AIDA – Marketing, Branding and Storytelling in One

What do you think we should focus on: our Market or our Brand?
Should we be Marketing or Branding?

Actually, it’s a trick question. For Professional Service Providers, Marketing is at the same time also Branding provided that our Marketing is done right.

And what does AIDA have to do with it?

Absolutely everything!

What is AIDA?

AIDA is an acronym for a marketing model for effective communication, which comes straight out of The Marketer’s Bible. In its current form it has been successfully used for a good hundred years.

As far as I am concerned, this is no big surprise because it is firmly grounded in the oldest art form mankind knows: Storytelling.

AIDA shows us how we promote anything successfully.

How does it do it?

AIDA gives us the 4-step structure we need to get our message across to our audience.

First, we have to grab our audience’s Attention. And we have to be fast about it because we have to be on message within 10 seconds. There simply is no time for long introductions.

Then, we have to generate their Interest in what we have to offer.
We achieve this not by talking about what we are interested in but by directly addressing what our audience is interested in. Check out my video on WIIFM .

The third step is awakening our audience’s Desire to find out more about the solution we have to offer. Make them curious.

And that’s where lots of people stop. They grab their audience’s Attention, they generate Interest in the solution they have to offer, they awaken the Desire to know more about the solution, and then…

Well, then we have to conclude our story by telling our audience what to do and how to do it.
This is the Call to Action.

And this sums up AIDA.

Which is, of course, is Marketing.

We do it all the time.

We promote all manner of things:

Ourselves
Our projects
Our hobbies
The latest movie we have seen
Charities, and, yes…
Our products and services.

We tell stories with a Call to Action at the end.

What does this have to do with Branding?

Let’s look at AIDA again, but this time eliminate the last A.

What are we left with?

We are left with a story that hooks the audience’s Attention, that awakens their Interest, then generates their Desire to be … part of the brand, part of the family… It’s a fan club.

Branding creates awareness but it does not tell you what to do next.

That is why we need AIDA, and not just AID, to helps us do both, Marketing as well as Branding simultaneously.

Which one do you prefer?

Would you like help with it?

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