It’s time to write that marketing email or sales letter or request for a donation. You need to convince someone to buy something and you don’t know where to begin. Here’s are six steps to create a powerful message that gets results.
AIDA Isn’t Just an Opera
Writers use a number of formulas to get create messages. AIDA (Attention, Information, Decision, and Action) works well for me, whether I’m writing content for a website or persuading a prospective client to buy my services.
Creating a Powerful Message in Six Steps
- Before you start, figure out who you’re communicating with and what problem you can fix for them. This not about what you’re selling or why you’re the best. It’s about your audience. Why would they want what you’ve got? What problem are you solving for them? Say you’re a coach. Newsflash: your clients aren’t buying coaching. They’re buying help finding a job, getting a promotion, or getting along better with their partner.
- Once you’ve got a clear definition of the problem, write your Attention statement. This step can be daunting. You’ve only got a few seconds to capture your reader’s attention. Your text should identify the problem from a potential customer’s perspective. (“Wouldn’t it be great if you could…” “Stop worrying about your next job.” “People just like you are….”)
- Now comes Interest. This can be a sentence or a couple of short paragraphs that expand on your Attention sentence. Provide more information that shows you understand the problem your readers are facing. Make the case that you get it. Facts and figures are good here but don’t overwhelm the reader.
- The Decision sentence(s) explain why your solution is the right one for them. Summarize your expertise; use quotes from customers; support them with numbers if you can. (“Our customers tell us we….”. “95% of the people who bought this product ….”. “Your donation will let us help 100 needy animals…”).
- Wrap up with your call to Action. What do you want these people to do after they’ve read your message? Do you want them to sign a petition? Read an article? Click on a link? Buy something? Tell them what to do next. (“Click the button below to sign up for….” “Call us today to reserve your seat.” “Check out this video on YouTube.”)
- Finally, polish, polish, polish. First, check the message with your current customers. Have one or two review your text. Use a thesaurus or use Related Words to punch up the message. Next run the text through Grammarly, Hemingway or another editor to be sure it’s clean. Finally, have a human copyedit it.
Tips
Like any new approach, this one takes a bit of practice. I find that if I spend a lot of time accurately identifying the problem I solve, the message falls into place fairly quickly.
There are other rubrics you can use: The Four (or Five) P’s of Marketing and The Four C’s of Marketing are two of the most common.
If you’re just starting out and you don’t have customers yet, ask a boss who liked you for input. Or check in with friends and family. If you can explain it to them, you can probably draft a great message anyone will understand.