6 steps to write good soft articles, and you can promote well with little investment

Hello everyone, today I am here to share with you: How to write daily PR soft articles in our PR work.

This course consists of three modules:

• Part 1: How to understand the definition of soft copy;
• Part II: Classification of soft articles;
• The third part is the practical methods of operating news soft articles.

How to understand the definition of soft article? What exactly is soft copy? Do we usually write soft articles in the company? I'm sure everyone has written about their first impression.

So what exactly is soft copy? Let me first share a few concepts with you: What is soft copy?

The official statement is: Companies plan and publish promotional and explanatory articles in newspapers, magazines or on the Internet to enhance their brand image and reputation and promote their marketing .

This is actually a very traditional and old saying.

We in the advertising industry call it soft advertising as opposed to hard advertising.

For example, the Fanke style that was popular in the past few years is similar to this. Similar to creative advertising, this type of content is considered soft content in the advertising industry.

But in fact, this statement is actually quite simplistic in my opinion. We have now entered an era of mobile Internet . What do we have to say in this era? I summarized it in one statement:

Soft articles have action goals. No matter which category of soft article it is, as long as it has the ability to spread and tell stories, it is a soft article.

Let me share with you a passage from Luo Ji Si Wei Luo Pang’s words:

"Have you ever realized that a person's ability to express themselves in writing has become particularly important in this era? Most of our interpersonal interactions take place without meeting each other. We submit resumes online, hold meetings with people in WeChat groups , and negotiate with suppliers via email. In many cases, using copywriting to persuade target customers, eyes, smiles, voices, and gestures are simply useless.

You have to count on impressing others with words, and words have their advantages everywhere. The opportunities for online dating are more than those for other people, but unfortunately most people’s language training is not sufficient to cope with such social changes. ”

I think this is how we feel now. We have very few opportunities to meet each other. For example, we are taking this course together now, which might have been necessary in the classroom a few years ago, but today it can all be done online. If my writing skills are not good today, people might not like to listen to me after one listen. The same goes for soft articles.

If the soft article is not well written, people will not like to read it. Therefore, I would like to say one more thing here: since we are engaged in the profession of soft articles and PR, the company is currently in urgent need of using the power of PR to promote its image. We have to put more effort into the text, for ourselves, for our careers, and for our company.

How do startups use soft articles? Before I start, I would like to share a short story with you. Some of you may have heard the story of "A divorce case caused by a lion". Here’s the story:

Dayong was on a business trip and suddenly came home. Hearing a man snoring at the door, Dayong walked away silently, sent a text message to his wife, asking for a divorce, then threw away his SIM card and left. Three years later, they met again in a city, and the wife asked why he left without saying goodbye? Dayong told his wife what happened at that time, and his wife turned and left, saying lightly that it was Ruixing's little lion.

This is a soft article that Rising wrote when it first started its business. It cleverly implanted Rising’s anti-virus software into the article. This should be considered a soft article in the form of a short story.

1. How do startups use soft articles? There are 6 steps in total

Step 1: Clear goals

How to define your goals? For example, when the copywriters in our company are writing soft articles, they are sometimes confused and don’t know where to start. Sometimes the content is just a patchwork, with content pieced together from here and there. The quality of such soft articles is definitely not very high. In the final analysis, it can be summed up in one sentence: there is no clear goal.

Therefore, when we write soft articles, we must figure out what kind of people the soft articles are targeting, what kind of media and websites they browse, and what they are most concerned about? We need to analyze these clearly before we start writing soft articles, and also observe what communication methods they are most likely to accept, etc.

This actually lays a very good foundation for the writing of soft articles and the next step of release and promotion .

Let me remind you all: Only if we base our soft articles on the real needs of the target group can they resonate with readers and achieve better results.

Step 2: Develop a habit

Publishing and writing soft articles must be a gradual process. Soft articles certainly cannot be as simple and crude as hard advertisements.

For example, some time ago, the Guazi.com used car trading platform had overwhelming advertisements all over the country. It was a simple and crude form, and the advertising costs were relatively high. But for most startups, advertising costs are still calculated in the beginning when the company is still small.

Soft articles are a very cost-effective form of advertising that subtly influences the thoughts of the target audience through text. Through this long-term, step-by-step publicity, we can slowly achieve the effect of quantitative change to qualitative change.

