Copywriting vs. Content Writing: What’s the Difference?

Thinking about copywriting vs. content writing is kind of like thinking about football vs. fútbol. These words are often used interchangeably, but they mean completely different things depending on what country you’re in. Similarly, copywriting and content writing are both styles of writing but seek to accomplish different things. 

Content creation is an essential part of digital marketing, including boosting your search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) efforts while allowing you to engage more effectively and personally with your customers. Read on to learn more about copywriting and content writing and how to leverage the power of storytelling for your business’s marketing. 

What Is Copywriting?

Copywriting is essentially writing for marketing or advertising purposes, designed to direct customers to a sale. It has to be persuasive and trustworthy to win potential customers over and keep current customers engaged. It also has to convey a sense of urgency through calls to action that inspire immediate action. 

A few examples of copywriting are: 

• PPC ads
• Social media marketing
• Landing pages 
• Email marketing
• Taglines

Copywriting is a short-term marketing strategy using shorter copy, and its success can be measured by click-through and open rates, the number of conversions, and resulting sales. 

The Benefits of Copywriting 

Copywriting helps you identify your brand voice, which is how your brand sounds when it speaks to customers. It also allows you to showcase your brand’s personality to the world in a way that helps customers distinguish between you and your competition through what is known as brand recognition. 

What Is Content Writing?

Content writing is informational, meant to create brand awareness and educate customers, leading them through all of the buyers’ journey stages that lead up to the sale, which is when copywriting brings it home for the win. 

A few examples of content writing are: 

• Blogs
• Longform content pieces
• Whitepapers
• Newsletters
• E-books

Content writing is useful for marketing purposes but isn’t solely meant to drive sales, so it’s generally lengthier than copywriting and more emotionally driven, which is effective because research has shown that emotional connection is vital for brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, and conversions. The value of content writing is that it helps build trust in your customer base because they learn they can count on you for continued high-quality content. 

The Benefits of Content Writing

Content writing allows you to demonstrate your brand’s authority and believability. Further, it is a helpful marketing tool, as HubSpot reports that blogging saves more time and money than other lead generation tactics. 

Content writing gives invaluable opportunities for SEO in the headings and body copy. Just be sure not to keyword stuff, which will get your writing penalized by search engines. Longer content also creates more opportunities for internal and external linking. 

Why You Should Use a Writer for Marketing

Now it’s time to talk about why using content writing or copywriting services is so important. When you enlist the help of a professional marketing writer, you can focus on the other parts of your business that need you — which is especially helpful if you don’t enjoy writing or find it challenging as many people do. Even better, a professional marketing writer is adept in many writing styles and types, meaning that no matter what kind of content your company puts out, it will always be consistent with your brand voice and objectives. 

PHOS Is Your Content Creation Partner 

The differences between copywriting and content writing are subtle — essentially, copywriting is about convincing customers they need your product or service while content writing entertains or informs your readers. Both are irreplaceable marketing components that help build a loyal customer base. 

When you’re ready to put an effective content strategy in place for your business, our experienced team at PHOS Creative is ready to help guide you. Our content, branding, photography and videography, inbound marketing, web design, and consulting services help you push the needle and let your business grow. Contact us to learn how we can help you tell your story to the world.