# Content Writer > Write marketing content in the user's brand voice using PAS (Problem-Agitate-Solution) and AIDA (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action) copywriting frameworks. Use when the user asks to write a LinkedIn post, blog article, email, ad copy, landing page section, social post, newsletter, or any short-to-medium form marketing content. Reads brand voice and ICP from knowledge/ so the output sounds like the company, not like generic AI. For improving copy that already exists, see copy-review. For a landing page specifically, see landing-page-writer. For a LinkedIn post, see linkedin-post. For long-form POV, see thought-leadership-writer. - Skill: `qa-aman/content-writer` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add qa-aman/content-writer` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/qa-aman/content-writer/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Marketing & Growth - Author: qa-aman (https://skillmd.com/u/qa-aman) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/qa-aman/content-writer --- # content-writer Writes marketing content in the company's voice for the company's ICP. Every piece is structured around PAS or AIDA - not just written well, but architecturally sound for conversion. ## Choosing the structure: awareness first PAS and AIDA are not interchangeable, and picking by taste is the most common failure in this skill. Pick by where the reader already is, using **Eugene Schwartz's awareness stages from *Breakthrough Advertising* (1966)**: | Reader is | Structure | Why | |---|---|---| | Unaware or problem-aware | **PAS** | They need the problem named and sharpened before any solution lands | | Solution-aware or product-aware | **AIDA** | They accept the problem; the work is attention, interest and desire for this answer | | Most aware | Neither, go straight to the offer | Structure is overhead when they are ready | ### Schwartz's second axis: market sophistication Awareness is about the reader. Sophistication is about the market, specifically how many times this reader has already heard a claim like yours. Schwartz's five stages, each with the move that still works at that stage: | Stage | State of the market | The move that works | The move that is already dead | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | You are first with this claim | State the claim plainly and bluntly | Nothing yet, plain wins | | 2 | Competitors are making the same claim | Enlarge the claim, be bigger and more specific than them | The plain claim, it is now background noise | | 3 | Nobody believes the claim any more | Lead with the **mechanism**, how it actually works | Any promise, of any size | | 4 | Competitors have copied the mechanism | Elaborate the mechanism, make yours more precise and more provable | The bare mechanism | | 5 | The reader disbelieves the whole category | Lead with **identification**, who this is for and who they become | Claims and mechanisms both | **Decision rule:** ask the user how many direct competitors say roughly the same sentence in their hero copy. Zero to one is stage 1-2, so write the promise. Three or more is stage 3-4, so open with the mechanism. If the user says buyers are cynical about the whole category, treat it as stage 5 and open with identification. If you do not know, ask before drafting, do not guess. ### Bly's craft layer **Robert Bly's *The Copywriter's Handbook*** supplies the section-level craft. Two of his models are used directly here. **The 4 U's, applied to every headline and every subject line.** Score each on a 1-4 scale: | U | Question | Fails when | |---|---|---| | Urgent | Is there a reason to read this now? | Timeless and therefore skippable | | Unique | Has the reader seen this exact sentence before? | It could sit on a competitor's page unchanged | | Ultra-specific | Are there numbers, names, and a concrete situation? | "Improve your results" | | Useful | Is there a clear benefit to the reader, not to the brand? | The benefit is that the brand launched something | **Threshold: a headline must score 3 or 4 on at least three of the four U's. If it scores 2 or below on Ultra-specific, rewrite it before anything else**, because specificity is the U that carries the other three. **Bly's motivating sequence** for anything longer than a headline: get attention, show the need, satisfy the need by positioning the offer as the answer, prove it, ask for action. If a draft has no proof step, it is a claim with a button on the end. Where the piece must carry the brand's story rather than a single offer, use the customer-as-hero structure from **Donald Miller's *Building a StoryBrand***, and see `/messaging-framework`. ## Frameworks ### PAS - Problem, Agitate, Solution (Dan Kennedy) **PROBLEM**: Open by naming the exact problem the reader has. Specific, not vague. "You're spending 3 hours a week in reporting that no one reads" beats "reporting is hard." **AGITATE**: Twist the knife. Make the problem feel real, costly, and urgent. - What does it cost them? (time, money, credibility) - What does it feel like to live with this problem? - What happens if it stays unsolved for another year? The agitation section must actually hurt. If it reads mild, it's not working. **SOLUTION**: Introduce the solution after the pain has been established. Not before. The solution lands harder because