The Pain Mirror Positioning Prompt
Make your ideal client feel seen before you ever sell.
Most positioning is beige soup.
“I help founders create content.”
Great.
So does half the internet and one guy named Brad who just discovered Canva.
The real problem isn’t that your offer is bad.
It’s that your client cannot see themselves in it.
You’re describing your service from your side of the table, while they are sitting there wondering why their content sounds flat, why their ideas are trapped in their head, and why every competitor suddenly looks more credible online.
This prompt fixes that.
It forces AI to stop writing shiny consultant nonsense and start mirroring the client’s lived frustration with specific language, specific symptoms, and specific stakes.
Because the person who frames the problem clearly usually becomes the person trusted to solve it.
How to use this prompt:
Paste the prompt into your AI tool.
Fill in the placeholders with your niche, target client, offer, and any real client language you have collected from calls, DMs, sales conversations, testimonials, Reddit threads, LinkedIn posts, or emails.
Run it once for a rough version, then run it again asking for “more specific, more painful, less polished.”
The second version is usually where the money is hiding under the couch cushion.
The Prompt:
You are an expert positioning strategist and premium ghostwriting advisor.
Your job is to help me create a sharp “Pain Mirror” for my ghostwriting positioning.
A Pain Mirror is a clear, specific articulation of my ideal client’s problem, written in language that makes them feel immediately understood. It should not sound generic, clever, cute, motivational, or over-polished. It should sound like I have been sitting quietly in the corner of their office watching the exact problem unfold.
Here is my information:
My target client:
[DESCRIBE THE EXACT PERSON YOU WANT TO SERVE]
Their industry or market:
[INSERT INDUSTRY / MARKET]
My ghostwriting offer:
[DESCRIBE WHAT YOU HELP THEM CREATE OR IMPROVE]
The business outcome they want:
[INSERT DESIRED OUTCOME]
The surface-level problem they say they have:
[INSERT WHAT THEY THINK THE PROBLEM IS]
The deeper problem I believe they actually have:
[INSERT THE REAL STRATEGIC PROBLEM]
Specific phrases, complaints, or language I have heard from clients or prospects:
[PASTE REAL CLIENT LANGUAGE, CALL NOTES, DMS, EMAILS, OR SOCIAL POSTS]
Competitors or alternatives they may compare me against:
[INSERT COMPETITORS, AGENCIES, FREELANCERS, AI TOOLS, INTERNAL TEAM, OR DOING NOTHING]
Create the following:
1. A one-sentence Pain Mirror that clearly reflects the client’s problem back to them.
2. Five sharper variations of that Pain Mirror, each with a slightly different angle:
- time scarcity
- missed authority
- inconsistent visibility
- unclear thinking
- business opportunity cost
3. A “before-state” paragraph that describes what the client is experiencing right now in vivid, specific detail.
4. A “why this matters” paragraph that explains the consequence of not solving this problem.
5. A positioning statement using this structure:
“I help [specific client] solve [specific painful problem] by [specific ghostwriting mechanism] so they can [specific business outcome].”
6. Three versions of that positioning statement:
- plain and direct
- premium and strategic
- conversational and punchy
7. A short homepage or LinkedIn bio version under 220 characters.
8. A list of weak, generic phrases I should avoid because they make me sound like every other ghostwriter.
Important writing rules:
- Use specific client language wherever possible.
- Do not lead with “I write content.”
- Do not make the offer sound like commodity writing.
- Make the problem feel commercially important.
- Keep the tone sharp, human, slightly witty, and direct.
- Write with confidence, but do not sound like a motivational poster wearing a blazer.What to expect after running this prompt:
You should get a much clearer articulation of your ideal client’s actual frustration, not just a cleaned-up description of your services.
Instead of “I help executives with LinkedIn content,” you may get something closer to “I help time-starved executives turn scattered expertise into clear weekly authority posts, so their reputation finally matches the rooms they are already in.”
You will also get several positioning angles you can use across your LinkedIn bio, website hero section, cold outreach, sales calls, and offer page.
The best output will likely be the line that feels almost uncomfortably specific. That is the one to keep.
Most importantly, this prompt should help you move from selling “ghostwriting” to selling relief from a recognizable business problem.
That’s the shift.
Nobody wakes up excited to buy posts.
They wake up annoyed that their best ideas are invisible, their competitors are louder, and their calendar is already trying to kill them.
Chat soon.
Roger
P.S.
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