Therefore, we need to develop a habit. If we want to write soft articles, we must update our articles persistently, rather than posting one article today and then waiting until I have something to do next time to post another one. Soft articles definitely require long-term planning.

For example, out of the 12 months of a year, I publish 3 articles a month, and the format of each article is all planned. This is a long-term habit. If we only update it once or twice occasionally, I suggest not doing it. Because the ultimate goal of soft articles is to achieve matrix-style communication, and matrix-style communication is to cultivate our potential and existing target customers and target groups over the long term. Therefore, it is recommended that you update your WeChat account regularly.

In addition, soft articles involving other external publicity should also be sent to the media. My suggestion is: according to the direction of our corporate brand and products, formulate a marketing plan for soft articles, make a time schedule and personnel arrangement schedule, that is, implement it specifically to each responsible person, and then monitor the time and coordinate the work.

In this way, you can strive to update articles on a regular basis and in a fixed amount every day. If time is tight, you can update them on a fixed number of days a week. This way you can maintain a good habit in the long run.

Step 3: Search to be pleasing

Why is this something to be pleasing? Because everyone is working on keywords .

Those who work in the Internet companies are generally aware that keywords are what users enter into search engines . They can summarize the information and content that users are looking for to the greatest extent, which actually plays a vital role in the promotion of soft articles. Only by choosing the right keywords can you improve the search ranking of soft articles.

Before writing a soft article, we need to determine what the main keyword is. At the same time, we also need to use Baidu to find a large number of relevant keywords, and pay attention to the density of keywords in the article. Generally speaking, the title must contain keywords.

For example, I buried an abbreviation of our company in the title. At the same time, the beginning and end of the article are also very important and must contain some keywords. If the article is about 400 to 500 words, I suggest that the keyword appears 7 or 8 times is best.

At the same time, we must pay attention to the fluency and rationality of the sentences before and after the keywords. We must not eliminate the user experience aspect in order to highlight the keywords. This will affect the user experience and the mood of the readers when reading this article.

Step 4: Make the title catchy

Why should the title be catchy? As the saying goes, clothes make the man, and gold makes the Buddha. The title of a soft article is equivalent to our packaging, which is equivalent to designing a particularly good-looking LOGO for the company. It determines whether users will click on this soft article.

If the title doesn’t catch the user’s attention immediately, it will be useless no matter how good the content is. Since users will not open your soft copy in the first place, there is no point in writing such a title.

Once, a former colleague of mine, an old editor, posted a recruitment information in a WeChat group: “We are recruiting, we will be waiting for you in XX in 2016”. Think about it, will anyone click to read this kind of title? If you name it something like “Big breasted beauty boss desires young hunk”, you can attract more people. This kind of title is very popular and eye-catching.

This is just an example. What I ultimately want to emphasize is that the title must be realistic and have content. At the same time, it must also incorporate the keywords mentioned in the previous step, and then add attractive words.

What are attractive words? For example: numbers, questions, free, the best in history, limited time celebrity events, and New Year’s Eve. Words like these can capture the user's mind. We must use these keywords in our titles or even at the beginning of our articles.

Step 5: Content must be informative

A good title but poor content is all show and no substance and will be abandoned by users. Soft articles are a soft form. The feeling they pursue is like flowing water, spring rain, and the effect of moistening things silently, so that users can fall deeply into our trap. But the eyes of the public are sharp. Only when you can embed advertisements without causing users to feel disgusted, you are a true master of soft articles.

Therefore, this involves the specific internal skills of soft articles.

What kind of content should be interesting? What my experience tells me is that we must insist on reading and writing more, read some interesting copy and well-written books, practice more every day, and improve our writing skills. At the same time, we must avoid forcing advertising and make sure to lay the groundwork.

Only by making good use of this writing technique can soft articles achieve this perfect combination. Otherwise, dry soft articles will not be able to convey the value of our products, let alone achieve the company's marketing goals.

Therefore, I think that since you are engaged in this industry, you should set a plan for yourself to read more and write more. We need to learn more and understand more so that we can add our own thinking methods and write better soft articles.

