funnel framework
The AIDA Model: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
AIDA is the original marketing funnel, describing the four mental steps a buyer moves through: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. More than a century old, it remains the skeleton under almost every funnel model that followed.
Where it comes from
Coined by advertising pioneer E. St. Elmo Lewis around 1898, AIDA is the oldest formal funnel model in marketing and the ancestor of every stage diagram since.
The stages
- Attention. Capture awareness; the buyer notices you exist.
- Interest. Earn engagement; the buyer wants to know more.
- Desire. Build preference; the buyer wants what you offer.
- Action. Prompt the step; the buyer buys or converts.
When to use it
Reach for AIDA when you want a fast, intuitive check that a single asset, ad, or page moves someone from cold to converted. It is a copywriting and creative lens, not an operating model for a whole program.
How it maps to the marketinque funnel
AIDA compresses into the front of our funnel: Attention and Interest are the attract stage, Desire is positioning doing its work, and Action is capture. It stops at the sale, which is exactly the gap the bowtie and lifecycle models exist to fill.
Related frameworks
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