All Marketers Are Liars (the book)

I just got finished reading Seth Godin’s “All Marketers Are Liars.” The crux of the book is that to effectively market your service or product, it’s not enough to list the benefits, you have to tell a story to an audience who is ready to listen to and connect to the story.

For instance, the “story” at WholeFoods Supermarkets is that the experience of shopping for organic foods is healthy, luxurious, good for the World and shows that you really care for yourself, your family, and your environment.

It seems to me that as small business owners, we have a great story to tell AND that there’s an audience out there who are ready to listen to it. Knowing your story and what worldview the audience has, allows those with shared beliefs to connect to one another. For some businesses, their story is “Living your dream is as important as breathing.” For others, it’s “Having a healthy family is worth any price.”

What’s your take on the ideas that Seth Godin proposes? How can the self-employed get better at matching prospective clients’ worldviews and beliefs with the story you tell? How can you get better at telling the story via your marketing techniques?