A mistake I made early on in content marketing is not understanding the difference between content and copywriting. At first I thought they were the same thing. Wrong!
photo credit: Berto
Content is information-based: blog posts, eBooks, white papers, case studies, podcasts, vlogs, etc. It’s highly relevant, audience-targeted, and industry-specific content that’s written gold for your readers. It builds credibility, establishes authority, and answers many of the questions your audience is looking to you for answers.
Quality content helps build your digital footprint for more potential leads to find your brand. The more value you add to your audience, the more they will look to you for answers. Creating great content is important to building your brand’s reputation.
Content is created to inform, but copywriting is created to sell.
If it looks like an ad and quacks like an ad, it’s an ad. Many people run at the first sign of an ad. Nobody likes being sold on a product or service, but people like being informed.
Copywriting has a very good purpose. It turns great content into compelling content, effectively aiming a lead generating magnet right at your reader’s attention. It hooks, grabs, captures, and drives readers to take an action. What you just read is so good, you’re begging to hear more from me, now where do I click?! That’s the essence of effective copywriting.
Are content and copywriting mutually exclusive? Not at all. In fact, great content includes elements of copywriting because you want readers to take action. That’s the DNA of content marketing: blend the informative side of content with the compelling side of copywriting for a content-driven marketing strategy.
Effective content marketing combines great content with great copywriting techniques. Great content without good copywriting doesn’t create leads. Great copywriting with crappy content is pushy and ineffective… and it makes crap be recognized even faster.
Content and copywriting work best when they depend on each other. If your content has a great reputation but generates few leads, you might need to study good copywriting techniques to make it more compelling. If your content sounds incomplete and disjointed, you may need to rethink the quality of your content.
I can help transform your content is a lead generating machine. A recent client of mine recently shared how a piece of content I recommended she post resulted in a $3,000+ contract! That’s over 30 times the cost of her investment with me! I can’t promise those same results, but I can guarantee you will notice a dynamic change in your content’s potential with me.
