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on August 9, 2015
It's a must read book for every marketer and every consumer. Marketers might be able to improve their performance, and consumer will understand why they do (and buy) what they do (and buy).
Extremely significant is Godin's definition of the "great story."
"... A Great story is true."
"Great Stories make a promise."
Great stories are trusted."
and
"Great stories are subtle..."
These four sentences define the scope. It' s not easy to reach by any marketer. And, consumers need to understand their own behavior better to "... Know Your (their) power." If consumers "demand" that marketers align their products with worthy goals, the world can move toward a better direction very quickly.
I wished more marketers would read Godin's warning
"It seems like an easy out. Figure out some internally approved story that you can trot out to the sales force and use in a magazine ad, and you're set.
Actually, if you do that, you're dead..."
I am always baffled how many stories which are trying to sell an expensive program begin with the story of some character, who is completely broke and has also maxed out his credit cards, but THEN borrows money to buy this program and ends up being a millionaire twelve months later. Ha!
Godin offers hundreds of interesting example, each one with valuable information whether you work in the particular industry or buy these products, or not. Marketing today is an ever more rapidly evolving process, and good marketing people learn cross industries. Even Steve Jobs learned from Nike.
Finally, Godin hones down on what every consumer should think about before swiping the card: "The lie a consumer tells himself is the nucleus in the center of any successful marketing effort."
This book is highly recommended. In fact, it should be a must-read book for any HS-senior, to be read again five years later.
Gisela Hausmann, author of the "naked (meaning no-fluff) books
Extremely significant is Godin's definition of the "great story."
"... A Great story is true."
"Great Stories make a promise."
Great stories are trusted."
and
"Great stories are subtle..."
These four sentences define the scope. It' s not easy to reach by any marketer. And, consumers need to understand their own behavior better to "... Know Your (their) power." If consumers "demand" that marketers align their products with worthy goals, the world can move toward a better direction very quickly.
I wished more marketers would read Godin's warning
"It seems like an easy out. Figure out some internally approved story that you can trot out to the sales force and use in a magazine ad, and you're set.
Actually, if you do that, you're dead..."
I am always baffled how many stories which are trying to sell an expensive program begin with the story of some character, who is completely broke and has also maxed out his credit cards, but THEN borrows money to buy this program and ends up being a millionaire twelve months later. Ha!
Godin offers hundreds of interesting example, each one with valuable information whether you work in the particular industry or buy these products, or not. Marketing today is an ever more rapidly evolving process, and good marketing people learn cross industries. Even Steve Jobs learned from Nike.
Finally, Godin hones down on what every consumer should think about before swiping the card: "The lie a consumer tells himself is the nucleus in the center of any successful marketing effort."
This book is highly recommended. In fact, it should be a must-read book for any HS-senior, to be read again five years later.
Gisela Hausmann, author of the "naked (meaning no-fluff) books
on April 25, 2014
The title of Seth Godin’s book All Marketers Are Liars is misleading; in fact, it’s a lie. This is because in his book Godin explains that all marketers merely tell stories (as indicated on the redesigned cover). Although geared toward a marketing minded audience, as we read we find out that we are all marketers. This insight is gained in Godin’s explanation of how the storytelling technique is an everyday paradigm; people tell themselves stories and believe them. Thus, good marketers tell us authentic stories that we believe and then spread. He notes that as the technology is becoming more efficient, the emphasis is on the spreading of ideas by marketing, therefore on storytelling. Some of Godin’s notable points that explain this phenomenon are: consumers’ worldviews were there before you, people notice new and then guess, first impressions start the story, great marketers tell stories we believe and marketers with authenticity thrive.
