I have written 4,000 articles in 5 years. Here are my 17 tips for new media startups!

In the past 5 years, I have published more than 4,000 articles on the Internet .

There are more than 4,000 articles, and I am not exaggerating.

So, I have a solid understanding of what content resonates with readers and what doesn’t. My initial motivation for writing articles was my own desire to become a professional writer, and in the process I have acquired a set of fairly versatile skills.

• Industry experts wonder how they can make their insights heard.
• Businesses want to know how to attract consumers' attention.
• Speakers, consultants, investors , etc. want to know how to share their ideas with the world so that companies and projects will choose them.

A year ago, I wanted to take advantage of everything I had learned, so I decided to start a service company, Digital Press, that would help people write high-quality content for the Internet.

Our value is to help businesses publish content that resonates with their readers. Only one year into our company, we have grown to 20 full-time employees and over 40 clients around the world.

It turns out that many people want to know how to convey their business "Message" in an attractive way.

The best marketing is no marketing.

If you’ve ever heard me speak at industry conferences or on podcasts, I don’t call myself a marketer .

I am a writer.

Because I don't use traditional marketing methods, I always put my readers first. My entire logic for writing articles online to attract attention is based on respecting the reader's time - something that most professionals in companies and industries either don't consider or don't know how to execute effectively.

If you want people to listen to what you have to say, every company should make the following 17 small but effective changes in the process of delivering messages:

1. Put yourself last

Before you think about what message you want to convey about your company, think about what information is truly valuable to your readers.

For example, the sentence “We just released a new product” is only valuable to readers if you are a large company like Facebook, and obviously most companies are not Facebook.

2. Throw away those “subversive” words

If you wrote something like “Our company provides disruptive, game-changing solutions,” delete it and rewrite it. Every company says they’re disruptive, but the truth is, most aren’t disrupting anything (and you, the reader, don’t care).

3. Just tell us what you do.

9 out of 10 startup websites use confusing words when describing what the company does. In fact, there is no need to do this.

For example, "We provide artificial intelligence dialogue system solutions on the wrist" means nothing to users.

Just say "We sell smart watches, and the watches have built-in voice assistants like Siri."

4. Don’t always think about developing a grand strategy first

A truly effective strategy doesn’t emerge before you act—it develops along the way.

You have no idea what will resonate with people until you show your content to the world. Don’t fool yourself. You can’t come up with a grand marketing strategy in advance and then execute it step by step.

5. Write, publish, reflect, and repeat

In this process, you will understand what real feedback the messages delivered by the company bring, and find out what readers really care about and what content they will read.

6. Founder first, company second

Our general principle is that the message delivered by the company must come from "people", which can be the founder, CMO or other senior executives. No one wants to read Tesla 's mission statement, but everyone wants to read an article written by Elon Musk .

7. Make good use of platforms other than the official blog

You should make good use of websites such as Quora, Medium, Linkedin, etc. (corresponding to various content aggregation platforms such as Zhihu, Jianshu , 36 Kr, etc. in China), where there are millions of people looking for readable content. Instead of just posting blog posts on the official website.

Annotation: Domestic companies rarely use official blogs to publish corporate information.

8. Decide whether you are an original writer or an editor

Not every person or every company is suitable to be a content creator. Some companies and industry experts are more suitable to be editors (curators), and recommending daily selected content to everyone can also bring value.

9. Show your emotional side

People in the business world are always very traditional. They want to stand out, but they often act formal and stuffy - wearing ties to parties. If you want to be remembered, you have to show genuine emotion.

10. Form strong opinions

Be brave to say what you believe and what you don’t believe; what you care about and what you don’t care about.

The fastest way to get into a reader's heart is to tell them at the beginning: "This is what I think - no matter what you think, this is what I think." Readers like this direct expression rather than beating around the bush.

11. Don’t fill in the word count

Everyone can tell at a glance between a good article and an article that is just filled with words.

A good article gets to the point right away, and the point is worth talking about. An article that is just to make up the word count will not do that. An article that is just to make up the word count will repeat the same thing over and over again. It seems that a lot of words are used, but in fact most of them are worthless.

12. Lead by example

Let me share with you a personal secret of mine. First, every reader wants to know how the information you share will help them (solve a specific problem) , and second, readers also want to know how you obtained this information.

For example, at the beginning of this article, I told you that I learned a lot from the more than 4,000 articles I wrote in five years, and then I talked about 17 small but effective changes that every company should make in the process of delivering messages.

13. Don’t expect people to remember what you said the next day.

Many people think that as long as they write a popular article, people will remember this article and thus remember themselves throughout their career.

Those who think so are really overthinking. We should honestly create a page listing your personal information so that people who want to know you can find out what you have done, what you believe in, and how you view the world.

14. Don’t just try it out

As with many things in life, many people fail because they just try too hard. This is actually the most significant difference between many successful people and failures.

15. Study your competitors, then speak better, louder, and more often than they do.

When I enter a new field, the first thing I do is find the best companies and individuals in this field. Then pay attention to what they say, where they say it, and how often.

After studying them, I would ask myself how I could convey the same message better.

For example, if someone wrote a popular article called “10 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know Before Starting a Company”, I would write similar content, but I would provide better examples, tell more memorable stories, and give more actionable insights.

The transmission of information is a game . If you want to win, you have to do the same thing better.

16. Pursue both timeliness and eternity

This is something my mentor used to tell me all the time, but it took me a long time to understand its true meaning.

Many companies like to publish PR articles (public relations releases) because they can say, "Look, our article is on Forbes ." Although this kind of thing is meaningful in the short term, it cannot be said to have a long-term impact. No one is going to read a soft article in Forbes two years from now.

Your work should take into account both timeliness and lasting impact , so that the content you publish not only resonates with those who see it at the time, but also resonates with those who read it in the future.

Simply put, if the articles you publish are always fresh and never outdated, you can gain lasting benefits from them.

17. Start by telling everyone who you are

People don’t really care what you do, but they care how you do it, they care how you become who you are. How did you learn what you know, how your experiences have shaped you, and what beliefs you have always held.

💡 Imagine that!

If you are an all natural organic snack company. You can constantly communicate to consumers, "We are an all-natural, organic snack company"; or you can use the personal story of the company founder to tell why it is important to have a healthy relationship with food.

If you are an investment company. You can announce: "We invest in talented entrepreneurs"; you can also share the pitfalls you have encountered and the valuable lessons you have learned with entrepreneurs around the world from the perspective of a founder.

If you are a content marketing agency. You can say that we are the ones who understand best how to resonate with readers; you can also say that your founder loved playing games when he was young and became one of the highest-ranked World of Warcraft players in North America.

Then I applied this mentality of climbing to the top of my game to writing, becoming Quora’s Top Writer of the Year, Inc Magazine’s Top 30 Columnist, and Medium’s Top Writer of the Year with over 50 million views — actively sharing the secrets of high-quality content marketing with everyone.

The latter is more impressive, don’t you think?

Source: Mantou Business School