As someone who likes to travel, I love to pick up fun tourist shirts and souvenirs. One especially humorous shirt said, “No, we don’t have kangaroos in Austria.” It’s funny how just a few letters can make a world of difference in meaning.
The terms copywriting and copyrighting often receive the same mix-ups. Though, no one has made a shirt about it yet, at least that I have found.
As a copyWRITING business, this copywrite vs. copyright mix-up is a little more personal, as we are not prepared to take on copyRIGHTING jobs. So we wanted to remove any confusion between the two.
The Difference Between Copywrite vs. Copyright
While they sound very similar, the two terms have entirely unrelated meanings.
Let’s break those meanings down for you:
- Copywrite: Copywriting is creating marketing, advertising, and other business-related text.
- Copyright: Copyrighting is acquiring the legal rights to intellectual property.
Here’s an easy way to differentiate copywriting vs. copyrighting.
CopyWRITErs are people who WRITE content, usually for businesses. They are very knowledgeable about business, marketing, and the proper use of the Oxford comma. Meanwhile, a copyRIGHTer is a legal expert who helps people obtain the RIGHTS to their intellectual property.
Even the term copy has different meanings. For copywriters, copy refers to materials or content that they write. However, copyrighters deal with people who want to duplicate another’s property, so copy in that sense refers to the legal right to duplication.
Now that you know the basic difference between copywrite and a copyright, let’s go a little deeper into who a copywriter is and why they might just be the person you didn’t know you needed most.
What Is Copywriting?
Are you confused yet? Hopefully not, because we will break this down even further for you. Copywriting does not fit neatly into a box and often overlaps with its many content cousins. Here’s a look at some of the other terms you might have heard before:
- Copywriting: Writing with the intent to persuade, sell, or move the reader toward an action.
- Content writing: Writing with the intent to entertain and educate the reader.
- Technical writing: Writing industry-specific content that requires a knowledge on a deeper level than a Wikipedia article.
Can a copywriter be a technical writer? Yes! Can a copywriter be a content writer? Yes! Can someone be all three? Absolutely! The name might change, but the person doesn’t have to. The category that content falls into depends on the content you are creating.
For example, manuals and guides would fall into the technical writing category. However, you would hire a content writer if you wanted an eBook.
Marketers want to work with copywriters because they are people who understand the subtle nuances of content marketing.
Here’s another interesting fact: all copywriters are content writers, but not all content writers are copywriters. In other words, all copywriters should know how to entertain, engage, and educate the reader since those are pillars of content marketing. However, not all content writers understand how to transform educational content into content that converts.
Psst, Express Writers are trained in ALL THREE: copywriting, content writing, and technical writing.
What Types of Content Do Copywriters Create?
Copywriters can create any type of persuasive content. If there are words, and those words have a persuasive goal, a copywriter most likely wrote them.
An eBook on marketing? Yes.
A blog post on exercising equipment? Yes.
A billboard? Yes.
The ingredients on your soup can? Probably not. However, a copywriter most likely helped create the label content so it’s appealing and marketable.
Here are some of the most common projects our clients order:
While these are the projects we receive the most, we have also had fun creating slogans for clients, developing branding content, and even creating food label text. There really is no limit to what content you can have a copywriter help you create.
What Is a Copywriter?
What does a copywriter do?
Based on the VERY brief definition we gave at the start, you might picture a copywriter as a keyboard warrior who likes writing up overly verbose emails or spending fifteen minutes throwing together a blog post.
Let’s scrap that image and start fresh.
While a copywriter’s primary function is writing copy, the job involves much more. A copywriter is also a:
- Researcher
- Data analyst
- Editor
- Avid coffee drinker
While the last one is optional, it does help copywriters handle the sheer volume of work that comes with even a single blog post. A quality blog post is not simple at all. 2020, the average blog post took 3 hours and 55 minutes to create. What’s even more surprising is that the time it takes to craft a blog post has grown. But so has the writer’s job description.
Here is another way to think about it. If you live in a small town with only one restaurant, and that restaurant serves mediocre food, what’s the chance you’d still go there? Probably pretty high because if you need a meal and don’t have the food or energy to cook, that’s your only option.
But what if a dozen other restaurants had much better quality food? You would probably go somewhere else.
As the internet has grown, so has the digital content available. There are about 1.13 billion websites online. Creating mediocre content just won’t cut it.
Not only is there more competition, but audience expectations are rising. People expect more personal experiences, niche content, and engaging interactions. Copywriters aren’t just putting words on paper. They’re helping businesses stand out from the crowd, building relationships through those words, and crafting experiences that will keep those readers engaged, ultimately converting them into customers.
Here’s a breakdown of some of a copywriter’s specific tasks:
Researcher
Before a copywriter adds a single word to their document, they research. The purpose is to understand the business, audience, and content fully. They also want to understand the content’s purpose.
