Content vs. Copy: What You Should Know
by Ryan Cavallius
HAVE YOU ever come across the word “copywriting”?
Not “copyrighting” – copywriting. (And no, it doesn’t refer to plagiarism – hopefully!)
If you’re an aspiring writer for the National Alliance, you should learn this word, if you don’t know it already. And if you can, you should learn how to do it.
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Professional writers often use the terms copywriting and content writing to distinguish between two different kinds of writing; two distinct formulas, if you will.
“Copy” refers to business and marketing writing, like the words you read on billboards, the scripts you hear on radio ads, and the catchy links that make you go click. Product descriptions and promotional emails also count as copy.
Good copy is persuasive. It elicits a direct response. As such, it’s usually short, catchy, and easy on the eyes.
Copywriters try and appeal to as many people as possible – or as many in their target audience as possible. They don’t worry about sounding intellectual. They prefer not to, really. Their job is to communicate with the average person. And if they’re good at what they do, no one even notices their formal technique.
Well, no one except other copywriters.
Content writing is a broader, sort of catch-all term. That’s one reason some writers don’t like it; it’s not specific enough. The term can be useful, though.
By “content writing” is usually meant longer, more explanatory pieces, such as essays, articles, blog posts, ebooks, and so on. If we really want to generalize here, books can be lumped in with content writing, too (hence their tables of contents).
There’s a lot of overlap between copywriting and content writing, and some writers even find the distinction distasteful. I can see their point: After all, words and letters are words and letters, and a headline has to grab the reader, whether it’s for an academic article, a product on an e-commerce store, or anything else.
Copy sells and content tells, I’ve heard. That’s a good way to think of it. But we can’t always say that those who are selling a product aren’t educating, or that some “educational” writers aren’t… well, you know.
As a general rule of thumb, content is longer than copy and is meant to entertain or explain something. Copy is business-related. It’s for marketing, sales, promotion, and – in our business – recruiting. Content writers can’t often get away with breaking grammar rules, but copywriters know how and when they must – lest their words be less effective. Ads are great examples of this, as they often use incomplete sentences.
So, if you want to become a better wordsmith – and especially, if you want to write for the National Alliance – learn this distinction, but don’t be rigid about it. It’s meant to serve you, not the other way around.
Practice writing content (that’s our bread and butter), but don’t neglect copy. The Alliance has need of both.
To become a better content writer, practice writing essays.
To become a better copywriter, practice writing product descriptions.
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Source: Author
This was such a good article, very informative.