The AIDA model is the foundation of modem marketing and advertising practice. It outlines the four basic steps that can be used to persuade potential customers to make a purchase. The first three steps lie in creating attention (A) , developing interest (I) , and building desire ( D) for the product, before the fourth step—the "call to action" ( A)—tells them exactly how and where to buy. AIDA can channel the customer's feelings through each stage of the communication process toward reaching a sale.
Attracting the customer's attention is the first challenge, and this may be achieved by using an attractive phrase, offering a discount or something for free, or demonstrating how a problem can be solved. Once someone' s attention has been seized, it must be turned into real interest. This is best done by providing a brief description of the product' s benefits to the consumer, rather than simply listing the product's main features. Problem-solving claims, or results-based advice can be used to create desire, before finally laying out a simple way for that desire to be met—the means to buy. On website advertising, this might be a direct link ； on TV or print, it may be a website or telephone number.
In the movie industry, the stages of AIDA are used to great effect. Movie studios often begin their marketing campaigns months in advance with giant posters to attract attention to the new movie. Short attractive previews follow, which develop interest by offering an attractive glimpse of the movie without giving too much away. Desire is inspired by the release of the full preview, which is carefully designed to show the exciting moments of the movie, from special effects to humorous lines of dialogue. On the opening weekend, advertisements in newspapers and on television focus on the movie' s release, inviting the consumer to go and buy a ticket.