Content Writing vs. Copywriting- What Are The Differences?

Planning a career in content writing or copywriting?

Before you choose to go for any online course, you need to first know the difference between the two. In my career, I have seen scores of people getting confused between the two and thinking of them to be the same.

Behind every marketing strategy, there is a huge role of storytelling that impacts the purchasing decision of a potential customer. Businesses and brands understand the factor of gaining the trust of their audience which eventually inspires action and helps in building a long-term relationship with the customers.

Both copywriting and content writing are crucial for building a meaningful connection with the audience despite playing different roles and serving different purposes. This is why to build a business or to work for a business to grow it is important to know the differences between these two in detail.

What is content writing?

Content writing is more likely to attract the audience and retain their attention while providing a solution to their queries. The primary purpose of content writing is to provide information to the reader and help them find a solution to their queries. Content creation is closely related to SEO as well and follows certain SEO guidelines to increase organic traffic and leads for the website. With content marketing, the main focus is to help the audience with relevant and valuable information rather than making sales or convert them into customers. Content can be of different forms such as videos, guides, podcasts, webinars, blogs and webpages.

What is copywriting? 

Copywriting on the other hand is mainly used for advertising and marketing. Copywriting has been used for businesses as long as they have been trying to make sales. From being used on billboards, magazines and newspapers, copywriting has also evolved along with marketing platforms. Now businesses use copywriting on new mediums such as web developments, digital marketing, search ads, landing pages and display ads.

Content writers are more likely to write long-form copy while copywriters prefer a short-form copy

The length of the copies also varies in both cases. In content writing an in-depth step-by-step article is more likely to get rank better in the search results and preferred by bloggers and visitors alike. This includes articles, blog posts, e-books, press releases, white papers, email newsletters and more.

In copywriting the length of the copy does not matter and in most cases, marketers and copywriters prefer a short and concise form of copy to persuade the customer. Copywriters mainly write copy for ads, web page content, email campaigns, sales letters, billboards, direct mail letters, video scripts and more.

While copywriting demands an action, content writing lays the foundation of potential sales

Copywriters want their readers to take immediate action after going through the particular copy. It can be signing up for a newsletter, downloading something or even buy a product. For this reason, copywriters often project a sense of urgency and scarcity in their copy to provoke the audience to take a certain action at that moment.

Content writers on the other hand are more focused on establishing trust and positioning the brand or business as a trustworthy source of relevant information. The main goal of content writers is not making sales directly but they are still concerned with selling and focused on a rather indirect way of selling by building a sense of trust.

Content writing involves SEO strategies, where copywriting involves persuading techniques

Content writing requires following certain SEO guidelines such as targeting a particular keyword, maintaining proper H tags and other on-page SEO rules. SEO plays a crucial role in content writing to rank that particular page in the search results.

Copywriting does not involve SEO to this extent rather focuses on persuading techniques while tapping certain factors like scarcity, reciprocity, social proof and more to provoke a potential customer to take a particular action.

There are tons of differences between these two styles of writing. While content writing requires a long-term approach, copywriting focuses on getting instant results. But despite being different in many factors both of them are necessary to grow your business or brand effectively.

 

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