CPC in the nation, where they could be a great asset for educating pregnant women about the ills of abortion.
  
  73 Reasons to Choose Against Abortion or 73 Reasons to Oppose Abortion (Booklet)
• This is a little hard to describe without being able to present some of the art/photo books that have inspired it, but this will be a full-color, 75-page booklet, roughly 7" square and printed on a heavier grade, matted card-stock. Each page would be a self-contained reason to oppose abortion, and each page will carry it's own unique look and feel. A wide array of photos, illustrations, collages, and varied design elements will give this book an extremely "cool", postmodern look. Visually, people will be drawn to this book, and that will help gain a far wider hearing for the message. The first page will read something like:
• Seventy-Three Reasons to Oppose Abortion. In truth, 73 is an artificial number. We could just have easily gone with 100, 50, 10, or even ONE, but something compelled us to choose 73. 1973 was the year abortion was federally legalized in the United States, and 73 is the numeric half of our URL, Abort73.com. The 73 reasons we list do not all carry the same weight. They are not equally compelling, nor are they ordered as such. Some people will be convinced with only one, and others will reject all 73. Our hope is that, no matter what your position, no matter how much you know or don't know about abortion, you'll find something in this book that you haven't considered before, and will thereby arrive at a more informed opinion. Until you examine the evidence, how can you really know what you believe?
• Once the book is completed, we'll add a virtual version to the website. In terms of distribution, the books will function something akin to the DVDs. The production cost will likely make it impractical to hand them out to everyone who passes during a campus distribution, but they would be a great, second-level resource to be given to those who express genuine interest in learning more. Unlike the DVDs, which do require a player, these booklets could be immediately looked over and discussed. They'll be perfect for pro-life students, particularly ones who regularly wear Abort73 gear to keep in their backpacks.
• Car Wrap + Trailer (Insufficient Funds)
  We're starting to consider buying a trailer to help us haul our gear whenever we make an official appearance, be it a speaking engagement or summer music festival. It would be great to "wrap" the trailer with Abort73.com (and the vehicle pulling it as well). Car wraps are tremendous for regional advertising. You can put the "ad" where you want it, when you want it. You don't have to keep paying for it month after month, and since you own the ad space, nobody can make you take it down.
  
  
• MySpace Advertising (Insufficient Funds)
  
  
• Magazine Advertising: Seventeen, Teen Vogue (Insufficient Funds)

INVOLVEMENT MARKETING
These efforts aim at convincing people (primarily students) who already oppose abortion to partner with Abort73 in reaching their campus or community with the truth about abortion. Involvement marketing generally targets a Christian audience, but since even most Christians are grossly uninformed about the true barbarity of abortion, these marketing efforts are educational as well. One of our recent taglines is: Educate Yourself. Educate Your World.

• Weekly Emails
  Abort73 maintains an email list of people who want to stay up to date on the latest Abort73 news. These generally go out every week or two, and highlight new content, new gear and ways to get involved. You can sign up for this list on almost any page in our website (usually in the left hand column).
  
  Christian Music Festivals
  In 2006, Abort73 exhibited at its first Christian music festival (The Pro-Life Music Festival). We'll be back in 2007, and will also be exhibiting at Cornerstone. We do this both to introduce the thousands of Christian students in attendance to Abort73.com, but also to try and compel them to get involved. We'll be selling shirts and DVDs, and giving away a lot of literature.
  
  
• Magazine Advertising
  Abort73's first national magazine ad runs this summer in the May/June issue of Relevant. It pictures one of our new shirt designs and reads, "Abortion kills almost 4,000 innocent human beings every day in this country. If that doesn’t bother you, you probably have no idea how barbaric a practice abortion actually is. Thankfully, Abort73.com offers you both a thorough education, and a simple toolset for extending that education to those around you. Not knowing is ignorance. Knowing, and doing nothing, is even worse. Educate yourself. Educate your world." Youth Worker Journal, CCM, Ignite, and Radiant are other magazines we're interested in.
  
  
• JH / HS / College Ministry Video (Still in Development)
  This video will be between 10-30 minutes long and will have a similar function to the general church video (highlighted below). Its primary objective will be to get students involved on their campuses. This video could be shown during Sunday School or during a midweek meeting and would include Abort73 pens to be given to everyone in attendance. Youth pastors would also be sent an Abort73 poster (still to come) to be put up wherever they meet as a regular ministry reminder.

FUNDRAISING MARKETING
Our third marketing category also targets a Christian audience, this time an older audience. These efforts aim specifically at raising the necessary funds to sustain and grow our work. Again, since almost everyone is under informed on the subject of abortion, there will always be strong educational components tied into all our appeals. It is unlikely that someone will give to this work until they finally understand how bad abortion actually is.