Step 6: Choose a good media source

Writing an excellent soft article does not mean that the work is actually over. There is also the issue of specific publication. Some companies have dedicated media, while some companies have copywriting and media together. No matter which one it is, if you want to choose a good delivery platform, you must analyze the delivery platform and analyze what kind of media is really suitable for you.

There are many channels for disseminating soft articles, such as news portals, forums, Weibo, and WeChat. For our startup company, funds are very limited and it is impossible to invest a large part of the money in the publication of soft articles. At this time, we will try our best to choose Baidu News Source or website channels with high reprint rates and relatively high weights for the publication of soft articles.

At the same time, we also need to assist with some of the more popular vertical forums, as well as blogs, Weibo, WeChat and other forms, which can also achieve a better communication effect.

This is how startups use soft articles. There are 6 major steps in total. We cannot miss any step and we must have a clear understanding of each step.

Where does the importance of soft articles in PR lie? In fact, many people think that soft articles are useless. Aren’t soft articles just posted on the Internet and then seen on the news? We don’t know what conversion rate we can achieve.

But in fact, soft articles do not increase conversion rates. Instead, they can increase your brand recognition and influence. Without this step, how can you talk about your conversion rate?

Soft articles cooperate with the brand of our products and the overall direction of the company. It is not that soft articles play a decisive role, but in fact, soft articles can definitely bring us traffic , which is equivalent to an advertising position. If a company publishes soft articles throughout the year, it will definitely have a long-term effect, because the most important function of soft articles is to attract the attention of our target customers.

In addition, the import of potential customer traffic cannot directly form a conversion rate, but it can direct traffic, which is related to our basic SEO . For example, when the website is first launched, we must do some SEO work around the website. SEO includes soft articles, what our products, new products, and new models are, and how they are reflected. If you do this in the early stages, you will have a steady source of traffic.

This is because portal media with higher weights receive more than 10 million hits every day, which you cannot compare with. Therefore, no matter which channel or page a soft article appears on, it will have a certain number of clicks.

Another function of soft articles is to reduce the marketing costs of enterprises. The greatest role lies in subtle marketing, which enables our consumers to eventually form purchasing power. But this is also closely related to the concealment of soft articles. When you read a soft article, you have actually been influenced by the soft article advertisement, or you believe in the advantages of the product that the soft article advertisement wants to promote.

This is the subtle effect of soft-text advertising. Therefore, when we write soft-text advertising, we must express the subtle content and form.

For many startups, especially those in the early stages of entrepreneurship, soft articles are a very good way of publicity, with low cost and wide dissemination. If I'm not talking about a press release, it's very easy to spread it on major portal websites, and we can also gain the credibility of the product and the trust of users, which can greatly enhance the company's brand awareness. This is why soft articles should eventually be written as news.

At the same time, soft articles are also a good helper for crisis public relations . In the process of a company's growth, it is inevitable that there will be some negative information, especially in an era when Internet information is so developed and expanded. The high speed of network communication can be replicated infinitely, which poses many hidden dangers to the maintenance of a corporate brand. Soft articles actually play a relatively large role in crisis public relations on the Internet.

For example, we can write positive soft articles about a certain thing, and then publish them on our major portal media to suppress the corresponding negative information, while also making our own voice heard. Soft articles can definitely reflect the social credibility and market influence of a company and increase the credibility of the company.

We must write this kind of soft article in a way that is related to the industry, users, consumers, and society, and it must be written in this way. The focus is not on introducing our products, but on what our products can bring to users, what kind of changes they can achieve, and what they can change.

This is the importance of soft articles in PR.

2. Three types of soft articles:

1. News articles

The news we often see in the media is the news content that stands out from the news reports. News articles are easy to spread.

2. Story-based soft articles

Every company and every product has a story, and now founders also love to tell stories. Stories are very important, especially now that people like to read stories, both interesting stories and sad stories. Use a complete story to introduce the product. The halo effect and mystery of the product will create strong psychological implications for consumers, making sales inevitable.

Of course, telling a story is not the purpose; the product clues behind the story are the key to the article.

3. WeChat-like soft articles

Why do we single out WeChat? Because many of the soft articles you see now appear on WeChat. There are many techniques for writing soft articles on WeChat, the first of which is the title, and the second is the content.

It must guide users step by step. There is actually no definition for it. My own definition is: WeChat soft articles are textual models that conduct in-depth analysis based on the concepts and characteristics of the products and can further guide readers to consume. After clicking on an article, the soft article should further guide the reader.

