All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World

Surprising insights, but repetitive

Marketers are always on a quest to discover the new best way to sell products. Author and marketing guru Seth Godin takes a slightly skewed look at the marketing principle of positioning and renames it 'storytelling.' In doing so, he redefines a market segment as a community with a shared worldview, and a marketing campaign as a story framed to fit that worldview. The idea is provocative. By tweaking the conventional approach to advertising, Godin gives marketers a new angle, backed up by enlightening case studies. At times the book is simplistic and repetitive, and it never fully gets into the meat of how to create and disseminate a marketing story. Still, Godin will intrigue you as he explains that purchases are driven by desire, not need, and that clever storytelling is better at whetting a purchaser¿s desires than an old-fashioned ad campaign. We recommend his practical marketing advice with its unorthodox approach to charming the cash right out of the customer¿s wallet.

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...it's an amazing book!

'All Marketers are Liars' is one of the best books I've read this year. Seth Godin is highly entertaining, witty and funny as he takes you on a journey through the world of business storytelling!

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Seth Godin Is A Dirty, Rotten Liar! (Not Really)

Seth Godin is the kind of character and author that you either love - or love to hate. I find myself happily in the first camp. I find his view of the world and of marketing to be refreshing and insightful. I have always walked away from a personal encounter with Seth having learned something new and having been encouraged to think about familiar things in new and different ways. The same holds true for his books. I have devoured Purple Cow, Free Prize Inside, Permission Marketing, Unleashing the IdeaVirus. His new book has just been released to bookstores. All Marketers Are Liars (The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World) stands on the shoulders of his previous books and builds the case for storytelling being at the heart of all marketing activities. And for Seth, the medium is often a crucial part of the message. Packaging is part of the story. Ergo, limited editions of Purple Cow came packed inside purple and white half gallon milk cartons. Free Prize Inside was sold inside a cereal box. All Marketers Are Liars features a picture of Seth Godin looking strangely like the love child of Pinocchio and Cyrano de Bergerac! The deliberately arresting and provocative title of the book makes Seth's point succinctly. In telling us the title of his book - he is telling us a lie. The book is not really about the fact that marketers lie (although some do). It is about the fact that consumers tell themselves lies all the time to justify buying what they want rather than what they truly need. We tell ourselves stories about the products and services we desire. And the successful marketer finds ways to control the storytelling process. 'Stories let us lie to ourselves. And those lies satisfy our desires. It's the story, not the good or the service you actually sell, that pleases the consumer.' (p. 84) The heart of Seth's argument can be found in this pithy statement: '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.' Every marketer, sales person and business executive should read this book and then engage in some healthy reflection and self-analysis. Every consumer should read it to gain better understanding about what moves us to want and then to buy the things that we acquire. I enjoyed this book. No lie!

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Hat Trick

All Marketers Are Liars completes the Seth Godin marketing hat trick begun with Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside. We all like being told stories (lies) from the time we are children. As kids, we want to believe in the magic and hope that fairy tales and fables bring us. As adults, we still need to believe in the power of magic, of things having exceptional qualities. Marketing stories/lies give us that magic. They take what is unique about a product/business (Purple Cow) and combine it with its extra benefits (Free Prize Inside) to create a story that we understand on an emotional level. Once a product/business has a strong lie, it can connect with its customer quicker and more efficently. I would strongly recommend this book especially for small business owners who are having to act as their own marketing directors. You will come away with an direction for you marketing.

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I really enjoyed this book!

I picked up this book, strictly for the title as I have always thought myself to be a marketer's nightmare and thought this book would be humorous. I don't buy anything because of the brand name and the few branded things I do buy are only bought because I have used them and they have proven their worth to me. So, I picked up All Marketers Are Liars, expecting it to trash marketing gimmicks. Boy was I surprised to find that I am not the nightmare I thought myself to be. Godin's theory of storytelling as opposed to advertising is right on the money. While reading his book, I realized that I, too, have been hooked by the good stories and it opened my eyes a little more to marketing ploys that I hadn't even paid any thought to. Godin's examples of product story telling are very interesting. I really enjoyed this book!

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