What is CopyWriting – CopyWriting VS. Content Writing

So, probably the most asked question on the internet is…

What’s the difference between copywriting and content writing? Aren’t they supposed to be all the same, right?

Wrong!

[toc]

Before I explain what Copywriting is and how it works, let me first share an interesting story with you.

Here, meet my friend, Tim.

Tim is a nice guy who wants to make money fast and be rich overnight.

Basically, Tim is in sales

Tim has got the most boring job in the world ( as it doesn’t excite him or generate any sales for him).

Tim’s job is to send cold emails to the prospects every single day.

He desperately wants to sell…but hardly anyone ever responds to his emails?

What do you think… could possibly be wrong with the emails he sends?

Let’s find out!

So, in the picture below you can clearly see, Tim sends 10 cold emails to people he think would be interested in his offer.

Here, he sends this email to his client, Mr.I.have.MoneyBags

So what do you suppose went wrong with the email?

Of course, it got REJECTED!

Why?

For starters, the email was plain BOORRINGGG?

The email only centered around what Tim needed, what He wanted, there was nothing for a buyer in that.

Nothing to hold the buyer’s attention or interest.

That’s why it annoys Mr. I.Have.MoneyBags, as it wastes his valuable time and of course his email lands into the trash.

You see for a buyer to be interested in your offer, you need to engage with them first.

Just like you offer kids awesome stuff like candies and chocolates to be able to ENGAGE with them.

You need to offer them something that offers a solution to their problem.

So, my friend, Tim, as heartbroken as he was, set out to do some research and learn everything there was to learn about copywriting.

Soon, Tim discovered what was wrong with his pitch.

After much brainstorming and testing, Tim finally wrote another email.

The email he wrote is below,

Soon, Tim discovered what was wrong with his pitch.

After much brainstorming, and testing, Tim finally wrote another email.

The email he wrote is below,

So, Tim’s sales went up dramatically, and the only thing he changed was the way HE wrote the text aka Copy.

So, you see my friend, this is the power of Copywriting, and this is why every business needs a copywriter.

And this is why you need to learn Copywriting, too! (even if you are not a writer).

6 people out of 8 responded to his offer, and he made more sales.

Since then Tim started sending more awesome stuff to Mr.I.Have.Moneybags, and his other clients…

And did they ignore him this time?

Check their response in the image below.

So, Tim’s sales went up dramatically, and the only thing he changed was the way HE wrote the text aka Copy.

So, you see my friend, this is the power of Copywriting, and this is why every business need a copywriter.

And this is why you need to learn Copywriting, too! (even if you are not a writer).

Now imagine another scenario,

[su_note note_color=”#c4f5fe” text_color=”#000″] You are a content writer who wants to sell her services.

As soon as you see someone posting a job offer. You pitch them with something like below,

Hey, I need this job, as I am really short on cash these days,

OR
Hey, I really want to get this job as I don’t have any work.

Do you think your pitch was convincing? of course not.

You only talked about YOUR needs, YOUR wants, or how the job is going to benefit you and you only as a person, ask yourself: Is there anything for the buyer in all this?

You see for a buyer to be interested in your offer, you need to engage with them first.

Nobody’s going to pay you a single dime, until and unless you CONVINCE them that you are good for their business, you are going to bring them more SALES and more REVENUE.

[/su_note]

So, how do we differentiate between copywriting and content writing?

Let’s define each of them first.

[su_highlight background=”#fffc99″]Content writing focuses on engaging and educating a person. It could be a general topic or about a product. It only educates and informs, but doesn’t aim to persuade a person to take any particular action.[/su_highlight]

Copywriting is using/arranging words in a way that sells better.

It’s more like a salesmanship but its limited to text only.

Myths and Misconceptions about Copywriting

I have often bumped into this argument with different people on social media, where even a beginner writer is claiming to be a copywriter (when they absolutely have no idea of copywriting’s dynamics).

They go on and on arguing about how perfect your grammar should be as a copywriter.

or how perfectly articulated your sentences should be.

And I can’t help wonder how very little people know about the skill that has the potential to change their lives.

Myth # 1 Copywriters are the most Highly Paid individuals

[su_note note_color=”#fffc99″ text_color=”#000″]

It might blow away your mind to know that most copywriters are among the highest paying professionals in the world.

