A.I.D.A. - E.A.S.Y. to remember. Hard to execute.

Here's a simple way to remember a basic way of constructing copy, which I find especially useful for DM. Don't get restricted by it, however. It's just guidelines for you to mess around with and create some 'killer' copy:

A - Attention

I - Interest

D - Desire

A - Action


Attention

The first thing your ad should do is grab attention. That's its job (well its first one at least).

The headline is key to grabbing attention. One way you could do this is through surprise. Tell the customer something they didn't know. Show them something that would save them money. Or even put their name in the headline. Here's an example of a classic ad headline:

Maybe this sort of headline wouldn't work today, I'm not sure. But it's certainly intriguing and much more interesting than writing, "Learn to play the piano and impress your friends".

The main point here, though, is to make sure that when the customer looks at your ad or picks up their letter on their doormat, they see something that catches their eye.

Interest

Once you have their attention, you have the equally hard task of keeping them interested.

The customer hasn't got time to read your ad, or at least they won't spend time reading it. So the one thing I would recommend to do is put the benefit up front. But before that, and here's where the interest comes in, you could tell them about their 'problems' that are related to your product. If it's in the headline, elaborate a little. Tell the customer what you can do for them and if they are in your target audience, they'll be interested.

Another way to keep interest might be by telling a story, or using interesting typography, or, god forbid, putting an image in there. Whatever you do, make it interesting!

Desire

Once you've got the interest of your audience, you'll need to create desire if you want to get results. Your customer can recognise that they have a need. Your job is to turn that need into a desire for your product.

A great way to do this is to show them
how their problems can be solved by having your product. You could demonstrate this with a case study from a 'real' customer, creating a sense of authenticity and trust.

Desire and Interest work together, so you'll need to do both these things in as little as one paragraph on occasions.

Action

This is often where ads seem to fall on their face. They do a great job selling the product and creating a desire for the customer but fail to be clear and direct about how the customer should act.

If you're not up front about what you want the customer to do, they wont do it. Simple as that. Tell them "To receive these fantastic offers, call us today on 0800 800 852, or visit us at www.buymore.com". It's amazing how many ads don't make this clear enough.

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