AIDA

By Arti Pandey

AIDA
Every day we're bombarded with headlines
like these that are designed to grab our
attention. In a world full of advertising and
information delivered in all sorts of media
from print to websites, billboards to radio, and
TV to text messages every message has to
work extremely hard to get noticed.

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 And it's not just advertising messages that have to work hard; every
report you write, presentation you deliver, or email you send is
competing for your audience's attention.
As the world of advertising becomes more and more competitive,
advertising becomes more and more sophisticated. Yet the basic
principles behind advertising copy remain that it must attract
attention and persuade someone to take action. And this idea
remains true simply because human nature doesn't really change.
Sure, we become increasingly discerning, but to persuade people to
do something, you still need to grab their attention, interest them in
how your product or service can help them, and then persuade them
to take the action you want them to take, such as buying your
product or visiting your website.

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 The four steps that the copywriters use in their

ad to persuade the consumers to buy the
products are attention factor, interest element,
desire element and action element which is
called as AIDA. Advertising and marketing
objectives are met by the effective use of this
model.

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 The phrase AIDA, in marketing

communication was coined by American
advertising and sales pioneer Elias. St. Elmo
Lewis in the late 1800s. The model talks about
the different phases through which a consumer
goes before going to buy a product or service.
According to him, most of the marketers
follow this model to fetch more consumers for
their product. Marketers use this model to
attract customers to purchase a product. This
model can be seen widely used in todays
advertisements.
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 The acronym AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and

Action. These are the four stages that a consumer goes through
when watching or viewing an advertisement. According to
Lewis, first and foremost, the role of an advertisement is to
attract the customers. Once an ad grabs attention, it has to
invoke interest towards the product in the minds of the
consumers. After creating an interest, the ad has to bring desire
in consumers mind to use the product and finally the consumer
has to take a favorable action towards the product by
ultimately purchasing the product.

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 The acronym AIDA is a handy tool for

ensuring that your copy, or other writing, grabs
attention. The acronym stands for:

Attention (or Attract)

Interest
Desire
Action.
These are the four steps you need to take your audience
through if you want them to buy your product or visit your
website, or indeed to take on board the messages in your
report
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Attention
The attention portion of the marketing message
occurs at the beginning and is designed to give the
prospects a reason to take notice.
In our media-filled world, you need to be quick and
direct to grab people's attention. Use powerful words,
or a picture that will catch the reader's eye and make
them stop and read what you have to say next.

With most office workers suffering from e-mail overload, action-seeking emails need subject lines that will encourage recipients to open them and
read the contents. For example, to encourage people to attend a company
training session on giving feedback, the email headline, "How effective is
YOUR feedback?" is more likely to grab attention than the purely factual
one of, "This week's seminar on feedback".
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 Presenting a shocking fact or statistic that

identifies a problem which can be solved by
the product or service is one common method
of gaining attention. Other methods can
include asking a thought-provoking question
or using the element of surprise. The purpose
is to give the prospects a reason for wanting to
learn more.

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Interest
This is one of the most challenging stages in the AIDA model:
You've got the attention of a chunk of your target audience, but
can you engage with them enough so that they'll want to spend
their precious time understanding your message in more
detail?
Gaining the reader's interest is a deeper process than grabbing
their attention. They will give you a little more time to do it,
but you must stay focused on their needs. This means helping
them to pick out the messages that are relevant to them
quickly. So use bullets and subheadings, and break up the text
to make your points stand out.
For more information on understanding your target audience's
interests and expectations, and the context of your message
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Interest
Once you've gained the prospects' attention, the next
step is to maintain interest in your product or service
to keep the recipients engaged. Explain to the
recipients how the problem you've identified in the
attention step is adversely affecting their lives. A
demonstration or illustration can help the recipients to
further identify with the problem and want to actively
seek possible solutions. By personalizing the
problem, you're making it hit closer to home.

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Desire
A good advertisement should be able to create desire in the
minds of the readers about the product. It is not enough for a
good advertisement to attract attention create interest but also
arouse desire in the heart of the prospect to have the product.
The advertiser should make use of proper appeals and selling
points while creating desire for the product. Making use of
proper appeal will depend on the seasonal consumption of the
product.
For example, the sale of rain-coats in monsoon will emphasise
self protection against rains. It is through the sales appeal that
the advertiser creates a desire for the product.

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In the desire stage, your objective is to show

the prospects how your product or service can
solve their problem. Explain the features of the
product or service and the related benefits and
demonstrate how the benefits fulfill the need.

