The AIDA Model + Virality Loop — Full-Funnel Thinking
FROM “CLICK HERE” BY ALEX SCHULTZ
🎯 The Core Idea
Alex Schultz’s marketing funnel builds on the AIDA model originated by Elias St Elmo Lewis around 1900 — Awareness → Intention → Decision → Action — plus a critical feedback loop: Word of Mouth / Virality that loops satisfied customers back into Awareness for new prospects. This creates a virtuous cycle that compounds growth.
The AIDA + Virality Funnel
Each level narrows. The virality loop feeds back to the top.
🔍 The Four Stages + The Loop
1. Awareness
Question: Do potential customers know you exist?
This is the top of the funnel — the broadest pool. If people don’t know about you, nothing else matters. Brand marketing, TV ads, social presence, PR — these all drive awareness. For many products, the biggest opportunity (and biggest gap) is right here.
2. Intention
Question: Are they interested in what you offer?
Of those who are aware, how many actually show intent? They visit your site, search for your product, engage with your content. This is where messaging and positioning matter — you need to convert recognition into genuine interest.
3. Decision
Question: Are they choosing you over alternatives?
Interested customers now evaluate options. Pricing, reviews, comparisons, trust signals — all play a role. This is where competitors fight hardest and where your value proposition must be crystal clear.
4. Action
Question: Do they buy, sign up, or convert?
The narrowest part of the funnel — the conversion. Remove friction, optimise checkout, make the CTA obvious. Direct response marketing and performance ads live here. But remember: if your top-of-funnel is empty, optimising the bottom won’t save you.
🔄 Word of Mouth / Virality (The Loop)
The key differentiator of Alex’s funnel vs traditional AIDA.
After Action, satisfied customers become advocates. They tell friends, leave reviews, share on social — creating Word of Mouth that feeds back into Awareness for new potential customers. This is the virtuous cycle that compounds growth over time. The best products don’t just convert — they create evangelists.
📐 Pool Size Analysis Framework
The framework is simple: evaluate the size of the pool at each funnel level to find where the biggest opportunity lives — then focus your marketing there.
How to Apply It:
1️⃣ Measure each level — What % of your target market is aware? Interested? Deciding? Converting?
2️⃣ Find the biggest drop-off — Where is the largest gap between levels? That’s your opportunity.
3️⃣ Invest accordingly — If awareness is low, brand marketing. If conversion is low, direct response. If virality is low, improve the product experience.
4️⃣ Re-measure and iterate — The funnel is dynamic. Keep checking where the bottleneck moves to.
“If less than half of your target market knows you exist, you have an awareness problem — not a conversion problem. Fix the top of the funnel first.”
📚 Case Studies from the Book
FOCUS: AWARENESS
🕶️ RayBan Meta Glasses
Less than half of Americans knew RayBan Meta Glasses existed. But when awareness increased, purchase intent rose dramatically. The data was clear: the bottleneck was awareness, not desire. Once people learned these existed, many wanted them. Classic top-of-funnel problem with a top-of-funnel solution.
FOCUS: AWARENESS
💬 WhatsApp in the US
Despite being the world’s dominant messaging app, maybe half of US people were even aware of WhatsApp. The campaign went full-funnel everywhere: TV ads, Meta product placements, and more. When your awareness gap is that large in a key market, you go big on getting the word out.
FOCUS: AWARENESS → COMPETITORS FOCUS: ACTION
🌐 GoDaddy
GoDaddy singlehandedly grew the entire domain hosting industry through splashy Super Bowl ads. They invested massively in awareness — creating demand for the whole category. Competitors then competed at the bottom of the funnel, picking off customers GoDaddy had made aware. Lesson: Sometimes your awareness spend benefits the whole market. Make sure you’re capturing value, not just creating it.
FULL FUNNEL EXAMPLE
🏨 North Norfolk Hotel
A detailed hypothetical illustrating the full funnel for a small business with twelve rooms. Walks through every stage — from making people aware the hotel exists, to building intent through beautiful photography, to decision via competitive pricing and reviews, to easy online booking (action), to earning rave reviews that bring new guests (virality). Proves the funnel works at any scale.
🧠 Full-Funnel Thinking
The traditional split between “brand marketing” (top of funnel) and “direct response / performance marketing” (bottom of funnel) is a false dichotomy.
Brand Marketing
Works at Awareness. Builds recognition, trust, and emotional connection. TV, outdoor, social, PR. Hard to measure directly but creates the pool from which all conversions come.
Direct Response
Works at Action. Drives conversions, clicks, purchases. Search ads, retargeting, email. Easy to measure but limited by the size of the pool above it.
“The marketing funnel doesn’t have a big line in the middle of it. Brand marketing works at awareness, direct response at action — but the best marketing is full-funnel thinking. When brand and direct response act as one, the results are incredible.”
💬 Key Quotes
“It doesn’t matter if you are a massive company with four billion people using your services or a bed and breakfast in North Norfolk with twelve rooms to fill – the principle is the same, and the funnel works.”
— Alex Schultz, Click Here
“The marketing funnel doesn’t have a big line in the middle of it. Brand marketing works at awareness, direct response at action — but the best marketing is full-funnel thinking. When brand and direct response act as one, the results are incredible.”
— Alex Schultz, Click Here
⭐ Golden Rules
1️⃣
Find Your Bottleneck
Use pool size analysis to identify where the biggest drop-off is. Don’t optimise the bottom if the top is empty.
2️⃣
Think Full-Funnel
Brand and direct response aren’t opposing teams. The best results come when they work as one integrated strategy.
3️⃣
The Funnel Works at Any Scale
From four billion users to twelve hotel rooms — the same principles apply. Diagnose the pool, find the gap, invest there.
4️⃣
Build the Virality Loop
Don’t stop at conversion. Delight customers so they generate Word of Mouth that feeds new Awareness. This is where compounding growth happens.
5️⃣
Awareness Creates the Market
GoDaddy grew an entire industry with awareness. If people don’t know you — or your category — exist, nothing downstream matters.
6️⃣
Measure, Then Invest
Don’t guess where the problem is. Measure awareness, intent, decision, and action rates. Data tells you where your marketing spend will have the highest impact.
