The Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS) Formula for PR Writers

PAS in PR writ­ing is a double-edged sword.

We all hate read­ing unne­ces­sary text to get to whatever solu­tion we want. “Get to the point already,” we think to ourselves. 

Wading waist-deep through anec­dotes, ana­lo­gies, con­text, and dis­claim­ers is tiring.

Getting to the point some­times seems to be a lost art.

It’s the PAS-ific­a­tion of con­tent mar­ket­ing, it seems. PAS is a widely pop­u­lar acronym for writ­ing con­tent—Pain-Agitate-Solve.

We make a point of delay­ing the solu­tion to ensure read­er engage­ment. According to the­ory and online ana­lyt­ics, this seems to be the right path.

The first third of the con­tent con­nects via a shared pain point.
The second third of the con­tent amp­li­fies these mutu­al frus­tra­tions.
And the last third offers the solution.

“Getting to the point” quickly isn’t without its own set of draw­backs, either.

I’ve col­lab­or­ated with many engin­eers through­out my PR career, and they typ­ic­ally get straight to the real solu­tion in their writ­ing. Presenting the solu­tion straight-up, without any fuss what­so­ever, can also make for rather dull reading.

Readers nev­er con­sciously ask for it but need stor­ies, ana­lo­gies, con­text, and disclaimers.

But beware, Problem-Agitate-Solve can get old real quick.

For me, this is a help­ful rule of thumb:

If it’s tedi­ous to write, it’s tedi­ous to read.

The straight­for­ward approach to delay­ing pre­ma­ture solu­tions is put­ting more energy into your writ­ten content’s first two-thirds.

Think about it: The solu­tion part could be trite and stale, but it still car­ries lots of value by being the actu­al answer to someone’s ques­tion. The ini­tial parts of your con­tent have no such value; there­fore, they need the most of your attention.

Don’t just race through the PA part if you’re using PAS. Put your heart and soul into mak­ing these pas­sages worthy of your reader’s attention.

Make these parts fun to read by mak­ing them fun to write.