Posted by: Gary Bencivenga
June 19, 2008
Issue #441

The Most Important Advertising Question

Ask this simple 5-word question,
stand back and watch
your breakthroughs — and response — erupt.

Dear Marketing Top Gun:

In this Bullet, you will learn a simple five-word sentence that gives you an almost unfair advantage in boosting your response, outselling your competition and triggering an ongoing stream of creative breakthroughs.

Asking this simple question is the easiest way I know to get yourself and your staff to think outside the box. It can literally make you wealthy and establish your reputation as a marketing visionary with a Midas touch.

This is true whether you’re an entrepreneur, infopreneur, copywriter, marketing manager, CEO — anyone with anything to do with marketing.

Shameless overpromising? Not at all, as you’ll now see.

Here’s the question:

What are we really selling?

Just five little words. But let’s explore their revolutionary power, first on a basic level, then advanced.

A Little-Known Secret of Master Closers

First, always remember that advertising is nothing more than salesmanship multiplied by a mass medium. This is why it can unleash such powerful leverage in making you rich and successful. It is a persuasive salesperson able to close thousands or even millions of sales at once. And then do it again tomorrow and the next day.

Knowing this, the happiest hunting ground I’ve ever found to uncover new ways to explode response is to learn the secrets of master salespeople and then apply them to direct response.

What follows is easily one of the most powerful.

Early in my career, a wizened old Copy Chief taught me that one of the shrewdest questions master closers always ponder is, "What are we really selling?"

For example:

You are not selling grass seed. You are selling a greener lawn.

You are not selling boilers and BTUs. You are selling warmer, cozier winter nights at a 27% fuel savings.

You are not selling baseball tickets. You are selling memories of sunny afternoons that a father and his children will cherish forever.

Back in 1781, Samuel Johnson understood this well. When he was appointed to auction off the Henry Thrale brewery, he announced, "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice."

Perhaps lipstick king Charles Revson said it best: "In the factory we make cosmetics. In the store we sell hope."

You get the idea.

Whenever you are marketing anything, always ask, "What are we really selling?" Don’t stop until you’ve got a long list of answers and test an ad built around each of your best. The difference in response will often astonish you, open up whole new markets as well as lots more opportunities to raise the question again.

But We’re Just Getting Started.
Let’s Think Even Bigger …

If you want to grow rich in direct response and perhaps even establish a reputation as a marketing visionary with a Midas touch, just start asking this same question of not just a single product or service, but of your entire enterprise.

Some revolutionary examples:

A hundred years ago, the railroads dominated the American economy. If you had asked the railroad moguls of the day what business they were in, they would have replied, "The railroad business, of course."

But had they raised our 5-word question, "What are we really selling?", they could have realized they were in the transportation business.

And that simple insight could have allowed them to dominate whole new transportation industries that would soon emerge — automobiles, airplanes and trucking, whose revenues would dwarf those of the railroads. But the railroad tycoons never saw these upstarts coming. They were blindfolded by the familiar. They were in the railroad business.

Another example:

For many decades, cigarettes were sold on the basis of "rich tobacco taste."

Then some diabolically clever soul raised the question, "What are we really selling?"

He reasoned that teenagers don’t start smoking to experience "rich tobacco taste." Heck, most teenagers turn green with their first drags on a cigarette.

What are we really selling? Why do teenagers start using such an instantly noxious product? Obviously the answer is to look hip and rebellious among their peers. To imitate more glamorous, powerful, individualistic adults. To project a cooler self image.

A cooler self image — that’s what cigarette makers were really selling. And so was born The Marlboro Man, the strong, aloof cowboy on horseback, squinting into the sunset like Clint Eastwood, his own man, impervious to the demands of society — just like so many teenage boys crave to feel and look like.

Result: Marlboro sales skyrocketed and to this day, decades later, Marlboros remain the world’s top-selling cigarette.

Such is the power of this simple 5-word question.

Another example:

When a man named Ray Jacuzzi was getting nowhere trying to sell his whirlpools to physical therapists, he refused to give up.

Instead he asked, "What are we really selling?"

Another possibility arose — hot tubs for homes — and that idea catapulted him to stratospheric success.

