AIDA marketing is a common marketing strategy you can use to understand how and when to communicate with customers during each stage of their customer journey. It’s a popular and classic marketing model that involves tracing the customer journey.

Read on to learn more about AIDA in marketing and the key elements involved in an AIDA marketing strategy with Adobe Express.

What is AIDA in marketing?

AIDA is an acronym for a model that outlines the stages that customers go through during the purchase journey:

The AIDA Model

It is often depicted as a purchase funnel, as buyers make their way through each stage before making a final purchase. The funnel can be applied to marketing as it can help marketers understand how and when to communicate with customers during each stage.

This is important as consumers are likely to be using different platforms at different touchpoints. Using the AIDA marketing funnel can help you plan tailored and targeted campaigns to engage with customers at every touchpoint.

The model can also be used to guide PR and sales strategies, helping to move potential customers through each stage of the funnel, right from initial awareness to performing a designated action.

What are the key elements of an AIDA marketing strategy?

There are four key elements. These are:

1. Attention.

As the name suggests, the first stage of the AIDA marketing strategy is all about grabbing your audience’s attention. But to do so, you’ll want to spend some time thinking about their background, interests and motivations first. This can help you figure out what they may be interested in hearing from you.

You can then pull together targeted marketing materials to capture their attention, from social media adverts (such as Instagram ads and Facebook ads) to TikTok videos and more.

2. Interest.

The next stage is all about sparking audience interest. Once you’ve grabbed their attention, you’ll need to work out how you plan to keep it. Demonstrate why your brand may be a good fit for them, and focus on the solutions and benefits you can provide. And give your audience an opportunity to learn more about your brand.

You can do this by creating engaging blog posts or email campaigns that encourage users to continue reading on.

3. Desire.

Once your audience is hooked and has expressed interest in your brand, it’s time to start putting your products or services in their minds. Create a pitch and back it up with benefits that turn their interest into desire. How will your products or services benefit them?

It can help to demonstrate your credibility here to evoke trust in your audience. You could do this by creating a custom brochure or flyer featuring recent case studies and customer quotes. This is important as around 68% of customers in the UK use online reviews to inform their purchasing decisions.

4. Action.

Finish your pitch with a clear call to action (CTA). Be direct about the specific action you want customers to perform next. This could be something as simple as filling out a contact form or adding a product to their shopping cart.

Think everything from ‘buy now’ buttons on your product pages, to ‘learn more’ buttons that link out to similar content at the end of a blog post.

What are the pros and cons of the AIDA model in marketing?

Before you get stuck into AIDA marketing, it may be worth weighing up the potential drawbacks as well as benefits.

Pros of AIDA marketing.

• Tried and tested model. The AIDA marketing model has been used in marketing and advertising since 1898. While the digital landscape has shifted drastically since then, AIDA marketing theory remains an effective approach.
• Ability to boost brand awareness and customer interest. Getting your brand out there and capturing customer interest is essential in today’s highly competitive business environment.
• Can be a useful starting point for a marketing strategy. The AIDA marketing funnel provides a simple framework that helps ensure your marketing strategy is tailored to resonate with customers at each stage of the customer journey.

Cons of AIDA marketing.

• Assumes a linear customer journey. The AIDA marketing framework suggests that the consumer journey is linear. But customers may not always follow this journey in the same sequence.
• Stages may overlap in real-world marketing. AIDA doesn’t always provide an accurate portrayal of the customer journey. Customers could skip stages, go back and forth between stages, or follow each step in a different order.
• Little emphasis on socio-demographic factors. Demographics can help you tailor your campaigns to target certain groups of people. When you understand the groups of people who are most likely to engage with your brand, it can become easier to target them.

How can Adobe Express help you with AIDA marketing?

Need help perfecting your AIDA marketing strategy? You’re in the right place. Here are five ways Adobe Express can help you upscale your AIDA marketing communications:

1. Create your own advertisements.

Create advertisements for free online with help from Adobe Express. Pull together eye-catching advertisements that capture your audience's interest in no time. Post to platforms such as LinkedIn and TikTok.

2. Build eye-catching landing pages.

Design professional-quality web pages for your brand with the free web page maker from Adobe Express. Choose a template to get you started or use the tools to begin your project entirely from scratch.

3. Boost your brand awareness on social media.

Create social media ads for free to boost your brand awareness online with Adobe Express. Choose from a range of templates, then add in your own text, fonts and images.

4. Attract attention with website banners.

Add a web banner to your website or to attract audience attention. Browse a gallery of professionally designed templates to get you started, then customise your design to your preferences.

5. Pitch your AIDA strategy in a presentation.

Easily pitch your AIDA marketing strategy to your team with help from the Adobe Express free online presentation maker. Customise your slides with a variety of design assets and templates.

Try our AI Facebook post generator.

Boost your brand awareness and capture audience interest with the Adobe Express AI post generator for Facebook. Simply head to Adobe Express and sign in to get started. Don’t have an account? Don’t worry, you can easily create one for free. Then enter your prompt into the tool and watch as the generator develops a series of high-quality Facebook post templates. Don’t like what you see? No problem. Click generate to see more options. Once you’re happy, customise your Facebook post even further with your own branding, text and more. Download and share your design when you’re done. It’s that easy.

Try Adobe Express for free now

Good to know.

What are some AIDA marketing examples?

AIDA marketing activities can vary depending on which stage of the model you’re targeting. For example, if you’re looking to increase awareness of your brand, products or services, you could create press releases, podcasts and dedicated marketing campaigns. Action strategies tend to be more direct and include a clear CTA.

Is AIDA outdated?

Some people argue that the AIDA marketing framework is too simple and doesn’t account for the complexity of the modern marketing landscape. Others agree that AIDA is still a useful tool that provides a simple and effective approach for creating marketing communication activities.

Is AIDA good for beginners?

Yes, AIDA is good for beginners. The marketing model can provide a simple, straightforward framework to help tailor your communications to each stage of the consumer journey. Though, it’s worth keeping in mind that customers may not always follow a clear linear progression from initial awareness to action.

Is Adobe Express free?

Yes, our free plan offers many core features including thousands of templates, photo editing and effects, animation, and 5 GB of storage. See our pricing page for details and to compare plans.