How to Create Effective Small Business Advertising with AIDA

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I blogged yesterday about ineffective small business advertising. Today, I’ll talk a little about what makes an advertisement (either print or broadcast) effective.

First, let me say that it’s difficult to measure an ad’s effectiveness if you don’t provide some type of call to action and track the number of people who respond to your offer. For this kind of direct response advertising, your offer usually has to be more than a “call now for a consultation.” Often, it’s for a free demo, evaluation kit, guide or tip sheet – something that is easy for prospects to request by mail, your website, or even by calling your office – but isn’t as intimidating as setting up a consultation and possibly getting a sales pitch that wastes their time.

Effective small business advertising must have a purpose. What do you want your ad to do? Should it educate the reader about a problem? Should it persuade the reader to do something? Or should it remind them about something?

AIDA

All good ads create Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action (AIDA).

1. Grab Their Attention: To be effective, an ad must capture your prospect’s attention somehow. Most people will barely give your ad 2 seconds of their time. They’re multitasking – eating dinner, watching the kids, reading an interesting article – so your ad must interrupt them from what they were doing long enough for them to notice.
2. Create Interest: Once you have their attention, you have to pull them in. Why should they watch your ad or read your copy? What’s in it for them? How does it meet their need?
3. Arouse Desire: Now that they’re interested, how can you persuade them to want more? What can your product or service do to alleviate a major problem they’re having? How can you appeal to their emotional need for your product or service?
4. Get Them To Take Action: The final step is to tell them what to do to find out more about your product or service. This must be as painless as possible and must be the next logical step they’d consider taking – not what you hope they’ll do. This might be to purchase your book, register for a seminar, download a free guide, or call for their initial consultation.