That's the question asked Wednesday night during Passover Seders attended by Jews and many non-Jews around the world. For marketers...

it's the question that keeps us up at night. Whether others in our organizations understand it or not, it's the key to success. What's your answer?

Dan Herman offers help in a recent MarketingProfs article titled The Surprising Secret of Differentiation. And, you may want to check out a four-part series on Positioning by Michael Fischler.

While these authors focus on the word "different," perhaps we marketers ought to focus on the word "why." To do so, Malcolm Gladwell's recent book review in the New Yorker has much to guide us. And a MarketingProfs article by Sean d'Souza has important insights.

As Sean says, "All your customers want to know is ‘Why should I choose you?', ‘Why should I take this decision?', ‘Why should I spend this money?,' ‘Why should I look at your Web site?', ‘Why should I read your brochure?', ‘Why should I listen to your speech?', ‘Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?'"