Advertising techniques for soft articles

Argument 1: Make a plan for soft article advertising in advance

Argument 2: Draft a news title for the soft article

Argument 3: Use news body to organize the text structure

Argument 2 p>

Argument 4: Be good at using news vocabulary

Argument 5: Advertising information should be skillfully integrated

Argument 6: Follow news layout style design

Argument 7: Stick with the news when publishing

Argument 8: Media public relations work is essential Soft-text advertising is a concrete manifestation of the soft culture of advertising goals, and advertising is the advertising of brand goals and sales goals. The ultimate goal of products is to build an image and obtain profits. Therefore, soft-text advertising should also follow the operating rules of planning, organization, implementation, and modification.

The plan of soft-text advertising is derived from the advertising strategy of the company. Most of the companies that are good at using soft-text advertising are companies that are very strategic and are also good at low-cost operations. However, companies that rely on soft-text advertising have grown rapidly. Not much, why? Because most companies have not planned soft advertising in advance. The soft article advertising plan is the basis for the soft article advertising operation.

People in the industry are already very familiar with the case of "Melatonin" successfully operating soft-text advertisements, so I won't say more. In 2003, the "soft article advertising craze" that appeared in Xi'an media and the resulting "Xizhilang soft article model" showed the careful planning and systematic planning of companies that are good at using soft articles.

Take Liangzhi Electric Co., Ltd. as an example. The advertising plan was made three months earlier than the new product launch plan, and the main part was the soft-text advertising plan. Since "Xizhilang" is a new category of product and an emerging electrical appliance with a strong concept, it needs a lot of market education and concept guidance and publicity. Therefore, in the annual advertising plan for 2003, soft-text advertisements accounted for 70% of the total. % ratio.

Each soft article should be no less than 800 words, and should be published in this order. The public relations soft article is released before the product is launched, and the hype cycle is one month. Functional soft articles will be released after the product is launched. The launch promotion period is one month and the sales target is 50 units.

The implementation city of this soft article plan is Xi'an. Although SARS was encountered just after it was launched, 77 units were actually sold in the promotion month of May. This is closely related to the timely revision of the soft article advertising plan during extraordinary times. The author will explain later will be described in the argument. Publishing soft-text advertisements is the need of enterprises, and it is nothing more than to achieve brand promotion goals or product sales targets. However, when writing soft-text advertisements, you must first consider the needs of readers.

As far as the entire soft article advertisement is concerned, the title is like "face". Whether it can attract the readers' attention depends entirely on it. Of course, it’s not enough to just attract attention. The title should also make readers excited and create a desire to “let me take a look.”

"Can humans live forever?" ", " Is it popular for men to draw eyebrows? ", "The price of liver protection is too high, what should the public do? ”, “Mom and Dad Are Poisoned”, “Why Does Oupu Bath Heater Dominate the Capital City? "...Excellent titles like these were not only popular for a while, but are still fresh in my memory today. Why? Because it not only resembles the news headlines, it is even more attractive than the news headlines at that time.

In 2003, a number of evocative soft-article advertisement titles appeared in the "Chinese Business Daily":

Example: "A hygienic habit ignored by 99% of people ", this is the title of the "Xizhilang" (electrical appliance product) soft article during the SARS period. The timing of publication was when the media at that time used a large amount of space to educate people about "washing hands frequently" and "scientific handwashing", because Xizhilang is an "intelligent product". "Post-defecation Cleaner" (commonly known by some as: a healthy appliance for washing buttocks). This 1,131-word soft article has completed the market education and concept guidance publicity that was originally planned to take 10 articles of approximately 8,000 words. This also reflects the soft article operation. The timeliness and strategic nature of plan revisions during the process.

