The Best 3 marketing frameworks and what they are for. AARRR, AIDA, STDC

The Best 3 marketing frameworks and what they are for.
AARRR, AIDA, STDC

We want to share with you some information about popular Marketing Frameworks that you can use in your projects. This article will be useful for start-ups and companies that are looking for new methods of customer acquisition, development, and retention.

In this article, we will look at 3 practical Marketing Frameworks.

1. AARRR(Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral and Revenue)
2. AIDA(Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
3. STDC (See, Think, Do and Care)

To make it easier to understand and digest information let’s start with what marketing is.

Marketing is the activity of creating demand and meeting the needs of consumers. The purpose of marketing is to identify and satisfy human and societal needs.

But what is Marketing Framework? It is a tool or a robust framework that helps marketers or business owners ask and answer the right questions to develop marketing strategies and tactics.

Let’s take a look at the first Marketing Framework, which is AARRR

AARRR Metrics – helps you track the strategies and progress of Startups, SaaS companies, and any other type of business. With the help of this framework, you can track the success of the project. For example, from the first visit to the website to making a purchase. The creator of this framework was Dave McLure back in 2007. He is an investor in the venture capital fund 500 Startups.

Because of the similarity of the acronym to the corsairs’ cry of “Aarrrr!”, the method is called “pirate metrics”

In AARRR – presents 5 metrics in which the lifecycle of your customer is specified

1. Acquisition: Users come to your website or mobile app from different marketing channels such as Meta, TikTok, Google, Twitter;
2. Activation: The user starts interacting with your company and has a first user experience, e.g. leaves a request on the website;
3. Retention: The user starts to return to your website or mobile app and make repeat purchases;
4. Referral: The user, after a positive interaction with your company, starts to recommend to their family, and friends, thus reducing your marketing costs;
5. Revenue: The user starts to pay off and bring profit to your company, makes purchases, or, for example, views ads on your app.

It is not necessary to use this marketing framework strictly in this order, you can remain flexible and change the positions of the stages according to your desire to achieve the best results in your case, for example, you can first deal with Retention, then change to Activation, then work on Referral so that users share your product or service, then work on the monetization stage so that you remain profitable (Revenue), and only then start to scale user acquisition (Acquisition).

Using this marketing framework you will be able to build the right marketing strategy for your business, if you haven’t implemented anything for your project yet, try implementing this marketing framework and analyze the results.

Let’s take a look at the second Marketing Framework – AIDA

A very popular marketing framework AIDA is used in almost all marketing textbooks and is often used in performance marketing.

This model is well suited to user interaction to achieve a purchase. Let’s take a closer look at the AIDA framework, it is responsible for certain stages depending on their readiness to purchase and also helps to create demand for a product or service.

AIDA stands for:

• A — attention;

• I — interest;

• D — desire;

• A — action.

How the AIDA model works

1. Attention – users see your ads on Google or Instagram;
2. Interest – you stimulate the user’s interest with your offer;
3. Desire – causes the user to want to buy your product or service;
4. Action – help the user make a purchase or encourage them to take a desired action.

In this case, it is very important to follow all the steps of the funnel and nothing should be changed, for example, after attracting the user should be interested in his offer, then cause the desire to purchase the product and, at the end, bring to the purchase, if something you want to change it is very likely that the funnel will not work.

How the AIDA funnel model can help your business

The AIDA funnel is very easy to use and it will help you build communication with the user so that they are very likely to buy your product or service.

Advantages of the AIDA model:

Simplicity. To use AIDA for your project you don’t need to hire a specialist, you can implement it yourself because its principle is very simple but effective.
Versatility. AIDA will suit any type of business from online bookstores to offline flower stores.
Systematic. AIDA will help you understand at what stage your customers are leaving you and how to get them back.

Where you can use the AIDA funnel

The AIDA model fits almost all types of businesses that work with the customer at every stage of the funnel.

It can be:

1. Online stores
2. All types of online education
3. Online services
4. Online banking
5. Offline business

Marketing framework AIDA use in sales, marketing, to create a sales funnel, it is a good foundation for any type of business, take and apply and get more customers into your business.

Let’s take a look at the third Marketing Framework – STDC

This Marketing Framework STDC was developed by Avinash Kaushik. He is a very popular web analyst and author of best-selling books such as “Web Analytics: An Hour A Day” and “Web Analytics 2.0”. Now let’s delve into his vision of how an online business should be managed and look at 4 basic principles: See, Think, Do, Care

4 main stages of customer communication

The basic see-think-do-care strategy targets potential customers who are at different stages of purchase. 