Godin’s first point that a consumer’s worldview was there before you proves to be very important in proving his argument. He describes a worldview as “the rules, values, beliefs and biases that an individual consumer brings to a situation.”(p.39) Worldviews, along with frames (“elements of a story painted to leverage the worldview a consumer already has”) govern what stories consumers will believe. To support this, Godin uses the example of the General Mills team adapting to changes in a worldview when Atkins was implemented. General Mills quickly changed their popular Lucky Charms cereal recipe to a whole grain based product and leveraged this with the same old slogan “magically delicious!” Godin exemplifies that a company, to be successful, must tell an authentic story that adheres to the worldview of an audience and if that worldview changes adaptations must be made. This, along with multiple others of Godin’s examples, successfully explains that worldviews are there before you and a story must be framed in terms of this worldview to be successful. Godin sets up the rest of his book with this idea.
Next, Godin explains that people on notice what is new, and then they’ll guess about what to expect next. His most important example in explaining this is at the very end of this chapter. He talks about how diners at the Union Square Café rave about the service. However, these customers only do this because that is what they have persuaded themselves is true. Therefore the customers get the good service they expect because that’s the story that plays in their head and their brain makes their expectations come true. (p. 84) This human tendency, as Godin successfully describes, makes it easier to trick people into believing something is new and different. Godin’s clever use of describing how the brain works makes it clear that marketers can easily tell a story that isn’t all accurate and succeed in doing so. It’s interesting to see that this behavior is so common yet overlooked in being such a huge part of what succeeds and what doesn’t.
Godin goes on to explain another human behavior, snap judgments, which affect what a consumer thinks. He realizes that people will make snap judgments when buying something and will refuse to change his mind after that initial decision. This makes first impressions, not overly important, but pretty crucial in that it is the beginning of the story, even though the time of this first impression is ambiguous. Therefore, authenticity matters in generating a story that is going to be heard and repeated. He speaks about how people get upset when they find out recycling isn’t as effective as they thought and how New Yorkers were outraged when recycling was cancelled. Godin says, “The recycling lie was subtle, multifaceted and deeply seated.” (p. 94) Which he affirms is exactly the story you want to create for a brand to last. His explanation of this further proves that people will make loaded judgments in a fraction of a second, and refuse to change it once the decision has been made and marketers must realize this to be successful. Again, it is very interesting that such a behavior of stubbornness can have such a great affect on what stories will be believed. If someone makes this judgment and believes the story they will spread it, which rises the realization that marketing is almost entirely reliant on behaviors on the consumer.
Great marketers tell stories we believe. Godin starts this chapter by engaging the audience by making us the marketer. He then offers the idea of how to get elected as president. John Kerry failed at doing this because he didn’t tell a coherent story or a lie we wanted to believe because he didn’t live his story in everything he did. This non- cohesive story was unattractive and not believable so he wasn’t elected. This example shows that telling a story that consumers will believe is very important and if you don’t do this, as Godin explains, you’ll fail. Stories allow us to lie to ourselves and satisfy our desires. Therefore, it’s the story that please us, not the actually good or service. Basically, we want a good story, and then we’ll trust the product. If marketers can’t do that, they’ll lose.
In his final chapters, Godin offers some pretty great advice to becoming a successful brand: being authentic will allow you to thrive.
Authentic marketing, from one human to another, is extremely powerful. Telling a story authentically, creating a product or service that actually does what you say it will leads to a different sort of endgame. The marketer wins and so does her customers. A story that works combined with authenticity and minimized side effects builds a brand (and a business) for the ages. (p. 129)
This passage from his book affirms everything Godin has connected to the authenticity of a story. This advice achieves tying all of his main points together and applying them to a company, brand or oneself and how any off the facets of business can be successful in adhering to authenticity. This insightful and intriguing part of his book really brings everything together.
Amongst many other things, Godin’s simple syntax and lack of hard to understand jargon, I believe, attributed to his intriguing story about story telling in the marketing world. It interesting to see that human behavior is such a huge factor in the success of storytelling and that it actually drives this phenomenon. All facets of his book combine to create an idea about authenticity and its importance to successful storytelling, concluding that the real liars are the ones who can’t achieve this authenticity. This book is interesting, exciting and, most importantly, relevant. Not to mention incredibly enjoyable!
