Book SummaryAll Marketers are Liars, by Seth Godin

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of All Marketers are Liars

In All Marketers Are Liars, Seth Godin argues that good marketing is spreading ideas through good storytelling. Everyone is a marketer because everyone has ideas to spread. Often, the story you tell about your idea is just as important as the idea itself. His principles of storytelling can be applied to product marketing, dating, politics, job hunting, and more.

Godin is a writer, entrepreneur, marketer, and blogger. Published in 2005, All Marketers Are Liars aims to improve your storytelling. His advice is helpful for people who are beginners or unfamiliar with the world of marketing.

Godin breaks down his ideas into five principles. Telling a good story first requires understanding worldviews and how consumers process information. Once you start thinking like a consumer, Godin says, you can tailor your story to make a good first impression. He then discusses avoiding the fine line between telling a story with a fib (stretching the truth in a way that resonates with the customer) and committing fraud. In the final principle, he talks about common marketing obstacles you may encounter, as well as how to overcome them.

New Marketing 101

When you hear the word “advertising,” what do you think of? If catchy jingles, milk carton ads, or TV infomercials come to mind, you’re probably thinking of outdated marketing techniques. Because advertisers traditionally addressed mass audiences, they succeeded by appealing mainly to people’s needs, and eventually, their wants. Often, companies spent a little on advertising, because their main focus was on increasing profit by cutting production costs. Godin argues that because of advances in technology, old marketing is outdated and ineffective.

(Shortform note: Some marketers believe old marketing isn’t completely obsolete. One marketing expert found that old marketing techniques like promotional gifts, coupons, and slogans are still effective. You should tailor your use of old-style advertising to your specific product and campaign.)

Godin takes a broader view of modern marketing in this book. Instead of thinking of marketing exclusively as trying to sell a product, he believes marketing is spreading ideas. He argues that you can market just about anything: products, services, job qualifications, religions, political candidates, and more. Which makes the marketplace—or all the different forums in which you can spread ideas—a pretty big place.

Additionally, new marketing places more focus on the consumer. According to Godin, new marketers must keep up with the constantly evolving marketplace and changing consumer demands. He therefore urges new marketers to understand that they are not in charge—customers are. Your customer will be a major influence on your marketing because you must tailor the ideas you’re spreading to customer feelings.

(Shortform note: Godin’s view of marketing as focusing on the spread of ideas to the consumer soon won converts in the industry. In 2008, the American Marketing Association (AMA) echoed Godin’s view when they updated their definition of marketing. The new definition described marketing as an educational process that benefits marketers, consumers, and society as a whole. This definition differs from the AMA’s previous one, which defined marketing as a function that delivers value to customers for the benefit of companies.)

The Power of Storytelling

Because people often buy based on emotion rather than need, Godin argues that it’s important for marketers to appeal to beliefs and feelings. This can involve lying by a certain definition. Godin defines lies as stories people tell themselves, which marketers build on. The consumer’s belief in a marketer’s lie makes it true—and our belief in how a product will make us feel is what we’re really buying. Therefore, he uses the terms lying and storytelling interchangeably.

(Shortform note: Godin says storytelling is one of the best ways to communicate with potential customers and address their beliefs and feelings. And because of an increasing amount of media options and consumption, there are more ways to tell complex, yet subtle stories about products. Podcast ads, YouTube ads, influencer sponsorships, email marketing, ads on blogs, social media marketing, and brand partnerships are just a few examples of the opportunities new media afford marketers.)

Principle 1: Appeal to a Worldview

Godin’s first principle of modern marketing is that a good story starts with a specific worldview. To be effective, your marketing story must jibe with your prospective customer’s worldview, the set of beliefs, values, and biases that determines how they see and interact with the world. While everyone has the same basic wants and needs (food, shelter, to be happy, healthy, and so on), Godin explains that their worldview determines how they fulfill them.

