John Shelley's Journal

(Web Notes: The following is an outline of Mr. Shelley's speaking notes from his '97 speech at the PLNA Conference. They may not make complete sense to you, but they did to him; he worked there. Best to buy the books and learn the secrets he now knows.)

Part One:
What Is Positioning?

A Definition: The Mind's Ladder.
Volvo owns safety, BMW owns driving, FedEx owns overnight.

The Mind Is A Ladder.

People develop "rungs of a ladder" in the mind that filter, sort, categorize, prioritize and assign information a place as it enters. These positions hold true for people, companies, events, feelings, actions, inactions, whatever events are recognized, each is assigned to a position. Smart marketers don't change their products, they change the way the market perceives the product. They want to control the perceptions of your mind.

Line Extension Trap.

Specialize. Be Vertical. Let the K-Marts and Wall-Marts kill each other with huge inventory costs. Define a category. Own it. Some "companies" who screwed up: General Motors - Too many indistinguishable brands. (Ford and Chrysler win) Chevrolet - big, small, cheap, expensive, sports car, truck (Fords is now #1 in sales) Scott toilet tissue - Scotties, Scottkins, Scottowels (Kleenex wins). Arm & Hammer - baking soda, deodorant, oven cleaner, cat litter deodorizer etc. Budweiser - light, dry. ice (miller wins). Volkswagen - bug, jetta, rabbitt, van, thing, scirocco, etc. (Japanese cars win). General Electric, IBM, Xerox, Westinghouse, Sears, and hundreds more.

What Position Do You Now Occupy?
Be honest. Make a list. Same as the other places? Specialize in something they don't: quality, variety.
Who Is Your Market?
Define them carefully. Use demographics. Then target their attention: magazines, radio, local TV, newspapers, the web.

Who Is The Competition?
What position do they each occupy? How do you fit in? What is your position?

Advertising: Find The Positions That The Other Companies Occupy.

Exploit the weaknesses to your advantage, thereby re-positioning the competitor. Cutting-edge, advertising content is required. Help is available.

Part Two:
The Information Age.

Information Overload: Clutter and Confusion abounds in out everyday life. Sunday's NYTimes is living proof: 10lbs, 600pages, 10million words. Factor in television, radio, talking and the InterNet, and there's an overload in the making.

Five Truisms About The Human Mind:

1. Minds Are Limited: people can't handle the mountains of information being generated. Over 3,000 commercial messages per day on average. If it 'news', it gets remembered: JFK's assassination, space shuttle explosion, Watergate etc.

2. Minds Hate Confusion: over-simplification is the only way around over-communication. Keep it simple. Make the point. (Crest-fights cavities; Volvo-safety; Prego sauce-thick)

3. Minds Are Insecure: people tend to be emotional, not rational. (Coke-the real thing; Tylenol-hospital recommended; Honda-on the ten best list…)

4. Minds Don't Change: once the marketplace makes up its mind, the discussion is over. (VW-the bug; new & Coke classic; Porsche-what kind; Campbell soup-food; Foster Grant sunglasses-behind the glasses; Richard Jewell-suspicious Olympic security guard)

5. Minds Lose Focus: that's why long-term, line extension destroy a brand. (Cray-supercomputers; Philly creamcheese; Duracell-batteries; Castrol-sports car oil; Dominos pizza-home delivery; Xerox copiers, not computers) Don't dilute the brand. Budweiser did with 15 types of same-name beers; now they sell 23millions less barrels per year. Michelob was the smart move. Don't line extend. Miller wins the overall battle.

Advertising: Contributing To The Overload.
Each day, we're subjected to thousands of bits and pieces of information. How to sort through it all? Focus on what's important.

Cut Through The Clutter: What Is The Question?
How do I get my advertising noticed? What are the others doing?

Then do what they aren't doing: if they are talking product and price, go another direction - informational. Stand out from the crowd to get noticed. Price wars kill business for 95% of the players; everyone loses except the big guys who can afford the loss. Losses don't pay the bills.
Part Three:
Defining Your Position.

What Is Your Position? To go somewhere, you've got to know where you've been. Evaluate your current market perception.

What Position Do You Occupy? What strengths? Weaknesses? Product line attributes? Competition?

Who Is Your Market?

What Do You Want To Do?

Advertising: A New Approach Is Called For.

Part Four:
Determining The Competitions' Position.

A Little Research Goes A Long Way.

Who Is The Competition? Use a 90-mile radius (that's the average driving limitation). How long have they been there?

What Position Do They Occupy?

What Are They Doing? The strengths? Weaknesses? Product line attributes?

Advertising: Analyze What The Say and How They Say It. Collect newspaper ads. Ask questions of current customers.

Part Five:
Re-Positioning Yourself.

Find A Niche That You Specialize In.

Does Anyone Else Do It? Can You Do It Better?

Maintaining Your Market Position: What warfare plan will you use?

Advertising: Find The 'Hole In The Donut' (cerche le creneau!)

