All Marketers Are Liars 74-88

75 Superstitions are nothing but incorrect theories based on snap judgments.

76 Humans are able to make extremely sophisticated judgments in a fraction of a second. And once they’ve drawn that conclusion, they resist changing it.

82 …the reason they buy stuff they want is because of the way it makes them feel.

83 But is the utility of the product the main way people shape their desires? No way!

84 Stories let us lie to ourselves. And those lies satisfy our desires. It’s the story, not the good or the service you actually sell, that pleases the consumer.

88 So growth starts with better questions. Questions about storytelling, not about commodities.

Subtlety matters.

You don’t get to just sit down and make up a story and expect that people will believe it merely because you want them to.