These three types of soft articles play a very important role in our daily PR work. News-related soft articles can be posted on portals and media, and story-related soft articles can also be posted on portals and media, and can also be posted on one’s own WeChat platform.

3. There are four major practical methods for news soft articles:

1. Prepare a corporate PR plan for news articles in advance

To do a good job in corporate PR planning for news and soft article marketing, you actually have to plan and plan everything well before doing anything. Based on the company's own situation, set the goal of publishing news-related soft articles.

For example, our goals include enhancing the company's brand image, promoting company activities , launching products, and listing on the New Third Board. These can also be said to be different promotional goals for product innovation models. The writing and delivery cycles of news articles must be different.

Therefore, we need to define our goals well. One of the goals of news and soft article marketing is actually to use the specific form of soft culture to ultimately achieve the purpose of building an image and making profits. The marketing plan for soft articles should be organized and implemented according to the situation of one's own company, and the rules of soft article operation and release should be revised.

2. Create a news title that can be spread and crawled

How to come up with a news title that can be spread and captured? For example, one of our previous clients was an intelligent big data organization. We gave it a title "Ten Years of College Entrance Examination Impact on Housing Prices", which was a very eye-catching title. Everyone will wonder what housing prices are and why they are affected by the college entrance examination? Because "lowering prices" is a very concerned and sensitive word for everyone. This is called spreadable and crawlable.

First, when giving a title, you must pay attention to being straightforward and avoid being vague. You must be practical.

In fact, news speaks with facts. News is about telling the specific things happening around us. The most important thing about the title is that it must be informative and have real content. Only in this way can everyone see what we want to say. The title should be general and must hit the point directly. Especially for online news, which focuses on click-through rate , clickbait headlines can definitely play an important role.

We just need to do this well. The title should be straightforward, practical, and meaningful, highlighting the fact we want to express.

Many good titles often capture the core elements of the article content and use appropriate combinations to attract audience clicks, making them powerful.

Second, be sure to include an advertising slogan in the title.

Third, the grammar of the title must be appropriate and meet grammatical requirements.

Emerging Internet languages ​​should be used appropriately. Too alternative words may be shocking and difficult for the audience to understand, so try to avoid using them.

At the same time, the title must be short, try not to exceed 14 words, especially when published in the media, portal websites, blogs, and Weibo. The title of WeChat can be relatively longer, because when WeChat is displayed in the Moments , people will be able to see it more clearly if the content is longer.

Fourth, the title should be vivid, visual, and inspiring.

For example, the title "Qihu case opened for trial at Guangdong High Court" makes people lose interest at first glance, and many people don’t even know what Qihu is.

But if the title is changed to "Qihoo sues Tencent for 150 million yuan, three major focuses of the court debate", this will be a real news headline. Because everyone must know Tencent, and you may wonder who Qihoo is? How dare you sue Tencent and demand 150 million in damages? This kind of title is a good title with a novel idea.

Fifth, remember to be ambiguous.

Many people like to use a questioning tone when writing news headlines. This mode is not impossible, but it should be used as little as possible. If used, it should be just right.

For example, there is a question “Why did Taobao Mall become Tmall Mall?” People who have not seen this kind of content would think that something went wrong with Taobao or that the company was acquired, but in fact it should be “Taobao Mall was renamed Tmall Mall.” Therefore, when writing a title, you must remember to be ambiguous.

Finally, I want to emphasize that online news is actually crucial to corporate brand publicity and promotion. Therefore, we have to think about how to write impactful online news headlines every day. This is our key to success.

3. Objectively organize the structure of the news article

A good news headline is only half of the success. If you want readers to absorb more information from the soft article, the structure of the soft article is very important.

Many corporate planners, including copywriters, have never worked as journalists and therefore don’t quite understand what journalism is. This results in a company’s public relations drafts being the same as advertisements, which shows a lack of understanding of news writing. Therefore, if we have never worked in the media, we must read more good online news.

At the same time, I suggest that you buy a newspaper and take a look. The news writing in the newspaper, such as the title, lead, and text structure are actually very standardized. You can read the newspaper regularly to see some of their writing methods and techniques.

