Table of Contents
Are you a freelance writer but confused about choosing the right career?
Then you have landed on the right page.
In today’s digital world both copywriting and content writing play an integral role.
But many people often ask questions like, what is the difference between copywriting and content writing?
Is copywriting and content writing the same?
If you are a freelance writer, you should know the difference between copywriting and content writing.
Moreover, you should have a clear insight into what is copywriting and content writing.
Let’s understand it better in this article.
What is copywriting and content writing?
What is copywriting?
Copywriting is a crucial element in every business which is related to marketing and advertisements.
Copywriting is a process in which you write content to persuade the audience to make a purchasing decision.
In simple words, it is the salesmanship in a written form.
Say, for example, if you want to sell a product, you have to write content (also known as copy) to convince people to buy your product.
Copies are generally written by a copywriter, who highlights the features of the product in the best possible and creative manner.
It helps businesses in building brand awareness.
Some examples of Copywriting are:
- Email campaigns
- Landing pages
- Product pages
- Social media ads
- Website sales copies
What is content writing?
On the other hand, content writing is the process of content creation to educate and entertain people.
The ultimate aim of content writing is to engage the audience, build trust, and drive traffic to the website.
Content writers often create high-quality valuable content to provide value to their readers.
Content writing is also equally important in building up a relationship with the customers.
Some examples of content writing are,
- Blogs
- White papers
- eBooks
- How to do guides
- User manual
- Tutorials
- Newsletters
What is the difference between copywriting and content writing?
(Copywriting Vs Content writing)
Both the copywriter and content writer creates content for their businesses but with a different intention in their mind. There is a vast difference between copywriting and content writing.
Let us discuss the difference between copywriting and content writing.
The intention of the content
As we know that both copywriting and content writing are written pieces of content, their purposes in every business are different.
Copywriters create content with the ultimate goal of persuading the audience to make a purchasing decision.
Copywriting typically involves advertisements related to their products or services and includes a call to action.
Copies will compel the readers to buy a product or avail service.
On the other hand, a content writer writes the content to provide information to the audience.
Content is mainly for non-commercial purposes.
Content writing mainly aims at driving organic traffic to their website by providing education and entertainment to the readers.
Style of the content
Style of the content refers to the length of the content.
A copywriter usually writes a short form of content.
On the other hand, a content writer writes a long form typically comprising 500 to 2500 words.
Content writing involves an in-depth article explaining the process or how to do guides or some tutorials.
Emotions involved in the content
Several studies show that 9 out of 10 people make their purchasing decisions based on their emotions.
Sense of urgency, scarcity, and fear of missing out (FOMO) are a few examples of the emotions involved in copywriting.
Say, for example, offer ends today, only two left in stock, etc., are often used in copywriting to create FOMO among the customers.
On the other hand, content writing does not involve any emotions since it aims to provide valuable information to the readers.
Search Engine Optimization of the content
Content writing outperforms copywriting in terms of SEO.
Long-form of content works well with SEO.
As content writing provides information to the readers, search engines like Google recommend such form of high-quality content to the readers.
If the content is helpful and informative, it is likely to be shared by the readers. In the future, it helps in ranking.
In simple words, content writing drives traffic through SEO, whereas copywriting drives traffic through paid ads.
SEO copywriting also helps for increasing sales.
Copywriting is of different types, and let’s discuss a few.
Each type of copywriting involves each copywriting skill every copywriter should possess.
What are copywriting skills?
Copywriting types :
(i) Website copywriting:
Creating a website copywriting is an essential skill.
It involves the writing done for the website pages including the homepage, service page, about us page, contact page, etc.
This type of website copywriting type is mainly aimed to create copywriting for persuading the customers by providing an overview of the brand, product, or service.
Say, for example, this type of copywriting should include the company’s vision and mission, its main objective, the product they sell or the service they provide, etc.
(ii) Email copywriting:
The most significant type of copywriting is Email copywriting.
Email copywriting helps businesses in both inbound marketings as well as in outbound marketing.
It is one of the effective types of copywriting that helps in creating brand awareness and building trust among the customers.
In the inbound marketing emails are sent out to the new customers to familiarise the product or service.
On the other hand in outbound marketing copywriting helps in sending out an email campaigning sequence and also for sales pitching.
(iii) Advertisement copywriting:
Yet another type of copywriting is ad copywriting.
This type of copywriting is mainly done to advertise the brand and with the main aim of making the customers take immediate action.
Such ad copywriting enables the copywriter to possess copywriting skills such as writing taglines, description for the boost post on Social media, headlines for Facebook ads, etc.
I hope now you have understood the difference between copywriting and content writing, content and copywriting skills required.
If you are a beginner in copywriting, here are a few tips for copywriting every copywriter should follow.
Copywriting Secrets
(Tips on copywriting for beginners)
- Write short sentences
- Use simple language and words that create a clear picture in readers’ minds
- Identify the problems of the audience and write what you can do for them
- Use an active voice
- Write in a conversational tone
- Write an attention-grabbing title or headline
- Provide white spaces while writing
- Use power words in your headline
- Add call to action
I hope now you have understood the different copywriting types, skills required, the difference between copywriting and content writing, and more specifically about what is copywriting and content writing.
Conclusion:
Whether you are a copywriter or a content writer, your ultimate aim is to focus on the audience.
Make in-depth research and identify the problems of the audience and provide solutions to their problems.
As a writer trying to understand the difference between copywriting and content writing is of crucial importance.
“Your job is not to write copy. Your job is to know your visitors, customers, and prospects so well, you understand the situation they’re in right now, where they’d like to be, and exactly how your solution can and will get them to their ideal self.” – Joanna Wiebe
Cheers,
Shenbagalakshmi