I have been reading or more truthfully, listening to Seth Godin’s book All Marketer’s are Liars. Seth Godin is the author of the best selling marketing books over the past decade. Let me clear the air, he doesn’t actually believe that all marketer’s are liars. The title, I think is mainly to attract attention and stir up controversy.
Godin proposes that all marketer’s must be story tellers and darn good ones at that. What exactly does that mean? Well, anyone marketing a product must have a story that their target market wants to hear. The story introduces what the product is about, it’s core values. The tale must be authentic and must be delivered consistently on all levels. You must live the story. One of the reasons celebrity brands are so powerful is they are the story, they represent a lifestyle that consumer’s aspire to have and want to be a part of.
Consumer’s purchasing decisions give them a sense of belonging to a community. In fact, Godin proposes that marketers call their target market a community instead, a group of people with similar values and beliefs. This concept is perfect for today’s online world, there are online communities springing up constantly. People want to communicate with others that share their world view and purchase products that convey this identity.
Examples the author used to illustrate this concept are a glass manufacturer that proports wine tastes better in their $20 glasses than a glass that costs less. Consumers will pay the extra $40,000 for a Porsche Cayenne when the VW Touareg is manufactured in the same facility with some of the same parts. Fiji water is one of the best selling bottled water brands on the market. Is their water any different from Dasani or the one I drink that is tap filtered by a Brita water filter? No. It’s the story or in other words, branding that consumer’s identify with and aspire to be a part of. So, even if you do not consider yourself a marketer, think of the story you want to tell, then hire a marketer to actually write the story.
