2. Content vs Copy: What’s the Difference (and Which One Your Business Actually Needs)

Hello and welcome back to Copy and the marketing podcast where online service providers learn how to write copy that sounds like them, but converts better. If you have not listened to my intro yet, my name is Sam Burmister. I am the founder and lead copywriter at Nomad Copy Agency and your guide on this little copy adventure. Today, we are talking about the difference between content and copy because every business that I write for, the business owner knows how to write, their team knows how to write. In fact, they're typically highly educated and perhaps really good at writing academically, or I work with a lot of authors who are really good at writing things like speculative fiction or ghost writing biographies. The people I work with are so smart, but to write words on a page that sells, that's copy. So today, anyone who is marketing their own business and wonders how do I use words to actually freaking sell this podcast episode is for you. At the end, I'm going to give you access to my opt in copy bot, which is the bot that creates the opt in page. It's a very self-explanatory so that you can get leads and start writing copy that sounds like you, but converts better. So let's jump in. What is the difference between copy and content? Copy and content are a Venn diagram. Let's go through a few vocab words before we jump in. I'm going to talk to you today about things like conversions, which is just getting anybody to take action on your website. This can be to click on something, download something, purchase something, but that conversion is simply a click in the marketing world. Another word I'm going to use is UI that's user interface and that's anything like your web app, your website, something where people are interacting with your business on the internet is user interface, UX is user experience. And that's how somebody experiences being on that interface. Don't get it complicated. It's just do they enjoy going through your website? Can they find what they need? That's UI UX. Then what is copy? We'll talk about copy and content. So copy is the words that get people to convert. Again, going back to conversions that can be any action paid or unpaid, but it inspires action. Copy is typically shorter form and is focused on a call to action. It can be anything from microcopy like billboards that have just a few words to long form copy like sales pages. But copy converts copy is written to inspire action from real people. Content on the other side tends to be an umbrella term for what an end user sees. That can be visual content like graphic design. It can be photographs. It can also be written content. Content, however, is written typically for computers and for experience. So when I say it's written for computers, content tends to be the very searchable side of what you do. Copy is the very clickable side of what you do. So we think of copy inspires action from a person. Content typically the goal of content is to get people to the copy. Content's very searchable. It might be something like educational like white papers. Could be parts of sales pages, blog posts, podcast descriptions, captions, infographics, ebooks, and other freebie content that comes through after they've gotten your freebie. Content entertains and content does typically tend to be longer form. So I said that there's a vendiagram between content and copy. There are some places where they meet in the middle. Sometimes this is captions. So a caption on say an Instagram post might be educational. And then it'll say, reply if you also feel this way or reply with a hands up emoji if you want me to send you the PDF. So captions can be copy or your website content. Think about your about page. It probably is meant to be educational and simply content about yourself. But it says, if I'm the kind of person you'd like to work with, click here. That bit is copy. So we're going to talk about copying content further and who you should hire for each. When you are looking to grow your visibility, you typically want a content writer. This person might call themselves a social media strategist or a social media manager. They might call themselves an SEO writer, a blog writer, or a content writer. Those people are going to write things like podcast descriptions, captions, white papers, case studies, and of course blogs and other long form content. If you are looking to sell, if you want to make money from the words that somebody writes for you, you are looking for a copywriter or some people call them a sales copywriter. But because you're smart and you know that copy is meant to sell, sales copywriter is redundant. But if you're googling, you're looking for somebody to work with, you can look for a sales copywriter. When you are searching for a sales copywriter, there are some things you want to look out for. You want to be sure that they actually have sales experience in the real world and that they understand sales psychology. And absolutely, this is the part where I tell you, that's me. I have that experience and you can go back to episode one to listen to some of that experience that I have. But ultimately, the purpose of this episode was to help you understand the difference between content and copy. Because before we go any further into copy and because it is copy and content, you need both. But we need to understand that there is a difference so that you and I are on the same page. So in future episodes, we're going to talk about copy and sales pages, copy and speaking directly to your ideal audience. Copy and how to edit AI and what it writes. Copy and headlines. Copy and calls to action. Copy and strategy. Copy and messaging. But we need to understand that when I talk about copy, I am here to help you sell more in your business. Because ultimately, my goal is to help you write copy that sounds like you, but converts better than what you currently are. So we understand the Venn diagram between content and copy. Content is searchable. Copy is liqueable. We are going to move forward from this and next we are going to talk about copy and sales psychology basics so that we continue to move forward from this super, super strong foundation of understanding that you are here to sell. If you're listening that is because you are awesome and you are a business owner and you are here to help other business owners succeed just like I am. I'm getting this podcast off the ground and right now more than ever your likes, subscribes and shares mean so much to me because when one of us wins, we all win. And if you plan to stick around and continue learning how to win from your copy. It doesn't hurt to encourage the person giving you the information does it. So be sure to like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on. And if you have somebody to share it with, send them a link. It means more than you know.