I feel like I’ve gotten closer to you readers this past year, and not only because of this blog and your responses to it. GUIDEPOSTS has devoted a lot of research into our customers lately, trying to find out what is important to you and how we can serve you better. Much of what we learned we already assumed. But we discovered some new things as well.
For instance, the vast majority of GUIDEPOSTS readers attend weekly church services and study the Bible, but you are different from more traditional believers in that you place great importance on personal and spiritual growth. You explore your faith and seek out new things. That’s great. In our research we christened you “faithful strivers.”
You tell us you want to have a positive impact on your community and the people closest to you, especially your family. And of course, you’d like to spend more time with them (and I hope you do this upcoming holiday season!).
You work hard at balancing your spiritual needs with the stress of everyday demands. Maintaining a positive outlook and having loving relationships contribute significantly to your overall well-being and happiness. For you the most important thing of all is growing closer to God.
We also asked you what you thought of how we conduct our business…everything from product packaging to advertising in the magazine. You are remarkably understanding of the financial demands on a non-profit organization like GUIDEPOSTS. You know that we use advertising revenue to offset costs (postage is a killer) and keep prices down (but we’ll try to do something about those cardboard inserts in the magazine).
Revenue also helps our outreach programs and enables us to distribute hundreds of thousands of magazines and other material free to hospitals and the military (if you ever visit Walter Reed Army Hospital you will see GUIDEPOSTS everywhere). These programs depend on your support.
In looking at we called the spiritual marketplace we determined that there are about 70 million faithful strivers like you across the country, which means there is a lot of room for us to grow (since you say sharing your faith is important, you can help—why not introduce a friend to GUIDEPOSTS?). But the statement that sums you up best is that you continually strive to connect your faith-based values to your daily life.
In the end we discovered that what’s important to you are the exact same things that are important to GUIDEPOSTS. And that’s the best news of all.
Edward Grinnan is Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of GUIDEPOSTS Publications.
