COPYWRITING VS. CONTENT WRITING: What’s the Difference and When Do You Use Each One?

COPYWRITING VS. CONTENT WRITING

All writing for your business is not created equal.

If you love writing blog posts but have struggled to create an effective services page on your website. Or your email list is just sitting there like a trendy sweater you bought but never figured out how to style, so you just let it hang in your closet with the tags on…you may not be clear on what you’re writing and how it works for your business.

Copywriting and Content Writing are both necessary for your online business, especially if you’re a personal brand, course creator, educator, or coach.

Even though both are essential, they serve two different purposes and utilize two very different skill sets.

Let’s break down what’s what so you can maximize every single word you type for your business:

IN THE MOST SIMPLE TERMS, THE GOAL OF CONTENT WRITING IS TO BUILD KNOW, LIKE, AND TRUST. THE GOAL OF COPYWRITING IS TO PERSUADE THE READER TO TAKE A SPECIFIC ACTION.

CONTENT WRITING

Content writing, or content marketing, allows you to position yourself as an authority, grow your community, make yourself memorable, deepen your relationship with your audience, and educate your readers so that they’re warmed up when it’s time for you to make a sales pitch or offer.

Content writing is a long game, the effects accumulate over time. The focus is placed on providing valuable engaging, entertaining, or educational content in your specific niche. It is conversational in style and very personality/brand voice heavy.

You can measure the success of a piece of content by the amount of engagement it receives. If it got shared, likes, comments—then it connected with your audience.

Examples of content include things like:

  • Social Media Posts
  • Blogs/Articles
  • Weekly Email Newsletters
  • Podcast or Video Scripts
  • E-books
  • Lead Magnets

COPYWRITING

The purpose of copywriting is conversion. Good copy leads the reader on a journey towards making a purchasing decision. Copywriting uses psychology principles, proven word formulas, and market research to “coach the conversion,” as copywriter Ry Schwartz says.

Where content writing will be very brand voice heavy, copywriting is full of Voice of Client research. VOC is fancy copy-jargon for the exact pain points, problems, fears, objections, hopes, dreams, and desires that the Ideal Client has, and most importantly, the words they use to describe them.

Your brand voice is not nearly as important as psychology, formulas, and VOC when it comes to persuasive writing.

Copywriting’s success is measured by its ability to convert, or move someone from point A to point B. Are they clicking the CTA button to sign up for your masterclass or buy your program? Are they clicking the link in your email to your sales page?

Examples of Copywriting include:

  • Website Pages
  • Email Welcome Sequence
  • Email Launch Sequence
  • Product Descriptions
  • Opt-in Pages
  • Webinar Registration Landing Page
  • Sales Page
  • Facebook Ad
  • CTA Buttons
  • Headlines, Taglines, or Slogans

Neither content nor copy is more important than the other and you can see why an online business owner would need both.

Of course, the two different types of writing have their similarities as well:

  • Both build trust.
  • Both require a deep knowledge of your niche and the target market.
  • Both are written to one person, the Ideal Client, with one goal (messaging or conversion) in mind.
  • Both help you grow your audience and your income.

There’s also plenty of overlap.

Let’s say you’re launching a course. Your weekly blog and/or weekly email newsletter 4-8 weeks leading up to the launch is strategic content. Addressing misconceptions, objections, fears, or mindset hurdles around your course topic.

It’s valuable information for information’s sake.

But maybe your final blog before your launch sends them over to your webinar registration landing page, well then we’re going for that conversion, so it’s copy.

After you launch, you send out a series of 5-7 emails to your list promoting your new product…copy.

LET’S LOOK AT A SIMPLE SALES FUNNEL: LEAD MAGNET → WELCOME SERIES

👉 Opt-In Landing Page (Copy: You want them to type in their email in exchange for your lead magnet)
👉 Thank you Page (Copy: there’s an opportunity to upsell or tell them where to go next.)
👉 Lead Magnet (Content: this is a piece of valuable content that begins a relationship with your reader.)
👉 Lead Magnet Delivery Email (Copy: You want them to open the email.)
👉 Email Welcome Series (Copy: You want them to continue opening each email of the series as you lead them on a journey to purchase your flagship product, book a call, buy your course, etc.)
👉 Weekly Email Newsletter (Content: This is your way of staying top of mind and continuing to connect with your readers every week.)

You don’t have to be brilliant at both, or either for that matter, but a base set of both copy and content writing skills will go a long way in helping you connect with your audience.

You don’t have to do either perfectly, but it would be smart to invest a little bit of time in knowing how to do them both for your business.

Both content and copywriting are skills you can outsource, but probably not to the same person. I’m a big fan of hunkering down and getting really good at one thing and copy and content are two totally different skill sets.

Me, I stick to conversion copy over here. That means websites, promotional emails, sales pages, launch sequences are all my jam. I get all kinds of nerdy for the words that get you seen, heard, and sell your shiz.

Wanna know how to write to your Ideal Client so they can pick up what you’re putting down? Grab the Ideal Client Workbook and you’ll be speaking their language in no time!


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While you’re down here, get 9 tips to write more better copy

(promise, no incessant emails, mostly ’cos it’s annoying… but mostly because I have no time for that.)