1. See – the stage when the customer is just getting acquainted with the product or service;
2. Think – the stage when the customer is thinking about purchasing the product or service;
3. Do – the stage when the customer makes a purchase;
4. Care – the stage when we build communication with the customer after the purchase.

Stages of the STDC marketing framework

The wide part of the funnel is See and the narrow part is Care. The main idea of this framework is that the user does not have to move along the funnel, but can easily go straight to the stage of Think or Do for example, after seeing a video review of a product from a blogger in TikTok or reading an article on a blog, go straight to the purchase on your website.

Now let’s take a closer look at each of the steps

See – In the first stage we build brand awareness and attract the attention of potential customers to your company, at this stage we should focus on creating content that will be attractive, recognizable, informative, and useful, for example, it can be video clips on YouTube, publications on Instagram or Facebook, or blog articles.

Think – In the second stage of our strategy, the priority is to generate interest in our products or services. It is important to note that at this stage, potential customers, although aware of your company, may not yet be ready to make a purchase.

Perhaps you could post reviews of your products, especially if your business is an online store. Another way would be to regularly publish articles on your website detailing the progress of your business and the services you provide. This will allow potential customers to better understand how interacting with your company can bring them the desired results. With this information, we aim to facilitate the decision-making process and encourage potential customers to make a purchase.

Do –  In the third stage, we focus on converting our loyal users into buyers and helping them make a purchase. To achieve this goal, we propose to use various mechanisms to stimulate, increase motivation, and provide better conditions for taking a targeted action.

Perhaps using unique offers, discounts and clear calls to action will be effective methods. We also recommend introducing a time-limitation to offers – this not only creates additional demand but also encourages a decision to buy as soon as possible.

Care – In the fourth stage our goal is to retain customers and give them value so that they only use your products or services for a long time, this will help you to increase the LTV of your customers and reduce your marketing costs. Here we recommend focusing on customer service, building positive relationships, and always giving the customer something more than they expect so they realize they are valued and don’t want to lose you don’t hesitate to ask for reviews and share with friends about you.

See-Think-Do-Care – is a powerful tool for almost any type of business, we recommend using this Marketing framework so that you can build a more structured marketing strategy and build relationships at each stage, with your audience and achieve great results.

Let’s summarize

Here we have looked at popular marketing frameworks such as: AARRR, AIDA, STDC which one is best to use for your business is up to you but we know for sure that it is impossible to achieve high business results without a clear marketing strategy, so we recommend using any of these frameworks to get positive results.

Good luck!!!

And of course we can help you to choose the best framework and implement it to your business.

If you don’t know which funnel to choose for your business contact us and we will help you https://deelixy.com/lets-talk/

FAQ

What are marketing frameworks, and why are they important?

Marketing frameworks are structured approaches that help businesses plan, execute, and evaluate their marketing strategies. They provide a clear pathway for understanding customer behavior and optimizing marketing efforts. Using these frameworks can improve decision-making, enhance campaign effectiveness, and ensure alignment with business goals.

Can you give an example of the AARRR framework?

The AARRR framework, also known as the Pirate Metrics, includes five stages: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral. For instance, an e-commerce company might use this framework to acquire customers through social media ads (Acquisition), ensure a positive first purchase experience (Activation), engage customers with email follow-ups (Retention), increase sales through upselling (Revenue), and encourage customers to refer friends for discounts (Referral).

What is the AIDA marketing framework?

The AIDA framework stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. It guides marketers in creating effective communication strategies. For example, an advertisement may first capture the viewer’s Attention with a striking image, generate Interest with a compelling message, create Desire by highlighting benefits, and finally prompt Action with a clear call to purchase.

How does the STDC framework differ from other marketing frameworks?

The STDC framework stands for See, Think, Do, and Care. It emphasizes understanding the customer journey in the context of digital marketing. Unlike AIDA, which focuses more on the sales funnel, STDC addresses the different stages of customer engagement. It helps businesses tailor their marketing efforts to nurture potential customers at each stage, from awareness (See) to post-purchase loyalty (Care).

How can I choose the right digital marketing strategy framework for my business?

Choosing the right online marketing framework depends on your business goals, target audience, and the specific challenges you face. Consider what stage of the customer journey you want to focus on, and select a framework that aligns with those objectives. For example, if you’re looking to improve customer retention, the AARRR framework may be most suitable, while the AIDA framework can be effective for generating initial interest and sales.

Jane Shulzhenko - Senior media buyer

I'm a Meta(Facebook/Instagram) Ads and TikTok Ads expert with 5+ years of experience.