There are several types of writing that you will need to promote your business.
Often it can be difficult to know what type of writing you need, though. It’s easy to think that all writing is the same, but it’s not.
There is writing to communicate and writing to sell.
Writing to Communicate
This type of writing is what you need to communicate information to potential and future customers. It might be blog posts, white papers, advertorials, eBooks, reports, and other informational type content. This type of writing is intended to teach, inform, engage and inspire.
Writing to Sell
This type of writing is usually called copywriting. It is a special type of writing using specialized skills. Writing to sell is all about your sales pages, sales emails, direct mail, websites and brochures. This is a completely different type of writing and is exclusively focused on making sales. It uses tools of the trade like emotional trigger words that help a reader choose to make a purchase.
Content Marketing
Writing to communicate is used in content marketing. When you place your content on other websites as with guest blog posts, or articles in online and offline magazines, it’s important to know how to write for information, entertainment and engagement in such a way that isn’t overtly selling – like a sales page, for instance. This isn’t to say that good content marketing doesn’t include some light forms of copywriting.
Sales Page Writing
On a sales page you will need to inform, but more importantly you’ll need to compel the reader to take action. This is probably some of the strongest types of copywriting that you will do outside of display advertising, banner ads, and email that is designed to push sales. This type of writing is completely different from content writing, even when content writing is spruced up with some good copywriting.
They’re Different But Can Be Combined
It’s important to understand the difference between writing to sell and writing to communicate.
When writing to communicate, you give a lot of information and teach something. There are no emotional trigger words used to get you to make a purchase. However, it can change. If, at the end of the information the point is for you to purchase or sign up for something, it will soon become clear by the types of words used.
Copywriting helps with every type of writing for business. It’s in the headlines of a blog post. It’s in the headline of the next email marketing message you send your audience. Copywriting is what makes you want to read the next word written and drives you to want to learn more. Copywriting brings life to the words on the page or the screen.
