NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / December 31, 2019 / The future of digital marketing is as bright as ever. From crafty content creators and technologists to self-made entrepreneurs and leaders, people and businesses all over the world follow well-known digital marketing gurus to learn about the latest marketing trends.
As 2019 comes to an end, we would like to highlight some of the top marketing influencers in the world who have made a huge impact on the industry. These digital marketing experts have influenced thousands of people, and have inspired the world with their ground-breaking achievements enabling digital transformation at every stage. Not only have they invited more opportunities for businesses but they have also provided hope to millions of small start-ups to execute their businesses effectively.
These marketers are the go-to experts that businesses should follow if they want to take their marketing game to the next level. Here are the top 20 marketing influencers of 2019:
1. Neil Patel
Neil Patel is the co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and Kissmetrics. He is an entrepreneur, a blogger, and a digital marketing expert. He started his career at the age of 16 when he launched his first website. Later, he realized the importance of digital marketing and started helping out small scale start-ups.
Currently, he is helping businesses generate maximum sales and traffic through his recent venture called NP Digital. In 2017, he was featured as one of the leading digital marketers on Forbes. Today, his work and contributions have been acknowledged by well-recognized brands and professionals.
He has received over 14 million views on Youtube. He is a New York Times best-selling author and was recognized among the top entrepreneurs under 35 by the United Nations. One of his recent work is called ‘Hustle', an inspiring book about following dreams and chasing opportunities.
2. Gary Vaynerchuk
Belarusian American entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk graduated from college in 1998. He joined his family's wine business at the age of 14 and expanded the business from $3 to $60 million a year.
Gary decided to leave his family business in 2011. With the help of his brother, he established his own digital media agency and named it VaynerMedia. The agency offers strategic marketing and social media services to businesses and Fortune 500 companies which includes Mondelez and PepsiCo.
Listed as one of the best A-List agencies by AdAge, the agency managed to earn a revenue of $100 million in 2016 successfully. With Gary's consistent marketing efforts, VaynerMedia has collaborated with digital filmmakers and platforms like Vimeo to connect with brands. Today, Gary is considered one of the world's leading digital and social media experts.
3. Nabeel Ahmad
The youngest person on this list, Nabeel Ahmad is a 22-year-old serial entrepreneur, investor, TEDx speaker and well-known marketing strategist. He has founded 5 companies, and has helped many businesses get to the next level by using effective marketing and PR strategies.
Nabeel has been recognised as "one of the top marketing experts in the world" by International Business Times. Earlier this year, Entrepreneur magazine named him as one of the top 15 inspiring entrepreneurs to watch in 2020, alongside industry leaders like Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone.
He is the founder of Vertabyte, a digital media agency that works with some of the biggest companies in the world. Apart from that, Nabeel Ahmad is the founder of Mogul Press, a PR firm that specializes in personal branding and media placements.
Nabeel's expertise on marketing related topics is often sought by some of the world's biggest and most renowned media outlets. He is a frequent contributor on Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Business2Community, Business.com, and more than 30 other major publications.
4. Rand Fishkin
After dropping out of the University of Washington, Rand Fishkin joined his mother's small business to work and support his family. He co-founded an SEO software company called MOZ which he left in 2014. Now, he operates his own company with the name of Sparktoro which offers software and data insights to people.
He is a well-recognized face in the search engine optimization industry and a digital marketing guru. He loves to help people become better at marketing and learn more about fundamental marketing and technology. He promotes marketing through his Whiteboard Friday video series, blogs, and books.
Awarded as the best-selling author of Lost and Founder, he continues to educate people on marketing. In 2009, Business week featured his name among the 30 best young tech entrepreneurs under 30.
5. Timothy Ferriss
As an angel investor and advisor, Tim Ferriss has advised several startups such as Shopify, Evernote, Trippy, and more. After graduating in 2000, he founded BodyQuicken in 2001 which used to provide online nutritional supplements. Later, he sold his venture to a private-equity firm in 2010.
