Seth Godin Books Item ID: #142All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust WorldProduct Information:
Item DescriptionEvery marketer tells a story. And if they do it right, we believe them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass than a $1 glass. We believe that an $80,000 Porsche Cayenne is vastly superior to a $36,000 VW Touareg, which is virtually the same car. We believe that $225 Pumas will make our feet feel better-and look cooler-than $20 no-names . . . and believing it makes it true. Successful marketers don’t talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want to believe. This is a book about doing what consumers demand-painting vivid pictures that they choose to believe. Every organization-from nonprofits to car companies, from political campaigns to wineglass blowers-must understand that the rules have changed (again). In an economy where the richest have an infinite number of choices (and no time to make them), every organization is a marketer and all marketing is about telling stories. Marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview, a story that we intuitively embrace and then share with our friends. Think of the Dyson vacuum cleaner or the iPod. But beware : If your stories are inauthentic, you cross the line from fib to fraud. Marketers fail when they are selfish and scurrilous, when they abuse the tools of their trade and make the world worse. That’s a lesson learned the hard way by telemarketers and Marlboro. This is a powerful book for anyone who wants to create things people truly want as opposed to commodities that people merely need. Item Reviews5 Responses to “All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World”Leave a Reply |
|
English 
French 
Bulgarian 
German 
Spanish 
Russian 
Persian 
Portuguese 
Norwegian 
Bookmark This Page 
Email A Friend 
Print This Page 
Help With This Item 
`Perception is stronger than reality’ is the basis of this book.
According to the marketing guru Seth Godin who is the author of this book-whatever is being sold (a religion, a candidate, a widget, a service) is being purchased because it creates an emotional want, not because it fulfills a simple need. His premise is that successful marketers don’t talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell stories. Stories about their products that pander to consumers’ self-regard and worldview. Stories we want to believe.
The best thing about this book is that it does away with all jargon and complex marketing theories and models.
A few quotations from the book just to give you a flavour of Godin’s wisdom:
“If consumers have everything they need, there’s nothing to left to buy except what they want. And the reason they buy stuff they want is because of the way it makes them feel.”
“The myth of product superiority in business-to-business products is just that. The people who buy for business are people first, and they buy things that get them promoted, that make them feel safe and secure or that give them a sense of belonging. They are not buying a product, but the justification, the story.”
“When the Fortune 500 started hiring vice presidents to spend their billions of dollars on information technology, it appeared that all five hundred of these CIOs had the same worldview. Pretty soon, though, alert competitors discovered that some of them wanted to hear stories about avoiding risk, while others desperately wanted to make a name for themselves by appearing to be risk-taking mavericks. Companies like Broadview and IBM and Cisco carved up the market by working hard to discover who would believe which story.”
Like most Seth Godin books, this one is fun to read and has some great new ideas. And the unique thing is that it has plenty of insights covering both business to business as well business to consumer marketing.
At the end of the day, Godin practices what he preaches. He has told a great story here. Even experienced marketers can learn a trick or two from this book.
-Maneesh Sah
The core theme of this book is excellent. Everyone tells stories–about themselves and the products they use. As a marketer, you’ve got to tap into those stories. In reality, the stories themselves make the product better.
I recommend the book for any marketing manager, which is my personal profession.
My only complaint is that I would have liked the topic to be broadened a bit. I kind of felt Godin didn’t want to give too much information because, heaven forbid, it may take away from the subject of another book he could publish. But hey, it’s a book by a marketer, so what would you expect. Of he course wants to sell other books!
Good storytellers have an amazing gift. They can make people believe what they want them to believe. People turn to storytellers in the times of need and want. It comforts them to reinforce their own ideas, their values and their beliefs. In this book, Seth Godin tries to explain that how successful marketers unleash this power for the purposes of marketing in the new world order. As he categorically states that he “lies” when he titled his book “All Marketers are Liars”. In fact it is all of us who are the liars and chose to believe the stories of the marketers and then in turn lie to ourselves.
This book is a great read and I would highly recommend to everyone. With compelling collection of cases studies and stories, it relates to each one of us whether you are a marketing professional or not. It doesn’t matter if you are selling soap, car or your services at a job interview; Marketing is key to success.
This book will make your think and help you tell your story in a way that fits other people’s worldview.
[...]
I like this book. I have no proper marketing education and this book helped me to understand some nowadays marketing problems. Not only understand but also find own solution to design and marketing own products.
Book is easy to read. I was only sometimes confused by terms liar and lie. Author seems to have his own definitions of these words, but these have not been included in the book.
Really interesting book that keeps your attention at all times when you’re reading it. He’s got great examples that speaks to you and helps you understand the concept.