The art of Copywriting and advertising are both important skills with internet marketing. You might be wondering if they are the same thing.
Copywriting is the art of persuading someone using the written word and advertising is the art of making someone aware of something.
Keep reading and I’ll share examples of both, why is copywriting called copywriting, and 3 of my favorite ideas with it.
The Difference Between Copywriting and Advertising?
Advertising is the art of making someone aware of something.
It has been around since the creation of people. The first form was probably word of mouth advertising where cavepeople advertised a special place to catch fish for example.
Nowadays advertising is everywhere. Wherever there is attention someone is willing to pay money to make someone aware of something.
A great example of advertising is a SuperBowl commercial that in 2022 cost 6.5 million dollars for a 30-second ad.
You are probably seeing ads on this page, right? Other examples could be bathroom walls, checkout conveyor belts, on Nascar cars, and even on manhole covers.
The reason advertising is important is because it can drive business growth, but it can be difficult to measure.
Copywriting is the skill set of using written words to persuade someone. There are “many” great copywriters and one example is Joseph Sugarman.
Mr. Sugarman had a direct mail agency selling products using the written word. In one example, he sold a used plane for $240,000 that was valued at $190,000 with one magazine ad.
Many people think that copywriting is used to sell products and get paid (this is true), but it’s also about drawing someone in JUST to read.
We are spoiled with SO many options grabbing someone’s attention can be a challenge.
As more and more people communicate through the internet and less face to face or over the phone copywriting can be even more valuable.
Anything, where you are communicating with the written word, is an opportunity to use copywriting.
- Landing pages
- Headlines
- Facebook Posts
- Blog Posts
- Youtube videos
- Websites
You could say advertising is short and copywriting is going deeper.
Why is Copywriting Called Copywriting?
Copywriting comes from the word copy meaning to be copied or reproduced for printing.
The history comes from using the printing press (ink on a page) and it costs money to do. Something had to be good to be copied or reproduced into print.
Nowadays we are spoiled with the internet. Instead of using ink we use computers that have the same effects.
This reminds me of how Bitcoin and the proof of work system got their start.
The history of Bitcoin was it’s modeled after a way to fight email spam. The theory is that if someone paid money to send an email it would probably be higher quality right?
The mining with Bitcoin is all about having skin in the game and someone has to risk something. You can learn more about how this works by clicking on the link HERE.
The challenge is it’s free to post something and some people post strange stuff on social media. Maybe in the future, there will be a social media platform where someone can ONLY post 1 time a day.
3 Ways to Get Better at Copywriting
In order to persuade someone you first have to get their attention. To get someone’s attention I’m a big fan of the book Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout.
If you look at a crowd of people who do you notice first? Probably the person that is different right?
Being courageous enough to be different is a big thing with copywriting and just getting noticed.
The second way to get better at copywriting is to think of entertainment. If you say the same thing as everyone else such as…
- The product does this and that
- It’s 50% off.
It’s boring and it’s easier for you to be ignored. The great thing about entertainment is you don’t have to re-invent the wheel.
You can take a concept that is proven to be entertaining and turn it upside down to promote something. Name something that is entertaining? When it comes to an escape what comes to your mind?
I’m thinking Star Wars due to the picture above. As a headline, you could say “may the commissions be with you.”
Do you see how you’re saying what the product can do in an interesting fun, different way?
If you want to get better at this skillset of turning boring topics more interesting I would recommend checking out this guy HERE. He is one of the best copywriters I know.
The third way to get better at copywriting is to be more real and human. We like to buy from people who we like and trust right?
If we don’t know someone it can be difficult to buy from them because it takes a while to gain trust. This is where branding comes into play.
A brand instantly gains trust. When you see the golden arches of McDonald’s you already know what to expect other than Kevin’s burger shack right?
How can we be more real and human? We can show our faces and use our real names right?
This is why Youtube can be a great thing. We can purchase and use the products we recommend, this is another way, right?
We can talk about areas where we made a mistake. By admitting our mistakes, people can relate to that and you could be seen as more human.
The more people can relate to you the more you can gain trust and thus more sales.
Conclusion
“If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.”
Abraham Lincoln
Taking some time to learn the art of copywriting is very similar to sharpening an axe. It’s a very good thing to do and the place I would recommend is from this guy HERE.
When it comes to SEO, blogging, and Youtube I would recommend these guys HERE.
Getting the right education from people that are actually doing what you want to do is critical. You can learn so much from their mistakes, that way you don’t make the mistakes yourself. Everything else I recommend going “super cheap” on.
With Youtube thumbnails I use free stuff, I use free pictures, even my logo was free.
I hope this blog post on is copywriting the same as advertising was helpful to you. Bye for now.