Ever wonder down a side street and come across a gem of a place? Well, that happened to me today. I was just surfing away and I found Liz Strauss’s Successful Blog. Seems I am not the only one who got hooked on this gem.

I was drawn in by this story:

The Pigeons and the Preacher?

When we were first married, my husband I were walking through a city park. The lawn was filled with pigeons. He voiced the most unusual thought. “Why are pigeons always the same size?” he said. “What if they are all baby pigeons and a great mother pigeon lives up on the roof of one of those buildings?”

Shortly thereafter we passed a young man in scruffy clothes who told us that the world was ending. He asked us to change the way we were living. He offered us the reasons and joys of how living his way would make our lives wonderful and give us peace forever. I wondered whether he’d heard the conversation about the pigeons.

If the two messages had been written as text–one would be content; the other would be copy.

Do know see the difference? I don’t mean to hold you hostage. But ignore the difference at your own risk.

This story really hits home. Do you know which part is copy and which is content?

Want some hints? Content informs and copy persuades.

Liz explains it this way:

Effective content connects with readers, gets them thinking, or leaves them with a satisfying feeling of having read something that affects or affirms their world view.

Effective copy entices readers, points out their needs and desires, or leaves them wanting to improve their lives with a help from where the writer sends them.

Now let’s bring it home to white papers. Too often, white papers are content-related and not copy related. This is why many of them fail to sell. So, when you want to create white papers that make an impact and generate leads, make sure you are writing copy.

Be sure to check out the rest of Liz’s excellent article on the distinctions between copy and content here.

Now, what do you think??

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