This is the time when bad hygiene habits were being denounced throughout the country in the late stage of SARS. Following the hot topics of "Examining bad habits in life and advocating civilized life" in the "Chinese Business Daily", "Bad habits in toileting must be changed" and "Bad habits in family life should be changed." After the "Reform", Liangzhi Electric Appliances was another clever work borrowed from the east wind. At this point, Xizhilang's quick response and shrewd planning in the operation of soft articles began to show itself. The advertising industry, planning circles and some enterprises began to pay close attention and imitate one after another, eventually forming the "Xizhilang Soft Article Model" in Xi'an in 2003.

Example: "Space medicine Shenzhou 3 awakens the world", this is the "Hongtong Guanghua" published on the same page as the "Chinese Business Daily" news "Shenzhou 5 is expected to launch today" before the launch of Shenzhou 5. Soft-text advertisement for "Shenzhou 3" oral liquid. The previous "What medicine is in the gourd of Shenzhou 3?" ”, “Space strains shock China”, “Shenzhou III, approved as a national drug, is born”, “Revolutionary breakthrough in treatment mechanism to re-create human spirit”, “Space biological drugs hit three major chronic diseases of human beings” are all in color Half a page, it looks like news but is not news, is not news but looks like news. The advertising effect is very good. Most people read it as news and read it with gusto.

In addition, "Diabetes patients, please note: lowering glycosylated hemoglobin can effectively control complications" and "Magical peptides saved his feet that were sentenced to death" frequently appeared in "Huashang News" "Beijing Tongrentang reminds men", "Tragedy! A wake-up call for women", "Ladies who love beauty should be careful", "Xi'an men's "five-star standard" inspection of "Zhang Daning"", "Why Changqing Tea is "Crazy" Traveling across the country, etc., can also be regarded as attractive soft article titles. Having a good soft article title is only half the battle. In order for readers to absorb more information from the soft article, the structure of the soft article is crucial. However, most corporate planning and creative staff do not know news writing, and even creative staff from planning or advertising companies that serve companies do not know news writing. There is really a lack of talent in this area, so I won’t care about it here.

The author cites a soft article published in the "Huashang Daily" and once known as the "Xizhilang soft article model" as an example for discussion:

"Exposure" Behind the Hot Sales of “Xizhilang”

How to change people’s way of cleaning after defecation? How to achieve washing instead of wiping? A product called Xizhilang quietly emerged in Xi'an.

It is reported that the scientific name of "Xizhilang" is an intelligent post-defecation cleaner. It is a household appliance installed on the toilet and used for cleaning with warm water after defecation. Xizhilang originated in Japan, and now its penetration rate in Japanese households has reached over 90%. This kind of electrical appliance can rinse the lower body with warm water at the push of a button at the convenience of people. It replaces the traditional paper wiping method and is more hygienic and scientific.

The reporter interviewed Mr. Niu who lives in Ziwei Garden. When talking about his experience of using it, he said: "At first, my children said that the Japanese all use this product and they want to install it on the toilet at home. I firmly opposed it and always thought I was not used to it. But after a few days, I was impressed by the effect after using it. I have to be convinced. I have hemorrhoids and there are elderly people at home, so I am very satisfied with the experience of using Zizhilang!"

A shopping mall shopping guide told reporters: When Xizhilang was first launched, only some people who often went abroad knew what Xizhilang was at a glance, and they did not hesitate to buy it because they were abroad. I have been using WashiLang extensively and have a personal experience of the effects of using it. The shopping guide also told reporters, “People who buy Washilang are not only avant-garde fashion people, but also ordinary citizens. Everyone has realized the importance of Washilang to life.”

According to the person in charge of the shopping mall, Xizhilang has been very popular with customers since it was launched on the shelves, and it always attracts a lot of customers. This is something we did not expect when we launched it on the shelves, and sales are also rising rapidly. This The product prospects are very good and will definitely become a consumer hotspot for household appliances in the future. A seller of building materials and sanitary ware also told reporters: "When selling Washer, I do not require how many units I can sell at the beginning. I have been a sales agent for more than ten years, and I attach great importance to the market prospects of a product. Although it is a new product, it will definitely become a household appliance in the future. It has already become a household appliance in Xi'an, and it will definitely become popular in 3-5 years and become a necessity for urban families."

