Marketing Insights from Travis Luther, President - Luther Media


“All Marketers Are Liars:
The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World”

The title above is from what has become one of my favorite books by Seth Godin. Some of you who do not recognize Seth’s name may recognize the title of his most famous book “Purple Cow.” In “All Marketers are Liars,” Godin insists that successful marketers don’t talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want to believe. The inside cover of this book reads “This is a book about doing what consumers demand—painting vivid pictures that they choose to believe.” Every organization—from non-profits to car companies, from political campaigns to wineglass blowers—must understand that the rules have changed. In an economy where most people have an infinite number of choices (and no time to make them), every organization is a marketer and all marketing is about telling stories. Godin concludes that marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview, a story we intuitively embrace and then share with our friends. How much time do we spend thinking about our consumer bases world view rather than our own company’s features or benefits? Maybe not as much as we should. But how do we find ways to make emotional connections when financial ones seem to be less and less important? Maybe we should first consider that since we work with a luxury demographic, the money is already there to spend. Our demographic doesn’t want to tell their friends how they ripped us off and got out of our store with a killer deal! They want to tell their friends a story about being treated like royalty, how someone opened the door, called them by name and welcomed them in!

Here’s an idea for those of you in Real Estate:

At your open houses, put some coffee on and bake some of those prepackaged cookie dough cookies or rolls every hour or two. Put on some easy & quite music and “tell the story” of what your customer’s new home will smell like Saturday morning as they prepare for their weekend. Sit down at a big kitchen table and share those cookies with them and “tell the story” of gathering with friends in their new dining room. Walk up and down the street and talk to the neighbors and find out who moved in when, where their kids go to school, when John Smith two houses down plans on fixing that lawn mower in his yard. Tell your open house visitors the “story” about the neighborhood. Not it’s history, but what it is now. Are homebuyers really as concerned with 1.5 vs. 2 bathrooms? I think their really concerned with what their world looks like every morning when they wake up.

And this applies to everyone:

Does your showroom smell like your service center? Do service professionals march in and out of your showroom? What story does that tell? Does your showroom tell a story about new cars or the broken ones in the service garage next door? No matter how nice your showroom and how comfortable you try and make a customer feel, the biggest thing they will remember about their experience is the inconsistencies. Everything could have been perfect EXCEPT the banging of a tire iron from your service shop next door. Finding a way to limit those distractions, smells and inconsistencies will help write and improve your “story.”

Seth Godin starts his book with these words I will end with…

“Don’t just tell me the facts,
Tell me the story instead.
Be remarkable!
Be consistent!
Be authentic!
Tell your story to people who are inclined to believe it.
Marketing is powerful. Use it wisely.”