In the world of marketing and freelance writing, many of us have had to write all sorts of copy in our professional lifetimes, whether it was for a client’s blog post, an email marketing campaign or creating an info graphic, but do any of us really know or understand the difference between what constitutes as “copywriting” versus “content”?

In today’s digital scene, content creation, especially content marketing, has become almost more important than traditional copywriting. Marketers more than ever are relying heavily on the usage of content marketing to attract the audiences they want with informative and sales-like messaging. A recent study by the Content Marketing Institute found that 88 percent of B2B brands are using content marketing and 81 percent support their efforts through blog posts, social media updates, and email newsletters.

As marketing professionals, we decided to dive a little deeper into what really is the difference between the two. First, let’s start with copywriting.

Copywriting is writing that is geared towards and primarily used for the purpose of advertising, marketing and public relations. The language is often much more informative and can raise awareness for a particular company or brand. In essence, copywriting is a form of content but its purpose is to inform and persuade and entice.

Content, on the other hand, can be defined as educational, expressive and freeform writing. For instance, this blog post would be considered content because the information is directed towards an end-user audience and can be expressed though speech, writing, videos, info graphics or even various forms of art.

Regardless of the purpose, marketers and freelance use these two terms interchangeably and depending on what type of writing you are conducting for your client, brand or company, content can be compelling, interesting and informative on any medium.

Happy writing!

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