19 Frameworks and Formulas
Why use a framework?
To achieve its result, your information has to be structured and logical.
Nowadays, we use ‘permission marketing’ where we offer to provide the consumer more information, in return for their email address.
I’ve excluded a few frameworks on the grounds they’re simply trying too hard and are aiming to squeeze some copywriting principles into a clever acronym. HELLYEAH and SCAMPER, are two examples.
Use the frameworks with caution. Treat them as a lamp post – to light the way, not to support you when drunk.
FAB
FAB stands for: Features > Advantages > Benefits
- Features: Start with what your product can do.
- Advantages: Explain why it’s helpful.
- Benefits: Elaborate on what it means for the reader.
PAS
Problem > Agitate > Solve
- Problem: identify the most painful problem your target has.
- Agitate: make the problem hurt, show why it is bad. Remind people why they’re hurting. It’s a slightly risky route, because you can offend people or make them cross.
- Solve: Quick! Let’s move forward! Present your product as the logical solution to the problem.
PADS is a slightly humorous alternative to PAS, involving the addition of the letter D, standing for ‘Discredit other solutions’.
Problem – Amplify – Story – Testimonials – Offer – Response
- P: Identify the Problem people are having.
- A: Amplify the consequences of not solving it.
- S: Tell a Story related to the problem. Or outline your System which will solve the problem.
- T: Include Testimonials from happy customers.
- O: Present your Offer.
- R: Ask for a Response.
There are a few different versions of PASTOR.
- P: Identify the Problem people are having.
- A: Amplify the consequences of not solving it.
- S: Offer a Solution. Or outline your System.
- T: Transformation: explain how you’ve solved the problem for other clients.
- O: Present your Offer.
- R: Ask for a Response.
BAB
BAB stands for: Before > After > Bridge
- Before: Present the current situation with the problem.
- After: Talk to the reader about how great it would be without the problem.
- Bridge: Show them how to get there.
AIDA
Attention – Interest – Desire – Action
- Attention: get the reader’s attention with a bold statement.
- Interest: present information that appeals to the reader.
- Desire: state the benefits of your product.
- Action (OR Agreement): ask for a sign-up/purchase.
Many copywriting formulas are extended or modified versions of the AIDA.
AIDCA and IDCA
Attention Interest Desire Conviction Action
‘Conviction’ really means ‘Proof’ or ‘Evidence’.
The 4 Ps
The 4Ps are: Picture > Promise > Prove > Push
- Picture: paint a picture that gets attention and creates desire.
- Promise: describe how your product will deliver.
- Prove: provide testimonials that back up your promise.
- Push: give them a little push to take action.
Others use this version of the formula:
- Problem: What’s the issue on the customer’s mind?
- Promise: How we’ll make it better.
- Proof: Here are people who’ve used our product and enjoyed it.
- Proposal: Now it’s your turn to have that same benefit.
SLAP
Stop. Look. Act. Purchase.
This is a quick, sharp acronym. SLAP has an immediacy about it.
- You Stop the prospect by getting their attention (AIDA again).
- Make them Look at your offering.
- Make them Act.
- Get them to Purchase.
POSA
- Problem: What’s the problem?
- Origin What caused it?
- Solution Here’s the solution.
- Advantage. Look at the benefits you’ll get.
I created POSA because instead of emphasizing a problem, it describes what caused it.
The Three Ss
Star > Story > Solution
- Star: introduce the main character of your story.
- Story: tell a compelling story to keep the reader hooked.
- Solution: an explanation of how the star wins in the end.
The String of Pearls
The String of Pearls offers overwhelming evidence of the many benefits you offer.
The 3 WHYs
Why are you the best? Why should I believe you? Why should I buy right now?
1-2-3-4
What I’ve got for you? What it’s going to do for you. Who am I? What do you need to do next?
The 5 Questions
Some copywriters extend the 3 WHYs to 5 Questions. These are the questions people ask before buying a service:
- What’s in it for me?
- How are you going to do this?
- Why should I believe you?
- Who have you done this for?
- What will it cost me?
HIC and HICC
HIC stands for: Headline – Image – Body Copy
And the extended version (HICC) is for: Headline – Image – Body Copy – Call to Action
DASER
Dream > Ask > Solution > Evidence > Require action
- Dream: Offer the dream of what life could be like.
- Ask Three Questions, such as: “Do you suffer from …?”, “Would you like to …?” “Have you thought about …?”
- Solution: Tell them how your product solves their problem.
- Evidence: Give the reader more details.
- Require Action. Ask for the sale.
