The short answer: Copywriting sells, Content writing compels.
It’s the difference between a company’s brochure and a personal blog; between a vacation getaway blurb and a snarky travelogue. Copywriting requires business sense; content writing requires personality. And with that line, pardon me while I lean back in my chair, put my feet up on the desk, and adjust my fedora.
The difference between copywriting and content writing is the purpose. A professional freelance writer is able to adapt to almost any need, to get the research and synthesize it into knowledge that is at once clear and compelling for the reader. However copywriting requires professional knowledge of business concepts such as market psychology and customer targeting; and be well-versed in providing customer service and satisfaction to the client. These are what is written on the cave walls as “business skills”. One of the basic principles of business is to fill a market need, and these needs have a way of stubbornly refusing to conform to one’s personal tastes!
A well-rounded writer is able to function in almost any writing environment, and indeed, to learn how to find the right information, to know which sources to rely on, and to recognize substance over stuffing. This writer has mileage, has had a measure of success as well as failure in life, and has broadened his or her horizons well beyond the limited purview of a single job role. For a real life example of what I mean, read Louis L’Amour’s bio novel, Education of a Wandering Man. This is the story of a man who always moved forward, on a continual march towards the physical and mental horizon.
In this wild frontier of information, and with the increasing interconnectedness of readers, the written word has become both base and sublime. I’m reminded of a quote from an old Star Trek episode, in which Q talks of the nature of the galaxy to Captain Picard: ” If you can’t take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It’s not safe out here. It’s wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires, both subtle and gross. But it’s not for the timid.“
And that’s where a pro writer earns his spurs; because he can write for any of those clients, adapt to almost any situation, and deliver a message like the Pony Express.
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Parker Cent
One Cent Copywriter
If you have a query, do contact me at the following email address for a friendly quote and guaranteed satisfaction:
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