Godin’s first point that a consumer’s worldview was there before you proves to be very important in proving his argument. He describes a worldview as “the rules, values, beliefs and biases that an individual consumer brings to a situation.”(p.39) Worldviews, along with frames (“elements of a story painted to leverage the worldview a consumer already has”) govern what stories consumers will believe. To support this, Godin uses the example of the General Mills team adapting to changes in a worldview when Atkins was implemented. General Mills quickly changed their popular Lucky Charms cereal recipe to a whole grain based product and leveraged this with the same old slogan “magically delicious!” Godin exemplifies that a company, to be successful, must tell an authentic story that adheres to the worldview of an audience and if that worldview changes adaptations must be made. This, along with multiple others of Godin’s examples, successfully explains that worldviews are there before you and a story must be framed in terms of this worldview to be successful. Godin sets up the rest of his book with this idea.
Next, Godin explains that people on notice what is new, and then they’ll guess about what to expect next. His most important example in explaining this is at the very end of this chapter. He talks about how diners at the Union Square Café rave about the service. However, these customers only do this because that is what they have persuaded themselves is true. Therefore the customers get the good service they expect because that’s the story that plays in their head and their brain makes their expectations come true. (p. 84) This human tendency, as Godin successfully describes, makes it easier to trick people into believing something is new and different. Godin’s clever use of describing how the brain works makes it clear that marketers can easily tell a story that isn’t all accurate and succeed in doing so. It’s interesting to see that this behavior is so common yet overlooked in being such a huge part of what succeeds and what doesn’t.
Godin goes on to explain another human behavior, snap judgments, which affect what a consumer thinks. He realizes that people will make snap judgments when buying something and will refuse to change his mind after that initial decision. This makes first impressions, not overly important, but pretty crucial in that it is the beginning of the story, even though the time of this first impression is ambiguous. Therefore, authenticity matters in generating a story that is going to be heard and repeated. He speaks about how people get upset when they find out recycling isn’t as effective as they thought and how New Yorkers were outraged when recycling was cancelled. Godin says, “The recycling lie was subtle, multifaceted and deeply seated.” (p. 94) Which he affirms is exactly the story you want to create for a brand to last. His explanation of this further proves that people will make loaded judgments in a fraction of a second, and refuse to change it once the decision has been made and marketers must realize this to be successful. Again, it is very interesting that such a behavior of stubbornness can have such a great affect on what stories will be believed. If someone makes this judgment and believes the story they will spread it, which rises the realization that marketing is almost entirely reliant on behaviors on the consumer.
Great marketers tell stories we believe. Godin starts this chapter by engaging the audience by making us the marketer. He then offers the idea of how to get elected as president. John Kerry failed at doing this because he didn’t tell a coherent story or a lie we wanted to believe because he didn’t live his story in everything he did. This non- cohesive story was unattractive and not believable so he wasn’t elected. This example shows that telling a story that consumers will believe is very important and if you don’t do this, as Godin explains, you’ll fail. Stories allow us to lie to ourselves and satisfy our desires. Therefore, it’s the story that please us, not the actually good or service. Basically, we want a good story, and then we’ll trust the product. If marketers can’t do that, they’ll lose.
In his final chapters, Godin offers some pretty great advice to becoming a successful brand: being authentic will allow you to thrive.
Authentic marketing, from one human to another, is extremely powerful. Telling a story authentically, creating a product or service that actually does what you say it will leads to a different sort of endgame. The marketer wins and so does her customers. A story that works combined with authenticity and minimized side effects builds a brand (and a business) for the ages. (p. 129)
This passage from his book affirms everything Godin has connected to the authenticity of a story. This advice achieves tying all of his main points together and applying them to a company, brand or oneself and how any off the facets of business can be successful in adhering to authenticity. This insightful and intriguing part of his book really brings everything together.
