Often when new prospective clients approach me to write for them, they tell me they have been looking for a copywriter and, usually, I was recommended to them by a friend or colleague.
While I certainly don’t want to turn business away, in these cases I need to explain that technically I am a content writer, not a copywriter. Some might say that it just semantics – aren’t they the same? After all, they want someone to write the copy for their websites, blogs, or social media, so wouldn’t this be a copywriter?
What Is a Copywriter?
Historically a ‘copywriter’ was a person who wrote sales-focused ad copy, and they still do. That copy might be in the form of traditional magazine, newspaper, flyer, or banner advertisements or, increasingly, as long-form sales copy that is used as the basis of website sales pages, usually with a ‘Buy Now’, ‘Add to Cart’, ‘Sign Up’, ‘Register’ button that will start you on a journey through a sales funnel.
This example from Basecamp is a good one:
There are very particular skills that need to mastered for this type of writing, skills which must go hand in had with a desire to write with a sales focus.
So, What Does A Content Writer Do?
Well, this brings me to what my team and I do. We write content that will appear on your everyday website pages – your Home, About, Products, Services etc pages, as well as your blog and social media posts.
While there is always the objective of presenting your business in the best possible light, with persuasive copy, particularly in your About, Products, and Services pages, the content is not sales-y.
The blog posts are well researched, relevant, and importantly they are informative and demonstrate a level of authority on a topic. While they may have a call-to-action (CTA) at the end, often they do not. This is part of the philosophy of ‘giving’ worthwhile information before you attempt ‘take’ with a sales pitch.
Here is a piece of content from Peachymama that really falls into the ‘giving’ category:
Tip: Repurpose Content
If you have social media marketing as part of your marketing plan (and you should), and you have Business-to-Consumer (B2C) focus, then you might need content to build out your Facebook or Instagram properties. If you market focus is Business-to-Business then your LinkedIn site will work best for you if it is updated regularly.
For many of my clients, we rewrite their site blog posts so that they can then be published on social media platforms, as original content. It is a great way to get the most out of the initial research done for the original article.
I will expand on this in a subsequent post, but in the meantime, if you’d like to discuss your written content needs, then I invite you to contact me directly in a number of ways: Contact Kerry Finch
Wow, I didn’t know people thought copywriter and content writer were the same thing!
When you are working in the industry it’s easy to know the difference, but, for instance, for a doctor or a plumber or an architect, I’m not so surprised that the terms might be confused. I hope this post helps to clarify it for them, and any others who may not understand the differences.