Analysis:

What is soft writing? As the name implies, it is a "text advertisement" written by the marketing planning of an enterprise or the copywriting of an advertising company, as opposed to a hard advertisement. Compared with hard advertisements, the reason why soft articles are called soft articles lies in the word "soft", just like needles hidden in cotton, which are invisible to the enemy. By the time you find that this is a soft article, you have fallen into the trap of a well-designed "soft article advertisement", which pursues a kind of communication effect of spring storms and moistens things silently. If hard advertising is my Shaolin kungfu; Then, Ruanwen is a Wudang boxing, the needle is hidden in cotton, and it is soft. The combination of soft and hard, both internal and external, is the most powerful marketing means.

There are two definitions of soft text, one is narrow and the other is broad.

1. Narrow sense: refers to the plain text advertisements published by enterprises in newspapers, magazines and other propaganda carriers. This definition is an early definition, which is the so-called paid text advertisement.

2. Broad definition: refers to the publicity and explanatory articles published by enterprises in newspapers, magazines, networks and other propaganda carriers, which can enhance the brand image and popularity of enterprises or promote the sales of enterprises, including specific news reports, in-depth articles, paid short advertisements, case studies, etc.

From the middle and late 1990s to the present, soft writing has always occupied a very important position in China's marketing dictionary, because it once created market miracles for many products at a very low cost.

Soft writing is a very popular marketing tool in many industries. It is the medical and health care industry in China that really pushes the strategy of soft writing to the peak. Soft text created the myth of melatonin in this field, which made later medical and health care products marketers talk about soft text.

Over time, with the enhancement of consumers' discrimination ability, consumers have a strong immunity to soft texts, which leads to the gradual loss of their functions. Many products can only receive sporadic phone calls after putting in several full-page soft-text advertisements, and some even have no phone calls. The glittering money hit Shui Piao. So some people say that the era of soft text marketing is over.

But careful market observers don't think so, because they are surprised to find that some products are still relying on soft texts to create sales miracles, such as Haojixing, Changqing Tea and Muji Capsule. The hard effect of soft writing is selling goods. Then, in the new market environment, how is the soft text that can sell goods tempered?

Product function visualization

Many years ago, the great advertising master warned us: "Don't sell steak, sell iron plates." The surface meaning of this sentence is easy to understand, but it is a bit difficult to apply in practice. The author believes that by giving the product an inherent visual description and allowing consumers to interact with copywriting, it is possible for the product to easily complete a "thrilling jump".

In the approval of health care products, most of them are harmless words, such as "antioxidant" and "immunomodulation". Among the main functions of traditional Chinese medicine, some expressions are difficult for ordinary people to understand, such as "tonifying kidney and benefiting qi" and "warming yang and tonifying kidney". Therefore, product function visualization is the strategic guiding ideology of the whole soft text layout.

For example, products that moisten the intestines and relieve constipation can't just stay on the simple explanation of how to relieve constipation, otherwise it will be weak. A soft article that can sell goods should describe the color and shape changes of feces before and after taking the product. Consumers will secretly lie on the toilet to observe the change of feces and interact with the replica. Consumers will naturally "enter the game" and will be convinced of the effect of the product. When Mujie Capsule went on the market, there was a soft article called "80 million people have a knife in their bones", which vividly pointed out the pain of bone patients: "Even the relatives and friends of the patients could not bear to witness the pain of bone diseases. People with common diseases suddenly can't breathe, their teeth rustle-bone spurs break out again! As the saying goes, getting a bone disease is like sticking a knife in a bone ... "This subtle image description has generated a strong buzz in the hearts of consumers, which has aroused high recognition from consumers.

In fact, the visualization of product functions has always been the core of product planning, not only in the creation of soft texts, but also in the refining of product core concepts. Such as "lung washing", "intestine washing" and "blood washing" are all examples of the planner visualizing the function of the product.

Popularization of writing language

Soft text can also sell goods because of the popularization of its language, which should take care of the understanding ability of most readers.

The readers of soft texts are ordinary consumers. They refuse to embellish with flowery words and describe with endless articles. They need to promote, commercialize and strengthen their ideas and inspiration. A soft article that can sell goods must be understood by people, which is the premise and foundation. Without easy-to-understand language, soft texts can only be high and low, and there is no response, which naturally cannot drive product sales.

For example, a chitin hypolipidemic product, in order to explain the function of chitin to absorb blood lipids, the soft text uses the expression of "tying away blood lipids", which makes the complex medical mechanism easy to understand and vivid. There is a soft article about lycopene products. In order to illustrate the powerful ability of lycopene to scavenge oxygen free radicals, it is described as follows: "One lycopene molecule can defeat thousands of enemies-oxygen free radicals in battle." Say the difficult truth in plain language, so that consumers can not only understand it but also remember it deeply.

