Content marketing vs copywriting and why you need both

The terms ‘content marketing’ and ‘copywriting’ are often used interchangeably, but they shouldn’t be.

Content marketing refers to content that’s used to market your business, such as blogs, ebooks, emails and social media posts. This content is generally published on the web and shared on social media.

Copywriting refers to written content that persuades people to take a specific action like buying a product, downloading an ebook or subscribing to your newsletter.

What content marketing do you need?

One of the goals of content marketing is to drive more people to your website through organic search results. Content marketing can consist of:

Unlike copywriting, this content should answer questions (and inform people about your business). The more questions you answer, the more chances you have of a search engine choosing your answer to show a prospective client. For example, a credit repair agency could have content explaining:

What a credit score is
What a credit report is
That there can be errors on a credit report
That transactions you don’t know about may indicate your identity was stolen
That a credit repair agency can help you fix those errors

They may also want to explain things they can’t do so clients don’t have unrealistic expectations. Content marketing can also be a good way to keep in touch with your clients, as a way of generating repeat business. For example, a buyer’s agent could write a newsletter and include:

An article on rental vacancy rate trends
An article on what’s happening to property prices in their area
An interesting fact about their business

What copywriting do you need?

Content marketing may get someone to your website, but once they’re there, you must persuade that person to become a client – which is where persuasive copywriting comes in.

Copywriting complements content writing.

Imagine a financial adviser wrote an ebook to give a detailed answer to a frequently asked question about a certain aspect of withdrawing superannuation funds.

In this scenario, the ebook is content marketing. But the final step to persuade someone to fill in a form to download the book requires persuasive copywriting.

For example:

The most common form of copywriting you’ll find in a piece of content marketing is a call-to-action at the end.

A call-to-action is your final chance to convince a reader to stay and become a client.

In the previous buyer’s agent newsletter example, the newsletter could end with this call-to-action: Looking to expand your property portfolio? Let us help you find the perfect property. Contact us.