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Feature and Benefits (FAB)

A good way of building the reader's desire for your offering is to link
features and benefits. Hopefully, the significant features of your offering
have been designed to give a specific benefit to members of your target
market.
When it comes to the marketing copy, it's important that you don't forget
those benefits at this stage. When you describe your offering, don't just
give the facts and features, and expect the audience to work out the
benefits for themselves: Tell them the benefits clearly to create that interest
and desire.
Example: "This laptop case is made of aluminum," describes a feature,
and leaves the audience thinking "So what?" Persuade the audience by
adding the benefits".giving a stylish look, that's kinder to your back and
shoulders".
You may want to take this further by appealing to people's deeper drives"...
giving effortless portability and a sleek appearance and that will be the
envy of your friends and co-workers."

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Action
Now that you've created the desire to make a
purchase, the final step is to persuade the prospects to
take immediate action. In a one-on-one sales process,
this is the time to ask for the sale.
In the advertising world, techniques involve creating
sense of urgency by extending an offer for a limited
time or including a bonus of special gift to those who
act within a specific time frame. Without a specific
call to action, the prospect may simply forget about
your offer and move on.
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 Finally, be very clear about what action you

want your readers to take; for example, "Visit
www.mindtools.com now for more
information" rather than just leaving people to
work out what to do for themselves.
Using the AIDA model will help you ensure that any
kind of writing, whose purpose is to get the reader to
do something, is as effective as possible. First it must
grab the target audience's attention, and engage their
interest. Then it must build a desire for the product
offering, before setting out how to take the action that
the writer wants the audience to take.
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Example
Given below is an example of an ad that has used AIDA model
to present the message elements.
In the given ad, the Headline Marriage does come with its
rewards and the image of the car attracts the viewers
attention. The subhead The New Beettle, Best Gifted creates
interest in the viewers to know more about the product. The
Body copy & the slogan given in the ad create desire in the
viewers mind. The contact information given towards the end
makes the viewers take an action.

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ADVERTISING APPEAL
An advertising appeal is a statement designed to motivate a
person to act.
The appeals which the advertiser makes usually
focus the buying motives of the consumers.
Pleasing total quality of a radio becomes basis to motivate the
music and the vitamin contents of a drug form an appeal to
motivate public and listen to people to preserve their health.
However, numerous appeals may be made for any product.

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Types of Appeals Used in

Advertising :
1. Emotional Appeals :
Emotional appeals are used in advertising the
consumer product. They are used for inducing
initial interests and arousing interest in the
advertised product. Goods like toys for
children.

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2. Intellectual Appeals
These appeals are free from emotional touch and are based on
intelligence. Intellectual appeal are used for selling high priced
industrial goods. They are based on rational
thinking. Emotional appeals work fast to create interest and
desire but it is intellectual appeal of the Bombay Dyeing
advertisement where a young and beautiful girl is shown
wearing eye-catching prints. The picture of the girl and prints
provide emotional appeal
but the headline icy summer prints provide and atmosphere
of
coolness and appeals to the intellect.
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3. Human Instincts Appeal

: Human beings are guided by such

instincts as: self-preservation, parental care, food, clothing,

curiosity and so on. When a copy makes proper appeal to the
appropriate instinct, it will create a desire in the minds of the reader
to buy the article. For an appeal to the self-preservation instinct
health, food, woolen clothes and physical fitness courses are
appropriate articles. Baby food can be sold more easily by making
an appeal to the parental instinct and the natural affection of the
parents for their children.

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 4. Physical Sense Appeal: Appeals to physical senses evolve

greater response. For example, food and beverage products are

sold by inciting taste appeal. During summer, cold drinks can be
effectively advertised with pictures of cool, refreshing summer
drinks but during winter this advertisement would be a misfit if
appeal is made to the sense of taste alone, a more viable approach
would be to appeal to the instinct of self-preservation.

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5. Positive Appeal:

Appeals that follow positive approach are

called positive appeal. They create situations under which
prospects are likely to attain happiness and peace of mind with the
possession of advertised goods.
With a view to arouse product interest, the following positive
emotional appeals are used e.g., appeals to comfort, healthy, living,
family affection, pleasure, personal appearance, sympathy, love,
pride etc. These appeals are positive because they create
awareness under which prospects are likely to attain happiness and
the mental satisfaction of possession of materials.

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 6. Negative Appeal : Negative appeals are

those which follow
negative approach. They normally include
feelings like jealousy,
anger, pain and fear. These are the unpleasant
feelings and no
prospect would desire to associate himself
with frustration
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 It would be unwise to assume that negative

appeals are
ineffective. Sometimes they work very fast.
We shall present a few
negative appeals from illustrative
advertisements. For example,
Motwane Manufacturing Co., in its
advertisement for Motwane
Digital Millimeters used the negative appeal
which gave striking
impact.
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Advertising Appeal
Advertising Appeal is an igniting force which
stimulates the customer mindset towards the product
or services. It not the only factor in the marketing mix
which initiates a consumer for buying the product but
it is certainly one of the advertisers' most important
creative strategy decisions involves the choice of an
appropriate appeal.