For the sake of popularity, you must not use idioms when you can avoid them; Try to make a long story short; Try to avoid flowery rhetoric; Try to reason with the familiar life elements of consumers.

Apply the golden section rule

The golden section rule is widely used in life. Scientific experiments have proved that people are most likely to accept pictures and information that conform to the golden section rule, both aesthetically and in receiving information. Therefore, the soft text that can sell goods should also be scientific in structure.

According to market research, the most marketable soft text in the market is the result of proper cooperation between soft advertising and hard advertising; Moreover, the closer the ratio of soft text to hard plane is to the golden section ratio, the greater the lethality of soft text. Secondly, if the graphic proportion of soft text conforms to the golden section rule, it is not easy for the audience to have aesthetic fatigue, and reading will be more relaxed and comfortable. In addition, in the arrangement of text content, if the length of product mechanism description and the proportion of case description also conform to the golden section rule, it will certainly be more effective than overall reasoning or case description.

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Advertising gust blowing, public relations spring bath;

Advertising point to face, public relations point to line;

Advertising gives shape; Public relations lies in reality;

Advertising is self-righteous, and public relations is based on the public;

Advertising is unparalleled, and public relations is targeted;

Advertising bombing, public relations accumulated over time;

How much did advertising cost, and how much did public relations cost?

Advertising creativity is hard to find, and public relations are constantly innovative;

Advertising loves old brands, and public relations loves new brands;

Suspicious advertisements and honest public relations;

Advertising is weird and public relations is rigorous;

Advertising maintains the brand, and public relations establishes the brand;

Advertising ebbs and public relations ebb.

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Dig up news points

Looking for publicity highlights is a headache for many enterprises. In fact, there are many skills in it. If you master them, you will never worry about writing soft articles again.

Undeniably, the enterprise is a rational institution and has no good personality characteristics. Unlike movie stars, it has many legends to write, and most enterprises have developed step by step since their establishment. Perhaps it is for this reason that most enterprises always feel speechless when facing the media.

In fact, in this era, more and more people become business people, so more and more people pay attention to people, things and things in enterprises. From the media's point of view, it is full of valuable things. If you can look at everything inside the enterprise from the perspective of the media, you will be surprised to find that your own enterprise has so many bright spots!

We believe that it is easiest to find news points from the following aspects of the enterprise:

1, product.

If your company develops a very valuable new product, it may be a big news. Why? Because: products are the material basis for promoting social progress. Social progress is mainly perceived by people through products. Don't think this is an exaggeration, it's a fact! You should also understand the products developed by your own enterprise from this angle and find out what news value it has.

Suppose a simple example: if Haier develops a new product such as a home robot, I believe that as long as you disclose the news to the media, many media will compete to report it. The reason is that this product means social progress, and the characteristics of the media determine that they will pay attention to this matter. Why can household appliances using nanotechnology attract widespread media attention? Because this technology is epoch-making, this product is not available before. Always see the "first" in your product, who it can bring huge benefits to, and where it is different.

2. The main characters.

The leaders of every enterprise have their own characteristics. No matter his personality, performance or experience, it may attract attention. These are the highlights and news points. Making a fuss about leading figures avoids the feature that "enterprises have no personality" and turns the focus to real people. In the eyes of readers, such articles are often readable, so the reading rate is high.

In fact, since the reform and opening up, there have been many commercial stars in China, and with the arrival of the era of entrepreneurs, more and more such stars will be worshipped and sought after like movie stars. For example, Shi Yuzhu's comeback has aroused widespread media attention, and he himself has become the idol of many people. These people may not be interested in melatonin, but by paying attention to Shi Yuzhu, they will also pay attention to melatonin and Shanghai Jiante.

Nowadays, many newspapers and periodicals have people columns to introduce the successes and failures, experiences and thoughts of people from all walks of life. Soft text operators should be good at discovering the bright spots of enterprise leaders, which is also an excellent material needed by the media.

3. Industry status.

Some enterprises are in high-profile industries, and due to the media's attention to this industry, these enterprises are inevitably reported. For example, during the internet boom, the media rushed to report various websites; In the telecommunications industry, Huawei, Datang, Bird, TCL, Kejian and other enterprises have naturally become the focus of media reports. Soft-text operators should grasp this feature of the media, organize the trends and materials of some industries into soft-text in time, provide them to the media, and publicize their own enterprises.

