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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
All Marketers Are Liars summary
Seth Godin
The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works – and Why Authenticity Is The Best Marketing of All
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4.5 (102 ratings)
13 mins
6 key ideas
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What is All Marketers Are Liars about?
All Marketers Are Liars explains how telling your customers authentic, meaningful stories about your business helps you sell your products and build a strong, long-lasting relationship with them.
About the Author
Seth Godin is the bestselling author of Purple Cow, Linchpin and Poke the Box. He is considered one of the most influential business bloggers in the world.
Table of Contents
Key idea 1 of 6
Marketing is all about telling a story people can believe in.
A long time ago, people noticed that the sun rose every morning, so they developed a story about Helios and his chariot. This occurred long before the concept of “marketing” existed, but it has something fundamental in common with it: a good story.
Effective marketing is all about telling people believable stories. George Riedel, a tenth-generation glass blower, understands this idea well. His company makes glass products and his wine glasses are particularly popular. He says that all wines have a unique “message” which is translated through the glass out of which a person drinks it.
Riedel’s story works amazingly well. Scientific tests have proved there’s no difference between his glasses and others, but wine experts and enthusiasts all around the world insist that wine tastes better out of a Riedel glass.
That’s the power of marketing. It can change the taste of a wine.
Marketing schemes like Riedel’s succeed because in today’s world, people buy what they want, not what they need. That’s how marketers earn their profits.
Think of it this way: imagine a young woman who buys a pair of Puma sneakers for $125 – which were produced for $3 in China. She doesn’t buy them because of their durability or the support they give her feet. She buys them because, once she puts them on, she feels cool. She imagines her life and image will improve slightly once she gets those shoes.
What the Puma marketers really sold the young woman is a story – a story that she’s special, hip and fashionable – and people spread stories. They rarely buy a product just for its particular features. So remember, if you can tell a good story, you’ll reach them.
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Who should read All Marketers Are Liars
- Marketers and marketing students
- Anyone who wants to connect with their customers
- Anyone who wants to know why wine tastes better in a Riedel glass
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