Copywriting vs content writing: What the h*ll is the difference?

*David Attenborough voice*

There is one crucial skill that has connected all humans since the dawn of time and has cemented the survival and progress of our species: Storytelling.

You might be thinking, “Erm, I have a more analytical brain.” 

Yes, but everyone tells stories: to understand, to explain bar graphs or charts or other analytics, to express their feelings or thoughts, to rile people up, to build community and relationships, to convince people to do something they may not want to do…

Stories are the lifeblood of our species. [/end David Attenborough voice.]

But how do you make money from storytelling? 

What kinds of storytelling are there? 

Why do the differences matter?

Seeing as how you’re here at Growclass, chances are you’re a marketer, or you’re interested in marketing. And in your research, oh Smart One who tackles all challenges that come your way, you’ve found two writing-heavy marketing roles: copywriter and content writer.

But you’re left scratching your head thinking:

“What’s the real difference between copywriting and content writing? Aren’t they both just… writing?”

The short answer: No. 

So, let’s walk through the main differences to help you better understand what career path you’re more interested in taking (if either).

Let’s dive in! 

So… What is copywriting?

Copywriting, at its core, is writing to convince people of something via feelings, facts, and a deep understanding of human psychology. 

Most copywriters use their seemingly magical ability to simplify many data points—including the voice of customer, market conditions, and product positioning—into simple, engaging messages to help companies sell products and services. 

You can use copy to: convince, persuade, excite, connect, and ultimately, sell “the next step”. For modern companies, conversion copywriting is the belle of the ball, because it requires their team to have an eye on the customer funnel.

For example, “selling” can look different at different points in the customer journey:

• Your short-form pop-up can “sell” the customer on signing up for a newsletter
• Your email footer (or PS) can “sell” them on joining a community
• Your landing page can “sell” them on downloading a resource

Not all copywriting is meant to sell the product, but it is meant to make people feel seen, answer their concerns, soothe their fears, confirm their gut instinct, and comfort them as they make decisions. But: we only want the right people to say yes, and the wrong (ie. not your target audience) to say no. 

Copywriters think deeply about the wants, needs, and interests of their target audience—as well as their fears, worries, dreams, and goals. 

That’s why copywriting can be used anywhere:

• Ads—social, in-app, in-content, search, and display
• Website copy, including your homepage, landing and sales pages, product descriptions
• Emails, including retention emails, customer win-back emails, and more
• Video and audio scripts
• Print marketing materials like brochures, catalogs, and sales letters
• Social media posts (sometimes)
• YouTube banner images
• Slogans and taglines
• Push notifications, in-app messaging, and more

What is content writing?

Content writing is storytelling with a desire to educate, to entertain and engage, and to build respect and relationships for your product or service. Content plays a big role when it comes to influencing prospects to know, like, and trust your brand—making it a crucial part of any marketing strategy.

Because if people don’t… 

• Know you because you’re not matching your content to the things your audience is actually searching for—or putting yourself in the places they hang out online…
• Like you because you haven’t created content in a way that builds a connection between your audience and your brand…
• Trust you to tell the truth, to be transparent, or to have their best interests in mind (instead of selling them things 24/7)...
  

They won’t buy from you.

That’s why content writers are so important: because they end up being the voice of your brand.

Content writers develop various types of content such as:

• Blog posts 
• Website copy (similar to copywriters, these positions can touch website outside of blogs, but don’t always)
• eBooks and whitepapers—long-form content for folks further in their purchasing journey
• Email newsletters
• Social media posts
• Video scripts

What’s the difference between content writing and copywriting?

You: “Ok, so… they’re both writers. They both have to do a metaphorical, writerly song and dance for prospects. What’s the difference?”

‍Us: Content writers and copywriters are two separate functions in a company that should dance together often, and well. Because they both have the same goal—attracting, converting, and retaining customers—they need to work in tandem to reach it. They just approach that goal differently.

Here are some differences, and explanations of how and when their jobs intersect:

Length and format

When you think of copywriting, you might be thinking of ad copy. It’s short and snappy. But some of the most successful copywriters in the world have built reputations from long-form assets, like printed sales letters mailed to people’s homes—convincing them of offers they didn’t even know existed until that day. 