QUEST
QUEST stands for: Qualify, Understand, Educate, Simulate and Transition.
- Qualify: The goal of this stage is to allow the viewer to decide whether they need the product.
- Understand: The next step is to empathize with the viewer and show that you understand their problems.
- Educate: At this point in your messaging, only qualified leads are still reading.
- Stimulate: Also known as the selling phase, you want to encourage the audience to take action.
- Transition: The final phase is the point of conversion.
ATR
ATR is for: Awareness, Trial and Reinforcement.
The Fan Dancer
The idea behind the Fan Dancer is that you don’t reveal exactly what you’re offering.
The Ogilvy Formula
David Ogilvy, one of the advertising greats from the 1950s and 60s, had a formula for how print ads should be laid out.
- Visual
- Caption
- Headline
- Copy
- Signature
The image was supposed to take up the top three-quarters of the page. Immediately underneath is supposed to be a snappy caption. And below the caption comes the headline, in a larger typeface that’s designed to catch the eye. Then comes around 240 words of editorial-style copy, followed by the company’s contact details.
SPIN
- Situation: Establish the buyer’s current situation.
- Problem: Identify problems the buyer faces that your product solves.
- Implication: Explore the causes and effects of those problems.
- Need Payoff: Show why your product is worth it.
SPIN is different from other frameworks because it focuses not on seeking attention, but on understanding the buyer’s world.
Copywriting Checklists
A FOREST
Alliteration, Facts, Opinions, Rhetorical questions, Emotive language, Statistics and Rule of Three.
A FOREST lists seven powerful devices that can be used in persuasive writing.
Here’s a summary of what each component means:
- Alliteration: You repeat the initial sound or letter in a series of words.
- Facts: Support your persuasive arguments with factual evidence.
- Opinions: Facts on their own can be sterile. That’s why we add opinions.
- Rhetorical questions: Pose a question – not to get an answer, but to make a point or argument.
- Emotive Language: Emotions are powerful motivators and can add a critical punch to your writing.
- Statistics: Numbers are 24 % easier to understand (I just made that up) and provide quantifiable evidence to support your writing.
- Rule of Three: Using three items in a sentence is appealing, attractive and effective.
The 4C’s
Clear, Concise, Compelling and Correct. The 4Cs aim to make your writing more effective and professional.
OATH
Oblivious, Apathetic, Thinking and Hurting.
The OATH acronym explains some conditions you must address when writing copy for cold leads. Oblivious describes the notion that the audience doesn’t know who you are or that they have a problem you can solve. Even if they know the problem, they’re too Apathetic to pursue a solution. Some cold prospects are just starting to Think about the problem and may be considering possible answers. Alternatively, they may be Hurting from past options that didn’t adequately solve the issue.
The 4 U’s
The 4Us represent: Urgent, Unique, Useful and Ultra-specific.
The 5 Basic Objections
The 5 Basic Objections are:
- I don’t have enough time.
- I don’t have enough money.
- It won’t work for me.
- I don’t believe you.
- I don’t need it.
FIGS
Fear of loss. Instant gratification. Greed. Sense of urgency. FIGS is a list of factors you can use in your landing pages to drive impulse actions.
CAN
CAN stands for: Connected, Appropriate and Novel. CAN gives us a checklist for creating effective ads and marketing messages.
- Connected is about establishing a link between the viewer and your messaging.
- Appropriate means your messaging has to be relevant and valuable to all parties.
- Novel relates to making your ads compelling and engaging to viewers.
Copywriting Principles
If the Frameworks are how we physically build a piece of copy, the Principles are the ideas that inform our writing.
The Rule of One
The Rule of One aims to make your writing more specific and direct by focusing on just one detail.
The Rule of One states that you should focus on one topic, idea, audience or call-to-action for each piece of content. In simple terms, don’t do too much with a single page.
“So what?”
“So What?” is a simple test to ensure that your copy is engaging and addressing the audience properly.
STICKY and SUCCES
“Sticky” is the holy grail of advertising. Our work must stay in viewers’ minds if we are to build a brand and get repeat purchase.
The best breakdown of sticky content comes from Chip and Dan Heath in the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.
They gave us SUCCES: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible and Emotional Stories.
Social Proof
Social Proof gives the audience evidence from outside sources that your claims are true.
You
‘You’ is the most powerful word in the English language.
FORCEPS
Michel Fortin created the somewhat exhaustive FORCEPS principle. It suggests seven types of proof:
- Factual proof
- Optical proof
- Relational proof
- Credential proof
- Evidential proof
- Perceptual proof
- Social proof
Factual Proof. Here we’re talking numbers.
