"Every 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."
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
The importance of having a story that resonates with customers' world view:
"Marketers are liars" is a catchy title. A more informing title would be "Products need to resonate with customers' (subjective) world view", but it wouldn't have sold as well... Godin is good at marketing to marketers. A central theme is that consumers are not rational. They lie to themselves about the decisions they make and later rationalize those decisions. It's a good reminder, although this is psychology 101 and clearly not a "whole new way of doing business" as Godin claims. I am writing... more info
a good resource for designers:
A design colleague I respect recommended this book as a way to answer some of the questions I had about the ethics about selling design services and business in general. It makes a good case for why certain services are more expensive than others, and how to justify your fees..
Good overall message, weak concept and light on real content:
Let's start with the title of the book, "All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World". Hmmm. Something is already wrong here. When I look up the word "authentic", I get the definition, "conforming to fact and therefore worthy of belief". Doesn't it follow that if we tell "authentic" stories in our marketing we are by definition telling the truth and not lying? Alas, Godin admits he was lying to us from the start because right on the back dust jacket of the... more info
Authentic lying?:
This book is about marketing through story telling, rather than boring prospects about product features. This is not really a ground-breaking idea. I recall an advertising professor saying twenty years ago, "You don't sell tires, you sell safety." Godin says that consumers hold "worldviews" or beliefs. Marketers stand little chance of changing those views. So instead they should tell stories about their product which align with those views. Everyone doesn't share the same views, so stories should be... more info
