How Do Content & Copy Grow Your Business?
Table of Contents
Copy & Content for Branding & Marketing
Copy and content can help your business grow in a variety of ways. Who you hire (a Content Marketer, Content Strategist, or Copywriter) will depend a great deal on your Brand, Brand Identity, and platform(s) because copy and content can grow your business in a variety of ways.
If you’re not as interested in Content Strategy, read another Beach Bum Creative post about the difference between Content Marketing and Copywriting.
Content Marketer, Content Strategist, or Copywriter?
First, we will start with an overview of the roles and responsibilities of a Content Marketers versus a Content Strategist, versus a Copywriter (hint: they’ve got a lot of overlap), to help you understand which one is best suited to your business needs.
What does a Content Strategist Do?
Content Strategists help define and implement a content strategy (print, social media, advertising, email, etc.) that best matches the business’ goals and customer or client needs. Content Strategists are tasked with developing a content schedule, maintaining timelines, and reviewing metrics to see how well specific content is performing.
A content strategist works closely with the brand to outline and create content that’s unique, engaging, and increases brand awareness.
Think back to a brand you know and love. How often do they post? What type of content are they sharing? Why do you care about their content? A successful content strategist is generating content that’s clear for the audience, relevant to their needs, and displays the brand cohesively across platforms.
What does a Copywriter Do?
A copywriter crafts shorter, catchy language that’s pushing you towards a specific action. You’d hire a copywriter for objectives like:
- Facebook ad campaigns
- Instagram ad campaigns
- Write copy for PPC (Google Ads)
- Print advertisements
- Digital ads (banner ads and retargeting)
- Specific Promotions like a Black Friday Sale
- E-commerce copy and product descriptions
- Call-to-Action Buttons
What does a Content Marketer Do?
Copywriters are tasked with getting your audience to do something, while Content Marketers are focused on getting your audience to learn something. In an online essay, Mat Zucker writes, “For ads, I want creativity. For content, I crave authority.”
Content Marketers educate audience, communicate Brand Identity, and build trust with readers. You would hire a Content Marketer for tasks such as:
- Blog posting and guest posting
- Ghostwriting
- Increasing Brand Awareness
- Using social media to educate
- Developing SEO content for Web and Meta-data
- Improving your Organic Search Ranking
Oftentimes, a Content Marketer would work with a Content Strategist to develop specific topics, blog posts, ideas, and questions to answer for your Brand’s audience.
Which Role for My Business?
In a magical world, hiring someone for all three positions would be ideal, but budget constraints, timing, and other factors all make that challenging. I’ve created some parameters to consider when you’re thinking about which role is most helpful for your business at a given time.
Hire a Content Marketer
A Content Marketer is top priority if you have a complex business. Longform, keyword rich blog posts will inform website visitors while displaying your authority on the subject. Content Marketing is excellent for business owners with a variety of services that they want to further explicate without having a 5,000-word website!
If you’re in a highly competitive industry, a Content Marketer is a valuable hire because they will create content that sets you apart from the competition. Plus, a consistent blogging schedule full of keywords increases organic ranking over time. You’ll start ranking higher in search engines, helping you to beat the competition. Content Marketing builds trust and audience relationships, encouraging readership and sustained engagement over time.
Hiring a Content Marketer is a great starting point if your platform foci are:
- Blogging
- Website
- Long-form
- Guest-posting
- Webinars
- Essays
- Case Studies
For a deep-dive into Content Marketing benefits, read The 14 Most Important Benefits of Content Marketing [With Examples] from Fractl.
Hire a Content Strategist
What I hear most often from business owners is, “I need you to help me with my content. I hate sitting down to write about myself and my business.” It’s part of the reason I started Beach Bum Creative—so I could write about awesome business owners and give them back time to run the business they love so much, not just talk about it!
Every so often, though, I’ve come across a business owner who loves to write, just like me! They are full of ideas, blog post topics, Q&A concepts, Instagram captions, and key knowledge they want to provide for their audience. That’s when hiring a Content Strategist makes the most sense.
A Content Strategist can create content for you, but they can also act solely as the organizer and strategist without ever writing a word. Content Strategists focus on compiling content in cohesive ways to highlight and draw awareness to your Brand.
If your Platform foci are:
- Social Media
- User Generated Content (UGC)
- IG / FB Stories and Reels
- Not sure yet
then a Content Strategist will help you take all those wonderful words and put them into a strategy that makes sense for your business. Starting a cheeky and hip zine? A Twitter-centric Content Strategy might be powerful. Product decision-makers are Gen X and Baby Boomers? Facebook ad campaigns with an interactive Facebook Page could skyrocket sales.
Your Content Strategist will create (or structure existing) content that’s aligned with your Brand, and help you share all that great content you already have in your head.
Hire a Copywriter
Copywriters are about ads, creativity, and economy of words. They are (generally) the Hemmingways of the writing industry. If you’ve already nailed down a solid Brand Identity and Target Audience, and your focused primarily on increasing sales, clicks, and purchases, a Copywriter is your go-to.
They’ll work on ad campaigns, CTAs, and other digital or print promotions like Google Ads and Retargeting, a Copywriter will help increase your Marketing ROI.
What's Your Choice?
Based on your current business needs, which role do you think is best matched to your goals? Drop a comment below and let me know whether you’re interested in Content Marketing, Copywriting, or Content Strategy!
