Your brand is content marketing, whether or not you mean to. It’s nearly impossible to avoid publishing in an era where websites are basically mandatory and social media is quickly becoming ubiquitous. Now, it’s up to you to avoid what Ann Handley refers to as “random acts of content,” and develop a comprehensive content marketing strategy. To inspire your plan for the coming quarter, we’ve curated a list of the smartest content marketing strategy blogs on the block

Level Up Your Content Marketing

1. Content Marketing Institute

We’d be remiss to ignore the brilliant contributions of CMI to the realm of business blogging, eBooks, and social media. Way back in 2007, when the field was barely a blip on the horizon, Joe Pulizzi actually coined the term and started what has become one of the leading blogs in the niche. Their articles are directed toward sophisticated marketers and often delve into topics of strategy, industry news, and real applications of new tools.

2. Digital Sherpa

This brand focuses on connecting small business owners with content marketing solutions, and their business blog is tailored accordingly. Topics included often range from social media best practices to ways to improve SEO. Hands down, one of their best features is their weekly links post, which put the spotlight on brilliant examples of content marketing from big brands.

3. CopyBlogger

If you’ve ever used search to find information on inbound marketing, there’s an astronomically high chance you’ve run into Brian Clarke’s website, CopyBlogger. Clarke has been in the business of writing web copy since 1998. It’s not just one of the best writing blogs, it’s one of the brightest shining stars in the advertising space online. Readers can learn how to improve every aspect of their web writing, from email marketing to better blog introductions.

4. The Content Squad

While the Content Squad’s name reveal their love for quality web copywriting, their blog delves into plenty of topics that are super-relevant to professionals in the digital marketing space. Recent topics include the increasing connection between Google Chrome and SEO, and evaluating your corporate culture. It’s just all too compelling to look away.

5.Content Equals Money

These guys’ content is so money; by which I mean the slang definition that’s a euphemism for suave. The staff writers have a serious love for traditional advertising and current events, and their blog articles are typically told through a lens of really cool things like vintage advertising or NHL hockey.

6.Writtent

Another agency blog focused on communicating strategy to small business owners, Writtent is well worth the read. Their efforts to put creative concepts into practice are particularly sparkling, and their team members are experts at using a variety of formats for brand storytelling. Your daily subscription email may include a content marketer’s horoscope or best practices told through cartoons.

7. Top Rank Blog

Lee Odden is SRS BSNS. Every post he writes is seriously authoritative and filled with the latest statistics. He’s your go-to source for analysis of the latest reports, trends, and facts.

8. Joe Pulizzi

Is this guy ever not writing amazing web content? Pulizzi’s personal blog has all the same smart, content-focused goodness as his other blog (CMI). For goodness sakes, the guy even attempted to predict the future of online marketing recently in a blog post, and I have a pretty strong feeling that he’s spot on.

9. Web Ink Now

I had the fortune of seeing David Meerman Scott speak to a crowd of enraptured marketers last summer at HubSpot’s Inbound12 conference and have been a fan ever since. He explores the intersection of journalism and content marketing perhaps better than anyone else. His blog contains more than his signature focus on real-time publishing, including plenty of brand examples and success stories.

10. Post-Advertising

Where do I even start with Post-Advertising? Their blog has a gorgeous design and user experience (UX). Their content is really good, to put it lightly. And they even recently wrote an open letter to Nutella. These guys have all the brains and marketing experience in the world, but they’re not afraid to have (a lot of) fun.

11. Marketing Experiments

It’s no secret how much I love the intersection of marketing, science, and psychology, and MarketingExperiments is definitely the place for my people. It’s not always about content, and it’s also definitely not for the faint of heart (or math averse), but the team works very hard to produce credible, quality content.

12. Marketing Interactions

Ardath Arbee is a brilliant thought leader in the field of B2B marketing, so it’s no surprise that her blog is a fabulous read. It’s definitely advanced-level material; recent topics covered include marketing misalignment and social selling.

13. Sparksheet

The stated mission of this website is to explore the intersections of content, media, and marketing, and they fulfill this exceedingly well. However, if I were responsible for penning their tagline, it would probably be something like “where Buzzfeed meets The New York Times and Content Marketing Institute.” Just scrolling through recent posts on their homepage will expose you to some fascinating topics you never knew how much you needed to read, like Startup Culture in Eastern Europe, and Journalist Habits Content Marketers should avoid.

Hungry for more insights on the greatest blogs in the digital marketing space? Check out our roundups of outstanding social media strategy sites here and here.

What are your favorite content strategy blogs?

This post was originally published by Jasmine Henry, author at Inbound Marketing Agents. Reprinted with permission.

Meet Jasmine Henry

About the Author » Jasmine is a Project Manager at Inbound Marketing Agents, a HubSpot Gold Partner Agency in Nashville, TN. As a recent transplant to the South, she's loving the live music and soul food in her new hometown.