Copywriting and Content Writing

What's the difference?

The way we use language to communicate, inspire trust, build awareness, share information and compel one another to action is constantly evolving, and the boundaries between writing and communication styles often and inevitably overlap, as with content writing and copywriting.

Each of these two writing styles has its own merit and purpose, and depending on what you need, one or even a combination of the two will serve you best.

Essentially, the difference between them is that one is more geared toward selling and the other is more geared toward telling.

Copywriting (selling) is written content that is geared toward direct marketing and advertising purposes.  It's used to persuade a reader to take some kind of action, e.g. to buy something or to choose something specific, as well as to raise brand awareness. 

The text must be compelling and persuasive in order to compel the reader to take immediate action or to develop an interest and loyalty.

Content writing (telling) is written content that is geared toward informing or entertaining the reader, building long-term engagement, impartially presenting and comparing choices for products or services and even inspiring debate.

It can be used to create long-term engagement with readers by slowly building trust based on the delivery of consistently accurate and trustworthy information, e.g. on comparison sites, via daily news sources and through social media posts. 

What do they have in common?

They are both meant to inspire the trust of the reader, either to compel them to act or to make them value the content and its source in some way, therefore, inspiring them to return to the source on a regular basis.

They are both meant to engage the reader and to keep them reading, all the way to the end.

They can be used in combination to achieve a desired goal; brand narratives are a great example of this.  Telling the story of a company in order to convey meaning and experience to the public has become an increasingly popular approach to marketing.  Both content writing and copywriting can be used as part of the process of creating a successful brand story and image, inspiring people to trust the company and value its products, services, ethics and methods.