What Is The AIDA Model?

Any good marketer knows that persuading people matters. To get people interested in your product, you must get their attention and then convince them why your product is right for them.

So, how do you do this? One model that’s a handy tool for marketers that want to speak to their customers better is The AIDA model. Developed in 1898 by E. St. Elmo Lewis to help advertisers understand how to persuade potential customers more effectively.

Put simply, AIDA is an acronym and stands for "attention, interest, desire, and action."

The AIDA model states that before a customer can be persuaded into buying something from an advertiser, four steps must occur: attention, interest, desire, and finally action (or purchase). Here, we break down how you as a marketer can apply AIDA to your marketing to help woo potential customers.

How the AIDA Model Works

Before we dig into the AIDA model, let’s cover off how it works exactly.

Put simply, you can think of AIDA as a funnel. Each stage of AIDA represents a stage of the buyer's journey. This will give you more control over the path your prospect takes to purchase.

As they move through the buyer's journey, the prospect learns more about your business and develops emotions about your product or service at each stage. The funnel starts off bigger, with many people but gets smaller as you move down it.

How can I apply aida to my marketing?

The AIDA model is a proven formula that can consistently engage, persuade, and convert an audience. It starts with knowing your customer journey. By knowing where and you’re your customers need to hear certain messages, you can start to target them at the right place and at the right time.

Let’s break down each one of the steps with an example:

attract attention

At the top, you’ll want to make sure your content is captivating enough to grab and hold your audience’s attention.

Effective brand messaging and knowing what your brand is about really matters here, as this will drive your audience to learn more about what your business does.

Some good questions to ask here are things like “How do people usually become aware of our product?”, “How are we currently reaching out to people?” “What’s the message we want people to hear about our brand?”

Once you know this, you can start to create content that will send the right message to people through the right channels. Remember, content is the king of attracting attention. Writing great blog posts (like the one you’re reading now), posting on social media, or creating an eBook to download are all fantastic ways to get people’s attention.

Generate interest

So, now you’ve got your audience's attention, you need to keep it. The best way to be successful at this is getting them to like what you have on offer - this is where knowing who you are as a brand will really make the difference.

If you’re creating awareness on the right channels, build on it by making sure your content tells a story about the problem that it solves. You might use a case study, product reviews, or video content here. Put simply though, you want to generate enough excitement or interest to get people to act.

The more aligned you’re able to be with people’s values, the more likely you are to have them genuinely interested in what you have to offer, so understanding your customer and brand purpose is the key to successfully generating interest.

stimulate desire

What’s the difference between interest and desire? Interest is when people like something, but desire is when they trust it enough to think that it will solve their problem.

Often, if your content is strong, you can turn interest into trust quickly. But, one concrete step you can take to help ensure this is to keep serving people content over a long period of time. Get people to follow you on social media, collect their email address if they’ve downloaded content, and keep demonstrating why you're the solution.

The more people see that you’re the right fit for their needs, the more likely they are to jump on your product.

Spur into Action

Once you’ve got people wanting to buy, great! Make it easy for them. If you’ve built enough desire throughout your content, this shouldn’t be too hard to get them over the line.

The simplest way to do this to make sure there’s a clear “next step” for people to follow to make sure they can get their hands on your product. This might be a CTA that takes them to your online store, or a contact page to get in touch with you. Either way, you need to make people feel like they’re able to action their desire at the moment they feel it.

The take-home

The AIDA model is a proven framework that can help you convert more strangers into customers. If you’re struggling to convert customers it’s a tried-and-true marketing technique that can help you start to visualize just where improvements to your current sales process can be made.

Sick of stressing over how to get people through your online store? We can help! Soicalike is a team of marketers who are ready to get you a marketing strategy that works. Get in touch with us today for a no-strings chat about how we can help.