Aida Copywriting

Today we’ll learn about the AIDA copywriting framework.

It’s one of the most talked about frameworks in the copywriting world.

What Is AIDA

AIDA stands for attention, Interest, Desire and Acton.

Attention: Grab the audience's attention with a strong headline or opening statement.

Interest: Generate interest by explaining the benefits and advantages of the product or service.

Desire: Create a desire for the product or service by showing how it meets the audience's needs or solves their problems.

Action: Encourage the audience to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting for more information.

When to Use AIDA Framework

You can use AIDA for almost anything in copywriting.

• Advertising Campaigns
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Sales Pitches and Presentations
• Landing Pages
• Product Descriptions
• Social Media Posts

However, you don’t want to use AIDA as a crutch in your writing.

The best copywriters are the ones who can think outside the box and don’t need to stick to rigid frameworks to sell.

I think George Ten put it best:

Delete your “power words” list.

Never again use PAS or AIDA.

Kill your rules. And formulas. And templates.

Those things are a mirage. Used to keep you from seeing the REAL copywriting:

• Big ideas
• Angles
• Offers
• Framing
• Psychology.

FOCUS ON THOSE.

— George Ten (@GrammarHippy) May 27, 2023

Big ideas, offers, framing, angles and psychology are much more important.

Attention

You need to hook the reader and this is where headlines come into play.

They're more important than you might think. In fact, 80% of people never make it past the headline. So if your headline doesn't pack a punch, chances are your copy won't even get a glance.

So how do you craft an irresistible headline?

I actually created my own formula for this when writing viral Twitter thread headlines. You can use this for headlines in other types of copywriting as well.

We want to maximize for:

• Benefit
• Relevance
• Reach

Then we want to minimize:

• Perceived effort

If you can make your headline so irresistible and effortless, you will grab people’s interest.

Here are some examples of viral headlines which took off in my copywriting niche, social media:

How to learn more in 3 hours than 97% of people learn in 3 weeks:

— Dakota Robertson (@WrongsToWrite) May 19, 2022

Give me 60 seconds I’ll give you a cheat code to remember everything you learn:

— Dakota Robertson (@WrongsToWrite) October 13, 2022

37 sentences that'll make you more money than a $3700 copywriting course:

— Dakota Robertson (@WrongsToWrite) April 14, 2022

Interest

Ok so we’ve got them hooked, now we have to keep them interested.

I found one of the best ways to interest people and keep them engaged is to tell stories.

Specifically stories which represent transformations.

These can help differentiate yourself in oversaturated markets like copywriting.

At the end of the day, that’s what great marketing is all about.

I was fat and now I am jacked.

I was broke and now I am rich.

My phone wasn’t ringing and now people can’t stop calling.

Capeesh?

In order to get good at telling a story, tap into emotion.

Here’s an example from my Twitter feed:

My parents struggled with crack addiction.

I used to live in a motorhome as a kid.

I was a college dropout.

Here’s how I overcame it all and hit $50,000 a month by writing tweets: pic.twitter.com/wtBwYCYPDm

— Dakota Robertson (@WrongsToWrite) June 9, 2023

Desire

Telling your story is great but how you tie it back to the reader's desires is the next step.

People, by nature, are self-focused. You need to show them how your product or service will improve their lives.

Shine a spotlight on the benefits and you can even use future pacing.

Future pacing describes what it would be like if all their problems went away and they achieved the transformation you’re trying to sell.

Show them all the possibilities of what could happen if they take action.

Then you can do the opposite. Show them what happens if they don’t take any action.

Action

This is where you convince people to commit.

You push them towards taking the next step.

This could be anything from purchasing a product or scheduling a demo, depending on what suits your campaign best.

If it’s email marketing it can be a soft CTA like “mind if I send you x?”.

For a newsletter it could be a handraiser which get’s subscribers to qualify themselves and reply to your email.

Should You Use The AIDA Copywriting Framework

There are so many frameworks you can use in copywriting.

But just because they exist doesn’t mean you should use them all the time.

When you’re learning how to become a copywriter, it makes sense to start with these frameworks.

But the best copywriters are the ones who understand psychology and sometimes trying to pigeonhole your copy into frameworks can make it sound like everyone else's.

You want to be unique with your headlines, offers, angles and outcomes.

You can use AIDA but learning copywriting fundamentals and persuasion will benefit you more.