Amongst many other things, Godin’s simple syntax and lack of hard to understand jargon, I believe, attributed to his intriguing story about story telling in the marketing world. It interesting to see that human behavior is such a huge factor in the success of storytelling and that it actually drives this phenomenon. All facets of his book combine to create an idea about authenticity and its importance to successful storytelling, concluding that the real liars are the ones who can’t achieve this authenticity. This book is interesting, exciting and, most importantly, relevant. Not to mention incredibly enjoyable!
on January 9, 2017
This was a quick and insightful read! In typical Godin writing style, he explains through example and storytelling how the business situations of today are asking not for commoditization and efficiency, but depth and personalization. Customers need a story to tell themselves in order to spend more on a product that is likely available cheaper somewhere else. Although I agree with many critiques noting that Godin's ideas may not be new in the business world, his delivery provides a much richer experience in learning about them than any textbook or MBA course likely would.
If you have a background in business, it likely that you will find this less than exemplary in relevant information. If you are new to business and marketing, this is a great way to introduce and start thinking around the topics in creative ways.
If you have a background in business, it likely that you will find this less than exemplary in relevant information. If you are new to business and marketing, this is a great way to introduce and start thinking around the topics in creative ways.
on September 11, 2011
I generally really like Seth Godin, so I must say that I've been disappointed with this book. In fact, I was reading it for work (yes, I have a boss who likes to assign reading), but I've stalled out half way through this book and will be forcing myself to finish it. I feel like the only message I'm getting is that every story is a lie -- not a lot of examples as to how a company's story, wherever it fell on the lie/truth scale, managed to change the minds of a mass of people. A few stories, to be sure, but primarily it's "every story is a lie" ad naseum. I just felt preached to, and pounded over the head as if I wouldn't get the point otherwise. I just didn't like the approach at all. And, if every story is a lie, then his story must be a lie, so why should I read this?
on October 2, 2007
'All Marketers are Liars' is a provocatively entertaining book about marketing and human nature. Seth Godin has once again applied his reliable formula for publishing success:
1. Pick a traditional and well accepted marketing concept
2. Write about it from a totally new perspective
3. Make the book easy to read and include a lot of examples
4. Give the book an intriguing title
5. Sell a lot of books
In 'Purple Cow' the basic concept was differentiation (nothing new in itself, after all, people had been talking about positioning and unique selling propositions for decades). In 'All Marketers are Liars' Seth's premise is based on these two well established marketing concepts:
a) It is harder to make something and then try to sell it, than it is to first find out what people want and then give it to them.
b) It is very difficult (and expensive) to try to change people's perception once it is already formed.
The new 'angle' being explored, though, is that most of the time those perceptions are based on emotions that go against objective facts. The recipe for successful marketing, says Godin, is to find a large enough group of people with a particular world view, and offer them a product that caters and reinforces that world view.
Judging by some reader reviews, some people seem to have taken offense to Seth's thesis, implying that it encourages dishonesty in marketing. I don't subscribe to that point of view. Giving people exactly what they want, even though objective facts suggest that they should want something else is not being dishonest.
To illustrate Seth's thesis I'll give you an example: suppose that you have two identical watches, one of them is made in Switzerland and the other one is made in China. If you ask people which one is better, I bet that nine out of ten will answer `the Swiss watch'.
The objective of the Swiss watch maker is to sell watches. Are they supposed to go around telling everybody that the Chinese watch is as good as theirs? Of course not. The Swiss watch maker's advertising will most likely make extensive use of marketing signals that reinforce the world view of the nine people who picked the Swiss watch: their magazine ads will probably display pictures of their watch with a backdrop of a quaint Swiss village surrounded by the Alps and the Swiss cross prominently displayed somewhere on the page.
