If you’re in this page right now, I’m guessing you’re new to the world of advertising or copywriting.
Because what I’m about to tell you is one of the most frequently asked questions in the community, especially by beginners.
What is copy? What is content? What’s the key difference between these two popular forms of writing?
Before I dive a little deep into the subject, I want you to just have a look at the below statement in bold.
All content is copy. All copy is content.
All right, read it?
Amazing.
Yep, it sounds like Yin and Yang but I don’t want you to be worrying about that now. You’ll know why I asked you to read it when you reach the end of this small blog.
Trust me, it’s not going to take more than two minutes. And you’ll be left with a valuable lesson for the rest of your life. Especially if you’re in marketing or advertising.
Here goes.
Content INFORMS. Copy SELLS.
Content is actually written by a person who’s known as, yes you guessed it right, a Content Writer. Blogs, social media posts or any written material that aims to ‘explain’ or ‘inform’ you about a product or service is content.
By definition, novels and non-fiction, newspapers, movies etc are a form of content. And even though we have different names for these writers according to their industry, they fall under the umbrella term of ‘Content Writers’.
That’s it. Shall we move on to ‘copy’? Won’t take more than one minute.
Any written material that makes someone go running for their wallet or credit card so that they can pay you for your product or services is called ‘copy’. And we call a person who writes them as, yes you guessed it right again, a Copywriter.
Now, copy can mean a dedicated sales letter, ecommerce product descriptions, Facebook/Instagram lead generation ads, even television commercials. But the key difference is, the sole aim of ‘copy’ is to make sure people spend their money on your products and services.
If you feel you need more clarity, feel free to reach out to me. I will help you understand it better.
Now let’s circle back to a statement I asked you to read in the beginning.
All content is copy. All copy is content.
Why do I say that? (And know this, this is a very contrarian opinion against the general one prevailing in the advertising industry)
Most advertising agencies have 'copywriters' on their payroll when what they’re actually doing is producing only 'content'. Because by text book definition, if what you write doesn’t sell it’s not ‘copy’ according to me. Just interesting content.
But wait, here’s more. ‘Content’ can also sell.
I see you going, ‘Damn Sibi, it’s all confusing’.
I can relate. Even I struggled a bit the first time when I had to understand this important concept.
When I say ‘content’ can sell, what I mean is this:
Imagine you’re following your favourite food delivery app Swiggy on their social media. They post interesting content on their feed all day long. Over a period of time, you begin liking the brand and develop an affinity for the brand. And when the time comes for you to order food for yourself, your brain's decision making part directly goes to Swiggy.
Here’s another example:
Let’s say your hobby is home interiors. So you do a lot of research on the web regarding home interior ideas. Recently you’ve come across a home interior company called ABC Homes and you really dig their blog section which has a lot of home interior ideas. Zoom past to two years later when you’re married and designing your first home, you can’t think of any other company other than ABC Homes to buy your home interior products/services from.
And that’s the power of content. It helps you develop trust slowly over months or even years making the path to ‘sale’ much easier.
On the other hand, copy is essentially ‘salesmanship in print’. It rides on immediacy. It doesn’t wait for days, months or years to make a ‘sale’. And that’s why it’s harder than content.
And that’s also the reason why copywriters are paid a lot more than content writers on average.
But if you ask me, a solid marketing plan for any business should try to achieve a fine balance between trust-building content and revenue generating copy.
But enough for today. More about it some other day.
Happy Saturday!
See ya!
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