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Advertising appeals are designed in a way so as

to create a positive image of the individuals
who use certain products. Advertising agencies
and companies use different types of
advertising appeals to influence the purchasing
decisions of people. There are three types of
appeals:

Rational or Informational Appeal

Emotional Appeal
Moral Appeal
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Rational or Informational Appeals:

This is generally product oriented appeal, highlights
the functional benefits like- quality, economy, value,
or performance of a product. Following are different
types of rational appeals:
1. Feature Appeal - Advertisements based on such
appeal are highly informative, provides information
of product attributes or features that can be used as
the basis for rational purchase decision. Technical and
high involvement product often uses this appeal.

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2:Competitive Advantage Appeal - Such appeal is used to

compare the product with the competitor's product directly or
indirectly and advertiser try to present his product superior then
competitor's product on one or more attributes.
3:Favorable Price Appeal - Here price offer is considered as the
dominant point of the message.
4:News Appeal - Some type of news or announcements about
product or company dominates the advertisement.
5: Product Popularity Appeal - Product popularity is considered
as the dominant point of advertisement by highlighting the
increasing number of users of brand or the number who have
switched to it.
6: High Quality - Some products are preferred for their quality
not merely because of their taste or style, such products are
advertised by highlighting the quality attribute in advertisement
.
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7: Low price - Many people prefer low priced goods. To target

such audience products are advertised by highlighting the low
price tag of the product.
8: Long Life - Many consumers want product of durable nature
that can be used for a long period, in advertisement of such
product durability is the dominant point of the message.
9: Performance - Many advertisements exhibit good performance
of product.
10: Scarcity - Another appeal that is occasionally used is scarcity.
When there is a limited supply of a product, the value of that
product increases. Scarcity appeals urge consumers to buy a
particular product because of a limitation.
11: Other Rational Appeals - Other rational appeals include
purity, more profits, time saving, multifunction, more
production, regular supply and availability of parts, limited
space required, artistic form, etc. that can make advertising
effective.
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 Emotional Appeals
An emotional appeal is related to an individuals
psychological and social needs for purchasing certain products
and services. Emotions affects all type of purchase decisions.
Types of emotional appeals are as follows:
1. Positive Emotional Appeal - Positive emotions like- humour,
love, care, pride, or joy are shown in advertisements to appeal
audience to buy that product. For example- Jonson and Jonson
baby products.
2. Negative Emotional Appeal - This includes fear, guilt, and
shame to get people to do things they should or stop.
3. Fear - Fear is an emotional response to a threat that expresses
some sort of danger. Ads sometimes use fear appeals
to evoke this emotional response and arouse consumers to take
steps to remove the threat. For example- Life Insurance
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4: Anxiety - Most people try to avoid feeling anxious. To relieve

anxiety, consumers might buy mouthwash, deodorant, a safer
car, get retirement pension plan.
5: Humour - Humour causes consumer to watch advertisement,
laugh on it, and most important is to remember advertisement
and also the product connected with humour. For exampleHappydent, and Mentos.
Moral Appeals
Moral appeals are directed to the consumes sense of what is
right and proper. These are often used to exhort people to
support social and ethical causes. Types of Moral Appeal are
as follows:

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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Social awakening and justice

Cleaner and safe environment
Equal rights for women
Prohibition of drugs and intoxication
Adult literacy
Anti-smuggling and hoarding
Protection of consumer rights and awakening
Other Type of Appeals
1: Reminder Appeal - Advertising using reminder appeal has the
objective of building brand awareness. For example- IPO
2: Teaser Advertising - Advertisers introducing a new product
often use this appeal. It is designed to build curiosity, interest
and excitement about a product or brand. For example- Ponds
ad of Saif & Priyanka
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3: Musical Appeals - Music is an extremely important

component in advertising. It captures the attention of listeners.
For example- Docomo, Airtel
4:Transformational Appeal - The idea behind this appeal is that
it can actually make the consumption experience better. For
example- Ambay products
5: Comparison Appeal - In this appeal a brands ability to
satisfy consumers is demonstrated by comparing its features to
those of competitive brands. For example- Tide & Surf
6: Direct Appeals - Direct appeals clearly communicate with the
consumers about a given need. These extol the advertised
brand as a product which satisfies that need.
7: Indirect Appeals - Indirect appeals do not emphasise a human
need, but allude to a need.
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