The Difference Between Storytelling and Lying

James, I'm on your side on this.

If a client wants you to say that he/she did or experienced something that you are simply making up, then it's lying - just the same as if you said on your resume that you went to Harvard and you didn't.

If the client insists, this is a client you don't need to work for.

As for where to draw the line, different people will do it differently. But paying attention to your own sense of honesty and ethics is just as important as what other people say or do.

Marcia Yudkin

It is not wrong to tell a story to illustrate a point (thinkg fairy tales) but it
is wrong to mislead your readers into thinking you had an experience
you didn't.

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when Kramer sells his stories
to Peterman.


-Ray Edwards

Most successful million dollar guru marketers faked it till they maked it. That's how this business goes. It's the elephant in the room..

In my experience... if the story isn't about what the product does... has done... or results...

And... if the person isn't claiming to have knowledge they don't have... or claim to have gotten that knowledge in a way they did not (i.e. the notorious death bed bequeathment video from Clickbank 5 years ago)...

And... if the story being told isn't meant to defraud...

Then... when done well and ethically you can make up a story.

What do I mean by that?

Let's say you're trying to sell a widget that cleans your toilet...

I have no problem writing an email that starts out, "The other day my wife and I were at dinner at a friends house. I go to use the bathroom and notice the horrible stains inside the toilet. On the ride home my wife says she's never seen a toilet so dirty. That's when I remind her about the bathroom in the basement. She gasps and her mind begins racing a mile a minute. She cries, 'Oh my God, you think anyone noticed last time we hosted game night?'"

Now... that dinner party never had to exist... you may have never spoken to your wife about toilets in any way... you don't have to have ever hosted game night...

IMO that story is fine. It's a dramatization used to get someone thinking emotionally about a problem (not necessarily about a product). This is very much like many ethical commercials.

Any relatable story can work if it's told well. (Granted my story above wasn't.)

Some of the top controls over the years have used embellished stories...

Or just flat out made them up.

Here's a question to always ask yourself:

Can I tell a story, that isn't true, if it isn't making claims, but instead is used to agitate the problem... so it engages the audience and pulls them in?

I say yes. Because your intention matters. And there are a lot of ways to accomplish that... in total integrity.

However...

There are definitely marketers who flat out lie... because they have a launch coming up, no testimonials and are rushing-to-market. (i.e. chasing money.)

That's not okay.

Nor is it okay to take someone's story (who achieved the prospect's ideal results) in a way that wasn't totally based on the solution being pitched.

And yet...

Copywriters agree to it all the time... to land or keep a gig.

It's just a symptom of a much bigger problem...

Which I'll let someone else bring up.

Stories are condensed versions of the truth that appeal to our sense of feel.

Lies kinda try to bulk out the mix to make the truth seem even condenser.

I got nuthin' to say other than "Frickn' crazy Russian programmers that wrote some of the best Internet money-making code ever that got paid in vodka."

Lying is just unethical and I don't think is even legal to tell a made up story and involve income and money, to sell something.

When you talk about income, and just making money, you need to be compliant, and show an income disclosure.

If you do not, it can get you into serious legal problem in the US!

The companies that do not educate their affiliates to ALWAYS mention their Income Disclosure Page, when talking about making money and earnings, usually get in legal trouble!

It happens all the time!

People need to learn the laws here! ... for real!

When you talk about making money, with a program, or company, you must always tell people to go to a Income Disclosure Page, right after you talked about making money with such program or company.

People are just not too used to do that. And this starts with the programs and companies - they just do not really care to educate their affiliates.

Of course, the one who gets into legal problems is the program or company. So I guess people just dont care most of the time. But if you are making good money with a company, wouldn't you want to also help it grow and evolve? ..right!

Im not sure if companies online lie sometimes to get people to buy as much as possible - but I'll tell you this, if the company does not care to CLEARLY State an Income Disclosure Page, then perhaps they are also doing a few unethical things.

Just my 2cents on this matter

You never have to lie to sell. There's always a true story there that'll sell. Good copywriters can sniff it out. Fraudsters and hacks can't, so they lie.

Ultimately, you probably should run the EXACT situation by a lawyer who knows the ad laws in the space you are trying to sell in. Legal beagles ain't all bad.

Giving advice for questions like this? That's kind of what they're useful for.

Folks on a forum? I wouldn't make my decisions based on that. Not even for what brand of milk I should buy. Let alone things that have to do with advertising laws.

So are you going to tell me how my nasty toilet can get cleaned or not?

You already know it's a lie, you're obviously not going to tell traffic either way.

If I tell you I'm Warren Buffett & try to sell you a stock secret, is that a lie or storytelling? Duh, it's a lie.

All our conversations are storytellin'.

All our thoughts are swirls of narrative tryin' to find a home.

Problem is, this ain't the same thing as The Truth.

In our own lives, the stories play out with an unnervingly opaque certainty.

Some of what we think an' say an' know will inevitably be untrue, saints an' sinners alike.

It is a joke in writin' circles to talk of the "fictional novel", as if somehow novels were not fiction.

But from a marketin' perspective it mebbe helps to think of the "fictional story": the manufactured version of The Truth you wish to proclaim.

I got some ideas runnin' round my head right now might turn out true, might turn out bogus.

But their play on me is happenin' out into words and deeds (because, what else have I got — to work with & to work toward?), an' only some outcome further down the line gonna help me figure more of an angle on the truth. Or even The Truth.

It is open season.

But a "fictional story" is self-contained.

Beginnin', middle, endin'.

Adjectives stripped, dialog pruned down to the kinda essentials everyone understands but no one ever speaks for real.

Loose ends tied up, narrative self-contained, point of the story punched up by the manner of its tellin'.

It is so much easier to examine an' change these "fictional stories" than the ones unfoldin' in your lives, dear reader, as you run your eyes over these words.

These stories have periods; you just got ellipses.

In this way, alla the "stories" we are talkin' about here in the created narrative biz are abject lies, warped versions of the narrative we experience daily as seekers of an unfoldin' truth.

But what we lose in content, we win out in purity of form, an' that kinda helps when we re-stuff the bird.

So I figure when you have all the elements of your story accessible in this "fictional story" way, kinda restrained an' tangible an' finite, you can see more readily when embellishment becomes false claim, when pruning turns to concealment, when the point of the story corrupts its intrinsic elements and betrays it from the outside in.

Gotta constrain evrythin' this way because life is a monster livin' on the edge.

Until we admit to the rampant maraudin' of pure fiction in our day-to-day lives — the moment to moment sensory romp fightin' to exist on tips of tongues and fingertips — pinnin' stuff down in any kinda formal way to serve as a funnel for any kinda truth gonna be like an elephant tryin' to pick up an oiled squid.

If somethin' gonna be "of vast import to the nation", everyone gotta believe it.

The famous "Wall Street Journal" Copy told an imaginary story
that made it one of the best copy ever.

That letter never said the one who became more successful
subscribed to Wall Street Journal but revealed the importance
of the Right knowledge at the right time.

If you use a story to explain a point, then even an imaginary story
is ethical (in my opinion). But if you tell a story as if "It happened to YOU",
then it should be true.

Hi James,

For me it comes down to one's own in-depth research. The more research I do, more facts and true stories come to light. Inside all that data is where the product's ethical and profitable story lives.