When researching to write your own articles – or just educating yourself on trends and best practices in today’s marketing world – it’s important to read a variety of marketing blogs to gather different perspectives and apply them to your campaigns.

The following list are some of our favourite content pieces we read regularly for education, tips, tricks, and more.

1.  HubSpot

Pretty much known for starting the inbound marketing movement, they are giants in the marketing universe. HubSpot has three blogs: marketing, sales, and agency – each targeted to a slightly different audience.

If that’s not enough to satisfy you, their full list of blog topics is sure to have plenty of valuable content for you.

With that three separate blogs and publishing every single day, it’s necessary for them to have many guest blog writers (in addition to their staff) who offer many different perspectives and expertise. In the end, HubSpot’s blog sets the standard for all things inbound marketing and we’re pretty sure their blog is a lead generating machine!

2. Content Marketing Institute

CMI posts a new article every day, even on weekends and holidays. Their “This week in content marketing” series is a hit as they talk about the most recent news and events as it relates to content marketing.

Their most popular blogs are broken out between “Current Hits” and “All Time Hits”. Just like HubSpot and their publishing frequency, they have many different writers that offer expert tips and analysis. (The only distraction is the social widget in the left margin blocking content as you scroll.)

3. Mention

Mention’s blog features a search bar, their featured images on posts are consistent in design, and categories are easily identified across the top of the blog. Categories are easy to sort through and include “Most Popular” and even a “Startup Life” to see what other readers deem as most important for each respective category.

One unique detail is that under each article’s featured image, Mention shows an estimated reading time for the article (smart!).

Posts often follow a how-to style, making it easy to apply what you learn in each article. Even posts that aren’t specifically how-tos often have a wrap-up section that helps you understand how to implement what you read.

To top it off, Mention regularly hosts webinars that tie-in with their blogs very well. Join their next webinar (we’re co-hosting with them!) this Tuesday, January 26th where we talk about letting competitors build your marketing strategy.

4. Autopilot

Autopilot’s “Liftoff” blog is very clean and organized. They have a search bar, publish a few days per week, and are building a great marketing automation tool where you can “automate the customer journey, visually.”

If you’re in the market for a marketing automation product, give Autopilot a serious look. Their visual journeys make planning and executing lead nurturing and onboarding a breeze!

5. Inside AdWords

This is Google AdWords’ official blog offering news, tips, and general information on their advertising platform. They may not publish very often, but when they do, you can bank on it being valuable insight.

If you’re advertising with AdWords, how can you not want to read the content from the original source?

6. Buffer

Buffer are experts in social media publishing. Their blog features big, bold images that are easy to share with your social networks. They keep their content simple and witty, while taking deep dives into data when appropriate and analyze that data very well.

Blog articles also examine large companies or people using social and break down what they are doing well (and sometimes where they could improve). This way, anyone can take the nuggets of information and apply it to their own strategy (smaller case studies, for example).