Small businesses that want to have continued success need to always be considering their sales and marketing strategies.
It helps to take a good look at taking your prospects on the journey from stranger to paying customer.
People go through a series of stages when making the decision to buy something (or even to pick up the phone and call you). If your marketing doesn't cover each of these stages, your results will suffer.
Here's a formula you can follow that will make the process clear and simple: AIDA – attention, interest, desire, action.
Attention
Nothing happens until you attract someone's attention. Whether it's a web page, brochure, flyer or email – you have about seven seconds to get someone's attention and engage them enough so they continue reading.
In an article, blog post or webpage, attention comes from your headline. With email, it's the subject line. On a flyer or brochure or print ad, it's the big, bold text at the top.
If the headline doesn't grab people, the entire message is wasted. You won't have an opportunity to take people through the rest of the stages.
Good headlines should speak to the problem people are struggling with or the results they desire.
"Suffering from back pain?" is a more attention-grabbing headline than "Bob's Chiropractic Services."
Interest
Once you have their attention, the next step is to engage interest. You can do this by talking about your prospect's problem and showing empathy – letting them know that you understand where they are at right now. People aren't interested in your solution until they know you understand their problem.
Next, you can introduce your solution. Talk about the benefits of what you have to offer. For every feature you list, imagine your prospective client or customer asking: "Why should I care? What's in it for me?" The answers to those questions are the benefits.
For example, if you offer 24-hour tech support, that's a feature. The benefit? Help when you need it. Never get stuck a computer problem when you're working after hours on a deadline.
Desire
Interest shifts to desire when the person reading (or watching or listening) moves from thinking, "Hey, that's kinda cool" to "I want that."
You can fan the flames of desire by talking about results. The word "imagine" can be very powerful here. Invite people to imagine a future state when their problems are resolved. Paint the after picture.
Case studies, client success stories and testimonials can be particularly helpful here. Nothing is more convincing than reading a story about someone just like you who had the exact same problem, solved it and is now enjoying the happy results.
This is why you see so many before and after pictures for weight loss companies. They work. They make it easy for people to see themselves succeeding and getting the results they desire.
Action
The final stage is action. It starts with asking your prospect to take the next step. Make it explicit: Call now. Fill out this form. Click this button.
People tend to procrastinate. It's easier for them to put off a decision than to make one. To overcome this tendency, you can use deadlines (the price goes up at midnight on Thursday) or scarcity (only three left.)
You can often nudge people off the fence and into action by removing the risk. Offer a money-back guarantee or spell out your return policy.
Even if your sales page doesn't lead directly to a "buy now" button and you are only asking people to call you, don't skip any stages. People won't pick up the phone until you've given them a good reason to do so.
The key to successfully implementing the AIDA formula is to look at everything from your customer's point of view: what are they struggling with? What are their desires? What interests them? What do they need to know in order to make a decision? What might be standing in the way?
Then grab their attention by addressing their problem. Keep them interested by showing them what's in it for them. Build desire by painting a clear picture of the results they'll get. Finally, ask them to take action.
Follow these four steps and you'll see better results from your marketing. •
Patty Kuttai ([email protected]) is a marketing consultant and owner of HolisticMarketing.ca. She offers courses, online marketing strategy and copywriting services to help professional service providers attract more clients and customers.
