UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS, AKOKA.

GROUP ASSIGNMENT (GROUP 5)

COURSE TITLE: COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT

COURSE CODE: MAS804

LECTURER: PROF. ABIGAIL OGWEZZY-NDISIKA, MNIPR, arpa.

NAME MATRIC NUMBER
Idahosa Loveth 199083184
Owoh Angel Favour 199083153
Apologun Peace Ometere 199083021
Makinde Comfort Ifeoluwa 199083182
Ogun Omamiyenren Emmanuella 199080361
Akinlolu Kehinde Ayobami 199083049
Cynthia Okolo 189083163
Adamaigbo Ozaveshe Peter 199083190
Jaiyesimi Oyinlola Jovitta 199083125
Lambe Shukurat Moroyinola 199083166
Olagbenro Opeyemi Bolarinwa 199083045
Elueme Grace Chineyenwa 199083059
Elegushi Temitope 199083149
Ogungbo Shamsideen T 199083057
Adegun Abiodun Mariana 199083156
Mariam Egbeyemi 199083128
Egunjobi Adetoro Deborah 199083179
Oloyede Lukmon Moyosore 199083158
Ogundeji Babatunde 189023234
Olamipo Olanrewaju Adebowale 199083108

AIDA AND HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION PARTTERN

THE AIDA MODEL

ORIGIN

The AIDA model was developed in 1898 by St Elmo Lewis in an attempt to explain how
personal selling works. Some say it has been used for over three centuries. It is a model used
in marketing /advertising that describes the steps a customer goes through in the process of
purchasing a product.

The AIDA model is just one of a class of models known as hierarchy of effects models or
hierarchical models, all of which imply that consumers move through a series of steps or
stages when they make purchase decisions. AIDA model describe the cognitive steps or
stages that occur from the very first moment a consumer is aware of a product or brand to the
actual moment the purchase is made.
The model explains how your content will ideally attract attention to your brand, generate
interest in your product or service, stimulate a desire for it, and spur action to try or buy it.
The acronym AIDA represents:

A---stands for Attention

I---stands for Interest

D---stands for Desire

A---stands for Action

PURPOSE OF AIDA MODEL

The AIDA model is a purchasing funnel where buyers go to and fro at each stage to support
them in making the final purchase. It is important to know that AIDA is a communication
model used by firms to help them sell their products and services.
The AIDA model, tracing the customer journey through Awareness, Interest, Desire and
Action, is perhaps the best-known marketing model amongst all the classic marketing
models. Many marketers find AIDA useful since we apply this model daily, whether
consciously or subconsciously, when we're planning our marketing communications strategy.

The AIDA Model Hierarchy

The steps involved in an AIDA model are:

First Step: Attention

The first step in marketing or advertising is to consider how to attract the attention of
consumers. Often, the attention part is overlooked by many marketers. It is assumed that the
product or service already got the attention of the consumers – which may or may not be the
case. In any event, don’t just assume that everyone is already aware of your product. One of
the best approaches to attracting consumer attention is what’s called “creative disruption” –
breaking existing patterns of behavior through a highly creative message. This can be done in
several ways:

 Placing advertisements in unexpected situations or locations. This is often referred to

as guerrilla marketing.
 Creating shock in advertisements through provocative imagery.
 An intensely targeted message. This is also referred to as personalization.
Essentially, the goal is to make consumers aware that a product or service exists.

The attention comes through regular dissemination of appropriates information in the right
doses and through the right media about the product and services.

The culmination of attention getting action comes by way of appropriate use of the
advertising media to provide suitable and favourable information at appropriate intervals. A
key component of attention creation is the USP of a product or services. The Unique Selling
Proposition (USP) is that element or attribute that distinguishes the product or services from
the others in a similar category. For instance, Omo detergent puts forward its extra –
brillant wash....

The rudimentary step or approach in advertising is attracting attention. The element of the
promotional -mix -publicity, advertising, personal selling and sales promotion interaction to
draw attention to the product and services.

Second Step: Interest

Creating interest is generally the hardest part. For example, if the product or service is not
inherently interesting, this can be very difficult to achieve. Make sure that advertising
information is broken up and easy to read, with interesting subheadings and illustrations.
Focus on what is most relevant for your target market in relation to your product or service,
and on conveying only the most important message you want to communicate to consumers.
A good example of this is Cowbell Milk “Cowbell our milk” ad campaign that focused on
the fact that it is made from fresh milk and it is creamier compared to that of their
competitors’

Once the consumer is aware that the product or service exists, the business must work on
increasing the potential customer’s interest level. The key to the interest stage of AIDA is to
make the problem personal so that you are only speaking to the prospect and no one else. In
order for your advertising or marketing message to succeed in keeping your prospect
engaged, you must give them a reason that will trigger their interest.

