Interest is one of the most challenging stages of the AIDA model.: You’ve captured the attention of your target audience, but you now need them to understand your message beyond the initial headline or sound bite.

Gaining the audience interest is more challenging than grabbing their attention and the message must stay focused on the needs of the audience.

“Six ways to make people like you”, part two of “How to Win Friends and Influence People”  provides a great recipe for generating interest, after all it’s much easier to interest someone when they like you, your company or your message:

1.   Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.

2.   Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

3.   Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.

4.   Become genuinely interested in other people.

5.   Smile

6.   Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.