How to Use the AIDA Model in Content Creation
AIDA is one of the basic marketing concepts known to all specialists in the industry. This model consists of four stages. The aim of the first one is to attract the customers’ attention, whereas the last one is supposed to make them order a product or service. Are you a content creator? If so, benefit from the AIDA model in your work.
Table of contents:
- What is the AIDA model?
- How to use the AIDA model in content creation?
- The AIDA model and content creation – the takeaway
What is the AIDA model?
The AIDA model is a solution that can help you effectively optimize your marketing efforts. It was created by E. St. Elmo Lewis. Interestingly, it didn’t happen a year ago or a decade ago, but in 1898. There are also sources that indicate that E.K Strong was the founder of the AIDA model and according to them, he wrote about it in 1925.
Regardless of the origins of the AIDA model, the theory remains valid despite huge market changes.
The acronym AIDA was formed as a combination of the first letters of four words, namely:
- A – Attention. In this case, your goal should be to attract the customer’s attention. Apart from having your offer published on the website, you can try to attract attention with the help of podcasts, webinars, advertisements, or SEO.
- I- Interest. If a potential customer already knows about the existence of a given product or service, you should arouse their interest in your offer. For this purpose, you can benefit from social media, create valuable, appealing website content, mark key product/service information and convince customers that your offer can solve their problems.
- D – Desire. Your next goal is to make the customer want to have the product or desire to use the service. Emphasize the benefits of the purchase. If you operate in the marketing industry, you can benefit from case studies showing your achievements in specific campaigns, share reviews or create attractive product specifications.
- A – Action. At this stage, you need to encourage the customer to place an order or send an inquiry. On your website, make sure that your purchase path is as transparent and intuitive as possible. Easy-to-find contact details and a simple form that doesn’t require providing a ton of information are solutions that have a positive impact on user experience. Take care of the UX and a well-constructed CTA. If you make a mistake at this stage, you may discourage users from choosing your offer.
The AIDA model and SEO
The AIDA model is applicable in a variety of marketing efforts – including SEO. Top-quality and optimized content that describes your business is one of the important elements of campaigns that aim at improving website visibility for specific keywords. Check out how to use the AIDA model for content creation.
How to use the AIDA model in content creation
When writing content for your website, company website, or landing page, you can benefit from the AIDA model. If you apply it in content marketing, you take the recipients on a journey during which you attract their attention, keep them interested, arouse desire, and inspire action.
When creating content, you should prepare materials that are understandable to the reader. Don’t surprise users with concepts and terms they don’t understand. Take into account the target audience. When creating texts for your page, categorize them according to the AIDA model and objectives they’re supposed to achieve.
A – attract the attention
Internet users are surrounded by a huge amount of content and attracting their attention isn’t a piece of cake. Headers are one of the elements that can help you attract new page visitors.
Internet users usually search for specific information, therefore, they analyze headers and try to find the ones that are of interest to them. Headers should concisely present what can be found in a given part of the article. They should invite users to read the entry and briefly show them what to expect.
Answer the questions: Who are the recipients of your offer? What are their problems and what information do they need? Tailor your writing style and terminology to the readers. Content for a clothing store for teenagers will require a completely different style than content for a law company.
The first paragraph of the entry should be your priority, just after the header. Don’t wait until the last sentence to attract the user’s attention – provide the important information earlier. This part of the article shouldn’t be long – convince users that they should continue reading your entry. Don’t forget to highlight the most important parts of the content, use bold or italics.
The table of contents is also important – it’ll help the reader verify whether the article will meet their expectations.
What kind of content can you use to get the attention of internet users? These can be tutorials that solve customer problems with the help of the products you offer. If you run a hardware store, provide information concerning the rules of using a given solution or applications of a given product. Alternatively – show your recipients articles that will convince them to make a purchase decision: “You have USD 40 for headphones but you don’t know which model to choose? Check out our ranking.” In this case, the right title is the key to success.
I – arouse interest
If you’ve managed to attract the customer’s attention, your goal now is to encourage them to stay on your website and continue reading your content. Here, focus mainly on your content layout – it shouldn’t be a long block of text.
The article must be transparent and divided into paragraphs. Think about bullet points, images (e.g. infographics), or videos. These elements will help you attract attention.
Each paragraph should include specific information related to the header. This means that the user should find exactly what he/she is looking for and what is suggested in the header (e.g. if your header is a question, you should clearly provide the answer in the paragraph below). It’s also worth marking the most important pieces of information in bold.
The quality of content is another important element. Users may have different opinions on the same subject. Emphasize that the article was written by an expert in the field, add an author bio with a short note about the author’s career, knowledge and experience. This applies especially to content related to law or health. Alternatively, add information that the article was prepared by the editorial team.
The next important issue is the data in the article. Show that you use verified sources – legal acts, analyses conducted by state institutions, independent studies, or reports. The reader will pay attention to this information. Thanks to it, they’ll know that they aren’t just reading a random analysis, but a text-based on a valuable source.
What type of content attracts the user’s attention? For example video materials with storytelling elements. A great example here is IKEA and their “Ask a designer” series.
D – create desire
At this stage, you should make people desire your products or services. But what does it actually mean? Your goal is to make the recipient believe that your service or product is what they need. How to use the AIDA model for content creation to achieve this objective?
First of all, don’t focus on listing key features and benefits of the product – such information doesn’t bring any benefits to the recipient. Instead, focus on specific advantages that result from these benefits. Show how a given product or service can solve your customers’ problems, or present a case study explaining how a specific product helped another customer.
You can also achieve this goal through “before” and “after” content – this way you simultaneously inspire desire and trust. This is a technique used by e.g. companies offering auto detailing services. They prepare a photo gallery and a video where they show what the vehicle looked like before their service and what were the results. Such a step can make people want to take advantage of the offer, as potential clients also want such results.
A – call to action
It’s time for the final step – now users are supposed to make a purchase or send an inquiry. You should encourage potential customers to act, and for this purpose, you can place CTAs in the text. These CTAs should be clear, not too long and transparent. Inform users what they need to do to order the product or service. Make sure that your CTAs are visible on the page (proper placement, size, color, text).
Check out: How to design perfect CTAs?
An effective CTA should clearly inform users what to expect when they click on it. The recipient needs to know where they’ll be redirected after clicking the “contact us” button.
Near the CTA, you can add information that may be relevant from the perspective of the interested buyer. You can mention the return policy or link the privacy policy, which can resolve the doubts of those who are worried about their personal data.
The AIDA model and content creation – the takeaway
Creating content based on the AIDA model is definitely a good step. If you see that your content doesn’t bring the intended results, then take action to improve the situation. Analyze your texts, keeping the AIDA model principles in mind, implement changes and monitor if they affect the conversion. Step by step, you’ll achieve the optimal version of your content.
