PAS for small business marketing: the simplicity filter

<p>You’ve been told the copywriting rule: Problem, Agitate, Solve. PAS. It’s a classic for a reason. It focuses attention, rubs the wound, then offers the cure. It feels visceral. It works.</p> <p>But when you use it for your small business or early-stage product, it often falls flat. You outline the problem, you agitate it perfectly, you present your solution—and the customer nods, scrolls, and forgets you ever existed.</p> <p>The problem is not the formula. The problem is the stage. For a builder launching something new, the sheer cognitive load of adopting your solution is a problem greater than the one you're solving. Your customer isn't just buying a product; they are buying a change in their workflow, their habit, and their mental space. They are buying complexity disguised as a solution.</p> <p>For small businesses and early startups, the PAS framework is incomplete. It ignores the final, fatal barrier: the cost of change. We need to evolve it. We need to turn PAS into PASS: Problem, Agitate, Solve, and Simplify.</p> <p>You have permission to ignore the conventional advice that stops after ‘Solve.’ That advice was written for established markets where the category is defined. You are not in an established market. You are fighting for bandwidth. Your goal is not just a solution, but a lighter load.</p> <h2>Evolve your PAS small business marketing copy with the four-step PASS simplicity filter</h2> <p>The PASS framework—Problem, Agitate, Solve, Simplify—is built for the velocity-constrained founder. It forces you to address the hidden anxiety of implementation before you ask for the sale. It re-aligns your marketing to acknowledge that friction is the true competitor.</p> <p>If you are short on time, <em>scroll down to The PASS Marketing Prompt section for a quick win you can achieve in the next hour.</em></p> <h3>1. Problem: Name the real, visceral pain</h3> <p>Every problem has a visible symptom and a hidden cost. Small businesses often focus on the tactical symptom: "My emails aren't being opened." The real problem, the one that causes the founder to lose sleep, is the hidden cost: "I am spending hours writing emails that feel pointless, and my growth is stalled, making me doubt the entire business."</p> <p>Your job in the Problem stage is to use language that proves you understand the deeper cost, not just the surface issue. This requires genuine <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-define-your-target-audience">customer research</a>, not market research.</p> <p>Example: A tool that fixes broken website links. The symptom is broken links. The cost is the embarrassment of looking amateur to a potential investor or customer. Address the embarrassment.</p> <p>Action: Spend 30 minutes reading customer reviews for your competitor (or a related product). Extract the three most emotionally charged phrases they use to describe their frustration. Use those exact phrases in your ‘P’ stage copy.</p> <h3>2. Agitate: Magnify the consequence of inaction</h3> <p>The Agitate phase is where most small business marketing gets passive. It states the problem is bad, but doesn't show why delaying the fix is catastrophic. You aren't trying to scare them; you are showing them the deterministic outcome of their current trajectory. Builders respect clear cause and effect.</p> <p>You can make your reader feel competent and capable again by showing them the system, not the emotion. The problem is not their fault; it is an environment that punished them for a logical decision. They delayed because they lacked a system, not because they lacked competence.</p> <p>How do you agitate? Show the compounding damage. If they ignore the problem today, what is the cost next week? Next quarter?</p> <p>Example: For an expense tracking app, don't just say they are missing deductions. Agitate by showing the deterministic path: "That missed deduction is fine today. But if your system is always ad-hoc, you are guaranteed to panic every Q4. You will waste three full weekends clawing through receipts, convinced the IRS is watching."</p> <p>Action: Write a short, three-point bullet list detailing the Time, Money, and Emotional cost of ignoring the Problem for another 90 days. This is your 'A' content.</p> <h3>3. Solve: Present the minimum viable solution (MVS)</h3> <p>The ‘Solve’ phase is where you introduce your product. But for small businesses, a full product demo is too much. They need the Minimum Viable Solution (MVS). The MVS is the single, shortest path from their current pain to their first small win using your product.</p> <p>If you’re selling a project management tool, the MVS isn't "Implement our entire 12-module system." It's "Connect your Slack and GitHub in 90 seconds to see all open tasks in one place." Focus on the first small, irreversible step of progress. This is aligned with having a strong <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/marketing-strategy-for-startups">minimum viable story</a>.</p> <p>Your solution must feel like an immediate relief, not an eventual overhaul. If your solution requires 10 steps of setup, your 'Solve' section must only talk about Step 1.</p> <h3>4. Simplify: Eliminate the final friction</h3> <p>This is the new, critical stage for <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks/pas-small-business-marketing">PAS small business marketing</a>. Simplify. The customer has seen the problem and accepted the solution. Now they are thinking: <em>"What is the catch? How long will this take? What will I have to delete to make room for this?"