But wait, not all copywriters are sexy, and not all copywriters make the same amount of money. So, its safe to assume that only copywriters who generate leads and sales for their clients make good money.

In fact, I believe, the highest-paid copywriters are the copywriters who are best at their craft and good with marketing and selling themselves. [/su_note]

Myth # 2 You need to have perfect grammar to be a Copywriter

[su_note note_color=”#c4f5fe” text_color=”#000″] Copywriting has little to do with perfect grammar, in fact, in my opinion, perfect grammar just kills the natural flow of the copy and make it virtually dead and less impactful.

Having said that I don’t mean that you don’t learn grammar or have command on the English language. I am just saying copywriting has more to do with learning behavior of people and their Psyche, and less with perfect grammar.

Sometimes its fun to break a grammar rule and get your buyer’s attention. But again to break the rules, you need to know the rules first. So that you break the rules with full confidence (pun intended). [/su_note]

Myth # 3 Copywriting is easy, Copywriters get paid huge amount of money for easy work

[su_note note_color=”#fffc99″ text_color=”#000″] Yes, you get it right. They get paid for playing with words, why don’t you do the same? just play around with words and let’s see what you end up with?

It is not as easy as it may sound, a good copy takes a lot of research of human Psychology and behaviors, sometimes a single copy takes even weeks to be finalized (because we test with different copies and finalize the one that brings us results aka conversions). [/su_note]

Myth # 4 Copywriting has something to do with Copyrights (Law)

[su_note note_color=”#c4f5fe” text_color=”#000″] Absolutely not! they are entirely different fields but yes if you copy someone’s word to word content you can have a copyright strike from the author (again taking inspiration is fine) and giving due credit is fine, too. [/su_note]

Myth # 5 Your English has to be good or you should at least hold a degree in English language

[su_note note_color=”#fffc99″ text_color=”#000″] Look, if you have a degree in the English language that’s a plus point but it’s not all that’s required to be a great copywriter. A writer with a degree in the English language can also be a lousy copywriter, how about that? [/su_note]

We all are Salespersons… We all sell/buy based on our Copies

A good Copywriter does the following…

I believe we all are salespeople, selling different stuff.

The only distinction that sets us apart is that some of us are great salesmen, some are average and some are lousy ones.

You talk to a customer and sell him/her your product – That’s COPY ✔️

You talk to a stranger and convince him to buy your services – That’s COPY ✔️

You write content on your blog and by the end of each blog post you get people to subscribe to your blog – That’s COPY ✔️

You create videos on Youtube, at the end of every video, you gain some more subscribers and followers – That’s COPY ✔️

You write a proposal on Upwork and win a project – That’s COPY ✔️

You write a gig on Fiverr that gets you more orders than your competitors – That’s COPY. ✔️

Everything you write or say, by carefully estimating the impact of your words on the person is the art of copywriting.

You can Persuade, Influence, and Engage is what makes you a great copywriter.

As Danlok puts it Copywriting is closing in Print.

Yes, you got it right.

Copywriting is your ability to close in print, and sell, it has very little to do with articulating perfect sentences or using top-notch vocabulary.

[su_highlight background=”#fffc99″] Get your prospect WANT to engage with you by not spamming them with offers. [/su_highlight]

[su_highlight background=”#fffc99″] Doesn’t greedily ask for personal gains or benefits, rather, generously give something valuable to the person. [/su_highlight]

[su_highlight background=”#fffc99″] Make sure to make them WANT to buy from… not out of pressure, rather willingly, because they enjoy your content and feel your product must be worth buying. [/su_highlight]

Where Copywriting is used?

Copywriting can be used for the following,

• Blog posts are written for content marketing
• Sales Videos
• Email to acquire new clients
• Sales emails
• Podcasts (script)
• Tv ads,
• Autoresponder emails
• Direct mail brochures
• Public speeches, webinars
• Educational Videos on Youtube

Types of Copywriting

Copywriting comes in different types and not all copies are created equally, and serve the same purpose.

Every copy is written as per the requirement of each business type.

Let me explain the following types.

