All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin
Hi readers! I finally finishing reading All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin. It is the first book I read from this author, and I am glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the arguments that were presented all throughout. There is no doubt that I will soon start reading his earlier book called Purple Cow, as I am curious to hear more about what he has to say.
After letting the text sit, the idea that stuck with me the most was that of marketers performing a storytelling task more often that we like to admit. I now understand that the action of telling the correct story can indeed effectively summarize or describe the many process that are undertaken in the development of an integrated marketing communications campaign.
So, what does Godin mean with telling the correct story? I will refer you to my favorite Doctor Who quote in order to answer your question, and will later explain how does it illustrates the idea perfectly: “We are all stories at the end. Just make it a good one, eh?”
We all have a story that we tell ourselves, and it includes everything that has ever been recording in our heads. It includes all of our past experiences, perceptions of different concepts, perceptions of how these concepts relate to each other and interact, our criteria of what is good, bad, or evil; and much more. This is called a worldview, and we utilize it when shaping ourselves in order to become the people we aspire to be. It is through our worldview that we create our own stories, and we all want to “make it a good one, eh?”
Consumers are often trying to be the best version of themselves to their own level of consciousness. However, since they can have very different levels of consciousness and worldviews, they are often attracted to different ideas, and perceive concepts in a different manner. It is the marketer’s job to tap correctly into worldviews that a certain amount of consumers share in order to effectively influence the way that these consumers perceive the product, service or brand that is being marketed. This is why companies’ narrow down to target audiences — it helps them define the shared worldviews that they will later attempt to tap into. The alternative would imply trying to change the already existing worldviews that consumers have — which more often than not proves to be incredibly expensive, if not next to impossible.
Consumers often behave irrationally because they care more about their story than about their commodity. This is, they often care more about how their perception of the product or service makes them fit into their own versions of reality than about the actual benefits, and sometimes even the quality, that the product or service offers. An example that Godin points out in the book is that of women avoiding minivans because of its soccer-mom connotation; in spite of its cost effectiveness and practicality. If consumers don’t think the product fist right with their particular story or identity, they are likely to prefer a less cost effective alternative that does.
As a result, in this increasingly irrational society, a large part of the sales of a product occur because of the way that the product is perceived as opposed to its actual attributes. This is why blind taste tests undertaken in order to improve the flavor of processed food formulas don’t necessarily achieve a higher number of product sales every time they are implemented.
To this point of the blog post- can we not agree that the job marketers undertake sound manipulative? However, if the story marketers deliver about a product or service is genuine, then to what extent is it? The most successful brands are those that follow their own ideology, positioning, mission statement, and more, all throughout, and undertake actions that keep it genuine.
