Has it been one week already? Wow, how time flies by.
Last week I wrote about 5 smart marketing moves you can make to boost your real estate business without breaking the bank. #4 was to “Keep ‘AIDA’ on your mind.” In his comment, J. Lamar Ferren asked that I go into some more detail about the AIDA formula. So without further ado. . .
What is AIDA and How Can it Help in Your Real Estate Marketing?
AIDA was devised, by the real Mad Men, as a way to walk a prospect through the psychological steps he takes on the way to engaging your service. For real estate investors, AIDA is the process by which you convince a seller to sell to you, a buyer to buy or a renter to rent. For real estate agents, AIDA is the process by which a prospect becomes a client.
I figure it’ll be much more fun to look at AIDA in action, rather than read me just blathering on about it (I’ll do that, too, of course 
). So I’ve copied a real estate agent’s postcard below. Take a look:
Step 1: A–Attention
The first step is to grab your prospect’s attention. In the case of direct mail, like our postcard, attention is what will compel your prospect to retrieve the card from the junk pile. Here, the attention-getter is the image of the mouse and the cheese-stocked trap. It’s cute. It’s unusual. It’s kind of clever. The short phrase, “Don’t get trapped” is the perfect blend of intriguing and slightly mysterious, enticing me to turn the card over.
Step 2: I–Interest
When I turn the card over, the first block of copy plays on my interest in the theme of being trapped. The agent, Bob, clearly understands the situation I’m in (as a Phoenix-area homeowner, with housing prices down 30+ percent). As I realize that Bob understands my situation, my interest grows. This is someone who knows my problem.
Step 3: D–Desire
Now it’s time to link your prospect’s problem or dream (and the interest you’ve generated by showing you understand that problem or dream) with your service. Bob starts building desire by telling me that I don’t have to suffer with this problem. I don’t have to feel trapped!
All I have to do is find the right real estate agent. . .
Bob cinches the deal by explaining that, indeed, he is that right agent. But he doesn’t leave it there. He explains, in the third block of text, how exactly he will help me alleviate my problem. Why he is the real estate agent I should hire.
Step 4: A–Action
Last, but quite certainly not least, Bob tells me what he wants me to do. He’s caught my attention. He’s won my interest. He’s cultivated my desire. I want to do what he asks.
In this case, Bob asks me to call him for a free consultation. Of course, I do. Why wouldn’t I? He’s convinced me that he can solve the very problem I’ve been suffering with. At least, convinced me enough to spend some time on the phone with him, where he will continue to build my desire for his service and, eventually, ask me to take the ultimate action – sign a listing agreement.
When marketing your properties or your service, walk your prospects through the 4 steps of AIDA. Then watch those prospects convert to clients like you never thought possible.
Onward and upward.
Molly Castelazo
Have a marketing topic you’d like me to cover? Write a comment, send me an e-mail or a Tweet and let me know!
I started a “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” Friday feature on my own blog, but I’d like to move it over here to BiggerPockets, if you’re game. The deal: You send me your marketing pieces and I’ll critique them. The benefit: You get easy tips on improving your marketing for free, and other real estate agents and investors get to learn what works, and what doesn’t. Send your submissions to molly@cmrealestatemarketing.com. I look forward to it!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! Thanks lot Molly, I really appreciate your breakdown of the AIDA Formula. Although I can’t say I agree with Tyler about direct mail. I think people keep using it because it works. However, I will agree with the environmental disaster part. lol What a tree killer!
.-= J. Lamar Ferren´s last blog ..Top 5 Creative Real Estate Investing Strategies In This Economy =-.
Tyler & J. Lamar – thanks for your comments.
It’s true that direct mail works (if you do it right). Because of that, people will continue to use it. That said, there are ways to use direct mail more sustainably – using recycled paper, for example, and ensuring that your mailing list is composed of people who could really use your services (to minimize the number of postcards that end up in the trash).
And you’re welcome, J. Lamar. =)
Molly
Advertising using postcards can provide the business high impact results in a relatively short time. Because when your prospect customer received a business post card in the mail that person turn it over and read who sent it. Unlike mailing out letters, which often times end up in the trash never opened, never read.
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