You’ve been looking for a writer to take care of, well, writing, for your business, only to find out that there are two types – content writers and copywriters. Now, you’re wondering, “content writer vs copywriter; who should I hire?”
Well, it’s easy to mistake those roles to be one and the same, especially if you’re new to digital marketing. They are fundamentally different, though, and we’re going to explain the differences between them in this article!
Let’s get started.
Content writer vs copywriter: What is content writing?
Content writing refers to the art of creating written material that provides value to readers, informs or educates them, and is optimised for search engines. The main objective of content writing is to attract, engage, and retain a clearly defined audience.
Here are some of the content types that content writers handle:
- Informative blog posts (evergreen articles, for example)
- News articles
- White papers
- eBooks
- Reports
- Infographics
- Newsletters
- Social media posts
- Etc.
Consider hiring a content writer if your business aims to achieve the following goals
- Educating and informing readers
- Building trust, authority, and credibility
- Generating web traffic through SEO
Content writer vs copywriter: What is copywriting?
Copywriting, on the other hand, involves creating written content that persuades readers to take a specific action, such as buying a product, signing up for a service, or filling out a form. The main objective of copywriting is to convert readers into customers or leads.
Here are some of the content types that copywriters handle
- Sales letters
- Ad copies
- Web copies
- Marketing emails
- Slogans and taglines
- Landing pages
- Product pages
- Etc.
Consider hiring a content writer if your business aims to achieve the following goals
- Selling a product or a service
- Spreading brand awareness
- Creating a sense of urgency
- Converting leads into customers and clients
Content writer vs copywriter: Roles and responsibilities
Content writers create informative, educational, and engaging content like blog posts, articles, and e-books, aiming to provide value and build trust with their target audience.
Copywriters, on the other hand, craft persuasive content, such as sales pages and email campaigns, focusing on driving conversions through emotional appeals and convincing language.
Basically, content writers inform and engage, while copywriters persuade and convert.
Content writing vs copywriting: Writing style
Since they work towards achieving different goals with their content, content writers and copywriters require different writing styles to achieve their respective objectives. Content writers use an informative, educational tone with storytelling and humour to engage readers, while copywriters employ a persuasive, action-oriented style to drive conversions and sales.
Simply put, content writers focus on providing value, and copywriters use persuasive language and concise formatting to encourage specific actions.
Content writer vs copywriter: Required skillset
Content writing and copywriting require different skill sets, which reflect their different goals and objectives. Here are some of the skills that are important for each type of writing:
Skills for content writing
If you’re looking to hire a content writer, make sure they have the following skills up their sleeve:
Research skills
Your content writer should be able to research your topics thoroughly, gather relevant information from reputable sources, and present it in a way that’s both engaging and informative.
All of that requires strong research skills, the ability to identify credible sources, and an understanding of how to use research to support your writing properly.
Writing skills
Obviously, any content writer you plan to hire also needs to be an excellent writer. This means having a strong grasp of grammar, spelling, and punctuation, as well as an understanding of how to structure sentences and paragraphs to create a compelling piece of content.
Creativity
Content writing requires a certain level of creativity to make the content interesting and engaging for the reader. This may involve coming up with unique angles, crafting catchy headlines, and using visual elements like images or videos to break up the text and keep the reader engaged.
SEO skills
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an important part of content writing, as it helps your content rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). Furthermore, most companies won’t hire a content writer these days unless they know their way around SEO recommendations, and neither should you.
Before hiring someone for the role of a content writer, make sure they understand how to use keywords, meta tags, and other SEO techniques to optimise your content for search engines. Tools that can help with that include SEMrush and Ahrefs.
Here are some useful guides that we put out on this matter:
Skills for copywriting
If you need to add a copywriter to your team, they’ll have to master all of the aforementioned skills as well as:
Persuasive writing
As mentioned, copywriting is all about persuading the reader to take a specific action, whether that’s buying a product, signing up for a service, or clicking on a link.
To do this effectively, your copywriter needs to have excellent persuasive writing skills, including the ability to use emotional appeals (playing on stuff like FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out, as part of what’s known as sales psychology), create a sense of urgency, and clearly communicate the benefits of the product or service.
Sales skills
Copywriting is essentially using the power of the written word to drive sales, so having some sales skills can be helpful. This may include understanding the customer’s needs and pain points, knowing how to address objections, and creating a sense of trust and credibility with the reader.
Content writer vs copywriter: Average salary
Knowing the average salary of both copywriters and content writers is essential, no matter whether you’re looking to hire someone for one of those roles or find a job in this field.
- Average content writing salary in the UK: £30,591
- Average copywriting salary in the UK: £32,336
As you can see, the salaries aren’t that different, probably because most content writers end up handling copywriting for their companies as well.
Now, what if you want to hire an experienced content writer or copywriter on a part-time or freelance basis?
Well, in that case, you’ll have to pay per hour, per day, per page, or per word.
- Hourly rate: £50 – £75
- Daily rate: £350 – £500
- Rate per page: £100 – £200
- Rate per word: around £0.50p per word (so a 1,000-word article would set you back £50)
Of course, the exact rate will depend on a variety of factors, including:
- The amount of research needed to write the content
- Whether the writer has to conduct some interviews (with you or your staff)
- The number of pages the writer has to write (freelancers usually offer discounts on bulk orders)
- The deadline (a tight deadline usually means higher pay)
Content writer vs copywriter: Where does each fit in a sales funnel?
So, as we’ve seen, content writing is all about building relationships, while copywriting is all about making sales. But that doesn’t mean they can’t work together. In fact, combining both can be a powerful tool in your digital marketing arsenal.
So, let’s talk about the different stages of the sales funnel and how content writing and copywriting fit into them.
The sales funnel is a marketing model that describes the journey a customer goes through before making a purchase. Here’s a visual representation of a sales funnel:
Awareness
At the top of the funnel is the awareness stage, where the customer becomes aware of a problem they have. This is where content writing shines, as you can create informative content that helps your audience become aware of their problem and how your product or service can solve it.
Interest, evaluation, and desire
Next, we have the interest, evaluation, and desire stages, where the customer starts to look for solutions to their problem. This is where copywriting comes in, as you can create persuasive copy that convinces your audience that your product or service is the best solution for them.
Action
Finally, we have the action stage, where the customer makes a purchase. At this stage, both content writing and copywriting can be used to make the final sale. Content can provide additional information that helps the customer make a decision, while copy can provide a final push to get the customer to take action.
If that’s not teamwork, we don’t know what is.
We can take care of both content writing and copywriting for you
As mentioned, you need both content writing and copywriting in your marketing arsenal. Unfortunately, juggling both can be challenging, and hiring different employees for each role can be too expensive. Thankfully, our team can handle both for you. Just book a discovery call with us today!
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