Freelance writing can be a big adventure for someone just starting out. A big question that new writers come across during their research is: what’s the difference between content marketing and copywriting? They can seem very similar to the untrained eye; let’s take a closer look.
Content Marketing
The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action“. Pieces of content that can be labeled under the content marketing umbrella include:
- Blogs
- Social media posts (i.e Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
- Infographics
- Video scripts
Why Is It Important?
Content marketing is meant to be informative so you will be able to generate leads to your website. For example, if I was to purchase a new barbecue, I am in no way an expert in barbecuing. Maybe I search for a blog to gain some information before I go out and spend my money, just to be on the safe side.
As an audience member, I’m learning something new from the barbecue content and if I need more information, I can go back to their blog. By the end of the situation, that website/company has just generated a lead.
Thought Leadership
The person who has written an informative and useful blog post shows themselves to be someone who knows what they are talking about – thought leadership. When you are writing for content marketing purposes, the idea is to teach and inform. Is there an uncommon fact about the subject that you think people may not know about? Will it help them in the long-run? You should probably be writing about it in your content.
Copywriting
According to the American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI) copywriting is “the process of writing advertising promotional materials. Copywriters are responsible for the text on brochures, billboards, websites, emails, advertisements, catalogs, and more.”
For myself, I like to think of it in terms of fishing. Content marketing is the shiny lure you use to catch the fish while copywriting is the act of reeling them in. The point of content marketing is to share useful and relevant information to the reader while copywriting is writing that makes the reader take action. Both content marketing and copywriting should show thought leadership in your content to build trust between you and your audience.
Common types of content that you would find with copywriting include:
- White papers
- E-books
- Email campaigns
- Web pages (landing pages, about pages, pricing, etc.)
Why Is It Important?
To go back to our fish analogy, content marketing brings the fish (customers), the copywriting reels them in. If I’m on a blog that I find very helpful and notice that there are other icons on the page like “about” or “services”, I may be tempted to click. It would be on those pages where I would find the copywriting that would entice me to use their services or buy their product.
Thought Leadership
Like content marketing, copywriting is a great way to position yourself as a leading voice in your field. A good example to do this is by having a white paper or an e-book to your name. With this type of content, it is usually giving an in-depth explanation with the purpose of selling a product or service. The writing is a little different here because the intention is different.
For more information about content like white papers, you can check out my post here.
Your Thoughts
Are you a content marketer or a copywriter? What made you decide to choose one over the other? Maybe you do both! Which kind of content do you prefer to create? Let me know in the comments! For more information about copywriting and content marketing, feel free to check out my other posts.