For example, consider the difference between someone on a Keto diet (which emphasizes consuming a high percentage of fat) and someone on a plant-based diet. Both people probably feel that they have found a dietary lifestyle that balances health and nutrition. Their different solutions to a common goal reflect different worldviews. When your marketing story not only addresses a customer need but also validates their worldview or beliefs, Godin believes the customer is more likely to use your product and keep coming back.

People with similar worldviews or beliefs often group into small niches or micro-communities. Godin says a marketer’s success lies in finding the right group of people with a shared worldview and telling them a compelling story that aligns with it. Godin warns that worldviews can change...

All Marketers are Liars Summary Shortform Introduction

Published in 2005, All Marketers Are Liars offers a fresh take on marketing—one that focuses on connecting with your customer, rather than on catchy advertising jingles or gimmicks. Seth Godin wants you to tell your customers or audience a great story about your product, your political campaign, your job experience, or even just yourself. This book explores new marketing concepts that you can use to tell a better story in any area of your life.

Using anecdotes and examples to illustrate his points, Godin guides you through understanding your customer, staying authentic with your storytelling, and troubleshooting common marketing problems. While Godin addresses marketers, these insights are also helpful for anyone with a story to tell.

About the Author

Seth Godin is a writer, marketer, entrepreneur, public speaker, and blogger. He worked as a brand manager and the head of game development for a software company, and in 1986, he started a book packaging business.

Later, he founded Yoyodyne, a company that used interactive online games and contests to market companies to users. During this time, he...

All Marketers are Liars Summary Introduction: New Marketing 101

In All Marketers Are Liars, Seth Godin contends that good marketing is good storytelling. Often, the story you tell about a product is more important than the product itself. If you can tell an effective story that resonates with a customer’s worldview, your message will be more likely to stand out in our increasingly crowded marketplace. Godin defines marketing broadly as spreading ideas, so if you have an idea to spread, you’re a marketer. Therefore, his principles can be applied to many areas of life: selling products, applying for jobs, running for political office, and more. His ideas will help you tell a compelling story.

Seth Godin is a writer, entrepreneur, public speaker, marketer, and blogger who has written 19 books, mainly focusing on 21st-century marketing. In his previous book Purple Cow, he discusses the importance of finding and marketing a remarkable product (which he calls a purple cow). In All Marketers Are Liars, he changes direction, focusing on how a remarkable story can elevate a good product.

Godin breaks down his ideas into five principles. To tell a good story, Godin says marketers need to...

All Marketers are Liars Summary Principle 1: Appeal to a Worldview

You now understand new marketing and the characteristics of a good story. To tell a better story, it’s best to appeal to a worldview. Godin’s first principle of modern marketing is that a good story starts with a specific worldview. When you can tell a story about your idea or product that aligns with a consumer’s worldview, you’ll not only satisfy their wants and needs but validate their beliefs. In this section, we’ll talk about:

• What a worldview is
• Why it’s important
• How to appeal to worldviews (using frames, euphemisms, and oxymorons)

What Is a Worldview?

Godin defines a worldview as the set of beliefs, values, and biases that determines how a customer sees and interacts with the world. While everyone has the same basic wants and needs (food, shelter, to be happy, healthy, and so on), Godin explains that their worldview determines how they fulfill them.

For example, what’s the difference between someone on a Keto diet (which emphasizes consuming a high percentage of fat) and someone on a plant-based diet? Both people probably feel that they have found a dietary lifestyle that balances health and nutrition. They have found two different solutions to...

Shortform Exercise: Identify Your Worldviews

Before you try to identify the worldviews of other people, it can be helpful to identify your own worldviews and how they’ve impacted your shopping, hiring, dating, voting habits, and so on.

Think of the last product or service you bought even though you didn’t really need it. What was it? What story did the marketer tell about it?

All Marketers are Liars Summary Principle 2: Understand How Your Customer Thinks

Worldviews affect how and what information the customer takes in. It’s just as important to understand how they process information and make snap judgments. This is Godin’s second principle of new marketing. Understanding how your customer thinks can help you break through the noise of other product messages and catch your customer’s attention. Godin identifies four steps customers follow to make snap judgments and navigate the marketplace.

