According to Wikipedia, “Copywriting is the process of creating persuasive marketing and promotional materials that motivate people to take some form of action, such as making a purchase, clicking on a link, donating to a cause, or scheduling a consultation.”
There are several copywriting formulas, starting with the most well known AIDA, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
You can’t convince anyone to do something unless you first have their attention. That’s your headline or lead.
Once you have their attention, you present information that builds interest for your product or service or solution.
You then build desire for your product or solution by showing them how they will be better off when they buy it.
Finally, you prompt them to take action to get what you offer.
It works for most products or services, including legal services, but I use a somewhat different formula: PASBA.
PASBA stands for Problem, Agitation, Solution, Benefits, and (call to) Action.
- Problem. What does your reader want and what’s stopping him from getting it? Sometimes, especially with an abstract like legal services, they don’t even realize they have a problem until you point it out.
- Agitate. What can happen if they don’t fix the problem or get what they want? What can they lose? How bad can it get? What pain and secondary problems might occur? Show them examples, stories, statistics, or other factors to illustrate and build desire for a solution.
- Solution. What you can do to solve, mitigate, or prevent the problem, or help them achieve their goal? Tell them about your services and options.
- Benefits. What do they get when they hire you? Will they feel relief? Be safer, happier, or otherwise better off?
- Call to action. Tell them what to do to get your solution and benefits. Tell them how to get started, encourage them to take the first step, and create urgency for doing that with a deadline or by reminding them about the risks of delay or inaction.
You can use variations of this formula in sales copy, emails, web pages, from the stage, in person, or any time you want to convince people to do something you want them to do.
Make sure they know the nature and extent of their problem, what you can do to help them, how they will be better off, and what to do to get started.
If you do, you’ll get more clients and help more people. If you don’t. . .
