A complete guide to writing soft articles for cross-border e-commerce: types, techniques and taboos

1. Soft article types and writing skills

User soft articles

User-type soft articles aim to enhance consumers’ awareness and favorability of the brand and guide consumer behavior. Common types include:

• Knowledge-based: Share knowledge related to the company and products, and cleverly insert advertising information.
• Experiential: Leveraging the principle of reciprocity and herd mentality by sharing personal experiences.
• Entertainment type: With entertainment as the theme, it attracts entertainment-oriented users.
• Controversial: Create discussion around a topic or event.
• Breaking news: Satisfy readers’ curiosity and attract attention by revealing information.
• Suspense type: Ask questions and then answer them around the questions.
• Story type: Convey information through telling stories and make it easy to spread.
• Intimidation: Exploiting people’s fears and proposing solutions.
• Emotional: Emotional appeals that touch people’s hearts and build deep connections.
• Resource type: Share valuable resources to increase user stickiness.
• Promotional: Create a sense of urgency and stimulate the desire to buy.

Industry soft articles

Industry soft articles are used to expand industry influence and strengthen brand status, and are suitable for the following forms:

• Experience sharing: Use the principle of reciprocity to establish a good reputation.
• Exchange of views: Express unique insights and establish an authoritative image.
• Authoritative information: Publish industry reports and embed brand concepts.
• Character Interviews: Invite industry leaders to quickly increase brand awareness.
• Third-party reviews: Invite comments from famous people to enhance objectivity.

News soft articles

News soft articles use news formats for promotion. Common ones include:

• Press Release: Communicate information clearly and concisely.
• News Report: In-depth reporting, more convincing.

2. Soft article marketing strategy

• News strategy: Emphasize novelty and follow news writing standards.
• Experience Strategy: Provide practical suggestions to trigger active communication among users.
• Concept Strategy: Create new concepts and lead industry trends.
• Technical Strategy: Demonstrate technological innovation and win user trust.
• Topic Strategy: Use social hot spots or controversial points to promote spontaneous discussions.
• Authority Strategy: Use authoritative endorsements to enhance brand credibility.

3. Taboos in soft article writing

• Avoid being too long: Keep it short and concise for quick reading.
• Don’t stray from the center: discuss around the core idea.
• Don’t ignore the title: The title needs to be eye-catching.
• Don’t plan without planning: Make a detailed promotion plan in advance.
• Avoid being the same: Continuously innovate and avoid duplication.
• Avoid being sloppy: The language is concise and powerful, and gets to the point.
• Don’t know yourself and your enemy: Have a deep understanding of the market and audience.
• Don’t ignore acceptability: Make sure the information is authentic and avoid exaggeration.

4. Misunderstandings in soft article writing

• Patchwork of soft articles: Avoid semantic confusion.
• Empty content: Enrich the content of the article.
• Topic mismatch: Make sure the article matches the occasion in which it was published.
• Low professionalism: Incorporate professional knowledge.
• Contains taboo words: Avoid using sensitive words.

Through the above content, cross-border e-commerce practitioners can better understand and apply various techniques and strategies of soft article writing, avoid common mistakes, and improve marketing effects.