HOW TO WRITE COMPELLING ADS

I’d like to introduce to you the AIDA concept.

AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. This is a widely used principle for copywriting and it also impacts your website flow massively.

Attention – Attract the attention of your potential customer. This is normally a headline but can be more than that. Do this by joining the conversation which is most likely to be going on in their mind when they land on your site or see your marketing. You can usually tell what this is by looking at the keywords you’re optimising your site for or even just by asking a few potential customers. Don’t reflexivly ask your friends, everyone has (well intentioned) advice. Only take it from people who have succeeded – or people who are your ACTUAL customers.

Interest – Increase customer interest by focussing on and demonstrating advantages and benefits. Again, sell what you do and sell the assurance that it will work for the customer, in spite of their fears.

Desire – Convince customers they want and desire your product or service and that it will satisfy their wants. Remember that people buy on emotion and although they might desperately need what you have, if they don’t want it, they won’t buy it.

Action – Ask your potential customer to take action by signing up, purchasing, enquiring, joining on social media, etc. Be SUPER clear in what you want them to do AND what will happen when they do it, and most important, remind them of why.

AIDA can take many forms, from a full sales letter to the layout of your web page above.

Write or create a piece of marketing you are going to use using the AIDA principle. This could be an ad, a sales letter, an email, etc. Choose something that will support your marketing plan. When thinking about ‘Attention’, ask what question people are asking when they arrive on your site: “I want to book a holiday, I want to get out of the doghouse with my spouse, I want a price for a custom product?”… What question are they asking that you can answer?