The context of paid search advertising requires utmost clarity and precision. The user is not looking for abstract advantages - he is looking to find an answer to a specific, often pressing question. That is why ads that rely on the expressed pain points and difficulties of the target audience demonstrate the most stable conversion.
This is especially relevant in the B2B segment. Here, every decision is made taking into account job responsibilities, targets, and budget constraints. The marketer's task is not just to talk about the product, but to show how it solves a real problem. Only in this case does interest arise, only then does a click on the ad occur.
In this publication, I will outline a systematic approach to constructing such ads. We will analyze how to identify the pain points of your audience, how to form a reliable buyer persona using the Elsa AI system, and how to transform this data into headlines that can evoke a response.
How to identify your target audience’s pain points
Working with pain points is not an intuitive process. It requires discipline, observation, and structure. First of all, you need to understand that pain is not a complaint. It is a specific difficulty that prevents a person from achieving a goal.
There are several proven ways to identify these points:
Analyze customer feedback
Study what customers say in reviews, support requests, and briefings. You should not just record dissatisfaction, but also highlight recurring formulations: “we don’t have time to launch on time,” “it’s hard to explain the task to the contractor,” “too much manual work.”
Interviews with users
Conversations with representatives of the target audience allow you to identify problems that are not mentioned in open sources. Open-ended questions work best, for example:
- “What causes you the greatest difficulties in your work?”
- “What have you tried, but it didn’t work?”
- “What would you like to simplify, but hasn’t worked yet?”
Behavior Monitoring
If you have access to data, observe where users perform the most actions or, conversely, stop interacting. Places with a high bounce rate are often indicators of unresolved pain points.
Sales and Support
Those who regularly communicate with clients are often the first to learn about difficulties. Regular sessions with sales or support managers allow you to update the pain map and record new signals.
Pain points should be formulated strictly in the words of the client. If a potential buyer says: “I spend hours coordinating edits,” do not interpret this as “optimization of the creative process” - you will lose touch with reality.
Only an accurate recording of the client's perception allows you to create an ad that he will perceive as addressed to him personally.
If the previous methods seem labor-intensive or require resources that you currently do not have, there is a faster alternative. By creating a profile in Elsa AI, you get a structured portrait of the client, including a list of pain points that are already formulated in the language of your target audience.
How to create an ICP with pain points using Elsa AI
Elsa AI helps you build a complete Ideal Customer Profile that includes pain points, goals, and buying triggers, all based on structured input. Here is a clear step-by-step process:
1. Log in to your account or register on m1-project.com
Go to your personal account. If you don’t have an account yet, create one — registration will take no more than a couple of minutes.
2. Create a business for which you will build a profile
Go to the “My businesses” tab, click “Add new business” and consistently fill in all the fields about the product, niche, audience, and channels. This is the basis on which the ICP will be built.
3. Go to the Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP) section
Once the business is created, go to the “Ideal Customer Profiles” section and click “Create a new ICP”. Answer questions about the target audience: tasks, motivations, pain points, signals of readiness to buy, etc.
4. Review the generated profile
Elsa AI will automatically compile the data into a structured ICP. Among its sections, you will find detailed pain points for each persona, sorted by role and stage of decision-making.
5. Use the insights for messaging or targeting
From the ICP, extract pain points to craft more relevant ad copy, landing page language, or sales emails. These insights are based on actual customer patterns, not assumptions.
This approach eliminates manual research, simplifies preparation for the launch of advertising, and allows you to speak to the market in its language.
How to turn a pain into a high-converting headline
To turn a pain into a high-converting headline, you need to go through the inspiration stage, but the exact match stage. You should start by formulating the pain itself - clear, specific, formulated from the client's point of view. For example: "We spend too much time coordinating campaigns," or "Clients complain about the same creatives." These are not product problems - these are feelings that a person already experiences.
The next step is to transform this pain into a promise. This can be a solution ("Coordinate a campaign in one call"), a contrast ("Stop repeating other people's creatives - create your own style"), or an amplification ("Every minute of waiting is a lost lead").
Important: A good headline does not describe the product. It speaks about the result that the client wants to achieve by eliminating their pain.
Here is a step-by-step approach:
- Start with the pain, not the product
Your headline should mirror what the prospect is already thinking. If the pain is “reporting takes too long,” don’t say “Advanced dashboard tool.” Say “Cut your reporting time in half.” - Be specific and measurable
Ambiguity kills clarity. “Fix your marketing” is vague. “Get 3x more leads without increasing spend” is measurable and grounded in outcome. - Use verbs that reflect relief or gain
Words like “cut,” “eliminate,” “double,” or “simplify” resonate more than generic promises. They hint at transformation and suggest immediate value. - Mirror the customer’s internal language
Avoid jargon. Use the terminology your target persona uses in Slack, emails, or team meetings. This comes directly from your ICP insights. - A/B test variants per persona
A founder and a marketing manager respond to different triggers. Build headlines aligned to each role’s pain. One might care about ROI, another about workflow speed.
Examples:
- Pain: "Too much time spent on manual onboarding"
Headline: “Automate onboarding and save 10+ hours a week” - Pain: "Hard to track what campaigns actually work"
Headline: “See which campaigns drive revenue — no spreadsheets needed” - Pain: "Clients keep asking for reports"
Headline: “Client-ready reports. Ready before they ask.”
Final checklist before publishing a campaign
Before you hit “Launch,” it’s important to make sure everything is really ready. Even a strong headline won’t work if the rest of the funnel doesn’t support its message. Here’s a quick checklist to go through before launching your ad:
1. The headline is based on a proven pain point.
It should reflect a real customer problem, not a marketing hypothesis. If you took the pain point from an ICP profile, check its relevance and wording.
2. The promise in the headline matches the content.
If you promise to “get 10 hours back,” make sure the landing page actually shows how to achieve this.
3. The audience is targeted accurately.
There’s no point in showing the pain point of a “marketer” if you’re targeting an operations director. The headline should fit the context of a specific role.
4. The landing page picks up on the pain point.
The ad should logically lead to a solution. If the pain is a "budget drain", then the first screen on the landing page should be a confirmation of the problem and the path to its resolution.
5. The entire chain is tracked.
UTM tags are set, events for analytics are connected, leads are calculated correctly. Without data, you will not be able to assess whether the pain works as a trigger.
6. There are options for A/B testing.
At least two headlines for different pains. Sometimes the threat of loss works better, sometimes the prospect of gain. You will not know until you compare.
7. The final reconciliation with the ICP is carried out.
Before launching, run through the profile again. Does everything match? Pains? Triggers? Arguments? The fewer discrepancies, the higher the conversion.
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