Another example:

By the 1950s, almost every family in America owned a big square white refrigerator. As long as it kept the milk cold and didn’t conk out completely, families were content to let it sit in the kitchen forever.

So how do we sell more refrigerators when everybody owns one?

"What are we really selling?"

Hey, we could start selling refrigerators as kitchen decor.

Let’s produce them in decorator colors and styles to suit every taste and fashion. This way, when people remodel their kitchens, they’ll want new refrigerators to match.

That insight quickly became (and largely remains) the driving force behind new refrigerator sales.

The automobile industry had come up with the same simple answer decades earlier. How could new rivals sell cars when Henry Ford dominated the business with his basic black cars? (Ford had boasted, "You can have a Ford in any color you want, as long as it’s black.")

His rivals asked, "What are we really selling?" What happens if we change the answer from "transportation" to "style"?

Look, we can’t compete head on with Ford selling basic "transportation." He has that market locked. But we could start offering cars not just with Henry’s basic black color and one-size-fits-all features, but in lots of different colors and models, so that cars can now be an expression of personal style. Then we’d be selling something different and open up a whole new market.

That was the breakthrough — and the way cars are marketed to this day.

So think for a moment …

What are you really selling?

Are you sure? What else could it be? How might you repackage your product, or add to it, to trigger new demand or crack open a whole new market? Think big!

Starbucks sells more than coffee. Disney World sells more than rides.

Ask "What are we really selling?" often enough and I guarantee this — bold new answers will arise and with them, major opportunities to open new markets and explode your response.

Sincere wishes for a good life
and (always!) higher response,

Gary Bencivenga
Guest Editor, The Total Package

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9 Comments »

1. Comment by Jim Murphy — June 19, 2008 @ 9:39 am

   Gary,I think most copywriters (and salespeople) have trouble differentiating facts and benefits. To me, your question is a brilliant way to make benefits crystal clear. Thanks for the insight.

2. Comment by John C. A. Manley | Healthy-Conversions.com — June 19, 2008 @ 10:29 am

   I love that line from Ford!

   I had the same issue when I wrote the copy for http://www.ConstipationRemediesforWomen.com. In the research/interview stage I realized women weren’t really interested in "getting rid of constipation." Instead, they were wanted to get rid of a bloated stomach and smelly gas.

3. Comment by Paul Davis — June 19, 2008 @ 10:54 am

   Gary,
   What I have found is that when this question is asked by the owner of a business it really helps them to define for themselves just what they are wanting their business to "be" about.  This definition can be critical to the greater success of the business.  It truly helps define the vision for the company, and as the owner’s manual says, "Without a vision, the people perish.
   Keep up the good work. 

4. Comment by Len — June 19, 2008 @ 11:10 am

   Great article, Gary. Short. Sweet. And – as always – right on target. I’ve already added this 5-word question to my checklist.
   Thanks!

5. Comment by Sylvia — June 20, 2008 @ 1:18 am

   Yes. It’s all about keeping it real, because there is potentially such a vast distance between our motivation to sell and a buyers motivation to purchase. Bridging the gap is all about acquiring an empathetic mindset and a creative and concise "pitch" that is solution based.

   Thanks for the cool article and reminding me of these things.