On the other hand, when you think about content writing, you might jump to blogs, eBooks, and reports. But, those don’t necessarily have to be novels. They can be short and snappy too.

‍For both content and copywriters, the idea is: write only as much as your readers need to know. If folks are just starting to get to know you, go short (but test! Always Be Testing). If they’re already in your funnel, or curious about specific problems that you can solve, give them the deep, useful information they’re looking for (something content writers are great at.)  

Tone and style

Both copywriters and content writers need to keep the brand voice and style in mind as they write. But, copywriters will often have a little bit more flexibility with tone, depending on what they’re writing.

For example, let’s take a look at the top stories on the Canadian-based invoicing software Freshbooks blog. Very professional. Serious. Educational.

Now, let’s take a look at a couple of their ads on LinkedIn: 

• “Some people go bonkers over bookkeeping,” 
• “No honey badgers here”, 
• A “would you rather?” video that compares accounting to getting a rectal exam from a honey badger….

‍

These are not super serious taglines—but they are witty, conversational, and funny. They get your attention. Instead of the professional and serious tone, copywriters were able to add a little personality and throw in a literary device or two to engage readers.

They’re still talking to the same people—but their goal is different. One is to stop your scroll and click through—the other is to follow up on the promise, or explain something they promised to.

Metrics for success

Most content writers are measured by:

• Reach: For the site as a whole, and content pieces individually.
• Engagement: Time spent on page,  social media shares, or likes and comments on social posts.
• SEO performance: Rankings for targeted keywords, organic traffic, and backlinks.
• Readability and user experience (UX): Bounce rate and exit rate can signal how well the content meets the audience's expectations and needs.
• Conversion rate: Are your content pieces meeting conversion goals? This could be newsletter sign-ups early on in the funnel, or product signups or product purchases at the bottom of the funnel. 

Meanwhile, because copywriters are closer to “the sale”, their success metrics are a bit different:

• Conversion Rate: For copywriters, conversion rate is king. Whether it's sales, downloads, or sign-ups, the effectiveness of their copy is measured by how many people it can convince to buy. 
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Particularly important for ad copy and email campaigns, CTR measures how compelling your copy is at getting prospects to take the next step. (A much better measure of impact than open rate alone.)
• A/B testing results: “Beating the control” is the copywriter’s claim to fame—and proves that their hypotheses, hunches, and creativity improved the baseline performance of the piece. 
• Retention and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): While copywriters are rarely responsible for metrics like CLV—they can influence them, and should absolutely keep an eye on them for ideas around experiments, creative concepts, and more. 
• ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Evaluating the revenue generated from copy relative to the cost of producing it can indicate its success, especially ad campaigns.

While writers aren’t singularly responsible for these metrics—they are some of their main contributors, working collaboratively with paid ads managers, performance and growth marketers, and CRO specialists.

Salary and career progression

Depending on the industry, company, and location, salaries for both roles vary wildly—as do their career trajectories. But, since the copywriting is “closer” to sales (like, they wrote that final email that got 80% of the sales for the million-dollar-launch close), they do tend to get paid more. 👀

Copywriters

Glassdoor reports that copywriters earn between $46-67,000 in Canada as of June 2024—but take this number with a heavy grain of salt. 

We would strongly encourage you to check out specific industry/role/country reports like Growclass’ own Marketing Salary Database, which often tell a very different story:

While the days of copywriters making billions of dollars on sales letters are gone… them making good money for sales pages, emails, and ads is not. Historic copywriters like Eugene Schwartz and David Ogilvy—and “modern” ones like Eddie Schleyner and Joe Coleman have earned hundreds of thousands (if not millions) writing copy. 

As for a copywriter's career progression—the options to grow into more senior copy roles, creative direction, and (as of late) product marketing are many. 

Content writers

Content writing, on the other hand, earns on average between $39-64,000 in Canada, according to Glassdoor (but again, both Growclass’ Salary Database and Superpath’s Content Marketing Salary Report would disagree.) 

But there’s a million opportunities to increase that average by specializing in industries, formats, or new channels—or developing your strategy muscles into content marketing, content strategy, or content leadership positions.

How do content and copywriting work together?