Cognitive Dissonance

Godin titles this section “Cognitive Dissonance” but doesn’t expand on or define the concept of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance occurs when we hold thoughts or beliefs that oppose or contradict our decisions or attitudes. This might be what Godin is referencing when he says sometimes people can hold two opposing worldviews.

Consider a consumer who views themselves as money-savvy, or as someone who likes to save money. That consumer finds a product on sale and decides to buy it, even though he doesn’t really need it. He later feels...

All Marketers are Liars Summary Principle 3: Make a Good First Impression

You’ve learned how customers filter information through their worldview. This tendency to make quick, lasting judgments means it’s important to make a good first impression with your product and company. In this section, we’ll discuss first encounters and impressions, how to make a good impression, and the power of personal connection.

Impressions vs. Encounters

A customer’s first encounter is their initial introduction to your product. They may walk into your store on a whim or click on your website by accident. However, the first encounter may not cause them to engage with your story. And if it doesn’t engage them, they’ll disregard their first encounter as they interact with other options in the marketplace.

In contrast, Godin contends that when you successfully grab the customer’s attention in an encounter, you create an impression that leads them to make a snap judgment about your idea or product.

That’s why first impressions are so important for a marketer—it’s your best (and sometimes only) opportunity to get through to a customer. Consider these two examples showing how first impressions work:

• An undecided voter receives a flyer about a political...

Shortform Exercise: Use Your Knowledge of Consumer Behavior

Learn how to use your understanding of your customers to get through to them.

Consider a story you’re trying to sell. Where are you selling it?

All Marketers are Liars Summary Principle 4: Tell a Believable Story

You now know the impact of an authentic, cohesive story across all points of contact with your consumer. So you just need to find a believable story, right? Yes, but Godin warns against getting carried away.

As we discussed earlier, marketers are selling the story and a feeling about the product, not the product itself. And if you’re marketing to a worldview, you’ll tell your story to people who want to listen. This leaves room for marketers to exploit consumers and the experience they hope for.

But you shouldn’t deceive consumers with your storytelling. Godin urges marketers to know the difference between telling a fib and committing fraud—and to never commit fraud. We’ll discuss this difference, as well as some examples of each.

Fibs

Godin defines fibs as stories that stretch the subjective truth. If a fib is believed, it doesn’t harm the customer, and it enhances your product. Usually, a fib stretches the truth about how a product will make a customer feel. If you tell a fib and your customer believes it, it becomes true. Godin notes that it’s okay to fib parts of your story, as long as it benefits both you and your consumer.

Godin uses Georg Riedel as an...

All Marketers are Liars Summary Principle 5: Use Obstacles to Tell a Better Story Next Time

You now understand the difference between fibs and frauds, as well as why you should never commit fraud. Let’s say you told a story and avoided fraud, but it was a flop—now what? In this chapter, we’ll discuss some of the common obstacles you’ll run into as a marketer and Godin’s ideas on how to use them to your advantage. First, we’ll tackle how to handle competitors. Then, we’ll identify where you might have gone wrong if your product didn’t do as well as you thought it would.

How to Handle Competition

Competition in the marketplace is inevitable. How can your marketing be authentic when there are so many other marketers trying to be authentic too? What happens if someone is already telling the story you want to tell? Godin presents a few ways to handle competition.

Tell a Similar Story in a Different Market

If you’re having trouble finding a place to start with your story, Godin recommends telling a similar story to one someone else is using in a different market. If you can identify an existing worldview and a story that already works, you can adapt that strategy to your new product. The key here is to mimic a story from someone in a different market,...

Shortform Exercise: Make Your Next Story Great

Telling a good story is an art, so it will take practice to hone your storytelling. It’s helpful to get into the habit of reflecting on the stories you tell and on ways to improve them for next time.

Describe an instance where you were trying to persuade someone to buy into your story, but it didn’t work. This could be a story about your job experience, a product you’re selling, your reasons for applying for a loan, or why you’d be a great partner. What was the story you tried to sell?