AIDA is an easy-to-use guide to quickly create a compelling copy. It’s also great to use as an editing filter once you’ve written an email or social media post. Go back through and make sure you can find each of the four parts! AIDA stands for Attention - Interest - Desire - Action. In this post, I’ll break down what each element is.
New around here?
A = Attention
BOO! While that can be a good way to get someone’s attention as a little joke at home, that’s generally not going to work with copy.
We’re bombarded with over a thousand marketing messages PER DAY.
That’s a lot of noise.
And that’s exactly why grabbing peoples’ attention is so important.
Vital, actually, if you want a business and not just an expensive hobby.
They say you have six seconds to get peoples’ attention.
How do you do it?
Words.
Your headline is your attention-getter.
You’ve got to shake people awake.
Be bold.
Call out their pain. And their deepest desire…
In one sentence if possible.
Often their deep desire...to lose weight, build a thriving business, find their soulmate...is directly related to the pain point of achieving that aspiration.
For example, if you want a thriving business you need clients or customers, but if your biggest pain point is regularly attracting an abundance of clients, you won’t be able to achieve that dream.
So use your headline wisely to “grab people by the eyeballs.”
I = Interest
After you grab someone’s attention, you’ve got to get them to keep reading.
Joe Sugarman uses the example of salty peanuts.
When you go to a bar, they give you free peanuts. Ever wonder why?
Because peanuts make you thirsty.
The thirstier you are, the more drinks you order.
And that’s really where they make their money.
So as you write your sub-headline and the sentences that follow, think salty peanuts.
Does every sentence make them want to read the next one?
That is how you GET and KEEP someone’s attention.
D = Desire
You must speak to the desire your ideal client has.
You should have already hinted at this in your headline, but later on in the copy, you’ve got to create more desire.
The best way to do this is to tap into feelings.
How will the person feel when they have gotten what they desire?
If you can help them to feel that feeling NOW you’re well on your way to getting them to say yes.
A = Action
What is the call to action?
What is the thing that you want your ideal client or customer to do?
This could be opting in for your free thing, joining your FB group, buying your offer, joining a challenge, watching a video, reading a blog post…
From this foundation, then, you can write your copy for all of your online assets.
Trust me, the copy part will be so much easier if you do the messaging first.
I had a client VIP day recently who’d been in business 12 years and made decent money. During our time together, she had a brilliant aha moment where she realized her messaging had been wrong all those years.
She made the pivot and so much of the other copy we created together just flowed after that.
Messaging and copy go hand in hand like peanut butter and jam, coffee and donuts, pizza and salad. You get the point!