A normal person is unaware of the meaning and purpose of copywriting and content writing. These terms can confuse and confound most people. But actually, they are quite simple if we apply our minds and become aware of a few facts.

Copywriting is content developed to build the brand, which ultimately will motivate consumers to take a particular action.  Further, copywriting is mainly associated with encouraging or facilitating a purchase transaction from the reader.  While, content writing is the process of creating and sharing informative content with the purpose of attracting, engaging, and converting leads.

In this article, the differences between these two types of writing are provided from several dimensions so the functions and uses of copywriting and content writing are clearly understood.

Objective of copywriting versus content writing
Copywriting creates content that aims at pitching the brand itself. The origin of copywriting can be traced back to the old forms of advertising like billboards, prints ads, and direct mails. Essentially content writing develops relevant and quality informational or educational content that will empathize with the needs of your target audience and help connect emotionally with the audience.

Purpose differences – copywriting and content writing
The purpose of copywriting is to communicate the superiority of a brand and to prompt the people to immediately purchase the product. Copywriting is aimed towards the short term goal of generating a one-time sales transaction. The purpose of content writing is to facilitate a productive engagement with the audience, yielding trust and interest towards the products or services over time.

Goal differences between copywriting and content writing
The main goal of copywriting is to convince people to buy the product or service that the business offers. The goal of content writing is to educate, inform, and entertain the audience to gain their interest and prolong their engagement with the brand on the website. Not everyone has all the information to be ready to make a purchase, lack of information causes many customers to delay or avoid making a purchase. Content writing also aims to educate the potential customer so that they become ready to purchase the product

Job role differences between copywriters and content writers
A copywriter is a professional and a wordsmith who specializes in producing compelling copy that drives people to take desirable action towards the business. A content writer can be anyone, it can be a CEO, an architect, a doctor, or a generalist, as long as they have sufficient knowledge to elaborate the topic in such a manner it should communicate with the audience.

Nature of work of copywriters and content writers
Copywriters are wordsmiths, they know how to play with words and create catchy and appealing content. A copywriter’s work captures the mind of the buyer and motivates them to buy. Whereas, a good content writer will produce informational content that is descriptive and are journalistic in nature.

Skills required for being copywriters vs content writers
A copywriter is trained to create copies that appeal to the emotion of the readers and motivate them to take a favorable action. This requires a savvy person who can understand people and their psychology to effectively convince them to buy a product by reading the advertising copy. A content writer must have a good logical mind. But more importantly, they should know how to make a certain topic understandable to an average person in a simple easy to understand language. A good content writer has a working knowledge of SEO, which enables the person to write SEO friendly content.

Format differences copywriting and content writing
Today copywriting is available in many formats such as online and offline ads, online catalogues, sales letters as well as direct response email campaigns. While for content writing, the formats are articles, videos, podcasts, magazine features, social media posts and email newsletters.

Conclusion on differences between copywriting and content writing
While concluding, we can say when you are presenting your products and services, words convey your message and influence your customer segment. For being successful in marketing a product or service, both copywriting and content writing are important. A business needs to have people who are skilled in both these roles as they complement each other. Such competent writers can create the material which delivers excepted outcome and helps your organization to succeed in the market.