Copywriting vs Content Writing: What’s The Difference?
By: Girls Kode
Tags: Writing, Copywriter, Content Writer, Content Writing, Copywriting

You might think copywriting and content writing are the same, but the truth is no, they are not. They are definitely two different things. It’s like two sides of the same coin. Here, we’ll look at the main differences between copywriting and content writing.

Before we jump into the differences, first you need to know what content writing and copywriting is. Content writing is an activity or a work that is written with interesting and quality content to be published on online media such as blogs and websites. Meanwhile, copywriting is an activity or a work written in publicity text or publication material to be published in print and digital media.

Alright, now let’s take a look at the main differences between content writing and copywriting!

1. Writing with Different Goals

Copywriting is the art of selling products or ideas through simple and persuasive language to stimulate the readers in taking any action, whether in buying a product, joining in a community, or engaging with a product. Meanwhile, content writing is more focused on the readers to understand about a brand, a product, or an idea. The content is usually designed to build a strong relationship between the brand and the reader.

In short, the main purpose of copywriting is to persuade while content writing is to educate.

2. Characteristic of Writing

Long and detailed content is the main characteristic of content writing. The created content usually refers to the rules of journalistic writing by using the 5W + 1H (What, Who, Where, When, Why, and How) formula. The content should also be interesting to make the readers comfortable in reading the article so that it can increase the traffic on the website.

Then, what about Copywriting?

Before we jump into the characteristic of copywriting, have you ever heard or even read this tagline :

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Picture by fontmeme.com

Those are some of the taglines that the copywriter makes. From the tagline, you can tell that the characteristic of copywriting is short but persuasive. A copywriter must be good at making unique and interesting words so that readers are curious about the product or idea being advertised. Besides, the characteristic of copywriting is there is a call to action which is a short sentence that contains a specific action to take and how to take it.

3. Types of Copywriting and Content Writing Media

You can find the writings which are written by a content writer in those kinds of media that you can read for a long time, casually, or even can be read in the other time such as blog, website, newspaper article, magazine features, email newsletters, etc. Here’s an example of content writing for the website.

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While writings written by a copywriter can be found on billboard, poster, web banner, brochure, slogans and taglines, catalogs, social media ads, etc where the reader only has a short time to read the article. Not only writing, but you can also see and hear the work of copywriters on TV commercials, podcasts, and video scripts. Here’s an example of copywriting for billboards.

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So, how about now? Can you picture clearly the differences between copywriting and content writing? Are you interested to be copywriting or content writing? Let us know!

Written by Aqida Widya Kusmutiarani