In just a few dozen minutes when the reporter was interviewing in the home supermarket, 5 units of Xizhilang were actually sold. Why are consumers so fond of this new product that has just been launched?

Ms. Wang, who bought 2 Aizhilangs at a time in Kaiyuan Mall, told reporters, "I have been using Aizhilang when I was studying in Japan, and I have become accustomed to washing with water after defecation. Washing is not only cleaner and hygienic than wiping, but also It's very comfortable and convenient, and it's a good product for women to prevent bacterial infections." Ms. Wang's husband took the lead and said, "As soon as she heard that Xizhilang was launched in Xi'an, she clamored to buy it, and by the way, she didn't want to buy one for the elderly. It’s expensive, only one or two thousand yuan, which is thousands of yuan cheaper than foreign products.”

According to the investigation, between 1995 and 1998, an imported product of Xizhilang generally sold for about 15,000 yuan in Beijing and Shanghai, and the domestically produced "Xizhilang" was also commonly sold. Around 6,000 yuan, although the market has been cultivated for a long time, its high price discouraged ordinary people, and those who could buy it were mostly "rich people" at that time. Of course, people’s lack of awareness of hygiene habits and physical health is another obstacle to promotion. In the two years before 2003, prices were generally reduced by about 50%. Products that originally sold for 5,000 to 6,000 yuan now only sell for less than 3,000 yuan.

Xiao Jun, vice president of marketing of the Liangzhi Washilang manufacturer, told reporters: We attach great importance to market demand. Although our current focus is production and research and development, we are very optimistic about the market prospects of Washilang. We will rely on scientific and effective marketing methods, sophisticated Japanese technology, and competitive prices to promote the market. Our positioning is to meet the potential needs of consumers with high-quality product design.

As of press time, the reporter learned that the installation appointment for Liangzhi Xinzhilang has been fully booked for three working days, and the hot sales situation is still increasing.

The author later learned that the company’s planning director was a newspaper reporter and advertising planner, and had been doing marketing planning for four years. No wonder readers still insisted in the subsequent effectiveness survey that “it’s just news.” . In the process of writing soft articles, we must be good at using some vocabulary commonly used in news to enhance the "newsiness" of the text. How can we use news vocabulary well?

Time and place words: such as "current", "yesterday", "at the time of ××", "×month×day" and "in our city", "×× shopping mall", "home" "XX on ×× Street" and so on. These concepts of time and place can guide readers to associate with that time and place, deepen their impressions, and dilute the advertising information.

At 10:30 a.m. on the 14th, a yellow-green vehicle with an image of an astronaut and the words "Shenzhou-3" snaked into the south gate like a soaring dragon. The hundreds of meters long motorcade attracted the attention of many pedestrians.

"Look, such a long convoy, are they military vehicles?" "No, it looks like a wedding convoy. It doesn't seem right, there are so many cars." Two pedestrians argued loudly when they saw the convoy from a distance. stand up. When the motorcade got closer, everyone saw clearly that the writing on the car body was "Shenzhou III Mannan Peptide Oral Liquid."

Of course, the bold use of pictures in this advertisement is also the main aspect of its success. Although it cannot be called a pure soft-text advertisement (four news pictures occupy 3/4 of half the page), the advertising text is Writing is also worth learning. Another advantage of this article I will cite in the next argument.

The news source consists of words: such as "according to investigation", "according to understanding", "the author also learned", "according to the interview", "according to ××", "the author saw it with his own eyes" ” and so on, these words make readers feel that the information is true and well-documented. Of course, the information itself must first be true.

In the creation process of soft-text advertisements, "what to say" and "how to say it" are the two important factors that creative personnel must first consider.

The first is "what to say". This is also an important link in fully integrating information resources. However, most of the soft-text advertisements we see seek to be comprehensive and complete, and there is a feeling that the most important information is submerged in "long novels", which is not worth the gain.