Optical Proof means Visuals.
Relational proof is about comparing your product with others.
Credential Proof. Have your products been certified?
Evidential Proof involves tests and trials.
Perceptual Proof, according to Fortin, means Stories.
Social proof is something we’ve talked a lot about. Other people opinions of your product speak much louder than your own.
The Rule of Three
The Rule of Three (ROT), also known as a tricolon, involves writing three points.
Pain Points
People buy a product to ease pain.
The double Pyramid
The double pyramid is a method used primarily by journalists to get your interest.
KISS
‘Keep it Simple, Stupid’ is a mantra that applies to most areas of life, but especially to copywriting.
WIIFM
What’s In It for Me? Hard to pronounce (whiff‘ em), and not memorable, nevertheless WIIFM is really important.
Explain WIIFM, what’s in it for the reader, not WYO (what you’re offering).
The Reason Why
Copywriter Gary Bencivenga is keen on using ‘The Reason Why’.
Here are his ‘Three Reasons Why’:
- A reason why your product or service is better than other solutions.
- A reason why your claim is true.
- A reason why the reader should take action immediately.
Creative Strategies
Drama and Impact
Dull advertising goes against the laws of nature.
All copy should have an impact. One way to do that is to employ drama. You can use drama and impact to highlight customer pain points (and how your brands solve them). Drama through storytelling is another effective method.
Humor
Humor generally involves a story, something that engages people.
Slice of Life
Slice of Life involves incorporating your product into an ‘everyday life’ scenario.
Slice of Life is especially useful when presenting complex products or features. It allows you to show them in a normal setting that dispels notions that it’s too complicated for the consumer to use properly.
Surprise
Do you want to get the readers’ attention? Surprise them!
Any content you create should have some element of surprise on its side.
Sadvertising
Sadvertising is a clever but ugly word that combines sadness and advertising. It covers those advertising strategies that create a sad or heart-felt emotional response from the audience.
Exaggeration
Exaggeration takes a claim and magnifies it.
It can go wrong, however.
Story telling
There’s something magical about stories.
Celebrity and Influencer Ads
Using celebrities in ads is a strategy that has stood the test of time.
Comparative copy
As the name suggests, comparative copy lets us compare our product with our competitors’ ones.
Comparative advertising works well for new brands that don’t have the same reputation as their competitors.
Fear
Appealing to any emotion in advertising is a winning strategy. Fear is arguably one of the best motivators.
Another powerful fear motivator is FOMO, or the fear of missing out. FOMO is a powerful and popular tool when selling limited edition products that are only available for a short period.
Likeability
In ads, we often achieve likeability is through puns. The pun is a type of joke.
AIDA derivatives
APPROACH
The APPROACH acronym outlines a detailed formula for achieving compelling and effective copy. It stands for: Arrive, Propose, Persuade, Reassure, Orchestrate and Ask.
- Arrive: This is your introduction.
- Propose: With the problem stated, you now want to introduce your solution.
- Persuade.
- Reassure: Persuasive arguments alone aren’t enough. You need to back those points with credible facts and evidence.
- Orchestrate: This step is where you bring it all together and demonstrate how easy it is for the viewer to take the next action.
- Ask: This phase is your call to action.
6 + 1
The 6 + 1 formula looks at six primary elements that closely relate to the typical AIDA guidelines.
The six other steps are:
- Context: Make it clear what the purpose of the message is.
- Attention: Create a hook or initial claim.
- Desire: Make the reader want to convert.
- Gap: Showcase what happens if the individual doesn’t act.
- Solution: Offer a solution to the audience’s problem (s).
- Call to action.
AICPBSAWN
- Attention: Make a bold claim.
- Interest: Build on the initial attention hook.
- Credibility: Demonstrate your expertise and reputation.
- Prove: Provide evidence.
- Benefits:
- Scarcity:
- Action: Make it clearly known what the audience needs to do to act.
- Warn: Further encourage action by suggesting what will happen if the audience doesn’t take the next step.
- Now: Including “now” in your copywriting creates a sense of urgency.
AIDPPC
Attention, interest, description, persuasion, proof and close are the six parts of the AIDPPC formula.
AAPPA
AAPPA is for: Attention, Advantage, Proof, Persuasion and Action
The Motivating Sequence
The Motivating Sequence comes from copywriter Robert Bly.
The Sequence has four stages:
- Get your reader’s attention Identify a problem or need.
- Position your answer.
- Prove your answer.
- Ask the reader to take action.
ACCA
Awareness > Comprehension > Conviction > Action
