I have to kick this off by saying right off the bat that my husband has questioned my decision to name my company Copywriting For You from the very beginning. He has asked me repeatedly, what does that even mean?
And while I knew deep down that his questions and attempts at playing the devil’s advocate were intended to be helpful, I always just looked at him with a smirk. I thought to myself, how can you not know what copywriting is? It’s all about writing copy. And as a colleague of mine told me last year, it’s all about writing words for websites.
What I should have done, however, is take my mind and stance out of the industry I am in. Do people really know what copywriting is?
What Does Copywriting Really Mean?
So, let’s fast forward to talk about something that happened this past weekend. I attended my first event to get experience with event marketing specific to my company. My goal was to do two things:
- Get more leads for my business
- Sell more copies of my new book, Perseverance. Reinvention.
I learned a lot at this event, using it as a dry run to see what I needed to do better or differently the next time around. But one learning I did not expect? Many of the people who stopped by my booth—many were small business owners in the community—had no idea what copywriting was. One person even assumed that I was selling copyrights. And clearly, that’s pretty different from copywriting.
And it dawned on me. If you’re not in the writing industry, you probably have no idea what copywriting is. And so, aside from taking that insight as great blog content, I realized that I needed to do a better job of clarifying what it is that I do. And so, this article is intended to do just that.
Copywriting Vs. Copyrighting: Two Different Disciplines
As you can ascertain by the name of my company, my job is to write copy for you, based on your needs. And I write copy for businesses of all kinds. Ask me what I write in a week, and you may be surprised by the various topics I cover in a given day, a week, or a month.
But what do I really do? Let’s boil it down and get to the bottom of copywriting. And, let’s talk about how that differs from content writing and copyrighting. Here are the differences.
Copywriting
Copywriting involves creating persuasive marketing material that prompts an audience to take action, like purchasing a product or signing up for a service. Copywriters write compelling messages and calls to action for advertisements, emails, and product descriptions.
The main goal? To convert readers into customers by making a brand’s offerings so irresistible that they’ll want nothing other than to buy.
Content Writing
This type of writing focuses more on engaging, informing, and entertaining a target audience rather than directly selling to them. Content writers produce blog posts, articles, white papers, and ebooks that add value to the reader’s experience.
Content writing is meant to build brand awareness and credibility, helping to nurture a long-term relationship with the audience. It’s all about creating insights that drive more users to a website so that they can learn more about your products and services.
Copyrighting
Getting a copyright is a legal process, not to be confused with writing of any kind. It involves securing a copyrigh, which is an exclusive legal right given to creators for protection against unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or creation of derivative works from the original content. Basically, it safeguards intellectual property such as books, music, and artwork, making sure that creators and holders have exclusive rights to use and distribute their work.
And here’s the clincher: You can seek a copyright for your copywriting. You can seek a copyright for your content writing, too. Open any book, and you’ll see a copyright statement on the edition notice—aka copyright page—intended to protect the work. But, getting a copyright and copywriting are two different things that require different skill sets.
Copywriting For You. Copywriting For Everybody.
At Copywriting For You, I write great content for websites. And while I spend about 80% or more of my time in the content writing space—this is my passion—the goal with what I write is to get more visitors to the site so that the copywriting can wow them. The end goal is to create enough interest in a product or service that consumers will turn into customers.
Want to see what Copywriting For You can do for you and your business? Book a call today to get started.