Example: "Hisense: How to become a "frequency conversion expert" - Jianghu Chapter 1", "Hisense: How to become a "frequency conversion expert" - Jianghu Chapter 2", "Hisense: How to become a "frequency conversion expert" - Jianghu Chapter 2" How to Become an "Inverter Expert" - Jianghu Chapter 3... Each article is half a page of a major newspaper, starting from the successful development of the world's first inverter air conditioner in 1982 to the launch of Hisense's energy efficiency ratio in June 2003 There are thousands of words for inverter air conditioning products with a rating of 5.0 or above.

Examples: "Can Xi'an people accept sex quotient naturally", "Zhang Daning said: "It's absolutely possible"", "Please ask Zhang Daning to teach you how to nourish your kidneys in the 21st century"... the same is true.

They are all cleverly arranged in the article, so that readers can naturally obtain this important information without knowing it. This is also the best way of expression pursued by enterprises. However, some service brands are not very easy to write soft articles. The writing of soft articles is somewhat difficult and requires some methods and methods. There is also knowledge in the layout and design of soft article advertisements. The author summarizes it as follows based on many years of experience in soft article operations, for reference and discussion only.

Font: The font of the title (including the title, subtitle, and subtitle) and the font of the main text should be consistent with the news font used by the publishing media. The decoration of fonts (such as shading, shadow, three-dimensionality, etc.) must also be consistent with the design style of the news.

Font size: In addition to the font design being consistent with the news, the font size should also be the same as the font size used in press releases, so that the reader will feel "like news" as a whole.

Column division: For longer soft document manuscripts (generally more than 800 words), it is necessary to divide them into columns during design. When dividing into columns, refer to the column division method of the publishing media and strictly control the width and length of each column. Generally, each page of a broadsheet is divided into five columns, each column is about 6 cm wide, and each page of a tabloid is divided into four columns, each column is about 5.5 cm wide.

Border: Each newspaper’s press release border has its own fixed style. For example, the news border of "Huashang Daily" is 3 mm gray (the color version is green or blue), while the news border of "Huashang Daily" is 3 mm gray (the color version is green or blue), and Xi'an Evening News" has a thick border. Newspapers and media in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places are also different, and even have no borders. These are details that should be taken into consideration when planning and designing soft-text advertisements.

Line spacing and word spacing: Generally speaking, the line spacing of news text is generally 1 mm, and only three lines of words can be arranged within a distance of 1 cm. The character spacing is generally less than 1 mm, and 3.5 characters can be arranged within 1 cm. When organizing and designing soft copy, strictly control the density of line spacing and character spacing, and match the consistency of font size, so that it can be no different from a press release.

At this point, the classic works of the "Xizhilang soft article model" are "A Hygiene Habit Ignored by 99% of People" and "Xizhilang, Can People in Xi'an Accept it?" ”, “Wanzhilang, the new darling of bathroom appliances”, “The perfect storm of bathroom decoration”, “Exposed behind the hot sales of “Wanzhilang”” and other series of soft articles have strictly grasped the above points. It is precisely because of this that many companies They were followed in subsequent soft copy layout designs, forming a pattern. Publish with news If it is said that achieving something requires "timing," "right location," and "people and people," the same is true for the successful release of soft-text advertisements. The author believes that the main reason why soft article advertisements should be adhered to the news when publishing is because of the "time" and "geographical convenience" at the time of publication. As for "people and people", it will be elaborated in the next section of the argument.

As long as you have good interpersonal relationships and communicate frequently, the reporter or editor will also organize the corporate information he knows into the press release when compiling the article.

In terms of interpersonal relationships, companies should have a group of friends in the media industry. Even if it is not purely for publishing news or advertising, regular communication is beneficial to the company’s correct, reasonable and effective understanding of media information and the use of media resources. Yes, some companies are also very good at discussing broader content with friends in the media industry.

