All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin

The biggest lie that marketing guru Seth Godin tells in All Marketers Are Liars is the name of his book. He explains that all marketers are not, in fact, liars: They are just storytellers. The liars, he writes, are the consumers who lie to themselves every day about what they wear, where they live, how they vote and what they do to work. Godin explains that successful marketers are just the providers of the stories that consumers choose to believe.

Stories are necessary to help consumers deal with the deluge of information they face every day, Godin writes, and truly great stories "succeed because they are able to capture the imagination of large or important audiences." A great story, he adds, is true, makes a promise, is trusted, is subtle, happens fast, and often appeals to our senses. Great stories don't contradict themselves, and they match our worldview by agreeing with what we already believe.

The underground classic that explains how marketing really works - and why authenticity is the best marketing of all.

Consumers don't just want cheap products -- they want to be part of a story. "The marketer's job is not to focus on facts but to present a story to people that they want to believe," says Seth Godin, "You can make up a story, but when people visit your store, if the story is inauthentic, then people reject you and don't trust you again." That could be the costliest makeover of all. Playing the authenticity game in a sophisticated way has become a requirement for every marketer, because the opposite of real isn't fake--it's cynicism. When a brand asserts authenticity in a clumsy way, it quickly breeds distrust or, at the very least, disinterest.

Marketers are wrong when they claim that "all we do is offer options - it's up to consumers to decide for themselves." Marketing is now so well developed and so embedded in our culture that consumers no longer make decisions based on a rational analysis of facts. Instead they decide based on the stories they're told. If you're a good marketer (or even worse, a great marketer), it means that you're responsible for what you sell. When you choose to sell it, more of it gets sold. We're responsible for what we sell and how we sell it. We're responsible for the effects (and the side effects) of our actions. It is our decision. Whatever the decision is, you need to own it. If you can't look that decision in the mirror, market something else.

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