Lesson 3
How To Know Exactly What Your Audience’s Problems Are
I was obsessed with Spongebob as a kid.
Spongebob birthday parties, Gameboy games, lunchboxes.
And the humor of that little cartoon invertebrate still makes its way into my own humor.
So this morning I was thinking about the episode where Spongebob tries to turn Plankton into a “good” citizen of Bikini Bottom.
And he teaches him the “F.U.N.” song.
🎵 F is for friends who do stuff together, U is for “u” and me, N is for anywhere and any time at all down here in the deep blue sea! 🎵
Plankton, excited, bursts out into song.
But it’s a little … off.
🎵 F is for fire that burns down the whole town, U is for uranium … BOMBS, N is for no survivooors!!! — 🎵
Spongebob cuts Plankton off mid-stanza. He doesn’t get it.
The problem is that Plankton is inherently evil, and the “F.U.N.” format will never work for him.
This is a lot like copywriting formulas.
Think PAS (problem-agitate-solve), AIDA (attention-interest-desire-action), UUUU (useful, urgent, unique, ultra-specific).
Or whatever new “formula” the latest copy-guru has dreamt up.
Now — I’m not saying these formulas are as evil as Plankton. I certainly learned a lot from using them when I started writing copy.
But if you want to grow as a copywriter, you eventually have to move beyond them.
More important than formulas is knowing how to develop a deep (yet relevant) understanding of your market … and how the product you’re selling can help that market.
Any copywriter worth their spit should know how to do this.
One quick method I use is something I call “comment arbitrage.”
Here’s how it works:
I search comments from product similar to the one I’m selling on Amazon (or I search a YouTube video or Reddit thread related to a problem my market has)
I copy and paste all of the most “emotionally charged” comments — especially ones that talk about specific problems or desires — into a Google doc
I comb through the doc and look for common themes, and use those themes as starting angles in my copy
Instead of trying to force a product to fit into a formula, I have the sales argument right there in front of me.
Then, if I want to, I can put it within one of those formulas … but it’s usually not necessary.
If you find a good comment that talks about your market’s problems, blockers, or “dream” results, you have a very good base to build from without needing to use a formula.
Now … go hunt some comments!
David Patrick