The PAS framework for digital marketing: from pain to proof

<p>You’ve been told that great copywriters are master manipulators. They use the PAS formula—Problem, Agitate, Solve—to tap into deep-seated anxieties and sell anything. It sounds powerful, but as a builder, it probably feels gross. You didn't start a company to be a salesman; you started one to solve a problem.</p> <p>This is the central contradiction of the PAS framework: it focuses on the emotional mechanics of selling rather than the engineering mechanics of solving. It treats pain as a tool for conversion, not a signal for innovation. The result is hollow, over-dramatic marketing that founders hate writing and customers immediately tune out.</p> <p>The solution isn't to abandon PAS. It's to evolve it. The classic formula is missing a critical fourth step necessary for digital trust and builder-aligned marketing: Proof. We call this the P.A.S.S. Filter.</p> <p>P.A.S.S. stands for: <strong>Problem, Agitate, Solve, and Systemize Proof.</strong> It transforms a manipulative selling tool into a deterministic trust engine. This is how you use the emotional energy of pain to drive systematic, credible solutions.</p> <p><em>Short on time? Scroll to The PASS Copy Builder section for a copy-paste tool you can use right now.</em></p> <h2>Critique and evolve the pas digital marketing agency framework</h2> <p>The standard PAS formula fails digital marketing agencies and founders because it stops short of credibility. In the early-stage startup world, people don't buy promises; they buy systems that have been proven to work for people exactly like them. You need to move beyond "Solve" to "Prove."</p> <h3>P: Define the specific, high-resolution problem</h3> <p>The mistake founders make is defining the problem too broadly. "Our users struggle with slow onboarding." That's a low-resolution problem. The real problem is the downstream consequence of that slowness—the lost revenue, the frustrated weekend, the awkward conversation with their boss.</p> <p>A high-resolution problem is one you can feel. For a SaaS billing platform, the Problem isn't "complex compliance." It's, "You are spending three hours every Friday night manually checking failed payments, terrified a missed regulation will land you a fine." This immediately gives the reader permission to ignore the conventional advice of just listing features.</p> <p><strong>Actionable Step:</strong> List three things your target customer wastes time on every single week. That waste is your Problem.</p> <h3>A: Agitate the cost of inaction, not just the pain</h3> <p>Agitation is often misunderstood as fear-mongering. It shouldn't be. Agitation is merely a clear-eyed calculation of the cost of staying still. It is a necessary friction to create momentum.</p> <p>You are a builder. Builders understand technical debt. Agitation is simply describing the marketing equivalent of technical debt. What happens if they don't fix the Problem now? The pain compounds. Your competitor gets ahead. The team burns out.</p> <p>For a founder who feels overwhelmed by marketing complexity, the agitation is: "Every month you wait to define your <a href='/learn/marketing-plan-vs-strategy'>marketing plan vs strategy</a>, you are not just losing sales; you are letting bad habits harden into company culture."</p> <p><strong>Actionable Step:</strong> Choose one of your competitors. Draft a one-sentence warning about what they will achieve in the next quarter if your prospect doesn't act today.</p> <h2>The systemization of proof: why we need the second S</h2> <p>The "Solve" step in the classic PAS model is just a product pitch. "Here’s our software." But in the age of AI and abundant solutions, a pitch is not enough. You need systemized proof that turns skepticism into certainty. This is the domain of the second 'S': Systemize Proof.</p> <p>It’s about making your solution verifiable, not just desirable. It turns the fuzzy idea of "Solve" into a repeatable, deterministic outcome. It addresses the builder's need for a clear, predictable system, which is why most marketing fails to resonate with them.</p> <h3>S: Solve with a mechanism, not a product</h3> <p>Your solution must be the inevitable result of a proprietary mechanism you have built, not just the product itself. When you solve, you are selling the system, not the software. If you offer a tool for better ad creative, the "Solve" isn't "Use our AI tool." It's: "We use a proprietary 3-Tier Testing Loop that filters creative fatigue before it costs you $5,000."