Digital marketing includes the creation of content as a crucial component. It’s also well known that unless you produce content, users will not find your company when they browse the internet. All effective digital marketing strategies, including search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns, and social media marketing (SMM), are driven by content. Every piece of content offers your business a fresh opportunity to engage with potential customers.
But not every approach to creating content is the same. There is content writing in addition to copywriting. Even though both are involved in digital marketing campaigns, their goals could not be more different. It would help if you learned the nuanced distinctions between content generation and copywriting to use digital marketing to promote your business.

What is Copywriting?

Copywriting is creating text that will persuade readers to take action linked to your company’s sales process. For example, if you’re trying to sell a product, you must persuade potential buyers that it’s a good investment.

Examples of copywriting include:

  • PPC Landing Pages
  • PPC Ads
  • CPM Ads
  • Social Media Ads
  • Product Pages
  • Website Sales Copy
  • Sales Email
  • SMS Ads

What is Content Writing?

When writing material, one must employ language to educate or amuse readers. Although it might result in more sales, that is not the primary goal. When producing content, you aim to give readers useful, high-quality information to inform or amuse them.

Examples of content writing include:

  • Blog Posts
  • White Papers
  • E-Books
  • Tutorials
  • Email Newsletter
  • News Articles
  • Evergreen Articles
  • Case studies
  • Social Media posts

Critical differences between Copywriting and Content Writing:

While a content writer educates, a copywriter persuades.

The goal of the copywriting you employ as part of your marketing strategy is to boost sales and conversions. Use sales copy to persuade potential consumers to subscribe to your email list in return for a free download or a promo code. As an alternative, you might want someone to click a link and make a purchase of your item.

For your leads to act on the trust they have developed in your brand, sales copy must persuade and create emotion. A content writer’s job is to attract readers by crafting valuable, SEO-friendly content. In contrast, a copywriter’s job is to create actionable CTAs (Call To Action) that convince the user to opt-in for your email list or direct the reader to a product page from that blog.

The difference between a user who visits your blog, reads 10 items and leaves versus a user who clicks on a link to your opt-in or product page from that blog is copywriting vs. content writing.

While copywriting intends to compel the user to take a desired action, content writing involves developing valuable content over a more extended period. With content writing, there’s no need to pressure your audience into making a purchase or converting. Instead, you’re encouraging them so they’ll feel good about their choice when they eventually act on one of your copywriting pieces.

Your digital marketing strategy’s content authoring should aim to inform and educate your target audience. Additionally, it should increase their trust so that they will be prepared to click on the CTA the next time they see it once they understand your offer better. You’re playing the long game when you include content writing in your marketing strategy. In this instance, you’re creating valuable content your followers can read to aid their decision-making over a potential purchase.

Copywriters evoke strong emotions and a sense of urgency. 

Copywriters want their readers to take action straight immediately. They could suggest that readers download something, subscribe to a newsletter, or make a transaction. It will help if you do not simply answer the reader’s inquiry. But why is this happening now? asks Nick Wolny, Content Director of Super Connector Media. He says copywriters weave urgency and scarcity into headlines to drive immediate action.

On the other hand, content producers want to increase audience engagement. As stated, they aim to increase trust and show the company as a reliable information source.

Content creators create the foundation for upcoming sales.  

Unlike copywriters, sales are never the primary objective of content writers. By creating helpful content, Content Writers work towards building brand authority that ultimately translates into future sales. Not sure if a blog can produce a quantifiable return on investment? Groove’s CEO and founder, Alex Turnbull, disproves this.
In any sector, trust is a significant motivator for purchasing decisions. Groove found that blogging was a great approach to developing trust. He argues that the blog’s popularity has substantially influenced the web visibility, resulting in referrals and signups from consumers who would not have heard of Groove otherwise.

The majority of content writers prioritize SEO.

Most often, content writers are hired to boost incoming traffic. So exceptional content writers are also excellent at SEO. They’ll assist you in selecting topics based on search terms that support your business objectives.

When choosing a content writer, it might be challenging to determine their degree of SEO understanding. When assessing and selecting top SEO content writers, Victor Ijidola of Premium Content Shop recommends looking for target keywords in their writing examples.

The primary search term for which a page is optimized is called a focus keyword. This word should appear in the page title, the first header (H1), and the body copy. It should also be dispersed throughout the subheadings.

While content writers create long-form material, copywriters create short-form copy.

Copywriters produce copy for
• Advertisements, both online and offline
• Taglines and slogans
• Email campaigns’ content on websites
• Scripts for radio or television commercials that promote and advertise
• YouTube scripts
• Catalogs
• Billboards
• Postcards
• Sales letters
• Mail-order letters
• lyrics to jingles
• Social Media
Content creators write longer-form material in the following ways:
• Articles
• A blog post
• Tabloids
• Features in magazines
• Press Statements
• Email bulletins
• Electronic books, Books, Print magazines
• Podcasts
• Television Film

Content creators help with the long-term approach.

A significant commercial will be easy to spot if the copywriter does it well. That can be seen via metrics like click-through rates and open rates. It’s not always easy to evaluate material in the near term. White hat SEO and vital content strategies may take some time to yield results. According to Jon-Mikel Bailey, CDMO at Wellspring Digital, as an SEO executive, you should believe the person who tells you that this stuff takes time because it is true. There is one consistency throughout all of Google’s algorithm adjustments from 2013: a better user experience.
If accepting that harsh reality makes you impatient, remember that blogs and articles’ valuable information has a longer shelf life. Instead of advertisements or emails, blogs and articles are more durable and pay off over time.

Content writers drive organic traffic, which copywriters then convert into leads.

This last line summarises the differences between a copywriter and a content writer. While copywriters transform traffic into leads or sales, content writers drive organic traffic. Keys&Copy CEO Jessica Foster argues that although there may be some overlap, it is rarely, if ever, 100%.
Foster says that while SEO experts and company owners would dearly want to have content developed to attract organic traffic and have a high conversion rate, the reality is that SEO content is most significant at generating traffic, and sales copy is best at selling.

Conclusion

Businesses must constantly convert one-time visitors to repeat visitors and ultimately become loyal customers. While content writing does the job of winning the readers’ trust in the long term, copywriters capitalize on the built trust and transform it into clients. Despite being contrasting in nature, both content writing and copywriting are essential for running a profitable business. A perfect mix of both can ensure that you emerge as a thought leader in your industry and expand your business.