Such examples are particularly common in the technology industry. This is because in the science and technology industry, industry standards change rapidly, and some enterprises themselves are participants in the formulation of "industry standards", so they often have the latest information. For example, UT Starcom is a developer of PHS system in China, and some of its technical trends directly affect the relevant policies of China Telecom. Therefore, some media often publish reports about the telecommunications industry by learning information from enterprises. In this way, in terms of media reports, this enterprise can often occupy a more active position.

4. events.

Some enterprises are unremarkable, but their events are very newsworthy. For example, a small enterprise in the deep mainland was suddenly merged by a multinational company, which attracted much attention because of the media's attention to multinational companies. In the microwave oven industry, Glance is in a monopoly position, which can reach the lowest price of similar products in the industry. However, a beautiful company that has never set foot in this industry suddenly entered this industry and set the price lower than Grameen, which immediately became news.

For example, the frequent price war between Suning and Gome, as well as the standard dispute in the VCD industry that year, are also major news events. When such incidents happen, enterprises should contact the media in time and tell the public what they want to say with the help of the media.

5. activities.

Characteristic and influential activities will attract media attention and reports. In this regard, some advertising companies and planning companies have done a lot, and enterprises are familiar with it. What needs to be emphasized here is that when an enterprise sponsors or plans an activity, it should fully tap the social significance of the activity from the perspective of the media and make material preparations for media reports and comments.

6, enterprise management methods.

The management style of some successful enterprises has gradually attracted people's attention, so many media began to report on such topics. For example, CCTV's "Economic Half-Hour" program, some newspapers and periodicals that study enterprises, such as 2 1 Century Business Herald and China Entrepreneur, often give in-depth reports on enterprises. Therefore, the soft text operators can summarize the distinctive corporate culture and effective management methods, which will become very valuable things.

Manufacturing "standard parts"

The initial stage of soft text operation is like a manual workshop, placing orders and making products. However, after a period of time, enterprises contacted more media and accumulated a lot of reports. At this time, they will move towards scale and "industrialization". This is a clever way to establish the standard part of soft text.

The standard part of the soft text is to unify what the enterprise says to the outside world, avoid duplication of work and avoid the phenomenon that the enterprise's external caliber is inconsistent. Standard parts must be compiled very carefully, because it represents the official speech of the enterprise. Once the standard parts are launched, they should be publicized and distributed in the company immediately. It is best to let employees study in a unified way, so that they can maintain a unified caliber on different occasions.

Some enterprises have standard parts, but there are only a few articles introducing companies and products. Because they are used in various newspapers, people are tired of reading them. We have a "modular" method of manufacturing standard parts. Through the combination of each module, the soft text written is not only uniform in caliber, but also ever-changing.

We set up a special folder in the company database, which includes the following modules:

1, enterprise history. This paper lists the major events and milestones that have news value since the company was founded, and understands the whole course and story of the company from before its establishment to now through internal interviews, such as what difficulties it encountered and how to overcome them; What kind of opportunity, how to seize it and so on.

2. Enterprise scale. Including business scale, personnel scale, member enterprises and marketing network and other information representing the development of enterprises.

3. Introduction of enterprise product (business) series. Our company has many kinds of products, so we introduce them separately. But in either case, the introduction words highlight the characteristics of the product and unify the caliber.

4. Market and industry status. Including our market influence, various rankings and so on. We usually add new content to this clip in time.

5. Enterprise planning. Including the company's goals, strategic development direction and plans for a period of time.

6. Enterprise approach. Including enterprise culture, management theory, business model and unique enterprise management strategy.

7. Key people. Including the chairman and general manager of the company, and other people who play an important role in the development of the company. Introduce their opinions, stories, anecdotes and some short language tidbits. We attach great importance to the accumulation of such modules, and constantly enrich the content and integrate media reports on them. In this regard, Haier Zhang Ruimin "smashed the refrigerator" and Changhong Ni invited cadres to read stories such as A Dream of Red Mansions.

8. Picture and film library. Such as company landmark buildings, office scenes, important activity scenes, product packaging, advertising pictures, photos of important people, etc.

It should be emphasized that standard parts should be written in accordance with the idea of "finding news points" from beginning to end, and should be "empathetic", giving full consideration to the perspectives of the media and readers, and should not be obsessed with the details of product functions and ignore things that are truly newsworthy.

So, when to use these modules and how to arrange and combine them? There are two points to note:

First of all, we must seize the opportunity. We should find a beginning in terms of time. For example, new products go on the market, win prizes, win the bid for large projects, establish cooperative relations with other enterprises, unexpected events in this industry and corporate lawsuits.

The second is to be targeted. Different newspapers and periodicals have their own backgrounds and characteristics, and different pages have different emphases, so the style of soft articles will eventually be different. But the basic content is the same because all the required materials come from soft standard parts.