How about a sure-fire copy writing formula?

Need to write some ad copy? A flyer? A cover letter? An e-mail? Copy for your website?

Here’s a time-honored formula that’s sure to work for you. An oldie but a goodie.

AIDA – Attention, interest, desire, action. Those four hallowed words reverently dictate how you can write persuasive copy. It’s a formula that’s been around for nearly a century and whose usage still echoes in much of the messages you experience today across all media platforms. Here’s a short discussion of the steps involved in the AIDA formula.

Attention – Before any persuasive communication can take place, the attention of the audience has to be captured. This is often referred to as “disruption” because in addition to having many other things on their minds, your audience today is being bombarded with over 3,000 advertising messages every day.

Interest – Gaining attention is one thing, but it’s another to actually secure the audience members interest in your message. This step engages the reader by showing how your offer solves his or her problem or how their life could be better with your solution.

Desire – Once the audience’s interest is established, because they see the value of your offer, the next step is to build their desire by getting them to imagine themselves experiencing the value of “owning” your offer. The benefits. Get them to imagine that better future your product can deliver.

Action – They’re interested, and they want it, so don’t leave them in suspense! Show them how they can get it! The call to action gives the audience member the way to act upon their desire to own what you’re offering, so a good idea is to make is as easy on them as possible. “Click here to order” or “Call now” or “Visit your local showroom today” are examples of calls to action.

Next time you’re listening to the radio, watching TV, browsing the web or your favorite magazine, look closely and you’ll see that adaptations of this formula are still heavily used for a simple reason – they work!

Every writer I know has trouble writing.” – Joseph Heller, Catch 22

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