Why I love P-A-S but rarely use it

I want to demonstrate something to you today.

See if you can spot what I’m doing in the scene below.

Ready? Rolling in …

3 …

2 …

1 …

🎬

“When I started digital marketing, I knew nothing about copywriting.

And it almost ruined my career.

See … back in 2017, I was the Director of Marketing for a small SaaS startup, and took over all of the company’s ad and landing page copy.

But it quickly became clear to me — and my boss — that I had NO idea what I was doing.

Little by little, the “micromanaging” crept in.

Reviewing every line of copy. Vetting everything I wrote. Editing down to the words “the” and “a.”

It got so bad that I wasn’t even sure if I LIKED writing copy.

(And it’s probably where my deep-seated sense of imposter syndrome comes from … ugh.)

But then I found P-A-S.

That is … “problem,” “agitate,” “solve.”

With this framework, I was able to learn the basic structure of copywriting.

And by practicing over and over, I actually got really good at it.

That one simple formula ended up becoming the foundation of my career, as I used it as the “skill hook” to land my first real copywriting role."

Aaaaaaand end scene 🎬

Alright.

You MUST have figured out what I was doing up there.

It’s a take on the P-A-S structure of copywriting … about the P-A-S formula (a little meta, I know). And every word of it is true!

Learning the P-A-S formula is the “skill hook” I used to land my first real “copywriter” job title years ago.

But much as I love it, I don’t really use it anymore.

Here’s why:

In the last 48 hours, I’ve had two alcoholic drinks.

(Trust me … this is going somewhere 😂)

They were both made through a distillation process … because … alcohol.

One was called “arak,” a licorice heavy liquor of Lebanese origin.

I didn’t hate it … but I certainly wasn't crazy about it.

The other drink was a copywriter’s favorite … single malt whiskey.

I drink this one a couple times a week. 

My point: Though these drinks are both made through a similar distillation process, only one of them “speaks” to me.

And when it comes to copywriting formulas … they are a great way to structure your copy.

BUT ... follow ‘em too closely, and you’ll leave out crucial elements that “speak” to your market.

It’s why I’m a big fan of using something I call “comment arbitrage” as the basis for pretty much all the copy I write.

Read more about it here:

stealthiscopy.com/comment-arbys

David Patrick