Now, if the Swiss watch maker decided to relocate their manufacturing plant to China and continued to use the same marketing signals in their advertising their customers would cry foul. If they also intentionally and openly lied about the country of origin of the watch they would be committing fraud. Seth Godin voices a strong opinion against these two scenarios, the first one because it would be "unauthentic" and the second one because it would be outright illegal and unethical.
'All Marketers are Liars' is a quick and entertaining read (you can probably breeze through it from cover to cover on your average plane ride) and it will leave you with a valuable takeaway on which to base your marketing strategy.
1. Pick a traditional and well accepted marketing concept
2. Write about it from a totally new perspective
3. Make the book easy to read and include a lot of examples
4. Give the book an intriguing title
5. Sell a lot of books
In 'Purple Cow' the basic concept was differentiation (nothing new in itself, after all, people had been talking about positioning and unique selling propositions for decades). In 'All Marketers are Liars' Seth's premise is based on these two well established marketing concepts:
a) It is harder to make something and then try to sell it, than it is to first find out what people want and then give it to them.
b) It is very difficult (and expensive) to try to change people's perception once it is already formed.
The new 'angle' being explored, though, is that most of the time those perceptions are based on emotions that go against objective facts. The recipe for successful marketing, says Godin, is to find a large enough group of people with a particular world view, and offer them a product that caters and reinforces that world view.
Judging by some reader reviews, some people seem to have taken offense to Seth's thesis, implying that it encourages dishonesty in marketing. I don't subscribe to that point of view. Giving people exactly what they want, even though objective facts suggest that they should want something else is not being dishonest.
To illustrate Seth's thesis I'll give you an example: suppose that you have two identical watches, one of them is made in Switzerland and the other one is made in China. If you ask people which one is better, I bet that nine out of ten will answer `the Swiss watch'.
The objective of the Swiss watch maker is to sell watches. Are they supposed to go around telling everybody that the Chinese watch is as good as theirs? Of course not. The Swiss watch maker's advertising will most likely make extensive use of marketing signals that reinforce the world view of the nine people who picked the Swiss watch: their magazine ads will probably display pictures of their watch with a backdrop of a quaint Swiss village surrounded by the Alps and the Swiss cross prominently displayed somewhere on the page.
Now, if the Swiss watch maker decided to relocate their manufacturing plant to China and continued to use the same marketing signals in their advertising their customers would cry foul. If they also intentionally and openly lied about the country of origin of the watch they would be committing fraud. Seth Godin voices a strong opinion against these two scenarios, the first one because it would be "unauthentic" and the second one because it would be outright illegal and unethical.
'All Marketers are Liars' is a quick and entertaining read (you can probably breeze through it from cover to cover on your average plane ride) and it will leave you with a valuable takeaway on which to base your marketing strategy.
on March 2, 2016
After reading many marketing books and teaching the subject, I would recommend this book to non-marketers who want to understand a framework for marketing. This book is pretty much written in a way that the book actually talks about. And that is consumers understand things in the worldview in which they reside. This book communicates that message to a person whose worldview is outside of marketing. For a person who teaches the subject, I have found some use to communicate it to my students as a bases for marketing, but as far as in-depth marketing treasures, this book comes up a little flat. I always look for examples to share with my students, and I really didn't find anything in this book that isn't already covered by other authors. Seth Godin does write well and builds an incredible case for transparency, but he talks of a subject that is more common sense than enriching.
on March 25, 2016
I have heard much of Seth Godin. I decided to purchase 3 different titles and chose this one to read first.
Honestly ....after finishing it .. I am still not sure what I just read. I am pretty sure that he suggests that marketers should not lie. But .. can't say for certain that stories that he calls "fibs" aren't somewhat just small lies.
I like to use the highlighter when I purchase printed books .. and I did highlight some, but not what I usually do. I didn't find anything so outstanding that I would rate this book anything other than OK. I have no plans to suggest it to anyone.
Hopefully the other books I purchased (Linchpin and Purple Cow) will be better.
