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Back to School - Marketing Fundamental: The AIDCA Approach © 2003 by Michelle Lee, http://www.UltimateResourceBarn.com ----------------------------------------------------------- I take it that we are all in some sort of business here, online or offline. What is our bottom line? Make profits. But do we know how to make profits? Marketing would be the "means" to our "ends". But do we know marketing? This is where we need to ask ourselves questions like 1. Do we know what we know? 2. Do we know what we don't know? If we figure out our answer to the two questions above, we can then work on what we don't know given what we know. In this article, let's look at the fundamental of marketing. In order to achieve the best optimal results from our marketing efforts, we need to develop our marketing plan and implement them strategically. At the same time, integrates all the key marketing areas. This is the winning formula. What constitute all the elements of strategic marketing then? The basic of marketing is to have three effects as you communicate with your prospects. 1. Your marketing pitch must be seen by the prospects. 2. The message you want to bring across must be understood. 3. There must be a call to action. Prospects must know how to act and what to act on. For the communication to be effective, let's look at the AIDCA approach. AIDCA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction and Action. They are the mental states which you will want to lead a prospect through to a buying decision. 1. Attention The first and foremost is getting the attention of your prospects. In the offline world, getting the attention of your potential customers can be as simple as stopping them from flipping the page in the newspaper where your ad is and moving on. In the online world, it is equivalent to the reader not trashing your sales letter in the email, or the leaving your web page where the sales pitch is nicely crafted out. Use your creativity - attract attention through a humorous ad, an introduction by a famous quote or person, a unique design. Whatever method you use, your aim is to be noticed. If you can capture the attention of the intended audience, proceed to next step, which is to generate the interest in what you are selling. 2. Interest Very quickly, you need to identify the prospect's need. Ask questions to understand what the customer needs and what benefits is the customer looking for. Answer the customer question on his behalf - "What's in it for me?". In the offline world, that could be addressing the foremost concern on the prospect's mind on the spot. This could be the situation at a seminar, a trade show, when someone step into your shop front. Prompt the audience to ask questions about what you are offering after you deliver the first sales pitch. In the online world, with a eye-catching headline and well written body copy, cultivate the target audience's interest in your product or service. List down the benefits clearly. Use the appropriate tone and language, make it easy to understand, ensure the reader can relate to what is presented to him or her. 3. Desire The next step in the AIDCA approach is to create in your prospect desire for your product or service. There are various methods you can employ. In the offline world, having well organized store front, friendly and helpful sales personnel, attractive and informative product or service brochures, guarantee, post-sales services etc. will add on to the attractiveness. In the online world, well-layout website that are easy to navigate and loads within reasonable time, available means of contact for more information or feedback, secure payment means which includes common preferential payment schemes, even payment by installments etc. these will move the scale to your favor in the customer's decision process. The one method to create desire that is most welcome to customer is discount or special offer. Offer discount if possible, especially when customers are buying in bulk. Offering free item with purchase is another thing people cannot refuse. The free items need not be something concrete, it could be additional information that will help the customer get the maximum out of your product or service. 4. Conviction Take the desire one step further. Once your prospect has chosen your product over other competitor, enforce their decision. Your prospect should come to the conclusion that they made the correct decision to purchase from you. The uniqueness of your product or service must be apparent to the prospects. This is the Unique Selling Proposition and it answers why your prospect must buy from you and only you. Even when what you are selling is of higher price than that of your competitor, as long as the prospect perceive the value of what he is going to get out of the deal is greater than if he turns to other alternatives, you will still have the conviction of your prospect. 5. Action The last and most important step is to motivate your prospect to take action. All the sales talk is done, all the facts laid out, all the advantages and benefits understood by the prospect, it is time to make the call to action. Do not assume that your prospect knows what to do. Lead him or her to complete the sale by asking for explicit actions. In the processing of inciting action, build in the urgency. The phase "Available while stock last. Purchase Now" will urge the prospect to completed the sale. Introduce incentives to your prospect to act now. "Purchase now and enjoy 20% discount." will give the prospect reasons to jump on the deal immediately and not lengthen the sales process. As a last "catch-all" resort, get the prospect's contact information. In the offline world, it is probably the name and phone number. In the offline world, you will probably ask for the email address as well. With this information, you can then do follow-up subsequently. Likewise, readily give out your contact information. Give a business card to the prospects in the offline world. Have the contact information available conveniently and prominently at your website. The AIDCA approach is a well-establish concept that has been used for many years by sales and marketing professionals. It is taught in basic marketing courses, in advance courses such as a degree class. Use this orthodox approach when you are drafting ad copies, sales letters, presentations to prospects or clients, in your website content, product and service brochures. It will maximize your chance of achieving your bottom line - profits. © 2003 by Michelle Lee ----------------------------------------------------------- Michelle Lee is the publisher of the @UltimateResourceBarn Newsletter and owner of the ezine website http://www.UltimateResourceBarn.com . Both the website and newsletter are jam-packed with Informative Articles, Tons of Resources & Tools, Ready To Use Tips & Tricks, Proven Internet Marketing Concepts, Affiliate Programs & more. Claim your FREE eBooks + 1 FREE Ad view by over 10,000! mailto:subscribe@UltimateResourceBarn.com?subject=artclsub ----------------------------------------------------------- If you wish to publish this article in your own ezine or newsletter, you are most welcome to do so. However, please publish this article as it is. 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