What’s the Difference Between Content Writing and Marketing?

We often use the terms content writing and marketing interchangeably in the digital marketing realm. But does a content writer do what a content marketer does and vice versa? The answer is yes and no.

Confused? Don’t worry! In this article, we’ll explain what content writing is, what content marketing is, and what the difference between them is (as well as where, how, and why the roles overlap).

What Is Content Writing?

Content writing is the process of creating text-based content for a targeted online audience. The purpose of content writing is to educate, inform, or entertain your target audience through written content that’s relevant and valuable to them. The main goal is to build brand credibility and drive more organic traffic to your website or your client’s, eventually leading to more sales.

Typically, online written content revolves around:

• Sharing expertise, knowledge, and resources
• Solving problems or answering common questions in a particular niche
• Reporting on how a brand’s products or services have helped people
• Providing industry, market, and brand updates on relevant topics

Examples of Content Writing

Blogs are one of the most common types of content writing, with 80% of businesses using blogs as a marketing tool. But many other formats fall under the remit of content writers, such as:

• Press releases – official announcements and brand updates for publication on news outlets, such as this one unveiling a new website and app by British Airways
• White papers – articles or reports that share industry-specific information, such as this one by Apple on app store security protections 
• Ebooks – informational guides or resources on a specific topic, often in a downloadable PDF format, such as this one by Dropbox
• Case studies – fact-based stories about how you solved a problem or improved something for your client, such as this Shopify example

What a Content Writer Does

A content writer’s task is to craft written content for a specific brand’s target market.

The content writing process normally includes:

• Checking and following the requirements set out in the client’s brief and style guide
• Researching the topic and gathering external links from reliable sources
• Writing the piece of content from the initial outline to the final draft
• Incorporating SEO practices, such as internal links and keyword placement
• Editing and proofreading the article before returning it to the client

As a content writer, you need to be able to adapt your writing to different brand voices for different clients. Storytelling is becoming a valuable skill for content writers as more and more marketers seek to create content that resonates with audiences and leaves a lasting, emotional impact.

Content Writing Versus Copywriting

It’s worth mentioning that content writing is not the same as copywriting. As we’ve already seen, the main goal of content writing is to educate and inform people. The purpose of copywriting is primarily to persuade people to take a certain action, such as clicking Buy now on a sales page. This skill calls for a specific writing style informed by human psychology and behavior. However, copywriters often work as content writers, too, and many content writers are trained to write sales copy.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that belongs in the marketing ecosystem. Content marketing encompasses everything from developing a brand’s content strategy and overseeing the creation of content to distributing and promoting that content to the target audience.

The goal of content marketing is to set the foundation for a strong online presence that supports a brand’s values, mission, and core message. Content marketing drives the target audience to engage consistently with the brand in a positive way and eventually use its paid products or services.

Examples of Content Marketing

Content marketing isn’t limited to written content. A brand may incorporate a mix of formats into its content marketing strategy alongside written content, including:

• Videos
• Podcasts
• Tools
• Webinars
• Challenges
• Calculators

To illustrate how content marketing works, let’s take a look at global sportswear giant Nike. Nike’s content marketing strategy harnesses the power of storytelling – with inspirational videos and success stories of famous athletes – to connect with audiences across social media platforms and through its website-based content hub (called The Nike Journal). The brand integrates its core messages of pushing limits, overcoming the impossible, and aligning with social values in all its written, video, and user-generated content. In doing so, Nike creates a sense of community, loyalty, and emotional connection with its target audience.

What a Content Marketer Does

Content marketers oversee the entire content marketing process, making sure the right content is created at the right time and reaches the right audiences in the right way in line with the brand’s overall marketing strategy.

The content marketing process normally includes:

• Researching competitors, target audiences, and keywords
• Developing the content topic strategy and editorial calendar
• Overseeing the content creation, developing briefs, and establishing workflows
• Managing the website content hub and social media accounts
• Tracking the performance of the content across different channels

What’s the Difference Between Content Writing and Content Marketing?

Content writing and content marketing form part of a brand’s content strategy. They have similar purposes in that both are concerned with consistently sharing high-quality, relevant, engaging content with a defined audience with the aim of driving organic traffic and creating new leads.

However, content marketing is a strategic, commercially driven process that covers the planning, creation, promotion, and distribution of all types of content; content writing is purely the creation of written content.

So which is more important, content writing or content marketing? The fact is that they are equally important – a content marketing strategy can’t exist without written content (even if that’s just a short post to promote a YouTube video). Written content may struggle to achieve its goal unless some kind of content marketing plan is put in place.

As to the question of whether a content writer and a content marketer do the same job, this all depends on the size of the business and the scope of the content. A global giant such as Nike will have a large-scale content marketing team with localization specialists for each region and dedicated content writers to create pieces of written content under the brand’s content marketing strategy.

In a smaller business, it’s highly possible that the same person would be hired for both content writing and content marketing. A solopreneur writing content for their own business would be responsible for creating their own content marketing plan, even if they do so on a very small scale.

Becoming A Freelance Writer

Now that you know the difference between content writing and content marketing and understand how content writing fits into the wider marketing process, why not check out our Becoming A Freelance Writer course? It teaches you everything you need to know about writing engaging content, including how to follow a client’s brief, write different types of blog posts, and incorporate SEO best practices. Sample two free lessons to get a taste of the full course!

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