Content Writing and Copywriting Image in Outsource Workers - Keyboard and Notebook and Pens

Content writing is the process of creating material that is relevant, useful, informative and engaging for the purpose of serving a need, interest, or concern of its intended audience.

In comparison, copywriting is the process of creating material that is relevant, useful, and informative to the needs of the intended audience; they are compelled to patronize your brand.

After reading through the definitions, you may be thinking:

“What is the difference? Copywriting is content writing; they both create high-value material that appeals to the needs of a specific audience.”

Well, yes.

And no.

 

Understanding the Difference Between Content Marketing and Copywriting

Copywriting is a form of content writing. Like other forms of content writing; such as scriptwriting, product reviews, and blogging, it has a specific purpose.

The purpose of copywriting is to sell an idea or to pitch a brand. Its ultimate objective is to sell. It used to be that copywriting was a process popularly identified with advertising agencies.

You would hear terms like “ad copy” and “sales copy” where copywriters were hired to come up with content that would favourably influence the buying decisions of the consumer.

That is no longer the case. For the reason that the material used to create the ad or sales copy is a form of content, copywriting has been included under the umbrella of the content marketing process.

Meanwhile, content marketing is a more generalized term. Hence, the blanket term content marketing strategy.

As a strategy, content marketing may incorporate different processes each selected to support a predetermined objective. Unlike copywriting, content marketing is not utilized in order to sell.

Its purpose is to help the audience find information that is useful or applicable to their needs and concerns.

Content writers write with a target audience in mind. They conduct research on the issues and topics that are trending or popular with their audience. The content writers know the industry can be very competitive. Other businesses have their own team of content creators.

There are nearly 2 billion websites on the Internet. A good majority of those websites are regularly producing content. Potential customers launch search queries every second.

Will your content appear on the first page of the search results page?

The challenge for your content writing strategy is to win the trust and approval of the audience so that they will be enticed to follow your brand, not the competition, and become potential customers.

New copywriting software like Closerscopy can help speed up the process. The question is, which one should your business focus on? Content marketing or copywriting?

 

Why Your Business Should Have Both Content Marketing And Copywriting

Content Writing and Copywriting Image in Outsource Workers - Kirk and Spock Image Black and White

Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.

Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

Peanut Butter and Jelly.

By themselves, they are good. With their partner, they become great.

A well-written sales copy can get the cash registers ringing. But what if there aren’t customers to sell the products to?

Content marketing has been proven to be an effective strategy for building a business’ brand. However, a person who needs to buy a product or service right away will have no time to read through a blog that has 2,400 words.

For your business to prosper, you should include content marketing as part of your digital marketing strategy. And the content marketing strategy should likewise include copywriting.

The best way to understand the synergistic relationship between content marketing and copywriting is to compare it to a funnel.

The wider the opening of the funnel, the more quantity of a substance you can put through.

In our analogy, the funnel is your website. Content marketing makes it possible to enlarge the opening of the funnel by driving more traffic to your website.

The more active and consistent you are in running your content marketing strategies, the higher the potential of enticing potential customers to visit your website.

Once visitors arrive at your website, the focus will now shift to the effectiveness of your copywriting.

If your visitors are not enticed or compelled by the copy they read, they will not pursue their interest and click out of your website.

However, if your visitors find value in your copy, they will continue to explore your website.

In this case, your copywriting has pushed the visitors further down the funnel. The objective is to convert their interest to revenue. In other words, turn site visitors into paying customers before they leave the funnel.

Thus, content marketing builds your market. It creates the interest for your business; its products and services. Content marketing does this by consistently producing content that meets the satisfaction of its intended audience.

For example, your business retails health supplements and vitamins. Your market research has uncovered that 90% of the targeted audience is interested in losing weight.

