Top 10 Content Marketing Conferences in 2021
Despite the lack of in-person events, virtual conferences are still a great opportunity to learn, network and generate leads. Hopefully, as we near the end of 2021, we will have a return to in-person or some hybrid events to look forward to.
As our crystal ball is on the fritz, please check the websites for the most up-to-date information on dates, cancellations and the format of the event.
When selecting a conference that is right for you, think about the following factors in the following order:
- Dates – are you available during the conference days/hours
- Cost – does it fit into your budget
- Topics – it’s tempting to put speakers here – but I would suggest selecting based on topic before speakers
- Speakers – make sure there are some reputable and credible speakers in attendance that can speak from experience
In the meantime, here are the top content marketing focused conferences we recommend:
1. Digital Marketing Europe
A conference for those in the European time zone, covering all things digital marketing, including customer experience, content marketing, marketing automation, and brand strategy.
Dates: April 26-29 (Fully virtual)
Example Speakers & Topics:
- Calandra Balfour, Risk to Live, “Visual Content creation Bootcamp”
- Nageela Yusuf, Cerebrum Studio, “Nail Social media video content creation in a world of square, vertical and horizontal videos”
- Venchito Tampon Jr, SharpRocket, “WHere to find fantastic links: Discovering places for content promotion”
- Viola Eva, FlowSEO, “The art of writing meaningful articles that rank and convert: A powerful How-to”
- Mark Asquith, Rebel Base Media, “Podcasting as effective content marketing – understanding the listener acquisition flow.”
- Dominik Berger, Attention Fox, “Lean content strategy for startups”
- Chris Kubbernus, kubbo.com, “How to scale content to drive social media, traffic and sales”
Cost: 45-765 Euro (Depending on the package and tiem you book, prices increase on April 26th)
2. Content Marketing Conference
Date: April 27-29, 2021 (Virtual)
Example of Speakers & Topics:
- Tamsen Webster “Pressure Test your Message”
- Nancy Harhut, “5 Easy, Quick Tune-Up Tactics to make your COntent Crush it”
- Andy Crestodina, “How Intelligent Content Inspires Browsers to Take Action and Buy”
- Alexandria Agresta “Go from Chasing Customers to them Chasing you”
- Anita Ramanathan, “Transform Numbers to Narratives: How to Explain Data Insights using Storytelling”
- Andrew Tarvin, “Now that’s Funny: It’s all about your Brand’s Personality”
Cost: 299-499 USD depending on the time you book
3. Ad World
Ad World is an online advertising event, but it does have a content marketing track. As we all know, content requires promotion to get eyes onto your content, so this conference might be right for you, if you need to up-skill in that area. Topics covered under the Content Marketing track include:
Dates: May 3-5, 2021 (Fully virtual)
Example Speakers:
- Seth Godin, Akimbo, Marketing Visionary
- Marisha Lakhiani, Head of Marketing, Mindvalley
- Nilla Ali, SVP, Buzzfeed
- Pat Flynn, Founder, Smart Passive Income
- Kevin Indig, Director of SEO, Shopify
- Alex Cattoni, Founder, The Copy Posse
- James Imrie, Creative and Marketing Manager, BetterHelp
Cost: 199-399 USD (Depending on the package and when you book – prices go up on April 23rd)
4. Confab
Confab covers topics from UX to accessibility, structure to storytelling and brings content strategy to life.
Date: May 5-7, 2021 (Fully online)
Example of Speakers & topics:
- Vidhika Bansal, Intuit “Say my name, say my name: Honoring people’s humanity with the words we use”
- Sophie Tahran, The New Yorker “Now hear this: Content Strategy for audio experiences”
- John Paz, Menlo Security
- Keri Maijala, LinkedIn
- Jenni Tan, Dropbox
- Jen Schaefer, Netflix
- Jonathan McFadded, Red Ventures
- Patrix Stafford, UX Writers Collective
- Candi WIlliams, Bumble “Fireside Chat”
- Karen McGrane, Autogram “Panel: The past, present and future of Content Strategy”
Cost: 895-1095 USD (Depending on how early you register)
5. Digital Summit At Home: B2B Marketing
This event is designed for B2B marketers and covers topics such as CRO, automation, ABM, SEO, and Content.
