Copywriting and Content Marketing… What’s the Difference?

If you asked someone in the publishing industry what a copywriter does, they’d likely respond, “Someone who writes copy (duh).”

But if you asked someone in marketing, they’ll say, “It depends.”

That’s because, thanks to the proliferation of digital content, copy, platforms, advertising, and media available to us, we have had to create different definitions to clarify the context of the copy (or content) being created.

Copywriting and content marketing go hand-in-hand. That can make them difficult to separate, because they often appear together. They work in tandem to create brands, call audiences to action, convert website visitors to clients, and improve your website’s rank in Google.

Differences & Overlaps with Copy & Content

Content marketing and copywriting can take the form of blog posts, SEO copy, website content, ad campaigns, reels, tweets, headlines, and more.

But which one goes with which? And how can we tell them apart?

K.M. Wade sums it up nicely in this blog post about the difference between copy and content,“All copy is content but not all content is copy”.

That’s because copy is a type of content, but content can also be images, videos, dances, color scheme…you get the idea. In this post, I’ll go into the specifics of each, how they work together, and how they each contribute to your business’ success.

Copywriting, as loosely defined by marketers, is the act of writing copy that provokes the reader to take an action.

Buy Now!

Become a Beach Bum

Let’s Get Started

These are some examples of call-to-action copywriting. The copy provokes the reader to click the button and buy / become / start. Simple enough, right?

However, headlines also fall under the category of copywriting and SEO copy.

Did you know that "The ideal length for a headline is 6 words"? Buffer

“Copywriting and Content Marketing…What’s the Difference?” is a headline that provokes you to read more and contains two keyword phrases to encourage indexing by Google. That makes this headline copywriting that’s also SEO. And SEO copy can also be content, because a lot of times SEO content is educational, rather than promotional.

Encouraging Curiosity versus Offering Knowledge

I personally like to think of copywriters as People Magazine writers, but they’re calling your attention to something awesome, instead of terrible. We have all been in the supermarket line waiting to buy groceries and seen one of those headlines: “Celebrity scandal! ‘It’s not my Baby’ claims (insert famous person)”. We cannot help but read and be curious. A good copywriter drives curiosity in the same way but backs it up with a legitimate offering instead of sleazy gossip.

Then I imagine content marketers are more like journalists. They’re searching for relevant topics and ideas that their audience wants to learn more about and offering an objective viewpoint that seeks to inform and educate instead of sell and promote.

Does a Content Marketer need Copywriting Skills?

If we extend the journalism metaphor, think about the last article you read online. What’s the first thing that caught your attention? Likely, it was the headline which—you guessed it—is copy! So, a successful content marketer also needs a strong understanding of copywriting but won’t always be titled as a copywriter.

Excellent content will always have elements of copywriting in it. You could write the most amazing piece of content, but it wouldn’t impact your audience if they never felt enticed enough to read it, right?

Isn’t it all Copywriting?

Even though content comes in written form, it is still a type of copy. The difference between copywriting and content marketing isn’t as clear when we think about the deliverables. Instead, we can focus on the intention to see where the subtleties of copywriting and content marketing shine through.

The intention of content is to produce valuable, interesting, engaging, and educational content without an obvious call to action. In that sense, a blog post can be copywriting or content marketing; it will depend on the strategy behind the post.

Did you know that “The ideal reading time for a blog post is 7 minutes (roughly 1,600 words)”? Buffer

This blog post, for example, is a form of content that could become copy. I’m offering education about the nuances of copywriting and content marketing without a directive action. If I were to add an explicit directive such as, Tired of writing? Hire Beach Bum Creative Today, this piece of content marketing could become copywriting. But I’m not going to do that, so this is a piece of content, not copy! The form of each service is distinct, and the goals are different, even though both rely on words.

When Would I Hire a Copywriter?

You would hire a copywriter for your website copy, ad copy, and promotional copy. Think Facebook Ads campaigns, flyers, brochures, and attention-grabbing messaging. Copywriters have less time to connect with a prospect, so they rely more on imagistic language, time-constrained actions, and a specific request that’s clear and to the point: succinct, engaging, and imaginative.



You’d hire a copywriter to help you get your audience to do a specific action such as buy, contact, or call.

When Would I Hire a Content Marketer?

Content writers focus more on the long-game, and content marketing is a wonderful strategy for building brand awareness, relatability, and trust. Content marketers don’t focus on getting a reader to do a specific action or behavior; they connect the reader to education and information that’s relevant and useful, using language that’s grammatically correct, with proper spelling.

Did you know that “More than half of us (59%) would avoid doing business with a company who made obvious spelling mistakes”? RealBusiness

You’d want to hire a content marketer for SEO, because keyword-rich content boosts your website ranking and readership. You’d also want to hire a content marketer for your social media, because people love following accounts that help them in some way. A content marketer could help you decide on videos, relevant topics, and interesting facts to share with your audience. Sometimes, a content marketer can source that content, or they can just write the copy to go along with it.

Did you know that “Longer landing pages are more comprehensive, giving you greater scope for links and a better search ranking” and that “More copy could increase your sales by 52%”? Unbounce

A content writer can expand your landing pages with relevant content and improve your ranking, credibility, and sales.

Copy, Content, & Your Business Goals

So, a copywriter drives the audience towards a specific action, while a content marketer builds value and trust over time. Both help with growing your business, but they work in two different ways. Sometimes they overlap or work together, and other times they are clearly independent.

Now you know the differences, you might ask, “Okay, Savannah, but which one is best for my business?”

And the truth is that all businesses, no matter how unique their goals, stories, audiences, and objectives, will benefit from both!

That’s because a marketing strategy that plays the long and short game is going to give you the best overall results. A content marketer with a strong grasp of copywriting will deliver more powerful copy, while a copywriter who clearly understands your content will deliver punchier, more relevant ad copy. 

Content and copy, when done well, are a symphony. They build off each other, one keeping rhythm while the other riffs; one reliably bouncing along to the beat while the other sings the melody. Without both, the music just won’t sound quite as beautiful.