</p> <p>This reframe makes you feel competent and capable again. You don't have to shout louder; you just have to show your engineering.</p> <p><strong>Example:</strong> If your product helps developers monitor cloud spend, don't just say, "Save money." Solve by explaining: "Our <a href='/learn/how-to-build-a-marketing-strategy'>momentum marketing strategy</a> uses the Budget Isolation Filter to automatically quarantine rogue spend events before they hit your monthly limit."</p> <h3>S: Systemize proof with concrete evidence</h3> <p>Proof is the difference between a claim and a conviction. For founders, proof isn't a testimonial; it's a verifiable metric or a detailed case study that shows the mechanism in action.</p> <p>You need to provide evidence that isolates your unique value. The conventional advice is to get a general quote. But for a builder, the highest value is showing the <a href='/learn/unique-selling-proposition'>unique selling proposition</a> in a repeatable format. Instead of, "We increased their revenue," try: "Within 7 days of deployment, our system flagged and resolved 9,800 stale database queries, reducing their AWS bill by 18%."</p> <p>You can achieve a small win today: Identify one data point you currently have that is a clear, undeniable result of your system.</p> <p><strong>Actionable Step:</strong> Audit your last three marketing claims. For each, add a 'Systemized Proof' sentence that answers the question: "How did that happen, and can you show me the data?"</p> <h2>The Zero-Sum Filter: positioning for a pas digital marketing agency</h2> <p>For any <a href='/learn/positioning-strategy-for-founders'>digital marketing agency</a>, the market is a zero-sum game. When a customer chooses you, they are explicitly rejecting two or three other ways of solving the problem. The P.A.S.S. filter helps you manage this emotional rejection by using the "Agitation" step to highlight the flaws in the alternatives.</p> <p>You are not just solving a problem; you are cleaning up the mess left by the old solutions. The best P.A.S.S. copy uses the agitation phase to subtly position your competitors' methods (like hiring an over-promising digital marketing agency) as the source of the user’s pain. This is a subtle application of <a href='/learn/psychology-of-persuasion-in-marketing'>psychology of persuasion in marketing</a> that shifts the focus from you selling to you helping them escape a trap.</p> <h3>How to use P.A.S.S. in high-velocity channels</h3> <p>Most copywriting formulas are too slow for fast channels like paid search or Twitter. P.A.S.S. works because it forces brevity around clarity. Think of the structure as a micro-thread:</p> <p><h3 class="step">P: Problem (The Hook)</h3> <p>“Tired of agencies promising ‘growth hacking’ and delivering spreadsheets?”</p> <h3 class="step">A: Agitate (The Cost)</h3> <p>“That wasted $25k is worse than gone. It cost you six months of momentum.”</p> <h3 class="step">S: Solve (The Mechanism)</h3> <p>“We use the Constraint-Driven Strategy to focus on the single channel that moves your metric.”</p> <h3 class="step">S: Systemize Proof (The Data)</h3> <p>“Case study: 90-day pipeline increase of 310% with zero budget waste.”</p> <p>This is sharp, human, and actionable. It’s copy written by a builder, for a builder.</p> <h2>The PASS Copy Builder</h2> <p>If you are struggling to move from product thinking to problem-solving copy, use this prompt to generate your P.A.S.S. sequence.</p> <p><strong>PASS Copy Builder: Conversion Sequence Framework</strong></p> <pre><code>You are a direct-response copy expert for B2B SaaS. Your goal is to apply the P.A.S.S. framework (Problem, Agitate, Solve with Mechanism, Systemize Proof with Data) to [YOUR PRODUCT] which serves [YOUR TARGET CUSTOMER]. PRODUCT: [A cloud security tool that audits code commits in real-time to prevent vulnerabilities.] CUSTOMER: [CTOs and Senior Developers at mid-market tech companies.] CORE MECHANISM: [The Real-Time Audit Loop (RTAL) that integrates with GitHub actions and reports only critical, actionable, and verified security flaws.] CORE PROOF POINT: [Reduces critical vulnerabilities by an average of 40% in the first month.] Generate the following three deliverables:1. A headline and opening paragraph for a landing page. 2. A 4-step sequence for a paid social ad (P, A, S, S, each as a separate sentence). 3. A 2-line subject line and preheader for a cold email. </code></pre><p><strong>Example Output (Social Ad Sequence):</strong></p> <p>P: You push code faster than security can keep up, creating silent, looming threats.