The Power of Questions

What do you do when someone asks you a question?

I bet you probably do the same thing I do: I stop to think about it. That’s what most people naturally do when they’re asked a question, even if they don’t know the answer. You stop what you’re doing to focus your attention on that one question just to make sure that you don’t know what the answer is.

It doesn’t matter what else I’m thinking about or what else I’m doing. I find my mind coming to an abrupt halt in order to consider what was asked of me. This can be a very powerful tool and a great way to get someone’s attention if you know how to make it work right for you.

Just think about the postcards you probably get in the mail. Now what is going to make you stop more: a postcard saying, “We can save you money on your cable bill,” or one asking, “How much are you paying for your cable?”

The second one makes you think in order to answer, and odds are good when you see the question the first thing you will do is mentally answer that question. And of course, the unspoken follow up is obvious. They’re asking because they can help you pay less.

The whole point of paying for color printing for any advertising is to get people interested in your products, and to do that you need to make them think. You have to encourage in them a desire to learn more about you.

This is what questions are able to achieve. A color poster is going to be a lot more effective if it has a giant question next to an eye-catching graphic. The graphic makes them look and the question makes them think.

Once those gears are turning you’re in a good position to start getting them to listen to the rest of the pitch.

All brochures should follow a similar format to help increase the odds of getting people interested. The question is what sets up the whole mood of the brochure in order to get people interested in what else it has to say. You won’t get people to care about your brochures if they aren’t hooked right away by a strong question.

Every advertisement is all about the hook that first gets people talking. If you don’t have the hook than it really doesn’t matter what else you have going for you. The hook is the defining aspect of the advertisement, and if you have no hook you can’t expect people to read through it.

Start asking yourself in the future what your hook is. I’m not saying you always have to use a question, but it is a very strong way to get the mind going. And as soon as a person starts thinking about your advertisement, you’ve succeeded.