Marketer and Writer: What's the Difference?

If you asked my friends what I do for a living, they’ll likely tell you that “she writes stuff for some businesses”... And while they’re not technically wrong, I’ll spare them the TEDtalk I could go on about how marketing and copywriting aren’t just writing “stuff”... 

Marketing professionals and copywriters are the unicorns of every business around the world (IYKYK). We get the right message to the right people at the right time, and inspire them into taking action. Despite the goal being similar, these two roles are significantly different.

So, if that’s the case, what’s the difference between them? 

Well, it isn’t entirely black and white. Let me break it down for you.

Marketing Knowledge and Skills

Day to day, a marketers role consists of many different activities. Running ad campaigns, building email campaigns, optimizing websites for search engines, writing blog posts, writing sales copy, writing web copy, tracking and analyzing website ROI, doing market research and analyzing it for actionable insights… It's a ginormous load of marketing knowledge and skills. All in all, the main goal is to develop and execute strategies to promote the brand, products and services, and maximize profits for the company. 

From a 10,000-foot view, marketers are busy with the “big picture”. Marketers know that good copy is critical, but not all marketers can write in the way that copywriters can. They should be effective writers and understand what good writing looks like, but do they need to be a master of the art of copywriting? 

Hot take: I don’t think so. 

Let me explain (before everyone’s hair catches fire).

Marketing demands a significantly more broad skill set. As a marketer, you’re piecing the bigger puzzle together to bring your business's product or service to your target audience. The strategies employed knit together the wants and needs of your target audience and delicately weave for them a message that influences the buyer's behavior and drives conversion.

Copywriter Skills

Copywriters need copywriter skills. 

You know, like nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills…

I’m totally kidding. (Remember Napoleon Dynamite?) 

Good copywriters are wizards of words and human psychology. They wield a wand unmatched by any other. They can take a buyer persona and speak to them in a way that makes them feel seen and understood with the stroke of a key. They consider market trends, psychology, and buyer behavior, and craft a uniquely compelling message that is irresistible to the target audience. This is no small feat.

To be effective, copywriters must have a solid understanding of SEO best practices, great communication skills, excellent problem solvers, be creative, and have great attention to detail. People outside of the world of writing might gasp at these demands, yet writers won’t bat an eyelash at it because we know it to be true. We get to flex and stretch our creative minds to persuade others to take some type of action, and it’s highly rewarding. 

Copywriters & Marketers: Better Together

For businesses that are looking to scale, a sole marketer wearing all the hats may not be able to effectively execute all. the. things in order to meet the company’s bottom-line goals. Adding a copywriter to the team can take the weight of executing excellent copy off of the marketer's shoulders and open them up for more high-level tasks. A good copywriter is worth their weight in gold for businesses who are ready to level the playing field in their industry. 

All this to say, while copywriters do understand marketing to some extent (and should!), that doesn’t make them experts in marketing. Marketers should understand the basics of writing, but they don’t necessarily need to be experts in it.

If you’ve got Napoleon Dynamite-style skills nailed down but haven’t quite figured out the copywriting skills, we’ve got you covered. Hire a Writer has a team of highly skilled copywriters ready to hit the keys and get your message across. Contact us.