Third Step: Desire

After the consumer is interested in the product or service, then the goal is to make consumers
desire it, moving their mindset from “I like it” to “I want it.” The second and third steps of
the AIDA model go together. As you are hopefully building interest in a product or service, it
is important that you help customers realize why they “need” this product or service.

Think about how the content in infomercials is presented – they aim to provide interesting
information on the product, along with the benefits of buying it – benefits that ideally make
consumers want the product more and more. Infomercials do this extremely well by showing
the product being used in several creative situations. Convey to the audience the value of the
product or service, and why they need it in their life.

The desire stage is where you show your prospects exactly how your offerings or what you
deliver can solve their problems. Here is where you will explain the features of your product
or service and all the related benefits and your audience/prospect should be able to see how
your offerings can make their lives better.

For example, After watching series of AY Live advert campaign on how great the show is
going to be most of the target audience will likely want to go for the show.

Fourth Step: Action

The last step of the AIDA model is getting your consumer to initiate action. The
advertisement should end with a call to action – a statement that is designed to get an
immediate response from the consumer. For example, Netflix uses persuasive text to
convince the consumer to try their free trial. Netflix communicates how convenient their
product is and highlights its value, then urges consumers to sign up for a free trial.

Good advertising should elicit a sense of urgency that motivates consumers to take action
RIGHT NOW. One commonly used method for achieving this goal is making limited time
offers (such as free shipping/offers). Once you have succeeded in creating desire, the next
step is to persuade prospects that they should take immediate action. Advertisers might create
a sense of urgency by offering the deal for a limited time or by including a special bonus to
those who act fast.
The ultimate goal is to drive the receiver of the marketing campaign to initiate action and
purchase the product or service. Therefore, the AIDA model says that Awareness leads to
Interest, which leads to Desire, and finally, Action.

How can AIDA Model can be applied to marketing planning?

AIDA model could be referred to as a communications model rather than a decision-making

model, as it's identifying to companies, how and when to communicate during each of the
stages as consumers will be using different platforms, engaging at different touchpoints and
requiring different information throughout the stages from various sources. So using this to
help plan your tailored and targeted communication campaign may be a start.

Ask yourself some key questions throughout the stages:

Awareness: How do we make buyers aware of our products or services? What is our
outreach strategy? What is our brand awareness campaign? Which tools or platforms do we
use? What should the messages be?

Interest: How will we gain their interest? What is our content strategy? Social proof
available to back up our reputation? How do we make this information available and where ?
ie. on website, via videos, customer ratings,

Desire: What makes our product or service desirable? How do we interact personally to make
an emotional connection? Online chat? Immediate response to Twitter feed? Share tips and
advice?

Action: What are the call to actions and where do we place them? Is it easy for consumers to
connect and where would they expect to find it? Think about which marketing
channel/platform you are using and how to engage ie. across emails, website, landing pages,
inbound phone calls etc.

Retention: What is the proposition to retain loyalty? At what stage do we encourage this on-
line and off-line, and how?

AIDA MODEL

STAGES ELICITED RESPONSE

ATTENTION I notice

INTEREST I become curious

DESIRE I decide to buy

ACTION I buy and use

An Example of the AIDA Model- Cola Zero

A typical example of the 4 Key Stages in Advertising Process (AIDA model) 1. Obtaining
Attention of potential customer 2. Evoking Interest 3. Developing the desire 4. Inducing
Action

1. Attention • An advertisement must grab the attention of a potential customer. • Coca-Cola

Zero original campaign consisted of posters on bus stations and billboards with no notion that
it was an advertisement • The posters were black and had peculiar red questions written on
them. • The campaign successfully attracted attention of massive amounts of people before
they even knew what it was about.

2. Interest • It is essential to keep the potential customers interested in the advertisement. •

The above stated campaign formed the questions always incorporating the symbol or the
word ‘zero’. • When people started noticing that this was the only consistent thing (in
addition to appearance) in the posters, they became interested to know what it represented.

3. Desire • Building up the desire to have or use a product/service in potential customers

consist mostly of accumulation of positive arguments. • The Coca Cola Zero campaign
introduced the beverage and focused on advertising the fact that although it does not contain
sugars. • It tastes the same as the original beverage. This stimulated customers to give it a try!

