The AIDA (Attention/awareness, Interest, Desire, Action) model has been taught on marketing courses for a generation. But when it comes to B2B marketing, I’m convinced it just doesn’t work.

A better model might be “IIIIA” Interest, Interest, Interest, Interest, Action! Does it help Xerox to have people be aware of it? Not unless they are recognised for providing something useful, or doing or saying something really interesting.

The AIDA model suggests B2C marketers should work towards building desire because consumers buy on instinct, for pleasure, or to create and affirm their identity. I just had to buy those new boots, that new phone… often the consumer may not be fully aware of any desire until it has been stimulated by marketing tactics. Demand – in this environment – can be generated. But for enterprise-level B2B solutions, the decision to buy should be based on logical and as-objective-as-possible analysis.

Purchase decisions are often driven by fear, rather than desire. We’ve got to ask whether AIDA is fit-for-purpose, we shouldn’t be using a tool designed for an emotive B2C environment to guide our B2B thinking. I’d like to suggest the following as a more precise model. It focuses on understanding the business pressures decision makers are under. It also maps to the B2B sales cycle. We have called it LEADS:

Locate: In a B2B environment, leads are found, not made. Your first challenge is to locate a business need or goal and to accurately identify the decision makers and influencers in an organisation based on an educated understanding of the market and organisational pressures in play.

Empathise: The catalyst to interest for enterprise level solutions is likely to be either a business problem (eg high customer churn) or business goal (eg, improved customer profitability). It is not enough simply to catch the attention of the decision makers. We must show that we understand their business challenges/goals and articulate clearly how the solution could help address them.

Articulate: The messaging must be firmly grounded in business-led argument. There are examples where emotive language may work to good effect – inspiring fear or aspiration amongst individual targets whose decision to act as sponsor to a solution might affect their career. (ie. no-one ever got fired for buying IBM”) But even in this case, any support for a solution will be based on a rational belief that it will directly benefit the business. Aspirational or fear-based messaging can therefore only be used successfully if it builds on objective argument.

Direct: It is also important to draw a distinction between B2C and enterprise-level B2B marketing when it comes to the call to action. In a B2C scenario, the action is likely to be simple – a one or two step path to purchase. For an enterprise level B2B solution, any decision to purchase is likely to be a lengthy process involving a number of interactions with the suppliers’ marketing and sales teams. It is crucial therefore, that you can illustrate clearly how any solution could be implemented with minimal impact on the target business.

Support: the longer the sales cycle, the greater the need for information at each stage. You need to work with the sales team to support them throughout the process and provide ready access to all the information needed at every stage.