If Ferris Bueller Was a Copywriter (How to Write Persuasive Content ...

Ooooh. Oh Yeah. Ohhh Yeah.

The opening rift to the ending of Ferris Bueller? immediately hypnotizes you into sticking around to find out what happened to Mr. Rooney.

The beat immediately conjured up a frenzy of 80?s youth longing for a sequel when played during a 2012 Super Bowl ad featuring Mathew Broderick .

The 1986 hit Ferris Bueller?s Day Off made skipping school the ultimate fantasy for kids across the nation. The movie itself demonstrates how you can use the power of your persona to create a brand ? but we?ll save that for a future post.

?Life moves pretty fast. You don?t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.? ? Tweet This!

Today, let?s find out what can you learn about brand copywriting from this pop culture sensation? I?ll sum it up in one word: AIDA.

AIDA is an acronym used by copywriters to develop interesting content that persuades the reader to act. It stands for:

• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

You will typically find AIDA used in sales copy but you can apply it to all sorts of your brand content including blog posts, emails, and website content.
I was recently reminded of this technique from Neville Medhora in his Kopywriting Kourse. You should check it out ? he gives lots of valuable advice and tips in it (and no, that?s not an affiliate link).

But back to Bueller and copywriting for your brand?

Ferris Bueller, AIDA, and Your Personal Brand

Check out how AIDA was used to persuade movie goers to stay all the way through the end of the movie and credits:

Attention: Ferris starts off the last scene by reminding the audience that life moves pretty fast and if you don?t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Interest: The scene cuts to Mr. Rooney, disheveled and beat up. He limps along the side of the road and the school bus stops next to him.

Desire: The scene progresses with the audience wanting to find out the answers to their internal questions like: What happens to Mr. Rooney? Will he get on the bus? Will he eat the gummy bear? Has his day of chasing Ferris finally changed his attitude towards students?

Action: The film cuts back to Ferris Bueller as he peaks around his bedroom door. Speaking directly to the camera, he tells the audience exactly what they need to do next: ?You?re still here? It?s over. Go home. Go!?

How to Use the Ferris Bueller Technique for Your Brand Content

So now that you have an idea of how the AIDA technique in pop cultural movies, let?s take some action steps for applying it to your brand content.

1. Begin with the end in mind. Start off by writing down what you want the reader to do after they?ve read your content. Examples of actionable steps include creating brand awareness by having the reader share the article with their friends through social media, subscribe to your e-course or newsletter, or to purchase your product/or services.
2. Consult your buyer persona worksheet to help you identify the needs, desires, and emotional triggers of your target audience.
3. Type the words ATTENTION, INTEREST, DESIRE, and ACTION on your document. This is one of those cool tips Neville shares in his Kopywriting Kourse that I spoke about earlier. Leave a couple of lines of space between each word so you can type in your copy. As you write your copy, you will erase these markers.
4. Attention ? Grab the reader?s attention through a compelling headline. A simple way to create attention grabbing headlines is to look at the latest copy of your Cosmo or Esquire magazine. Then simply substitute your subject matter in place of theirs. For instance if you sell security alarms, ?The Secret Life of Jon Hamm? (a headline from this month?s Esquire Magazine) could become ?The Secret Life of Home Intruders?.
5. Interest ? next, you?ll want to further engage the reader by revealing something of interest such as a question, fact, or statistic.
6. Desire ? the meat of your copy is in the desire portion. This is where you speak to the reader in terms of what is important to them. You use desire in your copywriting by further telling a story around what the reader wants to accomplish. You can also give bullet points of ?how to tips? like I am right here.
7. Action ? the final step is to specifically tell the reader what they need to do next. Just as Ferris Bueller tells the audience to go home, the movie is over ? you need to tell your audience what you want them to do (refer to step one).

Keep the conversation flowing? Copywriting is an art form that all entrepreneurs need to learn and, of course, there are many more styles and techniques that I haven?t included here. Leave a comment to share your copywriting secrets and tell me if you have had success using the AIDA technique.

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