As mentioned earlier, soft articles have no genre restrictions, but in reality, they can be roughly classified during the writing process. Based on observation and experience, Bro divides soft articles into eight categories and thirteen types, with three categories being the most commonly used, as follows: The first category is news-style soft articles. These appear in the form of news reports, focusing directly on promoting a brand or product around a specific event. This type of soft article is currently the most widely used. Its advantages are directness and prominence, while its disadvantages include poor re-postability. To achieve the best results, continuous posting is required, so companies that use this type of soft article usually have a certain level of strength. For example, Vipshop releases one every other day, while Jiaogu Su Embroidery releases one per week. Companies with even stronger capabilities have dedicated PR agencies and sufficient budgets, often releasing one per day. A prerequisite for writing such soft articles is to master the method of writing news articles. They should be engaging and deep, avoiding boredom. "The Launch of Suzhou Online Mall Marks a New Era for Su Embroidery E-commerce" falls under this category.
The second category is pseudo-scientific soft articles. These appear in the form of scientific articles, citing classics and integrating a lot of professional knowledge to ultimately highlight the promotional object. In most cases, the conclusion is that the brand or product being promoted has the highest technical level and leads the industry. The ultimate form of this type of soft article is forging authoritative reports. Bro once helped someone mimic an authoritative medical clinical report, where all data showed the optimal performance of the promotional object. Although the report was widely circulated, Bro's guilt grew day by day. Therefore, Bro rarely takes medical-related orders now. Writing such soft articles requires extensive research on product-related materials. Some writers simply modify an online scientific article and pass it off as finished work, which is extremely irresponsible. Such soft articles are at best pseudo-originals that Baidu can identify. Bro's "The Enduring Popularity of Embroidery: Why Does Suzhou Embroidery Stand Out?" belongs to this category.
The third category is commentary-style soft articles. These involve commenting on brands, products, or events related to them from a third-party perspective, embedding the promotional purpose within the commentary. To support the commentary, such articles often need to include evaluations or figures from authoritative institutions or experts. Writing these types of soft articles requires a deep foundation and mastery of a large amount of material, as well as skill. For instance, when quoting evaluations or figures from institutions or experts, some may be 100% genuine, some may be convincingly fake, while others may be weak and contrived. Therefore, not everyone who knows how to write can write soft articles, nor does a high level of education guarantee good soft article writing. Knowledge accumulation, breadth of knowledge, experience, thinking ability, writing skills, and techniques are all essential. "In 2012, Professional 'Teams' Will Dominate: Juxianliangpin Ushers in New Trends in Group Buying" is a decent example among Bro's commentary-style soft articles.