Dates: May 25-27, 2021 (Fully virtual)
Example Speakers and Topics:
- Tamsen Webster, The Red Thread, “How to make sour content Irresistible”
- Samantha Kermode, Investis Digital, “The Shift: The digital content strategy to transform your business”
- Tom Shapiro, Stratabeat, “10 Brain science secrets to make your B2B content 10x more effective”
- Christina Sanders, Lucidpress, “Scaling content: empower your sales team to create delightful content experiences”
- Paxton Gray, 97th Floor, “How to create B2B content that won’t put your audience to sleep”
- Michael Brenner, Marketing Insider Group, “10 steps to show content marketing ROI to your boss”
- Ben Tamblyn, Microsoft, “Shaping band perception through storytelling”
Cost: 175-275 USD, depending on the package (pricing available until April 23rd)
6. ContentTECH Summit
This conference is for content strategy for enterprise marketers. It focuses on the use of content and technology together and how to leverage technology to create, manage, deliver and scale enterprise content and marketing.
Date: June 8-10, 2021 (Fully Virtual)
Example of Speakers:
- Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer, Content Marketing Institute, “AudienceTech – a new way to think about the technology of digital content”
- Christine Morrison, Director of Content Marketing, Fanatics
- Jill Sheffield, Vice President, Content Strategy & Development, Mastercard
- Ali Orlando Wer, SmartBug Media, “6 Frameworks for building a winning content strategy”
- Michelle Wu, Coinbase, “Building a content team you can scale with”
Cost: 599-999 USD, depending on the package you select and when you register
7. MozCon
MozCon covers topics from SEO, search marketing, conversion optimization, local search and content marketing.
Date: July 12-14, 2021 (Fully virtual)
Example of Speakers & Topics:
- Amanda Milligan, Marketing Director, Fractl, “A guide to finding and filling the gaps in your link strategy”
- Areej AbuAli, SEO Consultant, “Taking charge of your indexability: How to optimize and prioritize your technical work”
- Kameron Jenkins, Content Lead, Shopify, “The Content refresh: How to do more with less”
- Ross Simmonds, Founder, CEO, Foundation Marketing, “Why Marketers should think more like Investors to drive content results”
- Shannon McGuirk, Client Services and delivery Director, Aira, “Doing the perfectly (Im)possible: Debunking Digital PR and link building myths in 2021”
Cost: 129-149 USD depending on the package (until June 13th when the prices go up)
8. Content Marketing World and Expo
Learn from the best in the content marketing industry and gain knowledge you need to take a content strategy back to your daily work.
Date: September 28-October 1, 2021 (Hybrid online and Cleveland, OH USA)
Example of Speakers:
- Melanie Deziel, Director of Content, Foundation
- Marcus Collins, Head Planning, Wieden+Kennedy New York
- Sydni Craig-Hart, CEO, Smart Simple Marketing
- Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Advisor, Content Marketing Institute & Co-Author, “Killing Marketing”
- Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, Marketing Profs
- Pam Didner, B2B and Tech Marketing Consultant, Author & Speaker
- Joe Pulizzi, Founder Emeritus, COntent Marketing Institute & Author, “the Will to Die”
- Andrew Davis, Author, Brandscaping & Town, INC.
- A. Lee Judge, Co-Founder and CMO, COntent Monsta
Cost: 549-2599 USD depending on the package you choose and how early you book
9. Inbound 2021
Inbound 2021 Date: October 12-14 (Fully virtual)
Example of Speakers:
- Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah, Co-Founders of HubSpot
- Bob Iger, Executive Chairman, The Walt Disney Company
- Alicia Garza, Principal, Black Future’s Lab
- Jesse Williams, Actor, Activist & Entrepreneur
- Sasan Goodarzi, CEO, Intuit
- Sandy Carter, VP at Amazon Web Services
- Cost: 0-149 USD depending on the package and date you book
Cost: 0-149 USD depending on the package and date you book
10. LavaCon
The LavaCon Content Strategy Conference is designed for content professionals to share best practices, lessons learned and network with peers.
Dates: October 24-27 (Fully virtual)
Example of Speakers and Topics:
- Noz Urbina, Omnichannel Content Designer, Urbina Consulting, “Content Design for Omnichannel Experiences”
- Eeshita Grover, Director of Marketing, Cisco, “From Content environment to a content ecosystem”
- Jen Schaefer, Content Design Manager, Netflix, “Creating content that builds trust and moves metrics”
- Matthew Vermillion, Director of Content Strategy, Transamerica, “Is ROI the right metric for content marketing?”
Cost: 750-950 USD depending on the date that you register
