The Code Breaker Newsletter - Issue #018 How To Move Your Audience To Action Through Copy

Hey Code Breakers,

Welcome to this week's Code Breaker Newsletter. Here, we share the best insights, tips, and stories. Learn how to break the code on your market and unlock your business's potential.

Back in Issue #011 I shared one of my favorite copy writing frameworks, the before - after - bridge. This week, I’m going to be share another one of my proven favorites, Problem - Agitate - Solve. 

If you want to add some versatility to your copy, you can’t go wrong with problem, agitate, solve. You can use it for just about anything including written, audio, and video copy. And when you have your audience dialed in correctly it hits hard! 

Now, as I’ve stated before, most people neglect to leverage frameworks. And for this reason, their results are volatile and inconsistent at best. 

Problem —> Agitate —> Solve

We all know that people are motivated to either move away from pain or move towards pleasure. That’s just one reason to start with your avatar's problem. It can grab your audience's attention. It’s tapping into their motivation to move away from whatever pain it is that they’re experiencing. 

But most people are OK at highlighting customer problems. So, what’s happening when it's not working? 

Some of the potential reasons are:

• You highlighted their pain, but quickly lost them in the details of your story. 

• People are always tuned into their own radio station - WIIFM. What’s In It For Me. If you’re not addressing this they quickly tune out. 

• You’re missing a call to action that clearly highlights their next step! Remember, a confused mind never buys. 

But here’s the beauty of this framework. It solves for each of the above. When you highlight their problem, agitate it, and then solve it, you walk the customer down the road to action. 

Here's how:

Step 1: The Problem

In many cases, your ideal clients are you a few months or years earlier. They're on the same journey you were on. They have the same problems and frustrations. 

But they need you to highlight that for them. You've felt their pain. They need you to call it out, to get their attention, and name the problem. 

Let’s use consistently posting on social media as our example. If I were doing that here I’d name the problem as like this. 

The problem: Here’s the thing. If you’re not consistently posting on social media this is something you need to fix fast

Step 2: Agitate The Problem

Next we agitate the problem. We the reasons the problem is such an issue and why they need to fix it. You agitate it, make it worse, a LOT worse! 

Most people are willing to ignore little problems. Just think of how many people ignore their own health until they have a heart attack. That’s why we agitate. In a way, it’s your responsibility to move them to action. 

Back to our example, we agitate the problem with not posting consistently. People buy from people they know, like, and trust. But if you’re not showing up in their feed, neither of those three things will happen. Did you know Social Media algorithms won’t distribute your content evenly. That means 1 post today may only be scene by a small percentage of your audience. And if integration is limited, even less people outside of your audience will see it. Volume and consistency are the two drives of visibility of your content. Without those your time and effort is a waste.

Step 3: Solve The Problem

Once you’ve agitated the problem, the worst thing you can do is leave your audience hanging. If you’ve done steps 1 and 2 correctly they’ve been looking for a solution. 

That’s where you insert and offer up your solution. You provide the ready or viewer with the opportunity to get rid of their problem. 

Example: Luckily for you, I figured out a way to generate 9 pieces of content from a single 60 second video. All you have to do is record and upload a 60 second video and our system does the rest. Captions, branding, scheduling, and posting across all the major platforms. That way, you can focus on what you do best and watch your account and sales grow with ease. Click the link in the comments to get started! 

Effective copy doesn’t have to be hard or over complicated. But it does need a framework. Success leaves clues, which is where these frameworks come from. So start thinking and posting using this framework today. Highlight the problem. Agitate and move your audience to action. And provide them the opportunity to take action by solving their problem with your solution!