</em></p> <p>The Simplify stage is your commitment to low friction. It’s where you address setup, integration, learning curve, and mental switching costs. It’s the ‘get out of jail free’ card for their anxiety. Every feature you sell is a new learning curve they have to climb. Focus on the single feature that cancels out the work. This helps clarify your <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/unique-selling-proposition">unique selling proposition</a>.</p> <p>Example: A CRM for freelancers. The solution (S) is that it tracks every proposal. The simplification (S) is: "No more data entry. Forward us the email chain and we fill the fields for you. You don’t have to change your habits."</p> <p>Action: Identify the biggest time-sink in your product’s onboarding flow. Promise a time-based metric for overcoming it (e.g., "Setup takes less than 7 minutes," or "First report ready in 6 clicks"). Put this simplification promise directly into your CTA copy.</p> <h2>The PASS Small Business Marketing Prompt</h2> <p>Stop generating generic marketing copy that everyone ignores. Use this builder-aligned prompt to generate copy focused on immediate customer momentum.</p> <p>The goal is to generate copy that uses the PASS framework (Problem, Agitate, Solve, Simplify) to sell a single concept, feature, or product to an early-stage founder.</p> <pre><code>Generate three marketing copy angles using the PASS framework for my product. PRODUCT: [Describe your product and its core value in one sentence.] TARGET CUSTOMER: [Describe the early-stage founder or small business owner you target.] CURRENT PAIN: [What is the specific, frustrating, tactical problem they are facing right now?] HIDDEN COST: [What is the emotional, financial, or long-term consequence of the CURRENT PAIN?] SOLUTION MVS: [What is the single, easiest first step they take with your product that gives them a quick win?] SIMPLIFICATION PROMISE: [What is the one thing your product removes, automates, or simplifies that makes adoption effortless?] OUTPUT FORMAT:1. ANGLE: [Headline] P: [Problem copy] A: [Agitation copy] S: [Solution copy] S: [Simplification copy] </code></pre><h3>Example Output</h3> <pre><code>1. ANGLE: Stop managing your documentation in three different places. P: You have five different versions of your API documentation living in Slack, Notion, and your codebase. Your team wastes 30 minutes every day trying to find the source of truth. A: That wasted 30 minutes isn't just time—it's compounding chaos. Every new hire learns the wrong workflow, and you spend your weekend firefighting documentation issues instead of building. S: Our tool connects to all your sources and creates one unified, embeddable documentation hub. The solution is simplicity itself. S: Setup takes 5 minutes. Paste one line of code. No data migration required. </code></pre> <p>This builder-focused prompt is one of countless interconnected prompts inside LiftKit designed to turn marketing uncertainty into a deterministic system.</p> <h2>FAQ</h2> <h3>Q: Is PASS just another version of AIDA?</h3> <p>A: AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) focuses on the customer's mental state. PASS focuses on their inertia. The difference is the final ‘S’—Simplify. For a small business, AIDA is often insufficient because the transition to action is blocked by complexity. PASS addresses this head-on, ensuring the action is low-friction. Think of it as a crucial step for turning <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/startup-marketing-fundamentals">startup marketing fundamentals</a> into real momentum.</p> <h3>Q: How is PAS different for small businesses than for large enterprises?</h3> <p>A: Enterprise marketing can use PAS to sell complexity because large companies have dedicated teams to manage the implementation. Small businesses and founders need marketing that sells the absence of work. If your product is for founders, your copywriting must minimize the feeling of commitment, or you will lose them at the ‘Solve’ stage. This is key to building a strong <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-build-a-marketing-strategy">marketing strategy</a> when resources are constrained.</p> <h3>Q: Where should the Simplify (S) stage appear in my marketing assets?</h3> <p>A: The Simplify message should be the final reassurance just before the Call to Action (CTA). It is the psychological bridge over the implementation gap. Use it near signup buttons, in pricing tables, or as the final point in a landing page. It acts as the final push for conversion, similar to how you would apply a framework for <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-write-better-marketing-copy">writing better marketing copy</a>.</p> <h3>Q: Does PASS work for high-priced or complex B2B solutions?</h3> <p>A: Yes, but the definition of 'Simplify' changes. For complex B2B, 'Simplify' isn't just easy setup; it’s minimizing risk. The final 'S' might be "Dedicated 24/7 Slack channel support for your first 30 days," or "We handle 90% of the data migration for you." It simplifies the *risk* of adoption, making the change feel safe, which is a major factor in the <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/marketing-plan-vs-strategy">strategic execution</a> for B2B sales.</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. 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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": "Pas for small business marketing: the simplicity filter", "description": "Evolve your PAS small business marketing copy with the four-step PASS simplicity filter", "articleSection": "frameworks", "keywords": "pas small business marketing, pas,small business,copywriting", "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "LiftKit" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "LiftKit" }, "url": "https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks/pas-small-business-marketing", "mainEntityOfPage": "https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks/pas-small-business-marketing" } </script>