Just Finished Another Godin Book…

What do you want? Why do you buy what you buy? How does it make you feel?

Seth Godin says in his book, All Marketers are Liars – The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World, you buy something because it makes you feel good!

Obviously you’re not going to buy because it makes you feel bad. But take a bottle of water. If water is free, then why do people buy bottled water? Is the water in the bottle different than the water from the tap? Not necessarily… it just tells a different story. It has a different perception.

After seeing Seth Godin in person in NYC a few weeks ago, I decided to buy this book and some of his other books. At the speaking engagement, Godin focused on his new book, Tribes. I had only read Tribes, Purple Cow and Meatball Sundae. Feeling a little behind the eight ball, I decided to buy Free Prize and All Marketers are Liars.

I finished both books. Although Free Prize was real interesting, I wish I had read it after I read Purple Cow. However, I really enjoyed All Marketers are Liars. Funny, I wasn’t going to buy the book because of it’s title, and I bet a lot of people didn’t read or purchase it because of that as well.

But the title didn’t tell all. The book was really about storytelling. People love to hear stories. Why would someone buy a Mercedes over a Toyota? Or why would someone buy Prius over a Mini Coup?

If you spend more, is it really better? Does Nobu in NYC have better Sushi than Nagahama in Long Beach? You will spend a lot more in Nobu. You may even pay four times as much as Nagahama. Does that mean that the sushi is better? Fresher?

If you spend more for something is there really greater value?

As I was reading the book, I thought about television and how commercials are on their way out. Tevo eliminates commercials and consumers now have the opportunity to “tune out” commercials. “Old time marketing” was all about repetition. Now it’s about story telling and branding. Telling the story over and over again in different formats.

That’s why blogs are so effective. They tell the story. They tell a story about something that happened, a product and service and they are authentic. Bloggers are telling their truth about issues — about life. Bloggers are becoming more credible than newspaper reporters once were. Why is it that marketers are now targeting bloggers to write about their restaurants, their products, their representatives?

Okay, so now what? Don’t worry about me… I still have a 1/2 dozen books more to read and when I finish them…. I’ll probably go to a bookstore, peruse through the business books and make 1/2 dozen more purchases. Why? Because it’s just something I like to do! It makes me feel good…