AIDA—It’s Not Just An Opera

If you want your messaging to be effective, AIDA should be music to your ears. With the advent of new media, and more recently Web 2.0, some believed that advertising as we knew it was dead. Certainly, the communication dynamic changed profoundly. Instead of a one-way conversation—seller talking at buyer—a two-way dialog became possible. Despite this, one thing hasn’t changed: To get results, promotional messaging still requires adherence to the four pillars of persuasion.

Long before the Internet was a twinkle in Al Gore’s eye, some smart ad man or woman laid them out in what has become known as the AIDA Formula: Attention • Interest • Desire • Action

With the profusion of communications channels and the explosion of messages they carry—all that clutter to break through—if anything, AIDA is more important than ever. Print ad or popup, TV spot or email blast, it needs to jump off the page (or screen). Having jumped, it had better pique your prospects’ curiosity right off the bat, then provocatively answer the question, “Why should I want it?” And bringing them that far is all for naught unless you tell them how to get it. Attention, interest, desire, action—a four-point checklist you should apply to every marketing message you craft, from building awareness to building leads, no matter the medium.