4. Action • A percentage of customers has fallen off as each stage progressed. • Who
acquired a positive impression of the product/service which was advertised and the only thing
which can now be done is offering them a sale. • This is a stage where you win some and you
lose some. • However, if the work in the previous stages was done well, a solid ground is
made for potential future transactions.

Using the AIDA model for social media marketing

Whilst AIDA is a marketing model that was established long before social media even
existed it doesn’t mean that the model isn’t relevant for social media marketing. Below is
how one can use the AIDA model to be strategic with social media marketing content.

It's no longer a relationship purely between the buyer and the company since social media has
extended it to achieving the different goals of AIDA via information added by other
customers via social networks and communities.

Awareness

 Using hashtags
 Ask people to tag others
 Run paid adverts
 Ask people to share a post
Interest and Desire

 Going into details about your products and services

 Case studies from previous clients
 Sharing personal stories

Action

 Buying something
 Booking a discovery call
 Requesting further information
 Sending you a DM
 Joining your email list
 Visiting a blog post
 Listening to a podcast episode
 Watching a video

Criticisms and New Developments in the AIDA Model

Many criticize the AIDA model for being too simplistic. For example, the AIDA model does
not take into consideration different possible points of sale. Marketing will be very different
for a customer visiting an online store than it is for a customer looking to purchase a new car
at a dealership. Therefore, there are many variations of the AIDA model such as the:

AIDCAS (Action, Interest, Desire, Confidence, Action, Satisfaction) model

REAN (Reach, Engage, Activate, and Nurture) model

NAITDASE (Need, Attention, and Interest; Trust, Design, and Action; Satisfaction and
Evaluation) model

HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION PATTERN

Horizontal Communication is the flow of information between individuals holding the same
position, rank and status in organization hierarchy. It is often referred to as lateral
communication

It is the type of communication where information flows in the same direction from various
sources. It is also known as a conversation taking place among the same level group of
people. For example, communication among different managers of different departments.

SCHOLARS ACCOUNT
According to David. H. Molt “Horizontal Communication is the process of exchanging
information between peers at any organizational level usually to co-ordinate activities.”

Willam A. Conboy said “Horizontal communication is the exchanges between and among
agencies and personnel on the same level of the organization chart.”

Boree and his associates said that “Horizontal Communication is the flow of information
across departmental boundaries either laterally or diagonally”

R.W Griffin said, “Horizontal Communication is the communication that flows laterally
within the organization: It involves colleagues and peers at the same level of organization and
may involve individuals from several different organizational units.”

PURPOSE

To coordinate the activities of various departments and divisions

To achieve organization goal.

INTENTION OF THE INFORMATION

Information shared through horizontal communication channel is intended to solve a

problem, encourage collaboration and coordination of tasks, resolving conflict and resolve
conflict.

Length of Communication Channel

The channel of communication is shorter in horizontal communication as it only involves

sender and receiver. 
Methods of Horizontal Communication

1. Oral Communication

Oral communication means communicating through speech, phone call, video calls, one on
one conversations, etc. This way of communication is the most effective way of
communication as the speaker and the listener are both face to face or are in direct contact
with each other, therefore the chances of miss-communication decrease while communicating
orally.

Many business organizations believe in this concept of communication and hence follow it in
their work-frame. One such example of this communication is the meetings happening in the
business organization. The only drawback here is that if the listener has not recorded or kept
anything evidential, then the information will get lost and effectiveness will be hampered.
But some organization still prefers the old school way of communication.

2. Written Communication

Written communication involves conversation’s passage through print media like letters,
memos, applications, mails, etc. It is believed to an effective way of communication as the
information received by a user is evident to him, and anyone cannot deny the written report at
times of disputes.

Therefore most of the business organizations still use this form of communication. It is
crucial to notice a few drawbacks too in written communication that if sometime the piece of
information gets lost or destroyed the data cannot be retained, and in such a case nothing will
work effectively in the organization.

The old school way of communication that is primarily mentioned is the Vertical way of
communication is written communication. While oral communication is considered more
prominent in horizontal communication, written communication also plays a notable role in
it.

Therefore, it can be concluded from the above paragraphs that both are important in an
organization to work efficiently. A mix of oral and written communication makes the
organization operate smoothly.

TYPES OF HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION

1. Presentations: Presentations are usually overseen by all levels of management to

judge the efficacy of ideas. The director, manager and peers may comprise the
audience, so one must tailor words appropriately. It is important to refine the speaking
skills in this scenario to get your ideas across with clarity.
2. Meetings: Whether it is status updates or strategy meetings, they are run by managers
because this way they can assign tasks and monitor your progress. One may schedule
meetings with the team members for a more informal catch-up, these can be fun and
team building activities with quizzes, games, and informal conversations.
3. Brainstorming: One of the most effective forms of horizontal communication is
brainstorming. You get a chance to speak your mind and share your idea with your
team which can also include your manager.
There are many other types of communication that flow laterally from watercooler
conversations to Friday catchups, organizations find creative and engaging ways to encourage
interaction. This helps build interpersonal skills for lasting workplace relationships.