the reader now knows why they need it. Why PAS works: readers are motivated by pain more than gain (loss aversion). Establishing the problem first makes the solution feel necessary, not optional. ### AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (Elias St. Elmo Lewis) **ATTENTION**: Stop the scroll. The first line or headline must interrupt pattern. It cannot be a warm-up. **INTEREST**: Build interest by connecting to what they care about. Make it relevant to this reader's specific situation - not all readers in general. **DESIRE**: Create want. Show the outcome, the transformation, the result. Not the feature - the life after using it. **ACTION**: Tell them exactly what to do next. One action, specific, low-friction. "Book a 20-min call" beats "get in touch." ### When to use each | Audience state | Formula | Best for | |---|---|---| | Pain-aware (they know the problem) | PAS | Blog intros, email openers, LinkedIn posts about problems | | Not-yet-aware (problem is latent) | AIDA | Ads, landing pages, cold outreach | | Longer form | PAS to open + AIDA to close | Full blog posts, sales emails, case study narrative | **Check before writing**: Is the audience pain-aware or not? This determines the formula. Pain-aware signal: they actively complain about or search for this problem. Not-yet-aware signal: they'd need to see the problem framed before recognizing it. ## When to use - "Write a LinkedIn post about X" - "Draft a blog intro on Y" - "Write an email announcing Z" - "Give me 3 ad headline variants" - "Write the hero copy for our landing page" ## Inputs needed - **Topic or angle** (required) - **Format**: LinkedIn post, blog, email, ad, landing page section, social caption (required, ask if unclear) - **Length**: short / medium / long (optional, default to format-typical) - **CTA**: what action you want the reader to take (optional) ## Process 1. **Load context**: - Read `knowledge/brand/voice.md`. If missing, stop and say: "I need your brand voice. Run `/brand-context` or paste 3+ past pieces into `uploads/` and rerun." - Read `knowledge/icp/personas.md`. If missing, ask the user to describe the audience in one line. - Read `knowledge/markets/positioning.md` if the topic relates to product or service. - Skim `knowledge/content-library/` for 2-3 past pieces on similar topics. Mirror their structure. 2. **Determine audience awareness and select formula**, then state both axes explicitly before drafting: ``` Schwartz awareness stage: Schwartz sophistication stage: <1-5, and the evidence for it> Structure selected: Opening move: ``` Is the audience pain-aware? - Yes: use PAS. Open with the problem, agitate, then solve. - No: use AIDA. Open with attention, build interest, create desire, drive action. - Long form: use PAS for the opening section, AIDA for the conversion section. Then let sophistication override the opening line only, not the structure. A stage-4 market still gets PAS if the reader is problem-aware, but the solution section leads with the mechanism rather than the promise. 3. **Clarify if needed.** One question max. Examples: "Long-form blog or short LinkedIn?" "Aimed at CMOs or content marketers?" 4. **Draft. Apply the formula structurally:** ### PAS structure (pain-aware) ``` PROBLEM (10-20% of piece): Example: "You wrote the brief. Briefed the agency. Reviewed 3 rounds. The campaign launched. And the SQL number didn't move." AGITATE (20-30% of piece): Example: "Three months later you're in the board meeting explaining why Q3 pipeline missed. The campaign was 'awareness.' The numbers say 'waste.'" SOLUTION (50-70% of piece): ``` ### AIDA structure (not-yet-aware or conversion-focused) ``` ATTENTION (first line / headline): INTEREST (20-30% of piece): DESIRE (40-50% of piece): ACTION (closing): ``` 5. **Voice rules**: - Match `knowledge/brand/voice.md` precisely - Use the brand's preferred sentence length pattern - Use the brand's POV (we / you / they) - Use phrases from the "uses" list, avoid phrases from the "avoids" list 6. **Self-check before showing.** Every item below is answerable by pointing at a line in the draft. If an item cannot be answered by quoting the draft, it does not belong in this list. Framework checks: - The awareness stage and sophistication stage are both written down in the output frontmatter - PAS: the agitation names at least one countable cost (hours, currency, a missed number, a named consequence). A cost with no unit fails this check - PAS: the first mention of the product or offer appears after the agitation block, not before - AIDA: the first sentence contains no greeting, no "excited to", and no restatement of the topic - AIDA: exactly one imperative CTA sentence exists in the piece. Count them - The opening move matches the sophistication stage recorded in step 2 - Headline scores 3 or more on at least three of Bly's 4 U's, and 3 or more on Ultra-specific Sourcing checks: - Every number, percentage, currency figure, customer name and quote appears in `knowledge/` or in the user's brief. List each one and where it came from - Every unsourced claim reads `[SOURCE NEEDED: ]` or `[NEEDS INPUT: ]` in the draft Quality checks: - Zero em dashes and zero en dashes in the file - Zero emojis unless the user asked for them - Zero occurrences of: "In today's fast-paced world", "leverage", "unlock", "game-changer", "in conclusion", "seamless", "robust" - Every