Despite the differences, copywriters and content writers are kin. They both:

• Write with the target audience, ideal customer profiles (ICPs), or personas in mind
• Gain insight, ideas, and clarity from talking to customers, spending time in customer communities, and listening to (or conducting) jobs-to-be-done calls
• Focus on pushing prospects through the sales funnel (or flywheel)—while delighting them
• Tell stories that grab people’s attention, are memorable, and connect with them
• Track whether the information and copy they wrote helped people make a decision

Here’s a flow of how they could work together:

In order to get people to the website, the copywriter may write paid and organic ads, tighten up the meta descriptions, and recommend headlines for articles, pages, and content collections.

Then, the content writer has to make sure that the content “lives up to the hype” and the promise made in the ads and the search engine results page (SERP). It has to be well-researched, valuable, and engaging.

As the customer reads the article, it’s back to the copywriters to create engaging (but not distracting) in-content ads, call-outs, and CTAs to take the next step, whether that’s downloading an eBook, scheduling a call, or enrolling in a course. 😉 

When to use copywriting vs. content writing

Depending on the make-up of your marketing team, it’s likely for copywriters to be engaged on projects like: 

• Product or feature launches, including product descriptions, landing page copy, email marketing campaigns, social media posts, and press releases (if you don’t have a PR person)
• Ad campaigns, including print and online ads, scripts, commercials, or out-of-home (OOH) advertising like billboards
• Branding and messaging development, including taglines, slogans, mission/vision statements, value props, ICP profiles, and more
• Direct (response) marketing (a lil’ more old school) like sales letters, catalogs, and packages. 
• Digital marketing, like website pages, newsletters, or email opt-in campaigns
• Promotions and offers, like sales and discounts, contest and giveaways, loyalty program messages, and referral program copy
• Packaging copy for labels and inserts or instruction manuals

Chances are your role will be focused on one or two of these specializations—but rarely all. Agency copywriters are exposed to a much wider spectrum of projects than those working in-house, but that doesn’t mean that they must master them all. 

As for content writers, you’ll use the majority of your skills for the following projects:

• Search engine optimization (SEO) for blog posts, landing pages, other website content, eBooks and whitepapers, infographics and visual content, video scripts and transcripts, and maybe even podcast content. 
• Thought leadership like industry reports and research, for expert interviews, opinion pieces and editorial content, case studies, and how-to guides and tutorials. 
• Brand awareness purposes, including company updates, social media posts, email newsletters, press releases and media pitches, and speeches and presentations. 
• Customer education and support, including product guides and documentation, FAQ pages, knowledge base articles about your product or service, tutorial videos, and customer stories. 
• Inbound marketing, which includes premium gated content, email nurture campaigns, content offers and lead magnets, and conversion path content from TOFU to BOFU.
• Community-building like participating in user forums, writing community updates and spotlights, user-generated content campaigns, and social media engagement. 

Skills you need to become a successful copywriter or content writer

Copywriters need a solid understanding of human psychology, persuasion techniques, writing skills, and curiosity about people and their motivations (as well as ability to pay attention to tiny moments and nuances others don’t see.)

Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have a creative brain, and an ability to “imagine” your copy—which makes it easier to work with designers, developers, and other creatives when putting your copy out in the world.

Content writers need a good blend of storytelling, empathy for the customer, analytical skills (to better understand both how well content is performing, and trends for your market), and research skills. If you have subject matter expertise in a certain industry or topic, even better. 

The final showdown

If you’re…

• Considering whether to become a copywriter or content writer (or who to hire)
• Deciding which position would be more fulfilling
• Trying to figure out the differences between the two roles
• Thinking about what kind of freelancer you need

We hope this primer has given you enough insight into these two “similar at first glance” roles—so that you can start to understand how they work together towards similar marketing and business goals. 

Depending on your organization and the size of your marketing team, both roles are necessary. A copywriter to entice, convince, persuade; and a content writer to educate, entertain, and build trust in the relationship between brand and buyer.

And, if you’ve been thinking about diving into the world of copywriting, check out our self-paced Conversion Copywriting mini-course today.

You could end up like Sarah Lacy, co-founder of Chairmanme, whose first email campaign after taking the course earned her $7,000—in minutes. 🤯