Using the AIDA Marketing Method in Billboard Advertising
The AIDA Model in marketing and advertising is a communication strategy used in the ad creation process which follows a guide to specifically target the consumer on an emotional level. There are a few variations of the AIDA model. For this purpose, we will be following the Attention, Interest, Desire, Action model, and applying it to billboard advertising.
What does the AIDA Model stand for?
Attention: Grab the billboard viewers’ attention.
Interest: Explain what the product or service can do for them.
Desire: Make them desire the product or service.
Action: Clearly tell them how to take action.
Attention
Obviously, this is a big one in billboard advertising. Given the 5-7 seconds the viewer has. You can get the viewer’s attention with a striking image or clever headline. If it’s an image, it should be easily identified. If it’s a headline, it should be clever, short, and memorable. For billboard advertising, I would recommend using an image as the “attention” getter.
Interest
This is where you tell the billboard viewer about your exciting product or service and how it can solve a problem of theirs or achieve a goal they have. A catchy, memorable headline is where the “interest” part comes in.
Desire
At this point, you have the viewer’s attention and interest, now they need to want the advertised product or service. To add some desire to your billboard ad, consider the following subheadlines:
- A discount or sale.
- Limited availability, Act now!
- A short testimonial or review about the product/service.
- A short statistic about how much better off they will be with this new product/service.
Action
The final step in the AIDA method is to tell the billboard viewer what they should do next. You’ve grabbed their attention, they have an interest in the product or service and want to buy it or learn more. The call to action, for billboard purposes, should be limited to one. Usually a website or social media visit. Phone call (although we don’t usually recommend phone numbers on billboard ads as the viewer will likely Google it anyway). Or the viewer visiting a physical location. The “action” part could simply be the advertiser’s logo. This is where they know they can get the product or service.
Let’s look at an example of the AIDA method applied to billboard advertising
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Read more about the AIDA method here.
