Is Copywriting & Content writing the same thing?

Yes and No.

Confusing right ? This has been a hot discussion in the digital marketing industry for the last few years. Apart from obvious similarities between the two, there are notable differences that makes them both standout separately.

Lets categorize them into three main objectives i.e Strategy, Direction & Outcome

Strategy

Copywriting is carefully curated with the intention to persuade their target audience and potential clients to buy their products or choose their service. Video scripts, press releases, slogans, white papers, catalogs, PPC landing pages, brochures, email campaigns and advertising come under their umbrella. They work towards creating and maintaining a brand voice and persona.

Content Writing strives to create more engagement with its audience, through informing, educating or entertaining. The style relies heavily on compelling storytelling and empathy to connect deeper with it’s spectators and is usually longer than copywriting. Common examples include blogs, newsletters, reports, podcasts, e-books, captions and posts.

Direction

Copywriting is linear, clever and calculated with the underlying objective to persuade the audience into buying into whatever brand they are advertising for. The key towards producing a brilliant copy is to gently tempt and allure your audience towards buying their product or service.

Content Writing on the other hand, is multi-faceted and conversational making it very engaging and entertaining for the audience. Unlike copywriting that ends with a singular call-to-action, content writing has multiple links, sources and links making it more substantial.

Outcome

The ultimate goal of copywriters is to persuade and present an offer, converting it’s organic traffic into leads. The boost in conversion rates will generate more revenue. It’s effectiveness is more measurable and results can be witnessed in a shorter time.

Content Writers produce with the purpose of creating more engagement and eventually building a deep-rooted brand loyalty. It is best at driving organic traffic on your page but its results can’t be measured and ultimately contribute towards a long-term strategy.

In simple words, Content Writing and Copywriting are sisters not twins!