Copywriting and Content Marketing – What’s the Difference?

If you want to strengthen brand awareness and at the same time build greater reach on the Internet, you need valuable content. Thanks to it, you will reach potential customers with the right message, which will translate into the objectives set by you. And this is where the question arises: bet on copywriting or opt for content marketing?

Valuable content that responds to the needs of users and encourages them to take advantage of the offer – just such texts are the basis for action on the Internet. It’s their quality that largely determines consumer behavior and the extent to which they contribute to generating profits for the brand. That is why it’s so important to bet on effective copywriting. However, often the content alone is not enough to be able to reach a much wider range of users. And this is where content marketing comes in.

Copywriting – What Does it Include?

Copywriting is nothing else than writing texts. However, it’s not only about creating content “art for art’s sake”, but also about providing valuable content – such which will convince the recipient, e.g. to perform a specific action.

Effective copywriting should be targeted at the needs of modern users – taking into account their behavior. Therefore, text creation should be based on the principles of verbal persuasion. At the same time, the content should be original and imaginative – so that it remains in the memory for a long time and does not constitute a pushy advertising. This is because it’s worth being aware that consumers more and more often cut themselves off from standard forms of advertising – those that in a direct way somehow persuade them to use the offer.

Copywriting includes:

• texts for advertising materials, such as leaflets
• advertising slogans, e.g. on bands
• texts for radio and television spots
• texts for company websites
• thematic articles – including blogs
• sales texts (persuasive)
• e-books
• content for e-mail marketing
• content for online stores.

All texts – regardless of their purpose – should meet several important features:

• Uniqueness and ingenuity
• persuasion techniques, such as the AIDA model
• Use of a call to action (CTA)
• Targeting the needs of a potential customer
• Correct  style, grammar, spelling, etc.

SEO copywriting deserves special attention – writing texts that are attractive for the user and, at the same time, meet the expectations of Google robots. A skilful combination of both guidelines allows to obtain engaging content that helps to achieve higher positions in search results. This is important because Internet users are much more likely to click on links appearing on the first pages of a search engine, completely rejecting content appearing under links in distant positions.

SEO Copywriting Guidelines:

• write high quality – be substantive and valuable
• consider the needs and expectations of the audience
• be 100% unique – which allows you to avoid the phenomenon of duplicate content
• optimize length
• choose the right keywords – be natural
• format properly  (headlines, bullets) – for better readability and clarity.

Applying these rules helps you to gain higher positions in the Google search engine (but you should be aware that activities related to positioning have a much wider scope).

What else should you remember? Both in the case of classic copywriting and SEO copywriting, there is no place for duplicating content. Copying texts from other sites is not only unethical, but also adversely affects the position in Google search. That is why it’s so important to provide original content – tailored to the needs of a specific target group.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a wide-ranging activity based on providing valuable content through various channels. It’s an alternative to traditional forms of advertising which do not fully meet the expectations of modern consumers. Activities in the field of content marketing are, in a way, meeting the needs of the client who does not like to be persuaded to make a purchase but prefers to make a conscious and (in his opinion) own decision.

A huge advantage of content marketing over other forms of advertising is the variety of tools used. This allows you to carry out activities very well suited to the needs of specific groups of consumers.

Below are  some of the most popular elements of content marketing.

• External Publications

Articles published in external services help in building bigger reach. They allow you to reach even more potential customers. The advantage of thematic articles, such as sponsored articles, is also the possibility of strengthening the image of an expert.

• Official Blog

Maintaining a company blog perfectly fits into the content marketing strategy. It helps generate more traffic to the website and also helps increase brand awareness.

• Infographics

Sometimes images can convey more than words and are more easily remembered. Therefore, as part of your content marketing efforts, you can also publish infographics, which are also a powerful viral marketing tool.

• Webinars

Webinars are nothing but conferences and seminars conducted online – a perfect solution for modern times. Webinars are nothing more than online conferences and seminars, perfect for the modern age. Not only do they allow you to convey relevant information, but they also allow you to engage in a dialogue with your potential customers.

• E-books / Trendbooks etc

The publication of e-books – available for download e.g. after logging in or leaving your data – supports content marketing activities and at the same time helps in the acquisition of leads.

Copywriting vs. Content marketing – The Key Difference

Knowing the definition of copywriting and knowing what content marketing entails, it’s easy to point out the differences between the two. Generally speaking: copywriting is the basis of content marketing activities. Therefore, we can say that copywriting is a tool for providing valuable content. And content marketing are activities related to the distribution, collection and formation of existing content, but also the generation of new ideas related to the content (including graphic).

• Important Synergy 

Effective content marketing cannot exist without good copywriting, therefore the synergy of actions plays a key role. Even the best-developed strategy will not bring the expected results if it does not include providing good quality content – regardless of its form, type and purpose.

A well-written text – ideally matching the needs and expectations of potential customers and at the same time meeting the principles of SEO – is the foundation of modern marketing activities on the Internet. Skilful selection of words that create unobtrusive advertising messages and their appropriate distribution – this is worth taking care of if you want to reach a wider range of users and step by step achieve the assumed business objectives. Why Content Marketing? Although copywriting can “live its own life”, it’s not worth resigning from content marketing activities. Properly planned strategy helps to achieve huge benefits.

• Boost Reach

Limiting yourself to publishing valuable content on your own website narrows down your reach, while content marketing activities help you reach a much wider audience that may be interested in your offer.

• Increase Conversion

Regularly publishing blog articles helps increase conversions, but not as much as ongoing marketing efforts. By distributing content across different channels, you have a great chance of not only increasing traffic to your website, but really improving sales or generating leads.

• Boost Engagement

A more engaged audience is a loyal and faithful customer who will keep coming back. Content marketing helps you achieve this goal – by constantly providing valuable content posted across various channels.

• Strengthen Brand Awareness

Properly conducted content marketing activities make more people know about your company. Your brand, associated with specific products or services, will increasingly appear in their consciousness. This, in turn, increases the chance of acquiring more customers.

• Building the image of an expert

Thanks to content marketing you strengthen brand awareness and at the same time build the image of an expert. This is helped by a variety of high-quality content – blog articles, articles on external industry websites, giving expert statements, hosting webinars, etc. By becoming an expert in the eyes of your customers, you increase trust in your company. As a result, more people will want to use your offerings.

• SEO support

Good quality texts – regardless of their form – are welcomed by Google to reach higher positions in search results so content distributed as part of content marketing can be used to support SEO activities – especially positioning. Texts provide additional space to weave in keywords, help build the link profile of the domain, etc. As statistics posted on DemandGen show, up to 95% of buyers gain trust in a brand through content. Good quality copywriting combined with content marketing efforts help you achieve your goal.

Take advantage of the opportunities lying dormant in content marketing! Choose an experienced agency and develop a strategy that will translate into advertising success.

This article prepared in cooperation with the Content Writer agency – thanks!