1. Seo Copywriting

The most common type of copywriting is SEO copywriting. You would often find many digital agencies offering SEO copywriting services, ( be wary, some of them are shady and don’t really know the shit about writing a copy).

Let me explain what exactly is SEO copywriting, but before I do, let’s first understand the term SEO.

SEO stands for search engine optimization.

When you write a copy that’s search engine optimized or search engine friendly, it has more chances to get ranked high in SERP (search engine result pages) such as Google and as a result more and more will get to read your content.

To write an SEO copy you need to follow the steps below

• Find a keyword (related to your product) that people are looking for
• Write an in-depth content and engaging article about your chosen topic.
• Try to rank in the top results on search engines.

Now you notice this great keyword that interests you and you feel you can write content on

You pick up a keyword that resonates with your niche type, and write content on it.

Now if you already have a website with some fan following, (those who love handbags) it will be a great ARTICLE for them, and it will eventually make you rank high for ‘Best handbags’ keyword.

Now you will try to write the best article on handbags than anyone else on the internet because you know search engines are smart and they will only rank your Copy on your targeted keyword, if you post is ENGAGING with users, and people are really having a great time reading your posts.

You will also try to offer a solution to the problems faced by people on their day to day life, as Search engines love posts that are aimed to help people and are packed with valuable information.

Now you wrote how-to-guides, instructional articles, listicles, with great examples, images, techniques, and videos. After a while Google noticed your posts getting most engagements. likes and share and it ranked it #1 on the first page.

So, the purpose of the ABOVE example is to show you SEO Copywriting doesn’t mean just stuffing your keywords here and there, rather providing a user with something extremely engaging, high quality, relevant, and mind-blowing. That makes it a highly converting copy.

Warning: Don’t hire shady agencies or those people good with copy/pasting content, they will post junk content that will soon get your site penalized.

2. Direct Reponse Copywriting

Direct response is where copywriting started with.

In initial days when there was no internet, the only way to reach the mass of audience was through,

• letters
• Newspapers
• Magazines ads

Your communication was limited to physical words only, and you would have to spend a huge amount of money to reach out to your potential customers.

It would cost you money to bear the printing cost and send out stuff individually to everyone.

That’s how direct response copywriting came into being.

Suppose you are hired to market a coaching program and send flyers to the surrounding area.

You did some math and found out it would cost you shitload of money to send these flyers even to just nearby areas.

You estimated the cost of two sides postcards to be $2000 including the printing, and direct mail cost.

Now as a copywriter with direct response experience you would try different versions of the ad copy.

Suppose you sent a flyer to 10, 000 people and you heard back from only 2 people.

It’s simple if you divide [2] by [10,000], you will get 0.02%

Which pretty much means your ad isn’t working or has conversion power.

Hence now, you will try a different copy now.

In fact this time your approach will be more targeted,

• Instead of sending flyers to everyone in the vicinity, you will only send it to those families that are eligible for the coaching.
• You will only send it to people who are 5-mile radius from you.

This time your ad copy works.

Why? because it was more targeted and optimized.

This time the response you get is,

Emails sent = 10.000

Email responses = 130

This means your ad copy had a 1.3% conversion rate, which isn’t at all bad.

Your ad copy worked every well, thanks to your well researched and targeted copy.

Final Words…

So, with that, I have come to the end of this post.

I hope all the concepts, myths, and misunderstandings related to Copywriting must have been cleared by now.

I have put in great effort to gather information and drive data from every possible source I can get my hands on.

Btw, also share your views on TIM, did you like my imaginary friend? Do you want me to bring him in more posts?

In a nutshell, Copywriters write words that help sell more. (either sell in your product or your idea).

PS: Also don’t worry there’s a lot of work for Copywriters, opportunities are endless if you know the work. I also offer Copyediting/Re-write blog posts as a side gig(I edit your existing content and make them more engaging so that your copies perform better) and do the consultation.

So, if you liked the work, or learnt something new out of it, don’t forget to share the post with your family and friends.

Thanks for taking out time to read, cheers.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also want to check out the following posts:

• Digital Marketing Strategies during Covid-19
• How to Write a Killer Amazon Review
• How to start Content Writing
• Affiliate Marketing Made Simple for Beginners