Creating content just to throw words into the void is not an effective use of anyone’s budget. Instead, copywriters who know what they’re doing focus on the content’s purpose. Remember, they are master persuaders. And that starts with knowing what action the reader should take. That action is the content’s goal.
The copywriter also wants to understand the audience so they know just how to motivate the audience to take that action. Is there a problem the audience needs solved or a solution that would improve the reader’s life? Knowing that gives the copywriter a unique angle from which to write.
Understanding the business helps the writer know the style, tone, products, and unique selling points of the company so they can sound just like the business and create a consistent experience for visitors.
Data Analyst
Many well-trained copywriters double as an SEO expert. However, you can also work with a separate SEO strategist and copywriter.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is creating digital content for search engines. Since 68% of online experiences begin in search engines like Google and Bing (with Google dominating that market), your search appearance plays a massive role in your business’s success.
An overwhelming 92.26% of website traffic comes from Google searches, Images, and maps. People search for information, and your digital content appears on search pages to provide the answers.
However, creating content is not enough to gain the traffic. Most people don’t sift through pages of search results. Rather, they are content with what appears on the first page. That’s where SEO comes in. You want to optimize your content to raise your chances of appearing on that first page. You also want to optimize your headline and description to engage the reader so they want to click your link.
When SEO copywriters create content, they keep those searches in mind. They can pull relevant and trending keywords to boost your website traffic using their data analytic training.
Writer
Writing is where the copywriter shines brightest. They are word artists, crafting beautiful images and evoking powerful emotions with a few words on a document.
But, writing is not always as exciting as a Hallmark movie where the journalist writes from a Sunkissed balcony. Instead, most copywriters stare at blank pages, crafting outlines, returning to their research, hunting down information, and eventually carefully forming sentences that persuade, convince, engage, and convert readers.
While the process may not look glamorous, the results speak for themselves. According to 89% of marketers, quality content has a higher ROI than traditional marketing.
Editor
Writing doesn’t end at the last sentence. The next step is editing. Even the most experienced copywriter edits their work.
The first draft a writer creates is called the rough draft because it’s just that. Rough. The writer is just trying to move all the thoughts from their head onto paper. Once those thoughts are on the paper, the editing begins.
Copywriters look for grammatical, structural, and punctuation errors. They also are looking for readability.
Even writers who have a personal editor will first edit the copy themselves. Then, they’ll use the editor to double-check the copy.
Why You Need a Copywriter in Your Life
You need content if you want to succeed as a business. Without content, you cannot communicate and connect with your customers. The extent of your content creation is up to you and your goals.
It might be a simple website, a few product listings, and a handful of ads, or you may go all in with emails, newsletters, social media, and regular blog posts.
Most businesses recognize the merits of content marketing, especially digital marketing, which is why 65% have a designated budget specifically for digital marketing. Can you guess where most of that budget goes? That’s right, to copywriting.
What benefits can quality copywriting provide? About 72% of marketers say they saw increased engagement, 88% saw improved search engine ranking, and 51% saw greater brand loyalty.
Let’s look at just how a copywriter might transform your business.
1. More Website Traffic and Leads
A quality copywriter, their experience, and their prior research will be able to craft a customized reading experience that brings in traffic and captures leads.
Google is more likely to penalize mass-produced, low-quality content. However, a copywriter knows how to write content that Google is more likely to rank high in search results, bringing in more traffic to your business.
2. More Time and Less Cost
A designated copywriter will save your business time. Content takes HOURS! If you don’t have someone with that time set aside, you will pull crucial employees away from their tasks.
In addition, when someone isn’t trained as a copywriter, they may take even more time writing and editing the copy.
A copywriter knows how to maximize their time and resources to produce the highest quality content within your marketing budget.
3. Improved Brand Image
Your content is your brand’s voice. Having a copywriter improves that brand’s voice and image. The copywriter can transform information into inspirational ideas and engaging solutions.
You will become a brand people connect with, trust, and want to work with.
4. Higher Conversion Rates
Only a highly trained copywriter can write content that consistently converts.
Conversion copy leads readers through a story of problems followed by solutions and ends with an action the reader will want to take.
Do You Have a Copywriter Supporting Your Growth?
No matter what project you’re working on or the team you’re working with, you will need educational materials, marketing campaigns, emails, and effective communication.
It all comes back to copywriting.
There is no need to stress over where you’ll find these communication superheroes. We have them right here.
At Express Writers, we trained a team of subject matter experts in persuasive copywriting, engaging content writing, and complex technical writing. We also taught our writers how to optimize for search engines, perform in-depth research, and craft content that converts.
Our writers offer all you need in a quality copywriter in one convenient service package.
Contact us to discuss the best service package for you and start seeing the benefits of having a personal copywriter.