Today’s book is All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin.  I recommend it.

This is something I have been saying for years, I just did not have the eloquence to put it as clearly. 
This issue is sort of close to my heart anyway (why is it that a tech company, one that does it best to play nice with partners and customers, has a reputation of being a ruthless monopoly while another, one that is ruthless monopoly and hardly ever plays nice, has a reputation of being cool and friendly?)

Ultimately marketing is about storytelling.  Deep down we all know that.  When my brother forked out big $$$ to buy a Burberry cashmere coat, he did not really do it for value-for-money.  There are plenty of other high quality cashmere coats that cost a fraction of what he paid. He did it because he bought the story Burberry created. I have no doubt the coat makes him feel smarter, taller, more attractive and more confident.  Going back to tech companies, one failed at creating its own story (so its competitors created the story for it) and the other did a remarkable job at selling its story. 

Being a Math major I would have preferred hard numbers and studies to demonstrate his point. However, I do not think lack of data takes anything away from the book. In fact, for most people it makes the book far more entertaining to read. 

Godin also drives a point home that it’s not enough to simply create a story.  Whether the story is actually true is irrelevant, what counts is whether it fits the customer’s frame or not.  If it does then the customer will buy the story and create a preference for the brand.  You can think of the ‘frame’ as a simple way of thinking about the world.  Not all ‘soccer moms’ are same, but the frame ‘soccer mom’ conjures thoughts of busy mothers of young children.  A story created for ‘soccer moms’ must then fit that pre-existing frames.  Marketers typically do not create frames, they simply create stories that resonates with frames. 

After reading this book I spent a fair amount of time thinking about cities and towns.  Why do people pay a premium to live in one town while not another?  I believe it’s because one town tells a different story than another.  Most people I know would pay less money for a similar house in Brampton than they would in Oakville.  Oakville, all in all, has done a better job selling its story.  Where does Milton fit? What’s Milton’s story (my guess is that it’s very different for Miltonians than it is for outsiders.  People outside of Milton likely see Milton as a cheaper alternative to Mississauga.  Once they move in and experience the town, they realize it has its own character and charm.)  

Amazon also has a Look Inside for this book that allows you to read the first few pages.  I recommend this book.