Your content marketing strategy should publish blogs, product reviews, and curated articles that cover the following issues:

  • Top 10 Weight Loss Supplements
  • How to Use Caffeine Supplements to Burn Body Fat in 2 Weeks
  • The Best Natural Vitamins and Minerals to Promote Healthy Weight Loss
  • Lose Weight Fast and Safely With Our Best Reviewed Supplements
  • Tight Budget? Here Are Our Top 10 Cheap But Effective Weight Loss Supplements

Readers who enjoy your content and find great value in them will be encouraged to follow your social media pages or visit your website.

When the reader arrives at your website, he/she should be met with enticing copywriting content that should compel them to buy your supplements.

For example, the landing page can have well-placed testimonies from users of your weight loss supplements. It should have “Before” and “After” photos and direct quote testimonies.

You can even include a link or social media icon to your YouTube channel where the site visitor can watch inspiring videos on your customers’ weight loss journey.

 

How To Create Great Content

Email Content vs Online Content Image in Outsource Workers Content Text on HandContent is any type of material that has high-value for the targeted audience. Although blogs are probably the most popular form of content, you can also create content from videos and images.

In order for content to be effective, it must have the ability to successfully deliver the message of your campaign to your audience.

What do you want to accomplish? Content marketing can suit a variety of objectives:

  • To enhance your reputation as an industry expert or valuable resource.
  • To generate leads or build followers.
  • To promote the products and services of your business.
  • To introduce your business/ company to an audience.
  • To find new markets/ growth opportunities

For your content marketing strategy to be successful, you should put thought, effort, and purpose behind it. For example, when writing a blog, it’s not enough to string together words and phrases about a topic.

Your content should be well-researched, expertly written, and fully optimized in order to deliver the desired results.

Here are 8 tips on how to create great content:

  1. Create a list of topics that are of interest to your audience.
  2. Conduct comprehensive research on every topic. You must use only relevant and reputable sources. Don’t forget to acknowledge the resource as a reference by hyperlinking to their website.
  3. Conduct keyword research. Keywords are the most frequently used words and phrases by Internet users when launching a search query. Keywords optimize your content. This means the keywords will help your content get found on the Internet.
  4. Write for your readers, not for yourself. People will click on your content because they believe you are the expert. Write in simple, easy-to-understand language. If you want to impress your audience, make your content an easy read. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short. No more than 20 words per sentence and three sentences per paragraph.
  5. Keep your content organized. Create an outline before writing.
  6. Check for errors in spelling and grammar.
  7. The ideal blog length to improve search rankings is 1,900 words or higher. That said, focus on the quality of the blog.
  8. Create a content writing schedule. For example, you can start out with one blog per week then scale up to two blogs per week the following month. The target is to publish 16 blogs per month which generates the best results for generating leads.

 

How To Write Great Copy That Sells

Keeping in Contact with VAs Image in Outsource Workers - Girl Working on ComputerCopywriting is the method you use to tell your audience why your brand matters. Unlike content marketing which thrives on length and volume, effective copywriting is short but concise.

You only have a few seconds to get the attention of the consumer. If you fail to hook the consumer with your copy, you may lose the opportunity to convert interest into revenue.

Here are 5 tips on how to write great copy that sells:

  1. Your headline should focus only on one idea. A good example is Apple’s ad copy, “iPhone5: The Biggest Thing to Happen to iPhone Since the iPhone”
  2. Use short, broken sentences for effective emphasis. Let’s take another bite from an Apple ad copy: “The All-New Lightning Connector: Smaller. Smarter. Durable. Reversible.”
  3. Include your strong selling points. You may have noticed in the sales copy for many products featured in Amazon that they feature 5 to 8 key selling points: For example:
  • Dual camera feature
  • High- resolution videos and images
  • Easily transferable to your PC and laptop
  1. Include success stories. We touched on this briefly in our example regarding customer testimonies on the use of the weight-loss supplements.
  2. Present a solution to a problem. Here’s a good example, “Noise cancelling technology lets you hear what matters the most: the music in your phone.”

 

Conclusion

Content writing should never be matched versus copywriting. They are protagonists not antagonists. On their own, you gain traction. In combination, you accomplish objectives.