Content Writing And CopyWriting Are Not The Same – Why?

In my 4 years of writing career, I have been often questioned about what is the difference between content writing and copywriting.

This blog post is dedicated to all who are still unfamiliar with the differences and think that both types of writing styles are the same.

They are most emphatically not the same. It’s critical for new writers who are seeking work to understand the differences between the two; each presents a unique set of challenges and skills to succeed. Here, we highlight the key distinctions between copywriting and content writing.

Let me help you understand!

Content Production – An Overview

Content production is an essential component of digital marketing. It’s also widely known that unless you produce content, visitors will not find your company while searching the internet.

All successful online businesses and digital marketing companies, including search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing, rely on content (SMM).

Each piece of content represents a new opportunity for your company to connect with potential customers.

There’s content writing and then there’s copywriting. While both are used in digital marketing campaigns, their purposes are vastly different.

What is the Content Writing?

The formation of text content to teach or entertain readers is referred to as content writing. It could also drive sales, but that is not its primary goal. By creating high-quality and valuable content, you hope to educate or entertain readers.

Examples of Content Writing:

• White papers
• Electronic books
• Instructional materials
• Electronic newsletters
• Blog entries
• Social media posts with information

What is the Copy Writing?

Copywriting, on the contrary hand, entails the creation of text content to persuade readers to take action related to your company’s sales process. If you’re trying to sell a product, for example, you’ll have to persuade potential customers that it’s a rewarding experience to buy. If you want to get more calls, you’ll need to persuade them that your company is worth calling. Copywriting is the art of convincing readers to take a sales-related action.

Examples of Content Writing:

• Pay-per-click landing pages
• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements
• Cost-per-mille (CPM) advertisements
• Social media advertisements
• Product information
• Sales copy for a website
• Email sales
• SMS (Short Message Service) advertisements

What Determines the Style of Your Writing?

Length

Content writing generally produces longer information than copywriting because it focuses on educating or entertaining the reader.

You may be able to persuade readers to act with just one or two sentences, but educating or entertaining them will almost certainly necessitate a longer length.

So, depending on the subject, you may need to use 500 to 2,500 words. But in the case of a sales copy or copywriting,  you are required to grab your reader’s attention and sell them your service or product without getting them bored. So ideally copywriting has less word count as compared to content writing.

Goal

The main contrast between copywriting and content writing is the goal.

Copywriting sells your personas on your brand; content writing tells them about it subtly while providing valuable content.

The art of selling people on an idea, brand, or ideology is known as copywriting. The best copywriting combines a brand’s products and ideology to create branding. The purpose of copywriting is to persuade customers to use a brand’s products and/or services.

The primary distinction between content writing and copywriting is one of purpose.

The majority of text ads use copywriting to compel readers to take action. Businesses use text ads to encourage prospective clients to act on Google, Bing, Facebook, and other websites.

Sentiments & Emotions

Another distinction between content and copywriting is that the latter frequently elicits an emotional response, whereas the former does not.

According to Harvard University professor Gerald Zaltman’s research, emotion drives more than 9 out of 10 consumer purchases.

Fear of financial crises, for example, may compel a consumer to purchase a product in order to reap its benefits.

With the rise of social media, many consumers now feel compelled to buy and use new products after seeing them used by their friends in social media posts.

The fear of missing out – FOMO is just one of many emotions that copywriters frequently use. Security, pride, comfort, a sense of belonging, and instant gratification are among the others.

In order to persuade readers, savvy marketers use these emotions in their copy writings.

Guess what??

This one is one of my favorite things to involve in my copywriting projects.

Grammar

One of my past clients once asked me to watch out for grammar while writing his sales copy. This point is especially been mentioned to educate you about why it does not really matter in copywriting.

Hold on!!

I understand, while you should strive to reduce grammar errors in all of your content creation activities, it is especially critical in content writing. Grammar mistakes force readers to pause and interrupt their thoughts.

On the contrary, using an incomplete sentence rather than a grammatically correct sentence may persuade more readers to take action. Most online advertising portals also limit the number of words that can be included in a text ad.

Summing it up!!

Having said the main stuff, you must understand there is a fine line between content writing and copywriting. Content writing in digital marketing is all about educating or entertaining, whereas copywriting is all about persuading. When creating organic website content, you will typically perform content writing.

In comparison, you’ll write copy when creating paid ads and other sponsored text content.