Key characteristics of Effective Horizontal Communication

1. Easy to understand

The message communicate must be simplified so that anybody receiving it can understand it
in one go. It is essential to avoid misunderstandings among the sender and the receiver, which
in large will create chaos.

2. Attentiveness

It is essential that whenever peers are trying to communicate something, we give them all
ears. Not paying attention to someone’s message can be very unfruitful as we might miss
points that are important for increasing productivity.
3. Broad-mindedness

Sometimes, due to our narrow mindedness, we misinterpret the context of the message that
has been communicated, which leads to arguments and fights. This is known as
miscommunication. To avoid these issues and make communication effective, the person
receiving the message must be a broad-minded person.

4. Remembering the message

Remembrance is the most important principle for effective horizontal communication to take
place. One must be able to recall the conversation that they had with the other person so that
the conversation can run smoothly among them.

These are some of the tips on how a conversation can be made effective amongst the people
at the same level.

How Effective is Horizontal Communication in a Business Environment?

A horizontal way of communication involves coordination amongst various people of the

same rank or position, along with the managers of different departments to communicate
effectively.

When every department comes together to achieve the objectives of the organization, the
efficiency increases, in this way, the business earns a profit.

As the business is a ‘fist’ and the various departments in the organization are the ‘fingers’ and
fingers, if joined together becomes a fist that can fight from every loss and turn them into
profits.

This is how the horizontal way of communication is valid for a business environment for its
survival.

MERITS OF HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION

 Helps build morale among employees because they feel heard and appreciated.
 Communicating with coworkers allows employees to let off steam, be proactive and
share ideas freely.
 It creates a liberating environment where employees can ease into their roles without
the pressure of pleasing someone.
DEMERITS OF HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION

 Personal bias can hamper judgment and force people to distort messages at will.
 It is not the most ideal setup for employees who prefer structure and order in the
workplace.
 Organizations may find it difficult to hold people accountable for errors because
everyone contributes almost equally.
Every person must be treated equally to function correctly. As it is said; Unity can make the
team stronger”.

CHALLENGES OF HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION

Some barriers to horizontal communication are differences in style, personality, or roles

amongst co-workers. According to Professor Michael Papa, horizontal communication
problems can occur because of territoriality, rivalry, specialization, and simple lack of
motivation. Territoriality occurs when members of an organization regard other people’s
involvement in their area as inappropriate or unwelcome. Rivalry between individuals or
teams can lead to reluctance to cooperate and share information. Specialization is a problem
that occurs when there is a lack of uniform knowledge or vocabulary within or between
departments. Finally, horizontal communication often fails simply because organization
members are unwilling to expend the additional effort to reach out beyond their immediate
team to others at the same level.

An organization that has relied on rigid, formal styles of communication in the past may find
it difficult to switch to more employee-directed, horizontal communication. Lingering
expectations from the old system can significantly inhibit the implementation of horizontal
communication. For example, employees may be reluctant to initiate communications if they
are used to conversations being started only by management. Finally, corporations that
operate in different geographic locations, particularly internationally, may struggle with
horizontal communication across time zones as the confront the barriers of local idioms,
customs, and languages.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded from the above paragraphs that the most used and effective way of
communication amongst peers at a similar hierarchical level in the business organization is
the Horizontal way of communication.

As it facilitates growth and also improves coordination among the organization, it is one of
the most popular ways of communication in today’s world as people even hire employees
from work-from-home by opting for befitting horizontal communication strategies. This is
the present way of communication.
REFERENCE

Lewis E. St. Elmo (1880) History & Approach • Coined by the American sales and
advertisement

Lewis, E. St. Elmo. (1899) Side Talks about Advertising. The Western Druggist. (21
February).p.66.

Lewis, E. St. Elmo.(1903) Advertising Department. The Book-Keeper. (15 February).p. 124

Lewis, E. St. Elmo. (1908) Financial Advertising, Indianapolis: Levey Bros. & Company.

Oxford University Press- retrieved (2021) -AIDA in A Dictionary of Marketing

https://vivadifferences.com/understanding-horizontal-vs-vertical-communication/

https://www.marketing91.com/horizontal-communication/

https://www.marketing91.com/horizontal-communication/