phrase in the brand's "avoids" list appears zero times 7. **Save**: write to `output/content-writer/--.md` with frontmatter: ```yaml --- format: linkedin-post topic: audience: formula: audience-awareness: created: DD-MM-YYYY --- ``` 8. **Show the user** the draft inline, then point them to the file. Offer 2 alternative angles if they want variants. ## Format-specific defaults | Format | Length | Formula | Structure | |---|---|---|---| | LinkedIn post | 80-200 words | PAS or AIDA | Hook (1 line), body (3-5 short paragraphs), CTA or question | | Blog intro | 100-150 words | PAS | Problem, agitate, what this post solves | | Blog (full) | 800-1500 words | PAS open + AIDA close | H1, intro, 3-5 H2 sections, CTA conclusion | | Email | 80-150 words | PAS | Subject line, 1-line hook (problem), body (agitate), single CTA (solution) | | Ad headline | 5-10 words each | AIDA (Attention only) | Generate 5 variants | | Landing hero | 1 H1 + 1 sub | AIDA | H1 = Desire (outcome), sub = how you get there | ## Rules - Match `knowledge/brand/voice.md` exactly. If the brand uses contractions, use them. If not, don't. - **Never invent statistics, customer quotes, results, or product capabilities.** If a number would strengthen the piece and you do not have one, write `[SOURCE NEEDED: ]` and tell the user. Product claims come only from `knowledge/services/`, which step 1 loads. - "Make the pain hurt" means describe the real cost specifically, not invent a figure for it. A fabricated cost in the agitation section is the most persuasive false claim in the whole piece. - If the user's request conflicts with brand voice (e.g. they ask for emojis but the brand avoids them), flag it and ask. - The formula is structural, not cosmetic. Don't write good content in the wrong order. - PAS agitation that is mild is worse than no PAS. Make the pain real or skip to AIDA. ## Stop conditions Do not produce a draft when any of these is true. Say which one, and what you need. 1. **No brand voice file and no sample pieces.** Stop. The output will be generic and the user will rewrite all of it. Ask for `/brand-context` or three past pieces. 2. **The user asks for a number the knowledge base does not contain.** Do not invent it, do not estimate it, do not pattern-match one from an example in this file. Write `[NEEDS INPUT: ]` and name it in your reply. 3. **The requested claim is regulated** (health outcome, financial return, legal effect, employment, safety). Draft it, mark it `[LEGAL REVIEW]`, and say it must not ship unreviewed. 4. **The user names two CTAs.** One piece, one action. Ask them to pick, and say why: two actions split attention and neither gets taken. 5. **The topic is a competitor comparison and `knowledge/markets/` has nothing on that competitor.** Comparative claims made from memory are the fastest route to a correction letter. ## Warning signs in your own draft Ranked worst first. The first two are ship-blockers, the rest are rewrite prompts. 1. A specific figure you cannot point at a source for. Blocker. 2. A named customer, quote, logo or result the user did not supply. Blocker. 3. The agitation section could be pasted into a competitor's post unchanged. The problem is not specific enough to be worth solving. 4. The hook restates the topic rather than opening a gap. Rewrite the first line only. 5. More than one CTA, or a CTA with no verb ("more info"). 6. Long-form draft with no proof step anywhere, which is Bly's motivating sequence broken. ## Related skills - `/copy-review` for grading and fixing copy that already exists rather than writing new copy - `/landing-page-writer` for a full page, where SB7 replaces PAS and AIDA as the spine - `/linkedin-post` for a post that needs a named hook formula and platform-specific length rules - `/thought-leadership-writer` when the piece needs to defend a contestable thesis at 1200 words or more - `/newsletter-writer` when the piece is one issue of a recurring publication with a fixed spine - `/ad-campaign-writer` when the output is paid ad variants rather than owned content - `/brand-context` first, whenever `knowledge/brand/voice.md` does not exist yet - `/messaging-framework` when the same words need to hold across every asset, not just this one - `/content-repurposer` after this piece ships, to turn it into other formats ## What this skill cannot know These are real limitations of this skill. It cannot resolve them from the knowledge base, so ask the user or emit `[NEEDS INPUT: ]` rather than filling the gap. 1. **Whether a figure in `knowledge/` is still current.** A conversion rate or price written six months ago reads exactly like one written yesterday. Ask when the number was last confirmed before putting it in public copy. 2. **Whether a named customer has agreed to be named.** Consent lives in a contract or an email thread, not in the content library. A logo sitting in `knowledge/` is not evidence of consent for this specific piece. 3. **How sophisticated the market actually is.** Schwartz's stage is a judgement about what competitors are currently saying. This skill cannot see their live pages, so the stage has to come from the user or from a fetched page, never from assumption. 4. **Whether the claim needs legal, medical or financial review** in the user's market. Rules differ by jurisdiction and by channel. Flag it, do not adjudicate it.