AIDA THEORY

An advertising tool on how to effectively appeal the attention of an audience.

AIDA is an acronym used in marketing/advertising that conveys a

overall list of events that may arise when a consumer engages with an advertisement.

It proposes a formal way to consider the things a consumer would go through, when engaging with my potential billboard advert.

Following a formal system like this offers a common understanding of how to target a market affectively.

One loses some per cent of prospects when moving from step to step.

AIDA is a historical model, more freely than representing present thinking in the methods of advertising effectiveness.

It’s important for me to consider how I will raise awareness, how I will generate interest and desire and how I will persuade my older 35-55 year old target audience to take action.

What Is AIDA?

The purpose of my potential billboard poster is to create

awareness and briefly inform my older target audience about my magazine product.

Therefore, in order to do this, my billboard needs to portray conventions that stand out and would appeal specifically to the older audiences’ eye…

• powerful key words - the tagline should be memorable,• a large main image - a breath-taking open image of the

green countryside; connote tranquillity and peacefulness,• use of colours - most likely green and blue found within

rural image; relate to the colours of the rural countryside,

Awareness (attention)…to make sure my target audiences’ attention will be

grabbed.

• bold/large text – even if appealing a sophisticated audience;

so they can read the billboard from a fair distance away (certainly for the tagline and masthead).

• large image of the front cover of magazine – my billboard should obviously portray an image of the front cover of my potential regional magazine, and the audience might immediately like what the billboard is advertising.

…these conventions would aim to attract my older hedgehog thinkers from the side of the road (depending on how the billboard is produced; e.g. a bus stop poster or a large billboard on the side of a road etc.). This is due to its bold yet refined layout, and the sophisticated nature of the colours, text and images found on the billboard.

Awareness (attention)…to make sure my target audiences’ attention will be

grabbed.

What would my older audience like/appeal to? –

important to focus on their needs and wants. Necessary to continually engage with the

audience enough so that they’ll want to spend their time comprehending the message that the billboard is delivering.

An ideology/messages that are immediately relevant to the target audience and their needs that want to be met.

Rhetorical questions? – directly addressing the audience would maintain their interest.

Interest (of the customer)…needs to attempt to attract the interest of my primary

audience.

Link benefits and features of the

product – e.g. send a positive ideology that reading the regional magazine will offer you a sense of escapism from your busy lifestyle.

Make them understand that the business/product being offered can help them in a beneficial/effective way - by primarily appealing to their personal needs and wants.

Desire (want to be part of it)…once interest is captured, the audience must be persuaded that they desire the

product. This is the particular element of persuasion, and must convince customers that the product will satisfy their needs.

My primary audience would eventually purchase my magazine

product, due to what they have seen and liked on my billboard advert, and they may have gone onto the website (conveyed on the billboard) to see if it meets their needs of what they’re looking for out of my product.

How can they reach the product? – billboard poster could portray some social media networks (e.g. ‘Facebook’ or ‘twitter’), the address of the local shop, the website address or even a telephone number (however, only conventional to portray one form of contact on my billboard advert).

Setting up social media sites and a website allows the audience to connect with the service/product.

My target audience may be old 35-55 year olds, however, there is a growth of Web 2.0, particularly in the older age groups where the over 55s are the fastest growing age group on ‘Facebook’ – therefore, by producing these platforms can increase publicity towards my magazine.

Action…lead customer towards taking a specification and/or purchasing.