Example: Mr. Ma Yue, the CEO of Yachen Marketing Management Consulting Company (former CEO of Hangzhou Aopu Yuba), is a person who is very keen on dealing with the media. He not only makes suggestions for the media, but also often works with the media. Planning news topics not only wins a group of media resources for the consulting company, but also reserves a large amount of media information for the consulting team, helping clients to operate the media with ease and ease.

In terms of business cooperation, although companies can buy satisfactory space as long as they pay money, often savvy companies will use public relations work to make the publicity effect far exceed that of other companies paying the same price. Although this is difficult to operate, once successful, it will achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Example: Before the Spring Festival in 2003, Yachen Marketing Management Consulting Company organized more than a dozen of its small home appliance customers, such as Liangzhi Xizhilang, Aopu Yuba, Supor, Shangpengtang, etc., to cooperate with "Huashang Daily" Together we planned and implemented a special issue of "Small household appliances as gifts". Before the special issue, the newspaper conducted a concept guide on "What to give as gifts?" A large-scale report was made on "Fashionable Small Home Appliances Set off a Gift-Giving Boom", and more than a dozen small home appliances were introduced one by one in the form of "Fashionable Small Home Appliances, Hot Recommendation List", which not only saved a dozen customers a lot of money The advertising cost is small, and they are united together to appeal to an advertising theme of "gift giving", and have achieved very good results.

Example: In 2003, the "Health Topics" of "Chinese Business Daily" every Saturday also conducted interactive business cooperation with enterprises and products.

The main method of cooperation is: each issue will have different health topics, and different topics will be related to different companies or products. Each topic will range from two and a half pages to four and a half pages. In this way, The advertising page under the topic has become a "fertile ground" for the promotion of related companies and products. The most prominent ones are the following topics: "A soap with a very high price at that time attracted a large number of young female consumers with its vivid story description and miraculous papaya whitening skin, making it unique in the soap market. In fact, papaya whitens skin." The efficacy of the product is not necessarily that miraculous, but Softe has captured the strong desire of ordinary women to remove spots and whiten their skin, and uses the unique papaya fragrance to give the product a mysterious feminine flavor, which not only makes it irresistible but also effective. We should also see that although Soft’s soft articles are exaggerated and somewhat unbelievable, their content is actually based on truth. For example, when it comes to Japanese freckles starlets, some people may think it is a false story. There is no way to go to Japan to verify, but this little star is really the spokesperson of Sofitel in Japan. Sofitel very cleverly used the reason that the freckles on her face cannot be removed because they represent her image. It is recommended that if you have a freckle that looks like a celebrity, it is best to be careful when using Solvote Papaya Whitening Soap. In fact, everyone knows that freckles are difficult to remove, not to mention that washing soap every day can remove freckles. However, Sofitel’s promotion really made people remember its products. Speaking of this story, one can’t help but think that if Cao Ying was known to the public in the entertainment industry as she is today, Sofitel would definitely ask her to be its spokesperson. , because she has an image mole that cannot be removed. From this story, we can see that it is not as simple as imagined to be good at using certain objective phenomena to extract the benefits of the product from another angle. It is not aimless, but a manifestation of in-depth thinking and creativity. Once the goal is established, the release of soft articles must follow the principles of continuity and planning. Director Guo of the CCTV Advertising Department said with emotion that one idea means one statement. If we don't say it over and over again, it's still impossible for people to remember Mengniu's milk advertisement for astronauts. If it wasn't aired every day, over and over again, our people might not buy it when it first came out. Just borrowing the concept of satellite launch and docking is somewhat far-fetched. While people forgive its fashionability, they don't particularly think about Mengniu Milk. However, as this advertisement ran longer and longer, there was a new one later. The version talks about the concept of milk for astronauts. Especially when the manned satellite incident has faded from the media's attention, it is still being broadcast, which arouses people's respect for China's aerospace industry. Therefore, the slogan of Mengniu milk to strengthen Chinese people is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and everyone begins to Accepting the product understanding that "drinking Mengniu milk is best for the body", Mengniu has quickly become the number one brand in the dairy market. Therefore, the same is true for the release of soft articles. Only continuous and planned soft articles can truly achieve promotion. Achievements. Still Soft, which almost always used soft articles as its main method in the next one or two years. Its promotions were seen in newspapers in various cities across the country. The stories were one after another, not repeated, but quite significant. Contact, when it comes to product descriptions, it is exactly the same. The purpose is to repeatedly describe a concept. Basically, many products use at least half a year as a stage when operating soft articles, and they will be published in the newspaper at least once a week in half a year. The only way to work hard is to work hard like this. Only investment will yield results. Therefore, although the cost of soft articles is low, the total investment still has a certain weight, and companies must make this determination.

