Given that many consumers become aware of brands via advertising or marketing communications. Businesses need to identify effective marketing, advertising and sales functions use to target all touchpoints during a customer’s purchase journey, that is, from getting to know about the product to finally buying it.

The AIDA model is one of the longest-serving models used in advertising, having been developed in the late nineteenth century. It describes the steps or stages that occur from the time when a consumer first becomes aware of a product or brand through to when the consumer trials a product or makes a purchase decision. The AIDA model is somewhat a simplified version of a sales funnel: Your prospects have to go through each different step to, eventually, become a customer.

What is the AIDA Model?

AIDA stands for Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action. With the AIDA model, you can sort all your current marketing activities in each category to see if you’re covering all the bases, or if you need to put more efforts in some particular place.

AIDA funnel

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The Process of AIDA

Let us now see all the stages in detail and how some brands have leveraged these to their advantage.

  • Attention: Firstly, make the potential consumer aware of the brand or product, by having something like an advertisement be surprising or attention-grabbing.
  • Interest: Once attention is grabbed, get the potential customers to be interested in learning about the benefits of the product, and how the product is right for them.
  • Desire: Move the potential consumer’s sentiment towards liking the brand.
  • Action: Towards the end, Get the potential customers in a buying mood for the product, or directly sell them something.

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AIDA funnel example

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AIDA funnel template

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