Honestly ....after finishing it .. I am still not sure what I just read. I am pretty sure that he suggests that marketers should not lie. But .. can't say for certain that stories that he calls "fibs" aren't somewhat just small lies.
I like to use the highlighter when I purchase printed books .. and I did highlight some, but not what I usually do. I didn't find anything so outstanding that I would rate this book anything other than OK. I have no plans to suggest it to anyone.
Hopefully the other books I purchased (Linchpin and Purple Cow) will be better.
on August 13, 2013
A friend has been nice enough to send me Seth's blog for the last couple of months and I finally ordered three of his books to get the big picture. I started with All Marketers Tell Stories and as I was reading one of the biggest failures of my life kept flashing across my mind like I was watching an Imax movie: I was in art school in Boston and one of the largest engineering firms in Boston put out a call for artists who could do portraits, my specialty. I went to my interview with slides of my work--which I thought was exceptional--but the interviewer kept finding fault: we want someone who could do more rendering (I pulled out drawings from my portfolio), we want someone who could do landscape (voila!), and on it went until I realized they just didn't want ME. These engineers wanted to buy an artist and I wasn't selling that. They wanted me to talk about being an artist--they were technical people, they wanted to be around creative energy--but I thought the work spoke for itself and couldn't give them the romance they wanted. The excitement they wanted. I thought it was cheating somehow to allow my personality to get in the way of my work. All Marketers Tell Stories is a good coaching book for those of us who were told not to toot your horn, beat your own drum or otherwise get noticed.
on January 16, 2013
I have absolutely no background in Marketing, I never took a course or a class for that matter. However, I did read the TEN DAY MBA by Steven A. Silbiger which went into a lot of the theory and the practical practices of Marketing taught at MBA schools.
The chapter in that book is what ignited my interest in the subject and after searching through the internet this book was highly recommended, which is the reason why I purchased it.
What I love about this book is that it describes how Markets (based on peoples) "world views" create variety based on there biases (We are the environment we interpret) that act as the foundation for Markets.
It talks about how Marketers strive by embracing a markets "world view", "taste" and how to focus on creating authentic "frames" that reflect these lies a Market tell's itself.
This book made me reflect a lot because not only does it teach you how to develop a brand for a particular Market, but it also teaches you a lot about life. How we market ourselves and how we "frame" our story to others ultimately defines how other's view us.
It talks about how authenticity matters and how unauthentic marketers (a salesperson) just can't stand tall.
You can be the best marketer (a salesperson) in the world but if you don't have the substance to sustain your story you fail.
If your story is coherent with how markets (people) view you and your product you thrive.
Everything matters in Marketing, the look, the feel, the slogan, the location of your brand but what ultimately matters is the story and if your market senses an unauthentic story, game over.
Same goes at a personal level, with people that enter and exit your life.
The chapter in that book is what ignited my interest in the subject and after searching through the internet this book was highly recommended, which is the reason why I purchased it.
What I love about this book is that it describes how Markets (based on peoples) "world views" create variety based on there biases (We are the environment we interpret) that act as the foundation for Markets.
It talks about how Marketers strive by embracing a markets "world view", "taste" and how to focus on creating authentic "frames" that reflect these lies a Market tell's itself.
This book made me reflect a lot because not only does it teach you how to develop a brand for a particular Market, but it also teaches you a lot about life. How we market ourselves and how we "frame" our story to others ultimately defines how other's view us.
It talks about how authenticity matters and how unauthentic marketers (a salesperson) just can't stand tall.
You can be the best marketer (a salesperson) in the world but if you don't have the substance to sustain your story you fail.
If your story is coherent with how markets (people) view you and your product you thrive.
Everything matters in Marketing, the look, the feel, the slogan, the location of your brand but what ultimately matters is the story and if your market senses an unauthentic story, game over.
Same goes at a personal level, with people that enter and exit your life.