6. Comment by The Copywriting Kid — June 20, 2008 @ 4:42 am

   I’m not sure if I get this right… I tried my hand at it, but I’m sure it’s still a long way to go, so please help me out here a bit:Starbucks: self-image of being successful & busyDisneyworld: a happy familyFacebook: friendsCoca-Cola: Being part of a happy bunch of peopleApple: Being somebody who knows quality instead of being part of the "herd"; (& maybe a bit of David vs. Goliath)Google: fast access to relevant informationWholefoods: healthy feastingYouTube: being coolSony: easy entertainmentCanon (consumer products): reliable gadgets with featuresBose: being an "educated consumer"Mercedes Benz: affluenceBMW: intelligence (smart engineering)Gilette (shaving appliances): skin that looks and feels goodAxe (deodorants): being popularKellogs: a good start in the dayVogue: being a hip womanFHM: stuff to talk about with your buddiesFirefox: surfing the web betterInternet Explorer: easy surfinggaming consoles (Wii/Playstation): adventuresBrita (water filters): safety & healthAmazon.com: easy shoppingebay.com: excitement of competing for a bargainvacuum cleaners: a clean homeairlines: fast transportationdishwashing detergents:
   Palmolive Dry Skin With Aloe: beautiful hands for the housewife
   Palmolive Scrub Buster: convenient cleaning
   Palmolive SpringSensations: washing with joy
   Palmolive Antibacterial: securitySamsonite: being organized on the roadExxon Mobil: fuel so you can use your carVerizon: communicationFedEx: fast & safe shipmentNetflix: convenient entertainment at homeWalmart: bargains, getting more for your moneyMcDonalds: familiarityObama: heroismMcCain: securityJohn Reese: honest successJohn Carlton: copywriting skills & companionship Gary Halbert: copywriting skills & entertainmentJeffrey Sachs: heroism (fighting for a fair world)And here some more questions:
   How exactly do you think this through? There must be some mental process you go through, can you elaborate on that and kind of break it down in more detail?
   Also, it seems to me that almost everyone of these examples has "several layers", and depending upon how much I "zoom in" it changes.

   Example #1: When I look at "Brita" it seems that in and of itself it sells "safety" - but as soon as I compare it to other walter filters/purifiers it seems that they sell "CONVENIENT safety".

7. Comment by The Copywriting Kid — June 20, 2008 @ 4:45 am

   oops… my last comment didn’t look very good, so here again reformatted:

   I’m not sure if I get this right… I tried my hand at it, but I’m sure it’s still a long way to go, so please help me out here a bit:

   Starbucks: self-image of being successful & busy

   Disneyworld: a happy family

   Facebook: friends

   Amazon.com: easy shopping

   ebay.com: excitement of competing for a bargain

   Google: fast access to relevant information

   YouTube: being cool

   Coca-Cola: Being part of a happy bunch of people

   Apple: Being somebody who knows quality instead of being part of the “herd”; (& maybe a bit of David vs. Goliath)

   Wholefoods: healthy feasting

   Sony: easy entertainment

   Canon (consumer products): reliable gadgets with features

   Bose: being an “educated consumer”

   Mercedes Benz: affluence

   BMW: intelligence (smart engineering)

   Gilette (shaving appliances): skin that looks and feels good

   Axe (deodorants): being popular

   Kellogs: a good start in the day

   Vogue: being a hip woman

   FHM: stuff to talk about with your buddies

   Firefox: surfing the web better

   Internet Explorer: easy surfing

   Brita (water filters): safety & health

   Samsonite: being organized on the road

   Exxon Mobil: fuel so you can use your car

   Verizon: communication

   FedEx: fast & safe shipment

   Netflix: convenient entertainment at home

   Walmart: bargains, getting more for your money

   dishwashing detergents:
   Palmolive Dry Skin With Aloe: beautiful hands for the housewife
   Palmolive Scrub Buster: convenient cleaning
   Palmolive SpringSensations: washing with joy
   Palmolive Antibacterial: security

   vacuum cleaners: a clean home

   canned beans: cheap nutritious food

   toothpaste: good breath

   toothbrush: clean mouth

   airlines: fast transportation

   gaming consoles (Wii/Playstation): adventures

   McDonalds: familiarity

   Obama: heroism

   McCain: security

   John Reese: honest success

   John Carlton: copywriting skills & companionship

   Gary Halbert: copywriting skills & entertainment

   And here some more questions:

   How exactly do you think this through? There must be some mental process you go through, can you elaborate on that and kind of break it down in more detail?

   Also, it seems to me that almost everyone of these examples has "several layers", and depending upon how much I "zoom in" it changes.

8. Comment by Janet Smith — June 25, 2008 @ 7:59 am

   It is amazing such a small question has such enormous potential.  My first goal using this is to apply it to offering my services as a copywriter.  I can’t wait to test for results

9. Comment by Ken Davis — August 19, 2008 @ 9:30 pm

   John Patterson (National Cash Register) in the 1890’s A man way ahead of his time.  He sold the "receipt", not the cash register.  Convincing store owners that a printed receipt for a purchase had many benefits not available to the the public at the time.