</p> <p>A: Your next zero-day won't be a hacker; it will be the audit that shuts down your next funding round.</p> <p>S: The Real-Time Audit Loop scans every commit, filtering out 99% of noise to deliver only critical, actionable flags.</p> <p>S: This mechanism reduced critical vulnerabilities by an average of 40% in the first month across our client base.</p> <p>This is just one of countless interconnected prompts in the LiftKit system, designed to turn your strategy into repeatable execution.</p> <h2>FAQ</h2> <h3>Q: How is P.A.S.S. different from AIDA?</h3> <p>A: AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action) is a mindset framework for consumer psychology, whereas P.A.S.S. is an execution framework. AIDA is about the internal state of the prospect, but P.A.S.S. is about the external action you take. P.A.S.S. is simpler and more direct, making it a better choice for writing faster, higher-converting copy, especially in technical domains. For a deeper look at older frameworks, review our guide on the <a href='/learn/frameworks/aida-digital-marketing-agency'>AIDA digital marketing agency</a> model.</p> <h3>Q: What if my product solves multiple problems? Which 'P' should I use?</h3> <p>A: Focus on the "highest cost" problem. If your customer is pre-revenue, their highest cost is often time and clarity. If they are scaling, their highest cost is complexity and wasted budget. You must use <a href='/learn/how-to-define-your-target-audience'>audience clarity</a> to select the single, most urgent pain point that links directly to your unique mechanism.</p> <h3>Q: Where should I place the internal link to my other content?</h3> <p>A: Use internal links only in the "Solve" and "Systemize Proof" sections. This is when the reader is actively looking for more evidence and detail. You can use links to reinforce the mechanism or the proof, such as linking to a guide on <a href='/learn/how-to-write-better-marketing-copy'>how to write better marketing copy</a> in the 'Solve' section, or to your overarching <a href='/learn/how-to-build-a-marketing-strategy'>marketing strategy</a> in the 'Systemize Proof' section.</p> <hr> <h2>Start running operator-grade marketing in under an hour.</h2> <p>LiftKit is the only strategy-first AI marketing system built for founders. It distills the same Fortune-500 frameworks used at Apple, Stripe, and McKinsey into a simple, actionable playbook you can run in under an hour.</p> <p>Stop tinkering with tactics. Start operating with strategy.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://getliftkit.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Get LiftKit</a></strong></p> <h2>Keep learning</h2> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Frameworks</strong></a>: Learn proven mental models to diagnose, prioritise, and scale marketing outcomes.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/channels" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Channels</strong></a>: Understand which acquisition paths actually work and how to deploy them strategically.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/messaging" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Messaging</strong></a>: Build positioning, angle, and copy that converts without guesswork.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Strategy</strong></a>: Make smarter decisions using operator-grade prompts and structured thinking.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/tools" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Tools</strong></a>: Use AI, automation, and practical templates to move faster.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/research" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Research</strong></a>: Tap into market insights, psychology, and patterns that drive effective marketing.</p> <script type='application/ld+json'> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "headline": "The pas framework for digital marketing: from pain to proof", "description": "Critique and evolve the pas digital marketing agency framework", "articleSection": "frameworks", "keywords": "pas digital marketing agency, pas,agency,copywriting", "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "LiftKit" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "LiftKit" }, "url": "https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks/pas-digital-marketing-agency", "mainEntityOfPage": "https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks/pas-digital-marketing-agency" } </script>