Copywriting and content marketing aren’t synonymous with one another, but they’re often used in the same context, which makes the terms highly confusing.
Content marketing refers to writing content with a marketing purpose. It is commonly used in blogs, articles, videos and white papers.
Copywriting, on the other hand, is written to the reader to make them take action. Whether it’s buying a product, following a company’s social media profile or visiting the store, the purpose is to generate action. Copywriting is used for landing pages, direct mail campaigns, sales pages, and infomercials.
Traditionally content marketing and copywriting were two different tasks, that was until Internet marketers got savvy and realized the two should be part of the same group. Today content marketing and copywriting should be done together.
What is Copywriting Then?
If a website is focused solely on content marketing, the company is wasting its money and content efforts. There are thousands of blogs and websites out there today that have excellent content, but unfortunately they only have a handful of people reading it.
Poor copywriting can be the downfall of even the best blogs and websites. Copywriting is striking, compelling and still attracts search engines. If you notice your website or blog lacks in digital traffic, it might be due to the fact your copywriting is inefficient.
What is Effective Copywriting?
- Headlines that grab reader attention and make them click through to read more.
- Headlines that are clever and offer reader benefit — making them want to read more.
- Content that specifically benefits the reader.
- Content that builds up trust, authority and brand identity.
- A website that gains positive social attention and proves to readers it is the place to read and keep reading.
- Content with a clear call to action that tells readers what steps they should take next – such as signing up for updates, visiting a social media profile, etc.
Combining copywriting techniques with content marketing gets readers to take actions, opt-in, and share your website with other people. The result? A loyal, large audience. In 2012, AOL reported that 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared on a daily basis; therefore, if your blog or website isn’t one of them, you’re missing out.
So I Don’t Need to Worry about Content Then?
Wrong!
Copywriting is important, but it’s not the fix-all of the Internet. Even highly effective copywriting can leave you with a dud website without content. It doesn’t matter how effective you are at marketing if you have nothing good to market.
When you’re asking yourself “what is copywriting?’ you also need to ask yourself about the quality content that boosts copywriting. Quality content includes:
- Offering valuable, free content mixed with paid content so readers have a reason to stay on your site and explore.
- Content that isn’t riddled with advertisements or is only written to sell.
- Content that is written for the search engines, but also the human readers.
- Content that builds rapport with readers, delivers a message, but doesn’t obnoxiously sell.
What is a Copywriting Service Going to Offer Me?
A quality copywriting service offers you a combination of copywriting and content marketing. They market your content, but also provide you with content worthy of selling.
Copywriting services are more than just writers. In fact, these multi-skilled and multi-purposed companies understand the best web practices, SEO standards, and marketing techniques in the industry. They understand the audience and know how to use websites and blogs to attract them.
What is Copywriting? It’s Not Just Sales — That’s for Sure
Copywriting is generally associated with landing pages and sales advertisements, but there is a lot more to copywriting services than powerful sales messages. Sure, copywriting companies can write those flashy headlines, push a brand to the front of the industry, and make readers take action, but they’re also highly flexible professionals who can conform to any industry or topic.
Copywriting services can jump from one industry to the next, from one product to another, and from one company to another without error. Copywriters can adapt fast to new content requirements and can write quickly, because they understand audiences and love to write for them.
You can hire copywriters for a multitude of projects, including:
- Writing blogs for your website
- Updating or writing fresh content for your site
- Creating email newsletters, responses and email marketing campaigns
- Writing articles for SEO
- Creating sales advertisements or landing pages
- Writing eBooks
In truth it is impossible to write down everything in order to answer, “What is copywriting?” because copywriting encompasses so many projects and tasks that bounce between marketing, writing and advertising.
Copywriting is an interesting profession, no one doubts that. Copywriters take on a variety of projects, handle different audiences and conform to products and services that most people will never see or hear about.
While it might be hard to define a copywriter, there is one fact that is for certain: everyone needs them. In fact, the most popular brands out there are popular because of the copywriters they’ve hired. Read more about how copywriting has boosted small businesses into big enterprises with this article by Business2Community.