It’s a question I’ve seen and heard a lot recently, and given that I offer both services, I thought it was time to discuss how copywriting and content strategy differ, but why they’re both equally important.
TL;DR – Copywriting and content strategy are sort of opposite ends of a pole. Content strategy is about deciding what to write before you put any words on a page. It helps you to determine what content you need, where you need it, why you need it and how the whole strategy fits together. It stops you from creating content for content’s sake and gives you a purpose. Copywriting is the process of using this strategy to create new content (landing pages, email marketing, product pages, blog articles).
One is about crafting the words that persuade and engage; the other is about planning the architecture, rationale, and direction behind those words.
If you still want to find out more info, then let’s dig in.
What is a content strategy?
Content strategy isn’t about writing the words themselves. It’s the bit that comes before this. The ideation, the data and analysis, the purpose of the content. It’s kind of the decision-making framework that should guide every blog post, landing page or email campaign.
At its core, content strategy forces you to ask questions like:
- What do our customers actually need from us?
- Which topics should we focus on to reach them?
- What tone of voice will resonate best?
- What are our competitors doing? What pages do they have that we don’t?
- How should our content be structured so it’s easy to follow and optimised for search engines?
What does a content strategist do?
To answer the above questions, a strategist looks at data, research, and context. This often includes keyword research, competitor analysis and content audits.
- Keyword research reveals the search terms your target audience uses and helps you prioritise which topics to cover and what language to use. It will show search volume as well as keyword difficulty, highlighting where there may be some quick wins to bring in relevant traffic.
- Competitor analysis shows what content others in your niche already have, where their gaps are, and where you might differentiate
- A content audit assesses your existing content to see what’s working, what’s underperforming, what’s redundant or outdated.
A good strategist defines content workflows (e.g. how to maintain or refresh content), sets guidelines (tone, voice, style), chooses content formats (blog, video, infographic, case study) and channels, and aligns the content roadmap with business goals.
They look at the funnel (where are people in awareness, consideration, decision) and map content accordingly. They might decide that blog articles feed into pillar pages or that email nurture series support long-form content.
That’s why strategy work requires some data and analysis, and this is why a strategist differs to a copywriter. Not all copywriters have the analysis skills required to delve into content strategy. They may not have the experience with tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs that are required to find data.
Armed with such insights, a strategist can recommend what content to keep, what to merge or delete, what to expand, and what new content to plan. Then, copywriters execute on that roadmap.
As part of my content strategy service, I offer all of the above and more to help you discover the type of content that is purposeful, well-structured, and aligned with both audience needs and business goals.
With a solid strategy in place, guesswork is left behind.
What does a copywriter do?
Copywriting is the craft of writing words that persuade, inspire action, and connect with your audience on an emotional level.
Unlike content strategy, which operates at the big-picture, planning stage, copywriting is about execution, turning strategy into tangible text that people read, enjoy, and act upon.
But good copy isn’t about writing a few hundred words and sticking them on a page. That copy needs to drive a result, whether this is selling a product, encouraging a click, driving a sign-up or something else. Every headline, call to action, email subject line, and product description is a piece of copy designed to nudge readers further along the customer journey.
Where content strategy might determine that you need a series of blog posts targeting specific keywords or a landing page to support a new service, copywriting is what brings that plan to life. The copywriter uses tone of voice, storytelling techniques, and persuasive language to ensure the message lands and resonates.
How can you track the success of a content strategy vs. copywriting?
Because their scopes differ, so do the metrics and success criteria.
A content strategist monitors higher-level indicators. They might want to know:
- How the organic traffic has improved
- Whether the engagement rates are climbing
- Whether the content is generating leads or contributing to conversions
- If topic gaps are being filled
- How content duplication is being monitored and reduced
- How the internal linking structure is having an effect on the performance of other pages.
These are medium-to-long-term measures of content health and strategic alignment.
A copywriter, meanwhile, usually examines more immediate, tactical metrics. These might include:
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Conversion rate
- Open rate (email)
- Bounce rates
- Time on page.
Their work is judged by whether each piece persuades its reader to take the desired action.
In practice, a strategist might note that blog posts are bringing traffic but producing few leads. So they may shift the content mix toward more lead-magnet pieces or restructure CTAs across articles. The copywriter then writes more compelling CTAs or landing pages to support that shift.
How do these two roles overlap?
As with most marketing positions, there is some overlap between a copywriter and a content strategist.
A skilled strategist often has a background in copywriting (or vice versa). When the strategist drafts content briefs, messaging hierarchies, or internal linking plans, the copywriter interprets them into compelling text.
But that doesn’t mean the strategist disappears entirely once the writing begins. They may review drafts, ensure consistency across content, and recommend tweaks to align with user flow or branding.
Likewise, feedback from performance data often loops back into strategy. If certain topics or formats underperform, the strategist might adjust the content roadmap. Sometimes that feedback informs rewriting, A/B testing of copy, or shifting the narrative structure of assets.
It may be easier if you have one person that does both roles, so they can easily monitor the copy in its entireity, from data analysis and brief to completion (hint: that’s me).
Why do you need a copywriter and a content strategist?
Without a content strategy, it’s easy to fall into the trap of writing whatever seems interesting, newsworthy or on-trend. While sometimes, this kind of content can perform well, it can also result in mismatched copy, wasted efforts, uncoordinated tone, missed SEO opportunities and so much more.
It’s better to have a more structured plan for your content.
If you were to choose one, I’d say choose a strategist. They will be able to tell you what your website needs, and you could write it yourself. Much better to do this than hire a copywriter and give them vague direction. Although you could follow my guide to creating your own content strategy!
No responses yet