The advertising formula that always works

If you’ve studied copywriting for any length of time at all, you have probably stumbled across the acronym AIDA. That stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. This formula has been used by copywriters (especially direct mail copywriters) for years and years. However, I find that it is a bit incomplete.

While I recommend that you base your copywriting process on the AIDA formula, I do want to add a few elements to it that will dramatically increase your copy’s performance by appealing to the emotions of your customers.

“A” = Attention
The first A equals getting the attention of your readers. This can be in the form of a headline but should also pertain to your introductory paragraph. If you don’t get the attention of your customer 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.

But exactly how do you get your customer’s attention? The answer is simple: You do it by generating an emotion and setting up a situation. Let’s play with fear and greed for a moment. If, for example, you are selling an ebook with extremely good information about setting up an online business, these two emotions would be key because almost every “would be Internet entrepreneur” has a certain amount of greed (wants to make a lot of money doing it “his way”) and also has fear (questioning what if it doesn’t work and my family has no money).

You may have heard that your headline should play to the biggest benefit. This is definitely true but not exclusive. You can also play on emotions in your headline and address a fear, pump up their egos or offer the answer to a burning question.

If you choose to present a benefit, make sure it is indeed a “benefit” and not a “feature.” A feature is an aspect of your product or service. A software company might have a word processing program that offers spell check. This is a feature of the software program. The benefit of spell check is that your documents will look professional and be free of spelling errors. Professionalism and accuracy are the benefits of the spell check feature.

Don’t tout that your product or service has a particular feature… sing the praises of the emotion-filled benefit (or end result) of using your product or service.

“I” = Interest
OK, we’ve gotten their attention… now we must focus on building their interest and supporting what we’ve told them thus far.

Again… think back to your own buying experiences. Remember the car example in last week’s post? You love the body style and the interior is just perfect! You really want this car but now you start to have a twinge of reality. You’re not yet to the justification stage, but you wonder if this is truly the car for you. When building interest, you must show your prospective customer that your car IS the car for him/her. The keys here are benefits, emotions, benefits, and emotions! (NOTE: one way of building interest is to include sub headlines throughout your copy.)

Next, the buyer embarks on the ever-challenging task of justifying his/her purchase. Especially if it’s a large purchase. Our interest section should also use emotions to address the fact that this purchase is a good bargain, the right step, a sound decision, etc. But in addition to that, we need to let the customer know what will happen if he/she doesn’t buy our product or service.

Depending on the product, the negative result might be the fact that he miss all those stares from beautiful women, his hair will continue to get thinner and thinner, he will have to struggle to get all the information he needs for launching his online business or any other consequences. The goal here is to create a few statements that will cause the customer to say, “Oh! I didn’t think of that!”

“D” = Desire
The “D” in AIDA indicates the desire to buy. Your first section is the set up… getting their attention and letting them know exactly how you can fulfill their dreams. The second is building up their interest and triggering the emotions that will make them feel good about the purchase (and letting them know what will happen if they DON’T purchase). But the third (the desire section) really turns on the charm. It is written to tug on the heartstrings in order to create that final desire to buy.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of our imaginary ebook is that the reader will be in an excellent position to set up and run his/her own Internet business. Customers will have all the information they need right at their fingertips. That’s great! But… deep down inside your customers have two desires. The first is the desire to succeed… not just “run a business.” The second is the desire to obtain more freedom… the most common reasons sited for starting a business.

Remember how the buyers’ mind works… right now they are open to anything. This is the best time to pump them up and get them excited about your product or service. They have not yet come to the justification stage where price might play a factor. While always, ALWAYS being truthful, the “desire” aspect of your copy should portray the best and biggest benefits your customers will receive. It should speak to the joys of being able to leave work and run an errand in the middle of the day. It should talk about not having to put up with odd looks from the boss every time you need to leave early because your child is sick and other things that would-be entrepreneurs dream of. Make their mouths water!

“A” = Action
The final A in AIDA stands for action. During the action phase of copywriting, we must give them enough motivational cause to take action and buy. At the moment we get to this point, the customers should have all the information they need. We – as copywriters – will have walked them through each step of the buying process and emotional journey to the point of purchase.

A few ways to create action with your copy are:

A bonus – “If you order now, you’ll also receive a free report…”
A discount – “Order before June 15th and get 50% off…”
Motivation – “As soon as you order, you can begin losing those unwanted inches…”
Consequences – “It normally takes people who DON’T read this ebook 6 months longer to launch their business and turn a profit…”
Imply a compliment – “Savvy business owners know that this product is the key to business success…”
Use emotions – “Order Now! Your financial security, your freedom and your family depend on it!”

There are dozens and dozens of ways to evoke action. I’m sure you can come up with an entire list of your own if you think about it for a few minutes.

The point of the “Action” phase is to get them moving. We’ve made them drool, we’ve answered all their questions, we’ve filled them with benefit after benefit… don’t lose them at the end.