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Part 8: The Anatomy of an Ad: Body Copy, Part 4

In last month’s column, I presented the acronym, A-I-D-A, or Attention-Interest-Desire-Action, as one of several direct-marketing copy formulas or strategies.

A second copy formula is P-A-S, or Problem-Agitate-Solve.

Billy Mays, who recently died, had become the most successful short-form, direct-response television personality in history, and you can learn from analyzing his performances. In virtually all of Billy’s infomercials, he used the P-A-S (Problem-Agitate-Solve) formula.

Problem: The simplistic action is to state clearly a “problem” common to many prospects. Immediately after he shouted, “Hi, Billy Mays, here,” he would make a problem statement.

For the Steam Buddy^®, he asked, “Tired of wrestling with ironing boards and irons? What if you could put the power of your dry cleaner in your own hand?”

For the Tool Bandit^®, he asked, “Tired of fumbling with your tools, or wasting time trying to find them? Do you ever wish you had an extra hand?”

 As a school owner, you have a huge advantage in the marketplace because your solution solves a problem that people want to solve!

You’ll notice that Billy often framed the problem statement as a question, which is a very powerful tool. A question will cause prospects to answer the question (unconsciously) in their minds. Their answers will lead them to want to know more about what you offer. (How you can solve their problem!)

For the martial arts product, consider these powerful problem statements.

For the family/children market:

Does your child shrink from a challenge because of a lack of self-confidence?

Do you wish your child had greater self-esteem?

Could your child be more focused?

What could your child accomplish with more self-confidence?

For the adult market:

Would you like to lose 10 pounds in 3 weeks?

Would you know what to do if an intruder threatened your family?

What could you accomplish in your career with unshakeable self-confidence?

Agitate: During the later stages of Billy’s career, he was in a position to pick and choose which products he endorsed and pitched on TV. He had a few important criteria to choose those products.

One of those criteria is that the product had to solve a problem that people WANTED solved, and they WANTED to solve it so much that they would drag themselves off the couch, grab their credit card, remember the phone number, call it and buy! It’s difficult to sell a solution to a problem that people don’t care to solve.

As a school owner, you have a HUGE advantage in the marketplace because your solution solves a problem that people WANT TO SOLVE! Your product literally changes people’s lives, and makes them a better, more focused and confident person. What could be easier to sell?

Next month’s column will present the remainder of the Problem-Agitate-Solve formula.

Join Toby Milroy online. Visit MartialArtsProfessional.com for direct links to these pages.

Toby milroy is a 4th-Degree Black Belt, former school owner, Mile High karate regional Director and NAPMA’s chief operating officer. He can be contacted through NAPMAFreeOffer.com or MileHighFranchise.com.