First: Title

The title has just been mentioned, so I won’t repeat it here.

Second: Introduction

Sometimes the introduction has a subtitle, but nowadays there are generally fewer subtitles, so now usually just one main title is enough.

The introduction is the first paragraph of the article, which is a sentence or a paragraph. The introduction must be a summary of the most valuable and core facts in our news article.

Therefore, when writing the introduction, everyone must express the core elements that they want to express most. This is the introduction that can truly attract people.

Third: Subject

The main body is the expansion and supplement of the introduction, and it should specifically explain what we want to express.

The main content must first be written in a segmented manner. Nowadays, articles are mostly short and concise, with each paragraph expressing a piece of content. At the same time, it is best to list them in the form of keywords or subheadings, so that everyone can clearly see what our article is expressing.

Fourth: Background Introduction

This is an introduction to the historical situation and environmental conditions of the news. When a company writes a news article, the background can include some company information, or the founder can express his or her wishes in the form of an interview with a reporter, etc.

Fifth: Conclusion

The conclusion is the last sentence or paragraph, which is inspiring and motivating. In fact, in news articles, the conclusion is optional. We can make corresponding analysis and sorting based on the specific situation of our own enterprise and products.

What are some tips for writing news articles? We must be good at using some common words in news so as to enhance the news value of the text. Because news is a very fixed pattern.

For example, the five elements of news are referred to as "5W": time, place, people, process of events, and causes. We just need to express these five elements clearly. The concepts of time and place can guide readers and lead audiences to generate relevant associations with that time and place, deepen their impressions, and dilute the advertising message.

In addition, there are some words in the news source, such as "according to investigation, according to the understanding, the author also learned, the editor also learned, according to so-and-so, the author saw it with his own eyes". These words can make readers feel that the information is more real and verifiable. Of course, the information itself must be true.

When writing soft articles, most companies like to use the words "company" or "product". Readers cannot see or feel the writer's identity, and thus cannot integrate themselves into the role of the article. What is the reader's self-role in reading habits? If they can't find it, readers will be unable to judge their own position and foothold while reading, and they will have the feeling of watching the fun through a third eye.

4. How to integrate with the company's information accurately and skillfully

Here I summarize four points:

First: Data Fusion Method

The data fusion method is not applicable to all companies. We need to combine it with the characteristics of our own company. For example, our company is a big data organization, or our company is a security cloud platform company, and we all have our own data. If this data is scattered, no one will be able to see any value in it. But if we count and analyze the data, it can form valuable news.

In the era of mobile Internet , we must make rational use of data. Data can be formatted and expressed in the form of graphics and text, which can give everyone a refreshing feeling.

Similarly, data can also be turned into news. Through data, we can form news data reports with industry value and then implant our information. If this kind of news is made, it will definitely become a big news.

Second: Implantation of enterprise product information

How to implant? Don’t start by writing company information directly. First talk about some social hot spots and industry conditions, and then introduce the product.

For example, a smart elderly device can be hung on the elderly’s belt, allowing children in a foreign place to see their parents through their mobile phones, monitor their movements and sleep, etc. How should soft articles be written for this product?

We can start the article with a story, telling the story of the love between parents and children, and then introduce what kind of problems the product solves. This can resonate with everyone and cleverly implant the company's product information into our soft article.

Third: Industry Analysis Method for Company Founders

Business founders can use the power of the media to analyze the industry. For example, if we are an Internet finance platform, we can express our own views through the industry analysis of the company’s founders. This can greatly increase the authority of your business and products.

Furthermore, the New Year is coming soon, and a large number of media are doing year-end special reports. We can use the media to fully express some of the messages expressed by our company’s founder.

Fourth: Business Model Innovation

First of all, we need to see what kind of new model the company or product is. If it is a good model, a new model, the media itself will pay attention to it. Before the media is destined to pay attention to it, we must fully explore the innovation of our business model ourselves.

To put it bluntly, when writing PR articles, we must follow the lead of our product managers and founders. We need to dig deep into what they want to express and say through our questions and interviews. This way, information about business model innovation can be subtly integrated into a soft article.

Okay, the above is the trilogy about soft articles that I want to share with you today. In the next course, we will continue to share with you the operation techniques of story-based soft articles. Thank you everyone.

The author of this article @王一乙 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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