Re-Positioning The Competition.

Can their position be pre-empted? List the weaknesses.

Use the data from Part Four.

Advertising: Find The 'Hole In The Donut' (cerche le creneau!)

Part Six:
Marketing Warfare.
The Strategic Marketing Grid:

Offensive Warfare
Everyone but the leader plays offense.

Defensive Warfare
The leader always plays defense (of market share and brand equity).

Flanking Warfare
Orville Redenbacher's "Gourmet Popping Corn"

Guerrilla Warfare
Charles Schwab discount stock broker.
Jeep (before Chrysler buy-out)

Why, When and How To Go To War.

Who Is The Competition? Make a quick survey of the movers and shakers in your area.

What Position Do They Occupy? What do their ads say? What do people say about them?

Can Their Position Be Pre-Empted? Yes, almost anyone's can.

Advertising: Review The Advertising For Points Of Weakness.

Part Seven:
Choosing The Battlefield.

Strategy vs Tactics

Take No Prisoners.

Advertising: Price Points or The High Road?

Part Eight:
The Future of Garden Centers.

How Does Positioning Fit Into The World Of Horticulture?
What Do You Want To Do? Who are your customers? Are they the same ones who go to mass-merchandisers for "deals and discounts"? Why put up with that crap? It's a huge disadvantage and continual financial loss.

Quick, find a niche and defend it.

Be vertical; let the mass-merchandisers own all that inventory. Don't try to be all things to all people. There are too many failures ahead of you in line.

Take the high road; don't battle on price. You'll lose.

Focus all attention and resources on the tactic.

Full pursuit after victory.

Part Eight:
The Future of Garden Centers on The InterNet (Web).

The Web's still in it's infancy, no one knows where it's going.

Depending upon market positioning, it can be profitable. Go to http://www.gdnctr.com/ and see an example of one that did well.

Mail order and secure encryption are headaches for now, so offer product and services in an expanded local area. Say, a 300mile radius from your base of operation.

Until mail order and secure encryption are perfected - say within the next 2-3 years - it's best to identify and trade locally within a pre-defined radius from your business.

But come on in: the water's just fine.

Speaker's Biography

John D.M. Shelley II,
Proprietor
John Shelley's Garden Center & Nursery, Inc.
13579 Winterstown Road
Felton, PA 17322-8522
VOX 717.246.1414
FAX 717.246.2170

Personal
Born in York, PA, December 2, 1949
Grew Up In Arlington Heights, ILL.
Educated at & Graduated from
  Drake University, Des Moines, IA.
  BA Journalism 1971 - Advertising/ Marketing
Vietnam 1971 - 1974, US Army 3rd Special Forces
   (Green Berets) Captain, Honorable Discharge 1975.

Business
1975 - 1989 New York, NY
Trout & Ries, "The Positioning Agency"
Seven-Up: "The Un-Cola"
Federal Express: "When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be There Overnight"
Western Union: "The Impact of A Telegram At A Fraction Of The Cost",
    "The Fastest Way To Send Money",
... and dozens more you've known over the years.
Grey Advertising, Worldwide
BFGoodrich Comp T/As: "Think of 'Em As Tennis Shoes For Your Car"
J. Walter Thompson Advertising, USA & Worldwide
Burger King: "Have It Your Way"
Doyle, Dane, Bernbach Advertising USA
Wendy's: "Where's The Beef"
McCann-Erickson Advertising USA & Worldwide
GMs: "Chevrolet, The Heartbeat Of America"
Ammirati-Puris Advertising, USA
BMW: "The Ultimate Driving Machine"
Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, USA
Philip Morris Co, Marlboro Cigarettes: "Marlboro Country"
Needham, Harper, Steers Advertising, USA
Kellogg's Cereals: "Kellogg's Corn Flakes. Taste Them Again For The First Time"
Hertz Rent-A-Car
Vice President, Marketing.
1980 - Current
Horticultural Education:
Self-taught and still working on it.
1990 - Current
John Shelley's Garden Center & Nursery, Inc.
"The Gardening Specialists"

Let's give credit where credit is due:
These are the legendary advertising mavens who invented it all and made it easy for me to be a success with their business marketing philosophy:

Jack Trout & Al Ries, authors of:
Positioning, The Battle For Your Mind, Jack Trout & Al Ries
Marketing Warfare, Jack Trout & Al Ries
Horse Sense, Jack Trout & Al Ries
Bottom-Up Marketing, Jack Trout & Al Ries
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Jack Trout & Al Ries
The New Positioning, Jack Trout & Steve Rivkin
Focus, Al Ries

All Books Are Available Through:
Border's (www.borders.com),
Amazon (www.amazon.com),
Barnes & Noble (www.barnesandnoble.com),

or direct from:

Jack Trout, Chairman
Trout & Partners, LTD
2 Pickwick Plaza
Greenwich, CT 06830-5530
vox: 203.622.4312
fax: 203.622.0714