How to get a greater response from your marketing

AIDA is an acronym that's been common practice in marketing for many years. It's a handy tool for ensuring your copy, or other writing, grabs attention and gets the desired response.

• A - Attention
• I - Interest
• D - Desire
• A - Action

1. Attention - if you don't get the attention of the reader immediately, you've lost them for good. If your headline and first paragraph don't hook them, the rest of your copy will never be read.

"On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. It follows that, unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money." David Oglivy

The most powerful winning headlines evoke emotion as you highlight a problem that affects your target audience.

You must address the ever-present question of your target audience - why should I care about what you have to say?

2. Interest - your headline has made a promise, now you must deliver on the promise. Keep them interested in your marketing message by focusing on 'What's in it for me?'

'What's in it for me?' is what everyone is tuned in to. That's why we call it WiiFM - it's like having your own personal radio station.

Quickly communicate how your product or service solves their problem or issue - use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs, and write as if you are talking to them.

Keep in mind that this approach works with both consumer and business markets.

Give the recipient the facts or the evidence needed to support your claim to establish credibility.

Don't swamp them with statistics or product specifications otherwise you risk boring them to death.

3. Desire - this is where you can really build excitement for what you're selling. It gives your customer an opportunity to imagine what it's like to own and use your product or service.

The key to building desire is to focus on benefits, not features. Include, if you can, customer testimonials and guarantees or warranties to minimise, if not eliminate any perceptions of risk on their part.

4. Action - you need to tell your customers what to do and when to do it. Be assertive and don't assume that they'll know what to do.

Your 'call to action' should be absolutely clear - make it simple for your customer to accept your offer.

Reiterate the benefits and the consequences of not taking up the offer. Encourage your recipients to take action now and accept the offer by including incentives available only during a limited timeframe or availability.

AIDA can be used for all your marketing messages; broadcast advertising, print advertising, brochures, flyers, letters, promotional emails and web pages.

It's the underlying marketing technique that's brought success to direct marketing for years, and will continue to bring success and wealth to businesses that use it.