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All Marketers are Liars (with a New Preface): The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works--and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All Hardcover – Bargain Price, November 12, 2009
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From Publishers Weekly
Advertising's fundamental theorem-that perception trumps reality-informs this dubious marketing primer. Journalist and marketing guru Godin, author of Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, contends that, in an age when consumers are motivated by irrational wants instead of objective needs and "there is almost no connection between what is actually there and what we believe," presenting stolid factual information about a product is a losing strategy. Instead, marketers should tell "great stories" about their products that pander to consumers' self-regard and worldview. Examples include expensive wine glasses that purport to improve the taste of wine, despite scientific proof to the contrary; Baby Einstein videotapes that are "useless for babies but...satisfy a real desire for their parents"; and organic marketing schemes, which amount to "telling ourselves a complex lie about food, the environment and the safety of our families." Because consumers prefer fantasy to the truth, the marketer's duty is to be "authentic" rather than honest, to "live the lie, fully and completely" so that "all the details line up"-that is, to make their falsehoods convincing rather than transparent. Troubled by the cynicism of his own argument, Godin draws a line at deceptions that actually kill people, like marketing infant formula in the Third World, and elaborates a murky distinction between "fibs" that "make the thing itself more effective or enjoyable" and "frauds" that are "solely for the selfish benefit of the marketer." To illustrate his preferred approach to marketing, the author relates a grab bag of case studies, heavy on emotionally compelling pitches and seamless subliminal impressions. Readers will likely find the book's practical advice as rudderless as its ethical principles.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Seth Godin is the author of Tribes, The Dip, Purple Cow, Permission Marketing, and many other international bestsellers that have changed the way businesspeople think and act. He's the most influential business blogger in the world and consistently one of the twenty-five most widely read bloggers in any category. He's also the founder and CEO of Squidoo (a successful Internet company) and a very popular lecturer. He lives in Westchester, New York. Visit www.SethGodin.com and click on his head.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By
Larry Underwood
on November 18, 2009
Format: Hardcover
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Some marketers may be liars; some may be honest; those who are the most successful, combine honesty with a compelling message. That's the secret to a great marketing campaign, and that's why Seth Godin's book is so interesting. He knows how to tell relevent stories which engage the reader; before you know it, you've read this entire book.
The message Godin is delivering is really quite simple. Marketers should have a good story to tell; if it's a good enough story, consumers will repeat it, and that story has now become entrenched in our minds as "reality". Mission accomplished.
Successful marketers understand the importance of creating demand from telling a good story. However, as Godin warns, the stories had better be authentic; consumers in this day and age of social media are quick to spot the phonies. That's good news for the consumers; and should be good news for the creative marketers, who have good stories to tell. That probably explains why Twitter is becoming so popular; people like stories, especially short ones that are confined to 140 characters or less. Cutting to the chase has never been more important than it is today.
It should also be good news for Seth Godin, because his story is authentic, very witty, and most compelling. I highly recommend reading it for yourself; I honestly believe you won't be disappointed.
The message Godin is delivering is really quite simple. Marketers should have a good story to tell; if it's a good enough story, consumers will repeat it, and that story has now become entrenched in our minds as "reality". Mission accomplished.
Successful marketers understand the importance of creating demand from telling a good story. However, as Godin warns, the stories had better be authentic; consumers in this day and age of social media are quick to spot the phonies. That's good news for the consumers; and should be good news for the creative marketers, who have good stories to tell. That probably explains why Twitter is becoming so popular; people like stories, especially short ones that are confined to 140 characters or less. Cutting to the chase has never been more important than it is today.
It should also be good news for Seth Godin, because his story is authentic, very witty, and most compelling. I highly recommend reading it for yourself; I honestly believe you won't be disappointed.
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60 of 68 people found the following review helpful
By
Kim Moeller
on June 1, 2005
Format: Hardcover
3 Comments
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Godin writes: "This is a whole new way of doing business."
Well, if it is such Seth, then surely You aren't the first marketer to spot this. Therefore, Seth Godin shouldn't take credit for revealing some of the powers of storytelling in marketing.
Other authors were there long before him (e.g. Laurence Vincent, John Simmons, Steve Denning, Christopher Locke, Dave Snowden), who managed to go deeper and further. Mind you though that their individual approaches are very different.
Much of what Godin calls storytelling are simply elements of marketing strategy (already well know to marketers) presented here in a new wrapping called "storytelling". But just because you say so, that doesn't make it so!
Where he writes "You can't out-Amazon Amazon" and "Make your story stand out from the competition", he is simply describing the importance of positioning, and similarly it isn't 'Rocket Science' when he says "Cheap is not marketing". Rather it is leaning up against men like Michael Porter who have been discussing the inherent dangers of price competition for decades.
He does however practice what he preaches. He tells a story that his customers want to believe. It is a pleasant though that success can be achieved simply by telling cute little stories. It is however not as simple as this, which is why I suggest you explore other authors too (See above).
