Beef Up Your Bottom Line with Better Marketing

It doesn’t matter what you’re selling or what industry you’re in… if you’re selling online or offline, you can only stay in business if you’re making a profit. And profit comes from either increasing sales or reducing your expenses. This blog is about both, because when you make your marketing materials more effective—you increase your bottom line.

Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I’m a big believer in systems, formulas and concepts. If it’s proven to produce positive results, I’m all for it.

One of my favorite systems with proven positive results is also one of marketing’s most basic. You’ve probably heard of it… or you’re at least familiar with it if you’ve ever read any good sales material. It’s called the AIDA method.

Like so many terms and concepts in marketing, AIDA is actually an acronym for a formula used in creating powerful and effective marketing communications, sales letters. It’s also widely used in advertising too.

A – Attention (or ‘Awareness’): This is job one–attracting the attention of the customer.

I – Interest: raise customer interest by writing copy that includes features and benefits of your product or service.

D – Desire: (the customers’ desire for the ‘solution’ you offer). Convince customers that they want and desire your product or service and that it will satisfy their needs.

A – Action: You need to ‘take your customers by the hand’ and lead them toward taking a specific and measurable action. (i.e., order now, learn more, save instantly…).

Applying the AIDA method, now look at one of your marketing pieces and ask yourself these questions:

What’s the PURPOSE for the specific marketing piece? This applies to your website and if you’re using Radio or TV advertising too!

a.      Is it to provide information & support the sale? – Is it to help prospects gain knowledge?

Or…

b.      Is it to get the prospect to take immediate action? – For selling & promotion?

Is there an attention-getting headline and subhead? Attention

Is there a clear ‘benefit’ message? Interest

Is it designed with Your Prospect in Mind? Desire

Is there a specific and measurable call to action? Action

How would you score the effectiveness of this marketing piece using a scale from one to five, with five being extremely effective and 1 being a cure for insomnia?

When it comes to your marketing efforts, get in the habit of asking yourself “Does this convey the message I want my reader to get?”

While we’re on the subject of strong marketing copy, keep in mind the 5 Ws. This is very important. Get focused on:

Who are you designing to? Who is the target prospect?

What do you want them to know or do?

Why should they care? Why should they pay attention?

Where can they get more info?

When should they respond or take action?

It’s helpful if you actually create a Word Document or template with the 5Ws… Who, What, Why, Where, and When. This will help you and/or your designer understand the purpose of the piece.

Action Step: Now that you’ve got the hang of the AIDA method, go back and review all of your marketing materials and see if they follow AIDA. You may be surprised by what you discover after looking at your materials through the AIDA formula. Don’t worry about your past efforts—learn from them and profit from them! This exercise will help you find out which pieces are well conceived and which need to go back to the drawing board.

Of course the best measurement for any marketing materials is the response it generates. But when you’re planning your designs you’ll have a head start when you follow the AIDA formula.

If you’d like to learn more about writing killer marketing copy, check out Randy Gage’s popular 12-part study course “How to Become a Copywriting Stud!”