Copywriting vs content writing: do you know the difference?

As a writer from an ad agency background, it's been interesting to watch the progressive 'democratisation' of commercial writing - the rise of digital media has made publishing the gems of one's experience and intellect available to all.

Perhaps that's a good thing - now everyone has a voice, but having a public voice doesn't automatically translate into a) knowing what to say and b) knowing how to say it. It's a bit like a baby finding its voice - starting with dah-dah-dah-dah at nine months old and progressing to greater things from there. Both intellect and language skills evolve over  the course of time, the ultimate result being cogent, skilled self-expression.


I hope I don't sound patronising here, but it is a fact that disciplined thinking and writing are crafts, which arise out of both natural aptitude and practice - lots of practice. Which is why I read a lot of digital voices, which seem to me to lack the ability to communicate - I'm thinking here about websites which look great, but are difficult to navigate, and leave me none the wiser as to who the brand or owner is and what exactly is on offer.

But how does this tie in with content versus copywriting and what's with the multicoloured triangle? I use this (created as part of a recent re-branding campaign for an Australian financial planning practice - view the Pinnacle website here) to illustrate how copywriting skills imbue a project with overall strategic direction,  both visually and in terms of messaging. Rather than being just a fill-in-the-blanks process, which is what content writing, at worst, defaults to, copywriting steers and integrates message, strategy and visual communication. Now don't get me wrong here, I don't wish to detract from the considerable skills involved with content writing (not least because it's one of my skills), but just to point out that copywriting is one thing and content writing is another. They're related, yet different.

Using the Pinnacle project as an example, my task as a Copywriter was to create a concept - that's the critical distinction here - a concept, which would give the brand a competitive advantage and integrate with existing, well-recognised branding elements like the logo - see above. By talking to the client, analysing competitor messaging and examining existing promotional materials, it soon became clear that a happy triad of distinguishing features was emerging - the considerable amount of experience of Pinnacle's financial advisors, objectivity compared with competitors affiliated with product-touting financial firms and personal service as evidenced by the excellent and enduring relationships enjoyed by Pinnacle with their clients. Do you see where I'm going here?

Yes, it's all about triangles. With the logo needing to remain the same, the triangle could be leveraged to tie in with strategic messaging - experience, objectivity and personal service. Creating the Plan-Implement-Review triad was a further reinforcement of the branding triangle, integrating and strengthening the branding. This stuff might appear to be subtle - such sophistication tends to get lost in the scrabble to populate the world (or at least websites) with content but, arguably, much craft is lost when we put quantity ahead of quality in promotional communication. You might say - and you might have a point - that the commercial advantage conferred by doing a job properly - that is, engaging such subtleties - is limited. To that I would say it just depends on how high a value you place on professionalism, because this is what's at stake here. There's a reason why advertising agencies, whose client lists may include branding stellars like Apple or Nike, employ Copywriters. Copywriters are content writers, but content writers are rarely Copywriters. Here endeth the lesson!

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