2. Appropriate exaggeration. After finding the supporting points, you must make some exaggerated descriptions of the product benefits. Do not stop at general descriptions, and the language must be colloquial.

This kind of exaggeration is by no means made out of nothing, but based on collecting and analyzing all the information, making appropriate exaggerations based on the basis, and hitting the hearts of customers with a humorous and legendary tone. This can also be called packaging for product promotion, such as Haier’s oxygen bar antibacterial light. If you are familiar with air conditioning technology, you will understand that its oxygen bar is a negative ion generator and the antibacterial light is an ultraviolet light tube. But Haier is very smart. It borrowed some popular words and made appropriate metaphors to exaggerate the efficacy of the product, becoming the most well-known healthy air-conditioning brand in the industry. Another example is the detoxifying and beauty-beautifying capsules. Panlong Yunhai was the first to make this product. It also exaggerated the effects of detoxification and beauty-beautifying, and thus opened up a new market.

There is also mite removal. Scientific surveys show that only a few people are really troubled by mites. However, mite removal products say that mites are everywhere and everyone has them, so the market is opened again. Because the above-mentioned products do not make false advertisements, and their rhetoric is reasonable to a certain extent. It is just that the reasons for the publicity are appropriately exaggerated, which psychologically affects people's pursuit of health. Therefore, this operation method has its own merits. Success. However, you need to be careful not to exaggerate or make false advertising. Especially when talking about the efficacy, we should not go beyond the limitations of the product itself and make exaggerated claims, otherwise it will inevitably be investigated and punished, causing unnecessary losses to the company.

3. Cooperate with professional pages to select cutting-edge content with news value, making soft articles truly paid news.

This kind of operation is mostly used at a certain stage, such as when a new product is launched or a certain public relations activity is carried out. A relatively successful case is Queer Beverage. When it was first launched, it published a series of classic soft articles in conjunction with TV commercials and offline activities, which greatly impressed people in the advertising industry. Coca-Cola itself is the subject of news reports, and reporters always rush to publish its actions. Therefore, when Queer went public, they considered using the Coca-Cola corporate brand. The titles of the soft articles were very news-oriented, such as: Coca-Cola invested 100 million to build a Queer beverage brands (100 million is enough to attract attention), character marketing enters China (a brand new term to the press), advertising directors talk about character marketing (as an advertising agency staff rather than corporate staff, there is no suspicion of self-promotion) .

Three must-have titles for soft articles:

The level of writing a news soft article directly determines the effect of the news soft article. News soft articles have their own characteristics and writing skills. Writing news soft articles It’s not about writing an ordinary article, it’s not about simply stacking text materials, and it’s not possible for experienced people to write good soft news articles. Poorly written soft news articles will not only be ineffective but also have negative impacts. The most important thing is to have a good title for the soft news article. Make readers want to read the content of the article as soon as they see the title. After reading the beginning of the article, I wanted to read on. The language should be journalistic. A soft article that allows readers to finish reading the article is definitely a high-quality news soft article. Non-professionals are not competent. When it comes to the title of a news soft article, there are three points that must be grasped:

1. The title must look good. Simple and popular words that are very familiar;

2. The title should contain words related to the readers’ interests;

3. The title should contain the customer’s own product keywords.