A point I fully agree on is that: "You must aggressively go to the edges and tell a story that only you could tell." However, I don't feel that Godin has followed his own gospel in this case. The story he tells in "All Marketers are Liars" has to a wide extent already been told by a number of other skilful authors.
He still gets 3 stars from me, because I welcome any additions to the body of knowledge available about storytelling in marketing. I believe it is a powerful tool, and it deserves wider recognition.
Well, if it is such Seth, then surely You aren't the first marketer to spot this. Therefore, Seth Godin shouldn't take credit for revealing some of the powers of storytelling in marketing.
Other authors were there long before him (e.g. Laurence Vincent, John Simmons, Steve Denning, Christopher Locke, Dave Snowden), who managed to go deeper and further. Mind you though that their individual approaches are very different.
Much of what Godin calls storytelling are simply elements of marketing strategy (already well know to marketers) presented here in a new wrapping called "storytelling". But just because you say so, that doesn't make it so!
Where he writes "You can't out-Amazon Amazon" and "Make your story stand out from the competition", he is simply describing the importance of positioning, and similarly it isn't 'Rocket Science' when he says "Cheap is not marketing". Rather it is leaning up against men like Michael Porter who have been discussing the inherent dangers of price competition for decades.
He does however practice what he preaches. He tells a story that his customers want to believe. It is a pleasant though that success can be achieved simply by telling cute little stories. It is however not as simple as this, which is why I suggest you explore other authors too (See above).
A point I fully agree on is that: "You must aggressively go to the edges and tell a story that only you could tell." However, I don't feel that Godin has followed his own gospel in this case. The story he tells in "All Marketers are Liars" has to a wide extent already been told by a number of other skilful authors.
He still gets 3 stars from me, because I welcome any additions to the body of knowledge available about storytelling in marketing. I believe it is a powerful tool, and it deserves wider recognition.
Thank you for your feedback.
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64 of 75 people found the following review helpful
By
Book Lover
on July 17, 2006
Format: Hardcover
1 Comment
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I find Seth Godin's books incredibly lightweight. There is really nothing of any substance here. The usual series of marketing anecdotes, normally about quite niche products. I think the whole thing can be summed up in the old advertising cliche: sell the sizzle, not the steak. He's just given it a new word - essentially he's dressing up well-worn concepts in new clothes. The book is poorly organised and repetitive, and I think he succeeds simply because his books are so lightweight - they're easily digestible on a bus ride or plane trip, don't rely on any support for his theories so they're not easily challenged, and essentially say very little. The marketing equivalent of the airport novel.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By
Von Sydow Gustav
on February 10, 2006
Format: Hardcover
1 Comment
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For some unknown reason my copy of Liars had been gathering dust on the shelf for quite some time and I decided to read it on a train ride to Stockholm yesterday. The book is about how (and why) to use stories to further your company's/organization's/your own objectives. The main thesis' of the books are:
1. Competitive advantages are becoming too complex too formulate in a one sentence positioning statement and people need stories to make sense of what a company is all about.
2. Stories are what makes people (irrationally) believe that some products are superior to other products. This is why people sincerely believe that a 80 000 dollar Porsche Cayenne is superior to the 36 000 dollar Volkswagen Touareg, despite the fact that they are basically the same part. We buy stories, not products.
3. Stories are what we tell other people and stories are thus what a savvy WOM enlighted marketer should aim for to maximize marketing (mainly WOM) efficiency.
4. To be effective, stories must fit the existing worldview of the target group. If it doesn't, don't try to change their worldview (because people can't be changed), change target group.
5. To break through the info clutter, one must "frame" the story in a way that makes sense to people.
The first point I buy completely. It is obviously very inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, but still worth pointing out in a marketing context (to be fair, Godin does give Gladwell some credit). The second point is nothing new at all. The use of stories is just basic branding, slightly adjusted. Regarding stories increasing the efficiency of WOM I think it's absolutely true. However, it's not like it hasn't been said before, only using different terminology (even Godin himself in "Ideavirus").Read more ›
1. Competitive advantages are becoming too complex too formulate in a one sentence positioning statement and people need stories to make sense of what a company is all about.
2. Stories are what makes people (irrationally) believe that some products are superior to other products. This is why people sincerely believe that a 80 000 dollar Porsche Cayenne is superior to the 36 000 dollar Volkswagen Touareg, despite the fact that they are basically the same part. We buy stories, not products.
3. Stories are what we tell other people and stories are thus what a savvy WOM enlighted marketer should aim for to maximize marketing (mainly WOM) efficiency.
4. To be effective, stories must fit the existing worldview of the target group. If it doesn't, don't try to change their worldview (because people can't be changed), change target group.
5. To break through the info clutter, one must "frame" the story in a way that makes sense to people.
The first point I buy completely. It is obviously very inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, but still worth pointing out in a marketing context (to be fair, Godin does give Gladwell some credit). The second point is nothing new at all. The use of stories is just basic branding, slightly adjusted. Regarding stories increasing the efficiency of WOM I think it's absolutely true. However, it's not like it hasn't been said before, only using different terminology (even Godin himself in "Ideavirus").Read more ›
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