Digital marketing has always been about content. And obviously, it’s true since no business on the web can get discovered without content. Content is the king and is the driving factor behind multiple successful digital marketing campaigns. Content is required in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Pay-per-Click (PPC), and more. However, with the opportunity it brings, the purpose is not always the same.
This blog will discuss the two popular forms of content creation and they are: content writing and copywriting. Both are widely used in digital marketing, however, both serve different purposes entirely. To understand the difference, read this blog carefully.
What Is Content Writing And Why Is It Popular?
Content writing is all about providing information or entertaining the readers through text content. Content writing helps a business become a thought leader in its domain. The more a business spends time on content writing and educating its readers, the more likely it’ll witness traffic on its website and higher rankings on the SERP. After all, Google is all about providing relevant information to the users. That’s why businesses that provide user-relevant content and share as much information as possible, have a higher chance of ranking higher and getting more visibility on the search engines.
Therefore, the content should be of high quality and value. Content writing involves the creation of:
- Written tutorials
- E-books
- Blog Posts
- Articles
- Email newsletters
- White papers
- Case studies
- Social media posts
- News articles
Content writing is hence, a great way for businesses to educate their audience about their products or services. It helps many businesses get leads and build an audience. Sharing relevant, up-to-date information also helps a business become a leader in its niche. This leads to higher rankings and better trust both from companies and customers.
What Is Copywriting And Why Should Businesses Bother With It?
Copywriting is all about convincing the user to take some action. It’s writing that persuades a user into buying or trying one of the products or services. It has a clear intention and that is to get more users into completing a CTA(Call To Action), which is why businesses that are aggressive on selling often use copywriting.
To sell a product or service, the buyer or the customer must be convinced to purchase it. Copywriting serves the purpose of interesting the user and making them purchase it. Not just purchasing, copywriting can also help a business receive more calls if that’s the end goal. Any sales-related action can get completed with copywriting.
Examples of copywriting involve:
- Ads sent via short code text messages or other SMS marketing methods
- Social media ads
- Website sales copy
- PPC landing pages and ads.
- Sales emails
The Factors By Which Copywriting And Content Writing Differ
Content Length
When it comes to content writing, the average length tends to be longer than copywriting. Since content writing is all about entertaining or educating the readers, content length is generally longer. Content writing length can be anywhere from 500 words to 3000 words or maybe even longer in some cases.
Remember, content writing is about noncommercial value and is more about building a relationship with customers. Therefore, if a piece of content is too short, it’s of very little value to the user. They are less likely to find something educational or entertaining. Content writing is, therefore, more valuable to readers and hence the word count is more.
On the contrary, copywriting is driven by a purpose or goal, and therefore, it tends to be shorter in length as it serves the purpose right away.
Content Purpose
In any digital marketing campaign, before writing a piece of content, decide its purpose. As explained above, copywriting is sales initiated, whereas, content writing is about educating readers. For instance, text ads involve copywriting as they are all about persuading the user into taking some action. Ads that you see on Facebook, Google, or anywhere on the internet involve copywriting.
On the contrary, content writing involves blogs or articles, guides that are more about informing the user and building a connection. In fact, most website content involves content writing.
SEO
Writing plays a crucial role in internet marketing but it’s specifically more important in SEO. Any piece of high-quality content can get ranked in Google if it’s relevant to a search query. However, from an SEO standpoint, content writing is the preferred form of writing over copywriting.
For more traffic and website visits, or higher rankings, content writing is considered the crucial form of writing. If we talk about value, content writing offers higher value to the readers since it’s informative. Also, content writing isn’t used for selling purposes. So, readers consume and share it, thus making it more reliable, trustworthy, and authoritative. Lastly, content writing involves longer length which usually ranks for more keywords than short-form content. Therefore, for all the reasons mentioned above, for SEO, content writing is the clear winner over copywriting.
Conclusion
To sum up, content writing and copywriting both are vital. However, it’s essential to know the differences between them. Understanding the dissimilarities between them allows them to be used more wisely. You should know which one to use when. Therefore, content writing is about building a connection and educating the readers. On the flip side, copywriting is persuading the user into taking some action. Content writing is attraction and copywriting is the final hook to get the customer to take an action. Therefore, both should be used in combination as and when required.