9.6 AIDA (Attention—Interest—Desire—Action) Model

In the AIDA (Attention—Interest—Desire—Action) Model, the speaker structures the presentation based on the stages an audience member experiences when receiving and considering a persuasive message. The AIDA model proposed by Edward Kellogg Strong in 1925 originated in the advertising and marketing field (van der Plight & Vliek, 2017, p. 9) and has become more widely used for a variety of persuasive messaging purposes. AIDA steps are simply described as follows:

Attention: gain the attention of the audience by learning more about your subject particularly given its impact on them personally or in some way that impacts them personally (i.e., financially, an issue that is important to them, etc.). You can do this using various attention getting devices such as statistics, quotes, images, stories, etc., and clearly state persuasive intent to connect the subject to the audience.

Interest: Gain the audience’s interest in learning more about the persuasive topic and how it relates to them through developing the problem-related aspects of the subject.

Desire: Create a desire or need in the audience for a solution to the problem previously outlined and use motivational techniques to begin inspiring the audience to do something to address the issues described in the presentation.

Action: Provide the audience with a specific and clear call to action which provides steps for the audience to take. The actions will depend on the focus of the presentation. For a speech describing the impact of a type of cancer, which includes a discussion of a hopeful new treatment being researched, a call to action could be for the audience to support through voting or donate to help support expanded research and testing of the new treatment. Please keep in mind that the action section would also incorporate steps of how to act and what to do next by providing the audience with a phone number to call, event to attend, or a QR quote to donate.

This model can be used for a variety of persuasive messages since it builds interest and motivation throughout the presentation. The elements in the basic organizational patterns for persuasive messages (such as including an attention getter or clearly stating the persuasive objective of the presentation) are present in AIDA and in Monroe’s Motivated Sequence, and the logical elements of persuading are present as well. The goal is to use these techniques and strategies to develop a strong persuasive message that is appropriate to your topic, the occasion, and your audience.