Content writer Vs. copywriter

by | Oct 13, 2021 | Content marketing, Copywriting

Which one do you hire?

The chances are you’ve heard ‘copywriter’ and ‘content writer’ flung ­­around in marketing speak, but they sound one and the same right?

Depending on your sources, you’ll often hear these terms used interchangeably, but they are very different. It’s good to understand the difference to know when to hire a content writer or when you need the skills of a copywriter for your project.  

You might be lucky and find a writer who does both, so… which one are you looking for?

Content versus copy

Content is a blanket term for anything that communicates something.  

For example, when we say web content we’re talking about pages on a website, videos, photos, blogs, podcasts, programmes, social media posts (the list is endless). So in this case, writing is only part of what is considered ‘content’.   

Copy on the other hand is literally the ‘written’ words and is more specific to direct sales and marketing.

For example this is typical of the writing that we see in adverts, web pages, product descriptions, sales brochures, offers and promotions.

So, where does the confusion come in with copywriting and content writing?

Copy can be included in content but not vice versa.

The goals of content writing

The overall purpose of content writing is to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your web pages. Clever brands do this by writing on topics related to their service or product that add value to their readers without trying to sell them anything.

Effective marketing platforms for content writing include company blogs, LinkedIn, social media accounts and YouTube . There are many angles a content writer can take to help market a business, including writing to:

  1. Engage
  2. Inspire
  3. Educate
  4. Inform
  5. Instruct
  6. Entertain

Content builds relationships, relationships are built on trust, trust drives revenue.

www.akadrewdavis.com

The purpose of copywriting

Copywriting has a more direct purpose. It’s less about subtly promoting your brand and more about selling a product or service. The purpose of copy is to sell.

Hard or soft sell, the art is in the persuasion and techniques of consumer psychology. Hooking headlines, appealing to a person’s desires, empathising with your customers’ pain points, and connecting them with a solution is really what drives the sale.

We see this in adverts, brand packaging, product reviews, sales emails, job descriptions (even restaurant menus). Successful copywriters write to:

  1. Convince
  2. Persuade a point of view
  3. To induce you to take action
  4. To get you to make a purchase

Copywriting is the key to any successful direct marketing venture

Joseph Sugarman

Copywriter_KudoContent
Here’s a piece of helpful content for you.

Where content and copywriting overlap

It’s all about writing technique.

For example, a blog written with commercial objectives in mind will be written persuasively with a biased angle and an agenda. It could be a sponsored blog post on a product review, which will naturally be geared towards the soft sell. But the overall tone and message remains one that is there to inform, without seeming to push any sale.

This is one instance where the blog post could fit into both categories.

A closing call to action or hyperlinks linking directly to sales pages are typical of copywriting techniques, and this is how you can determine a piece of copy from content. 

Are copywriting and content writing two separate disciplines?

By now I hope I have mannaged to explain how different they are.

However, you’ll find that most content and copywriters do write across both disciplines. And mostly it’s about experience or the preference for the type of work a writer wants to take on. Some writers are specialised in one area, but most others have the skill to write across both.

Copywriting involves more technical ability and an understanding of consumer psychology, whilst content writing has more fluidity and doesn’t necessarily conform to any rules or techniques.

A copywriter seeks to get direct and measurable results and a content writer is more centered on building relationships with audiences. Both are crucial stages in the marketing funnel, but depending on your business needs this should help you determine which type of writing you need for your project. 

Key takeaways

  • The main objective of content writing is to generate leads and increase visitors to your website. This can be done with content that aims to: educate, inform, entertain, or instruct.
  • Copywriting has the sole objective of converting those leads into sales. Techniques include: persuasion, convincing and inducing a call to action.

Did you find this helpful? Feel free to leave me a comment below…

For more information about content or copywriting, feel free to drop me an email.