marketing conferences

One of the most effective ways for marketers to stay ahead of our industry trends and challenges—NFTs, Web3, AI-powered everything—is to attend at least one marketing industry event a quarter. 

Conferences and events are a catalyst for your professional development, helping you learn about new concepts, explore case studies, and make valuable industry connections that can support your ongoing success. 

To help you identify the right marketing industry conferences to attend this year, check out the below list of 19 events that are highly recommended by the #ContentChat community. 

Must-Attend Content Marketing and Related Industry Conferences in 2023

Social Media Strategies Summit 

When: February 21-24

Where: Virtual

What: The Social Media Strategies Summit is a leading social media event tailored toward senior-level marketing professionals. The summit shares countless social media case studies that show how you can transform your social media strategy, plus speaker-led roundtables and hands-on workshops.

B2B Marketing Exchange

When: February 27-March 1

Where: Scottsdale, AZ

What: Now in its 12th year, the B2B Marketing Exchange joins hundreds of B2B marketing and sales pros to discuss everything from visual storytelling and social media best practices to new sales enablement strategies and product go-to-market approaches. Members of the #ContentChat and #CMworld communities will recognize speakers including Allen Weiss, Pam Didner, Randy Frisch, and Jay Baer. 

SearchLove

When: March 13-14

Where: San Diego, CA

What: Visit beautiful San Diego, California, for SearchLove, a two-day event focused on digital marketing and search engine optimization best practices. SparkToro’s Rand Fishkin is just one of this year’s speakers, and there will be plenty of networking events and opportunities during the show to help you make new connections.  [Read more…] about The 19 Most Recommended Marketing Conferences You Can’t Miss in 2023

While many marketing industry events this Summer will stay all-virtual, an increasing number of Fall events are taking a hybrid approach as some parts of the world begin to ease social distancing protocols.

This presents an exciting opportunity for marketers to return to their dearly missed in-person conferences—hugs for everyone who’s comfortable!—while also enabling those who prefer to stay distanced to enjoy the event experience, regardless of where they’re based.

To help you plan your marketing conference strategy through the end of 2021, we’ve collected the must-attend marketing events for the second half of 2021. And if you’re using this post to help build your company’s event strategy, check out these posts to learn what type of event participation type you should pursue and how to make the digital event experience engaging for your audience.

Our Must-Attend Marketing Events for the Second Half of 2021

June

B2B Next-Level ABM (June 7-10, Virtual)

Although Demand Gen Report canceled its annual B2B Marketing Exchange live event, the team will host #B2BMX: Next-Level ABM. The event will provide a playbook for breaking through to your customers across channels. Those new to account-based marketing and seasoned pros alike will learn hot takes, tips, and case study examples to help them finetune their strategy.

Advanced Search Summit (June 9-11, Napa, CA, In-Person Only)

This two-day event in beautiful Napa Valley is an educational conference that will give you the skills, tools, and techniques needed to be a successful digital marketer. Topics span from how to set up and scale your SEO organization, link building best practices, how to dominate e-commerce in 2021, and more.

Podfest (June 10-13, Orlando, FL, In-Person Only)

This event is geared toward content creators interested in audio, video, and new media technologies. The conference spans everything from podcast or video series creation and launches to ways that you can monetize this content and navigate the leading social platforms with video and audio in mind.

July

MozCon (July 12-14, Virtual)

“Not your typical marketing conference,” MozCon is hosted by, you guessed it, Moz, the popular SEO toolset provider. MozCon tackles everything dealing with SEO, mobile, conversion optimization, local search, and more, and you don’t have to be a Moz customer to attend.

ANA Digital and Social Media Conference (July 19-21, Carlsbad, CA, Hybrid)

This annual event hosted by the ANA focuses on digital and social media strategies. Leaders from top brands will explain how the pandemic and various social justice topics from 2020 have changed consumer expectations. Marketers will learn how channel optimization, influencer marketing, digital transformation, and more can be used to develop a successful marketing strategy to meet these evolving customer needs.

September

Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference (MAICON) (September 13-14, Virtual)

Artificial intelligence is (and has remained) a hot topic across industries, and this event is designed to help marketing leaders understand AI, educate their teams, and begin implementing AI into their campaigns.

The Social Shake-Up (September 22-23, Atlanta, GA, Hybrid)

This event is all about how you can use social media to “shake up” your brand and drive engagement with employees and customers. Speakers will share out-of-the-ordinary examples of how they achieved social media success, with topics ranging from integrated communications and customer experience to channel-specific guidance and video and audio content.

Content Marketing World (Sept. 28-Oct. 1, Cleveland, OH, Hybrid)

We’re huge fans of Content Marketing Institute and its incredible set of resources for marketers (which means we’re biased), but Content Marketing World is widely regarded as the marketing industry event to attend each year. Our agency founder Erika Heald will be at the conference to present a session on how to conduct a social media audit that helps your community thrive. Hear more about her session and book your ticket today. Will we see you in Cleveland?

October

HubSpot INBOUND (October 12-14, Virtual)

HubSpot’s annual INBOUND will virtually gather thousands of marketing, sales, and service industry pros to discuss the latest marketing best practices and trade tips on how to better reach audiences. You’ll learn everything from how to navigate the latest social media platform updates, how to boost your SEO strategy, ways to create better content, and more.

Strategic Marketing 2021 (October 12-13, Virtual)

Reuters’ Strategic Marketing 2021 virtual event will discuss the impact that brands have on society and ways that marketers can create real communities. Topics will include the impact of marketing on human perception, how to create a full-funnel strategy, how to optimize your MarTech stack, and a range of social media-focused sessions to set your team up for success.

MarketingProfs B2B Forum (October 13-14, Virtual)

Each year, MarketingProfs hosts an impressive conference that covers everything B2B marketers need to know to succeed today, and well into the future. You can get an idea of what to expect from this past event agenda. Erika will be at this event, too, sharing how to craft B2B customer case studies that put your customer’s voice front and center.

LavaCon 2021 (October 24-27, Virtual)

Content professionals join LavaCon to share best practices, network with peers, and learn how to generate revenue using state-of-the-art content technologies. This year’s program will focus on how content can be created and shared across the enterprise, including sessions on how to create content at scale, trends in learning design, and the importance of inclusive language in content.

Join the Community

Are you looking for more professional development resources, delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to The Content Chat Bulletin to learn about the must-attend events, curated content from industry thought leaders and previews of upcoming #ContentChat conversations that you don’t want to miss. Know of another great marketing event we should check out? Leave a comment.

Industry events and conferences can be immensely valuable for brands and individuals alike, presenting opportunities to catch up on the latest trends, network with other professionals in the space, and learn how to more efficiently drive results.

With the massive shift in favor of digital or hybrid digital/in-person event experiences in 2021 and beyond, it’s easier than ever to access a range of events tailored to any marketing need. Which presents a time management challenge: how do I find the right events for my needs, and how can I optimize my time at an industry event?

To help, we’ve collected more than 15 marketing industry events to attend in 2021, covering everything from content marketing and demand generation to social media strategy and sales enablement.

Once you find events that pique your interest, check out this post to explore what type of event engagement you should pursue. Keep in mind that the majority of these events have a fee to attend (great content takes resources). And those registration fees typically increase as the event draws closer, so you should act fast to lock in a low rate.

Or, if your team is planning its own event, read through these tips on how to make the digital event experience engaging for your audience.

If we’re missing your favorite marketing industry conference, let us know in the comments! We’ll update this post throughout the year to keep you updated as new events are announced, so keep this bookmarked so you can check back as more are added.

[Read more…] about 17 Marketing Industry Events You Need to Attend in 2021