In the 126 years since the AIDA model was introduced, the world has changed dramatically. The advent of digital advertising, ever-evolving social networks and artificial intelligence has revolutionised the way companies reach and interact with their customers. It’s no secret that traditional sales models are no longer sufficient in today’s fast-paced and digitally driven world.

While the traditional AIDA model has served marketers well over the years, it is no longer effective in today’s world. Today’s customers are better informed due to a multitude of channels and use this knowledge to make purchasing decisions.  For this reason, modern marketers need to focus on building ongoing relationships with their customers rather than following a traditional, linear buying journey.

This is where the messy middle approach comes into play – a departure from traditional sales models that Google published in 2020 as part of a comprehensive study on B2C shopping behaviour. It recognises that the customer journey is often complex and uncertain, with multiple touchpoints across different channels. Marketers need to take a more nuanced and flexible approach to engaging and converting customers, recognising that the path to purchase is often not linear, nor are they the only touchpoint for the customer.

Digital marketing means much more than just choosing a technical solution. Vision, strategy, processes and your own organisation must be harmonised.

Modern marketers must recognise that they cannot solve strategic and process-related problems by choosing just any marketing tool. Every company is unique and must define its own CX strategy for its organisation and introduce suitable measures to implement it. It is important to drive change towards agility, flexibility and a data-driven organisation that focuses on the customer and responds flexibly to changes in customer behaviour or new preferences. In addition to a clear communication strategy and a flexible and agile organisation, the continuous collection and evaluation of customer data is also important here in order to respond to changes in customer behaviour and constantly optimise your own marketing measures.

Here too, the principle is to deliver the right message, at the right time, on the right channel, in a personalised way. 

Marketers need to adopt new approaches that focus on an ongoing relationship with customers and adapt to changing consumer behaviour and preferences.

Is your sales strategy outdated and in need of fresh impetus? No wonder, because the best-known and still widely used model is already 126 years old.

Back then, in 1898, people were living in a time of great technological and economic changes and progress. Industrialisation had fundamentally changed production, goods and the way people worked and lived. Advertising and sales were mainly conducted through print media.

Newspapers, magazines and, above all, posters were used by companies and retailers to attract the attention of passers-by. Online advertising was unthinkable at the time, and radio and television did not yet exist either. Nevertheless, the first well-known sales models developed during this time.