Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

At 9 p.m., passersby walking on Fuzhou Road Cultural Street in the HP District can see that the third floor of Qingniao Publishing House is still brightly lit.

In the editorial office meeting room, five editors, including Zhang Meimei and Lu Hai, sat in front of Han Fei.

Zhang Ruiyi sat—or rather, lay—in an armchair behind a desk, her long legs dangling between the table legs, her hands clasped behind her head, gazing expectantly at the six people in the center of the conference room. Back at the publishing house, Han Fei told her to go home, but she insisted on staying, saying she wanted to see how Han Fei conducted meetings.

The meeting hasn't started yet.

Han Fei glanced at his watch and bet himself that Wen Jie would arrive at the door before 9:10. Since the Alfa Romeo could only seat two people, Han Fei had to ask Wen Jie to take a taxi. Before he arrived, Han Fei repeatedly emphasized that the meeting was very time-sensitive and that they should not discuss anything unrelated to the meeting's agenda.

The conference room door opened, and everyone looked up towards the entrance. A man entered, carrying a laptop in one hand and breathing heavily.

"We've been waiting for you," Han Fei said. "Quickly, find a place to sit."

Wen Jie nodded and smiled at the editors, then sat down at the back.

"Let's begin." Han Fei took a marker from the recessed area under the whiteboard and quickly wrote a few lines:

Users received promotional text messages

↓

Click the link / reply with keywords

↓

Accessing the WAP page/receiving the first chapter

↓

Paid subscription notification (reply command to subscribe)

↓

Payment successful, continue receiving chapters

"This is the core process of our business," Han Fei said, tapping the whiteboard with his index finger. "And the most crucial first step is promoting the SMS message. The SP model is still relatively new, and many users may not be used to reading long passages of content on their phones, let alone paying for virtual content. So this SMS message must grab their attention within a second."

He drew a circle on the words "Promotional Newsletter" with his pen.

"We limit the content of the newsletter to 70 Chinese characters, including punctuation. Anything over 70 characters will make users lose patience, but the newsletter must completely convey the core information." Han Fei turned to the editors, "Therefore, we need to write newsletter copy—note, not articles, but copy. Every word must be carefully considered."

Zhang Meimei frowned: "Like the classified ads in the newspaper?"

"It's even more direct," Han Fei said. "Let me give you an example."

He wrote a passage on the blank space of the whiteboard:

[Bluebird Story Collection] The hidden past of Li Yuanyuan, a teacher in a mountain village. Her emotional entanglements with the principal and other leaders reveal the truth about power and desire in rural areas. A subscription fee of 10 yuan/month is required. Please reply with "Y" to confirm. Reply with "T" to unsubscribe.

"This promotional copy was designed based on the article 'Li Yuanyuan'," Han Fei said. "It begins by establishing brand awareness with 'Bluebird Story Collection'; 'Mountain Village Teacher' clarifies the background; 'Hidden Past' creates suspense; 'Power and Desire' elevates the topic's level; and finally, it clearly tells users what they need to do and how much it will cost. There's no fluff in the whole thing."

The editors began taking notes.

"This is the most basic version," Han Fei continued. "In actual push notifications, we need to segment the target audience. For example, for push notifications targeting young male users, we can more directly highlight emotional and desire elements; for middle-aged users, we can emphasize a sense of reality and destiny; and for female users, we can focus more on emotional entanglements and human struggles."

Lu Hai raised his hand. Han Fei nodded.

"President, how do we know if the user is male or female?" Lu Hai asked.

"Uh, about this..." Wen Jie said, looking at Han Fei, "Brother Fei, may I tell you?"

"Can."

"Okay," Wen Jie continued, "We don't have a user profiling system yet, so we can't accurately push content based on a user's gender. I'll gradually improve this aspect in the future."

"Yes," Han Fei nodded, "but for now we can make a rough judgment based on the push time and content theme."

He turned around and drew another table on the whiteboard:

Time | Recommended Themes | Target Audience

7-9 AM | Short Suspense Story | Commuters

12-14 PM | Workplace Disputes | Office Workers

18-20 PM | Emotional entanglements | People relaxing after get off work

21 PM - 24 AM | Supernatural/Horror | Nighttime Readers

"This is just a preliminary plan. In actual operation, adjustments will be made based on the data." Han Fei capped his marker. "Now let's talk about the specific tasks."

Everyone sat up straight in their chairs at the same time, making a rustling sound.

"First, we need to extract 3 to 5 different promotional text messages for each of the 105 approved drafts. Each message should be under 70 words and highlight different selling points." Han Fei looked at Zhang Meimei, "Mei-jie, you're in charge of overall coordination. Make sure the first draft is completed by noon tomorrow."

Zhang Meimei nodded solemnly: "Understood."

"Secondly, after the copywriting is completed, we need to design a push plan based on the subject matter. The initial plan is to push out 3-5 different stories every day and observe which subject matter and copywriting has the highest conversion rate." Han Fei's gaze moved across each face, finally settling on Lu Hai. "Lu Hai, you are the youngest and sensitive to internet slang, so you can offer more ideas in this area."

Lu Hai smiled and said, "No problem!"

"Third," Han Fei paused, "and the most crucial step, is testing. After the website goes live tomorrow, we'll conduct a small-scale test push using about 5000 numbers covering different regions. Wen Jie and I will handle this."

"OK!" Wen Jie said.

Senior editor Chen Jianguo pushed up his glasses: "President, won't this kind of text message be considered spam? These days, many people delete promotional text messages as soon as they see them."

"Yes." Han Fei's tone was calm. "This is a problem we must face. So our copywriting must achieve two things: first, it must not look like a 'GG' (a Chinese internet slang term for a bad product or service), but rather like an interesting content recommendation; second, it must provide clear and simple guidelines for the next steps."

Someone gently cleared their throat.

"What's wrong, Ruiyi?" Han Fei asked.

Zhang Ruiyi pointed to the promotional text on the whiteboard: "Your payment prompt is too stiff. Subscribing to this work requires a payment of 10 yuan/month. Please reply Y to confirm. It sounds like paying a fine."

Han Fei rubbed his chin with his index finger, thought for a moment, and then nodded: "You're right, it is a little stiff. How do you think it should be changed?"

The people in the conference room exchanged questioning glances.

"Hmm..." Zhang Ruiyi said, "Could you change it to something more appealing? Like 'Unlock all the exciting content for only 10 yuan/month,' or 'Continue your reading experience now!'"

Han Fei counted on his fingers, then involuntarily raised an eyebrow. Zhang Ruiyi's copywriting not only felt warmer, but it was also shorter than before. In an era where users are still wary of mobile payments, the warmth of the copywriting is crucial.

"Okay, let's do it your way." Han Fei picked up a marker, rewrote the text on the whiteboard, then turned around to give a final summary.

"Currently, there are over 3 million mobile phone users nationwide. Most of them have never paid for content. They are used to free TV, free radio, and cheap newspapers and magazines. What we need to do is make them realize for the first time that a good story is worth 10 yuan from their phone bill. Everyone, please work hard tonight to finish the first draft of the copy. Wenjie, stay and type the text with me. Tomorrow at 12 PM, we will finalize the draft here. Tomorrow night at midnight, Qingniao Reading will officially launch, and the first batch of test announcements will be sent out."

A round of applause followed.