The AIDA lesson
AIDA, like the opera? Not quite, but it's an easy way to remember this acronym!
AIDA is a marketing strategy model that delineates the four stages of customer engagement.
The four stages are A (attention), I (interest), D (desire), and A (action).
Attention - how do we grab someone's attention, to stop them from whatever they were doing before
Interest - how do we keep someone interested once we have their attention, so they can hear why they should care, why it is relevant to them
Desire - how we lead someone to understand why they'd want and need what we have to provide
Action - how do we then inspire someone to take action (click here, buy this, sign up for that, etc)
Learning about AIDA made me reflect on how I have been promoting myself as a conductor for my entire career - and how backwards I've been doing it!
I've spent the majority of my efforts on getting people and organizations to take action. Hire me. Invite me. See me conduct. I want them to take action.
I never really considered whether they actually have the desire to hire me? Or whether they are interested in me? Or at the basic level, do I even have their attention? Do they even know I exist? Why should they pay attention?
Most of the time, I had zero attention. I was shouting and pleading into the void. Nobody was actually listening. They had no reason to care. I was on the wrong end of the strategy and doing it backwards.
Without attention, interest, and desire, my chances of getting hired was close to none.
I learned my lesson and I'm focusing much more on attention and interest to promote myself as a conductor.
***
How much of this backward perspective is happening beyond our own promotion as artists?
How could the AIDA model be helpful for us in selling our concerts and our events, encouraging donations, or even getting buy-in from musicians about a new interpretation or idea?
We can ask ourselves 4 sets of questions based on AIDA:
Whose attention do we want to get? How do we effectively get it? Then reflect: have we actually gotten it, or did we skip this step?
What is going to keep them interested to hear more? What's the value we provide and how can we help them see it? Maybe we tell a story they can relate to. Maybe we share a surprising piece of trivia about a piece of music.
How would that interest lead to desire to want what we sell or to be a part of the vision?
Would that desire be strong enough to result in action? What are the specific actions we hope for? Is it to buy one time or buy many times? Is it to actually show up after they buy a ticket? Is it to spread the message to their friends and family? What is the action?
As artists and leaders of organization, we can benefit from thinking about where we honestly find ourselves on the AIDA journey. And we consider how we can better use it to lead the people we serve to take action that would be best for them and our organizations.
Curious? Sign up to receive an email with each new post!
Prefer to watch/listen instead?
Here's the blog in video format!
