I just finished reading the book “All Marketers Are Liars” by Seth Godin. I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. I am a bit embarrassed to say this, but this is the first Seth Godin gook I have read. My sister-in-law, Jill Piacitelli, gave it to me for Christmas. Jill is a big fan of his. She was invited to his big conference because he liked the non-profit she heads up. She is the national director of Alternative Breaks. I guess that for each of his conferences he invites one non-profit to attend for free.
Here is the description from Amazon on the book:
“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.”
I really like how the book explains that when people are marketed to they put your message in their own “World View”. And to market effectively you have to target their world view to make it effective. It is a simple idea but really makes sense. He lists many examples to prove his points and to back up his claims. Many marketing books do not do this. The end of the book was a bit “slow”. But over all, this is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.
Jill also gave me his book “The big moo”. I would also like to read “Permission Marketing”. I know that this book is a business standard and I need to get my hands on a copy.
no comment untill now