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

The answer is pretty simple.

Content writing involves...well, writing content. Content marketing gets your content in front of eyes.

Let's talk more about both.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing involves creating and distributing content to your audience. A content marketing strategy hopes to attract and convert followers into loyal customers.

You'll hear the term "content strategy" often thrown in with content marketing. Content strategy acts as a map towards your content marketing goals. It answers the questions "why are we doing this," "what are we creating," and "who are we doing this for" in your content marketing plan.

What is content writing?

Content writing is part of content marketing: it's simply the creation of content. That content can be sales pages, email newsletters, campaigns, social media posts, ads, or blogs like this one.

All of these pieces of content persuade your reader to do something. Buy your products. Follow your social media account. Follow your blog. Talk about your brand to other people.

If your readers don't know your content exists, they won't know to do any of things. That's why you need both content writing and content marketing for your business.

Why you need both

As great as your content may be, it'll sit on the internet and collect dust without content marketing.

You need to know what content to create and when to publish it. You need to know what kinds of content are already performing well with your audience so you can continue to meet their needs.

Content marketing can help you create great content. And great content can help you meet your business's goals when paired with a content marketing plan.

Want to learn more about great content? Check out my 5 Types of Content Writing blog post.