You understand the importance of polished copy, whether on your blog, website, or email campaign. Of course, professional copy is important to support all of the messaging behind your brand. But, sometimes, when seeking help with your copywriting, it’s easy to confuse the promise of copyediting vs. proofreading.

Similar in nature, copyediting and proofreading are very different animals. Understand the nuances between the two in order to source the help you actually need. Doing so will result in stronger copy that better supports the story of your business.

Copyediting vs. Proofreading

When it comes to copyediting, you should expect your copy editor to have a clear understanding of your brand, mission, and message. The role of a copy editor is to support the strength and clarity of your story. So, any inconsistencies, regarding how your message is delivered or how your brand is represented, are something that comprehensive copyediting will check and address.

Although checking for errors is part of the copyediting process, copyediting is most effective when the content is already as polished as possible. Starting with clean copy makes it easier to focus on finding inconsistencies in content, including any redundancies.

Copyediting checks for gaps in a story, and calls out areas of missing content. Often, clients know their own story so well that they only think they are telling it fully and accurately. It takes careful copyediting to ensure that the message is clear and meaningful to the intended audience.

Speaking of audience, copyediting requires an understanding of who the copy is intended for. Clear and precise copyediting depends on a keen sense of who needs to hear the message in order to take action on the good or service offered.

Just as important, proofreading involves the final polish…

Proofreading is the final check before publishing or sharing content with your audience. Consider proofreading — checking for typos, spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, and shaky sentence structure — the quality control before your words reach the wider world.

Although you can certainly try to take care of your own copyediting and proofreading, the fact remains that even the best writers are usually lousy when it comes to self-editing or evaluating their own work.

Trust an expert to sharpen your content with their keen editing eye. This will give your story the strength required to connect with your audience.