P.A.S. More than an acronym.
I am partial to the PAS (Problem, Agitate, Solution) formula, and I’ll tell you why:
I would have loved to be an actress. Drama is my thing. My sisters always say I am a drama queen. My husband, my best friend, and her children couldn’t agree more.
Storytelling is a great way to persuade, so if you mix this drama with a good product, you’re on.
What does this have to do with P.A.S?
Good copywriting involves solving a problem. Well, to solve a problem, you have to know it well. To understand it well, you have to feel it. In your bones, in your heart.
Read on to see how I do it.
You must first identify your buyer persona. I present to you mine:
Mrs. Vilma Jones is a 35-year-old executive who makes $300,000 a year—married to a man she now finds boring. And she is having an affair with a stockbroker.
Vilma has three children and another on the way (yes, you guessed it).
She lives in New York and goes to the Hamptons every two weeks; she spends holidays without her husband —who knows all about the affair. She also suffers from irritable bowel syndrome.
Her dad, a Southern Baptist, and a Wall-Street Tycoon, scares her. She is afraid he’ll discover the affair and disinherit her.
I plunge into Google and find out everything I need to know.
Peeling Back the Layers of Your Target Audience’s Pain
“Put yourself in the lead’s shoes.” That is the motto of “the method.”
Method acting is the process in which you transform your entire being to take on the ways of your character. You become that person and live their life for a while.
So I ask myself, “What can I do to become Mrs. Jones?” and “The Method” starts crawling through my veins.
For two days, I am Vilma, driving my 2004 Toyota Corolla as if it were her Mercedes Maybal Landaulet. Imaginary cramps and bloating engulf my existence.
Emphasizing the Negative Consequences of the Problem with Drama—Agitation.
My studies on IBS show that increasing anxiety levels can rule your tummy. Fried foods don’t help, so I eat fried onions for the same two days as if the world would end tomorrow.
My next method-morning begins with nausea (remember, Mrs. Jones is pregnant),
Those fatty red beans will harm me if I keep eating them, along with Mexican tacos with lots and lots of chipotle. I feel jumpy and anxious.
While filming “Taxi Driver,” Robert De Niro drove a taxi and picked up passengers from Central Park. There is no need to go all the way like him.
There you go; this is how I tackle “putting yourself in the client’s shoes”; to know the problem and “shake” it.
Introduce Your Product as the Solution with Style (solution)
What do you do with all this?
You know who your potential buyer is. Let’s say it is just like Mrs. Jones. So, you tell her story.
After all this, your buyer is ready to listen to your product’s benefits, and it is the only solution in the world because that’s how you paint it.
Address any objections she might have, using a pinch of humor here and a little charm there, and then write a call to action with a bang.
Boom!
The Analytical Wordsmith 