In this first piece in a series deconstructing the elements of marketing funnel design, we are going to explore the ideas behind the customer journey and it all starts with AIDA.
Awareness (Attention) – Interest (Consideration) – Desire (Decision) – Action as she is really known.
A little note on the Grand Dame of Marketing and Advertising, more than 100 years old according to Wikipedia. Is AIDA even a she? It’s just a feeling but I think she is.
The AIDA model is one of the longest serving models used in advertising, having been developed in the late nineteenth century. Since its first appearance in the marketing and advertising literature, the model has been modified and expanded to account for the advent of new advertising media and communications platforms. A number of modified alternative models are in current use. During the past 100 years, the model has undergone many refinements and extensions, such that today there are many variants in circulation. Thus, the simple AIDA model is now one of a class of models, collectively known as hierarchical models or hierarchy of effects models.”
Wikipedia, November 2019
Sexy stuff.
Here at Difference Engine, we thank AIDA for all her hard work educating marketeers, advertisers and business owners through the ages on how to get those tricky customers safely through their journey to our cash tills and out the other side (kerrrrching!). It is through this idea of the buyer journey that the funnel idea came along.
Back in the day the belief was that all four stages are about YOU, the company, selling the product or service and presenting compelling information about your product and company at the right time in the right place to educate and persuade the customer into buying your product/services.. It went a little something like this…
- Awareness – the customer becomes aware of your company through some kind of advertising i.e. grab your customers attention!
- Interest – educate the customer about what you have to offer, what your values are
- Desire – the customer’s desire builds for your brand
- Action – the customer purchases your product/service
News Flash
AIDA is about the customer not about you not all funnel shapes are the same (more about this later)
The funnel is not a funnel because the journey is not vertical.
In today’s world of maximum information overload, 24/7 accessibility to the web, as consumers ourselves, we don’t set out to educate ourselves about particular brands in the Attention stage; most of the time we don’t notice brands until we have a problem we want to solve; a problem that is personal to us. This is true whether you are talking B2B or B2C. A detailed buyer persona will include your customers needs and emotions. The next step is to consider how you can make yourself relevant to your customers, in light of those needs, appropriate to where they are in the buyer journey.
To do that you need to flip traditional expectations of the marketing funnel. Key: it’s about them not you!
Having trouble flipping your funnel? We would love to chat.