4 Words that increase the effectiveness of marketing your small business.
Marketing strategies constantly change with the introduction of new tools and theories. My advice to stay sane is to stick the basics. The best advertising advice still comes from research done at the turn of the century. Our job today is tweaking it for the modern world and how we communicate.
Remember, the difference between traditional ads and content marketing is shifting the message from direct promotion to becoming a thought leader and a source of information. Despite these differences, the goal is still the same; present your brand to your target market.
AIDA is an acronym used to describe the process your audience should experience when interacting with your piece of content. It has held true for all forms of traditional advertising, now let’s look at how we can apply it to content marketing.
AIDA stands for: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action
Attention: Given the flood of media out there that any single person can consume, your piece has to grab someone’s attention right away. It’s your first impression. How do you do this?
- Talk directly to your audience by asking a question in your titles and headlines.
- Use terms and phrases that they are already familiar with.
- Make them comfortable enough to open your piece.
- Offer a solution right at the beginning.
Interest: Now that you’ve gotten your reader to stop, what do you have to offer then to continue reading?
- Start telling a story.
- Build a common thread of interest around the information you are giving.
- Support your story with real world examples, concrete numbers, and analytics. Just don’t go overboard and bore people.
Desire: This is the most difficult part, turning that curiosity and interest into wanting to make a decision.
- Create a turning point in your story that drives an emotional response.
- Give your audience a scenario that they can imagine themselves in.
Action: Now it’s time to for your audience to take a specific action.
- Give a clear and concise call to action.
- Have the action step in mind when designing your piece.
- Finish your piece with something powerful that has value for your audience.
Let’s take a look at an example video that we produced for Wagner Macula and Retina Center. We were very excited to work on this project and add to their video library. The series of videos that the Wagner Macula and Retina Center creates gives them the edge in patient education while presenting their staff and doctors in a knowledgeable and friendly way.