• All Marketers Are Liars

  • The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
  • By: Seth Godin
  • Narrated by: Seth Godin
  • Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (2,086 ratings)

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All Marketers Are Liars  By  cover art

All Marketers Are Liars

By: Seth Godin
Narrated by: Seth Godin
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Publisher's summary

Every marketer tells a story. And if they do it right, we believe them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass than a $1 glass. We believe that an $80,000 Porsche Cayenne is vastly superior to a $36,000 VW Touareg, which is virtually the same car. We believe that $225 Pumas will make our feet feel better, and look cooler, than $20 no-names... and believing it makes it true.

Successful marketers don't talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want to believe.

This is a book about doing what consumers demand; painting vivid pictures that they choose to believe. Every organization, from nonprofits to car companies, from political campaigns to wineglass blowers, must understand that the rules have changed (again). In an economy where the richest have an infinite number of choices (and no time to make them), every organization is a marketer and all marketing is about telling stories.

Marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview, a story that we intuitively embrace and then share with our friends. Think of the Dyson vacuum cleaner or the iPod.

But beware: If your stories are inauthentic, you cross the line from fib to fraud. Marketers fail when they are selfish and scurrilous, when they abuse the tools of their trade and make the world worse. That's a lesson learned the hard way by telemarketers and Marlboro.

This is a powerful book for anyone who wants to create things people truly want as opposed to commodities that people merely need.

©2005 Seth Godin (P)2005 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about All Marketers Are Liars

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Grossed me out

Don't LISTEN to this audiobook. If you are interested in what Seth has to say, READ the ACTUAL BOOK. Seth has a horrible reading voice. Every other sentence he pauses and you can hear the saliva swishing around in his mouth as he prepares for the next sentence. Every time this happens I stop comprehending what he's saying and focus on the disgusting noises he's making. I wish I could review this audiobook on the merits of the content, but unfortunately I was so distracted by Seth's terrible diction and smacking that I couldn't comprehend half of what was said. I still intend to read the book because people tell me it's good; I just hate that I wasted the money here first. I don't understand why Seth didn't pay a voice over professional to read his book... or at the very least pay to have it professionally produced and remove the nauseating noises he makes while reading.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Must Read

We own the oldest advertising firm in our market. This book is so good that we are thinking about giving it as a gift to our clients at the end of the year.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The essense of marketing has been defined.

This is a must be read before writing your next marketing plan or investing in any marketing activities. With this simple, practical wisdom you will gain greater results.

Seth has presented a clear, coherent definition of the core of what marketing is all about. All great marketing is based on the principle Seth explains with such clarity and simplicity: telling stories.

There is no preaching in this book. It is a story about marketing. All good stories comes from the heart. As Seth explains your story in all your marketing must be authentic. Hearing Seth tell his story about marketing you realise just how much he understands the importance of the subject to all marketers. When people express things with such authenticity it can easily be misread as preaching.

A good companion to fully understanding this very important basis of marketing in greater detail I would suggest you also listen to, "The 4 Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz also available here at Audible.

Another Audible book that touches on this subject, and is fiction, is "Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit" by Daniel Quinn

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

dont be offended

It seems some people were offended by the message of this program. Probably because the book exposes how a good story can make you really believe and commit to something whether the story is true or not. The book says that once we decide to believe a story that our brains will do anything to continue to believe it. The book goes on with examples of how and why stories have worked and spread. I have a feeling that the low scoring people were somehow offended due to their own personal beliefs that Seth must have commented on. I only give it a four because its not a complete marketing program. The message is excellent and very revealing.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Bottom of the barrell

When the author is so egotistical that he has to read his own work you know you've made a purchasing mistake. If you can understand his slured words and make it past his "toung too big for mouth" way of speech, you will find that Seth Godin wastes this book (and your time) to push his political views of the world. By the end of the book you all you really learn is he doesn't like Bush, wants Hillary to win in '08 and basically has nothing new to say about marketing (but must have needed some money so he wrote another book anyway). He may have done well with "purple cow" but is now just trying to ride the wave as long as he can. Seth, it's about to crush you. No one should have to sit through the agonizing self indulging hours of this book. It will do you no good to listen to this book. Buy something else that will be of better use to you in business and personal growth.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Just OK for me.

Interesting book. For me, it basically just emphasized the importance of story telling and how the story needs to be consistent to the company's product/service, vision, mission and core values.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

full of it

I couldn't stand to listen to it, this man was so full of "it" and of himself.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Good concepts, poor focus

I bought this book expecting some insights into marketing and at first it seemed to be delivering until the author got on his liberal soapbox and started preaching. I didn't necessarily disagree with everything he said it just wasn't the correct venue for this dialogue

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Great Tips on Marketing Communications

Seth offers some very useful insight into what works in marketing communications today and offers some good advice for getting customers to notice your product. It's all about experience and what they believe, not truth or facts or features and benefits. I've used his ideas successfully to structure some recent marketing campaigns.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A must read

I'm on the third listen of this, and I'd imagine I'll listen to it a few more times to internalize the depth of what he is saying. As a dyed in the wool conservative, Seth really does show his colors, but also gives credit where credit is due, for both parties. In fact, I found them very relevant and helpful in a modern context of how to "tell a story".

he goes through the early days, to the "golden age" of marketing, and the modern changes and power of marketing and "telling a story".

I'm ordering the rest of his books. It's changed my mindset about marketing. This audiobook spawned what I think are going to be very profitable ideas and approaches to marketing. Time will tell, but overall a great insight.

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6 people found this helpful