Tim is a leading author and podcaster. His podcasts cover topics like character development, meditation habits, and morning routines. As an expert advisor and marketer, he has helped many startups raise millions of dollars.
His notable contributions include The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Body. He was also listed as one of the notable angel investors by The New York Times while CNN declared him as one of the best angel investors in technology.
6. Grant Cardone
At the age of 61, Grant Cardone is the CEO of Cardone Capital and a well-renowned sales trainer. He is also the owner of seven privately held companies and one of the top social media influencers in the world as listed by Forbes in 2017.
His primary venture, Cardone Training Technologies offers a dynamic sales training platform to currently Fortune 500 companies and small- or large-scale businesses. Recently, he invited more than 50 entrepreneurs and more than 34,000 professionals from all over the world to join his 10X Growth Conference in Miami, Florida. Grant's vision is to strategize sales operations for businesses and improve their revenues.
He has worked with well-established companies like Google, Toyota, Ford, Sprint, and more. He is a New York Times best-selling author and speaker. His book "The 10X Rule" was among the top-selling books in 2017. He owns a youtube channel, with more than 1.27 million subscribers, where he speaks about topics such as entrepreneurship, leadership, and social media.
7. Ann Handley
Ann Handley is a digital marketing wizard who inspires thousands of marketers to achieve real-time results. She is a world-wide keynote speaker and co-founder of ClickZ which offers digital marketing solutions to businesses. She is also the Head of Content at MarketingProfs.
A Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Ann continues to educate millions of people through her videos and books. She is helping people escape conventional marketing methods and also improve their content writing skills through her blogs.
Ann has made several noteworthy contributions. She's been listed as one of the people shaping modern marketing by IBM. Her best works include Everybody Writes and Content Rules which has inspired several content marketers and social media experts.
8. Joe Pulizzi
The leader of the Content Marketing World, Joe Pulizzi has formed multiple startups including Content Marketing Institute. He is a well-renowned speaker, digital pioneer, and an award-winning author. Joe Pulizzi has raised millions through his Orange Effect Foundation which offers speech therapy to children in 25 states.
In 2016, Joe sold his CMI startup to a million-dollar company, UBM. He has delivered speeches to several well-established companies like Nestle, Oracle, Dell, and more while speaking at 400 different locations.
In 2014, he received the John Caldwell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Content Council. His top-selling books include Epic Content Marketing and Content Inc. His book Epic Content Marketing was featured as one of 'Five Must Read Business Books of the Year' by Forbes Magazine. His recent work includes Killing Marketing which was published in 2017.
9. Larry Kim
Founder of the world's best Facebook messenger platform, Larry Kim is the CEO of MobileMonkey Inc. and also the founder of WordStream which provides advanced digital marketing tools.
Considered as one of the most influential experts, Larry offers effective marketing tools to novice and expert marketers so they can become better at paid search. Today, he assists thousands of customers through his multi-million-dollar company.
Larry is recognized as one of the most influential experts and has earned multiple awards. He has been voted as the best PPC expert in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017. He is a featured speaker in multiple events and an active blogger. He has also won the title of ‘Search Marketer of the Year' by PPC Hero in 2015.
10. Brian Dean
Brian Dean, also recognized as an 'SEO genius' is the owner of the award-winning blog called Backlinko. Currently, he is one of the world's most-sought SEO experts with an annual reach of more than 2.5 million people.
Initially, Brian started his blog in 2013 and struggled until Backlinko was born. In 2017, Forbes listed his blog among the ‘top blogs to follow'. Previously, he has also offered consultancy services to businesses as a freelancer.
Backlinko enjoys a good reputation in the marketing world. Forbes and The Huffington Post have been following the blog and recommending its resources to people. It has created a positive impact on the lives of several digital marketers.
11. Oli Gardner
Oli Gardner is leading one of the top landing page platforms called Unbounce. The platform requires zero coding skills. He's also recognized as one of the world's top digital marketing speakers. The world admires him for his energy, valuable talks, and unique content.
Oli is an expert in analyzing bad marketing practices. In his 20 year career, he has mastered the techniques of market optimization, information architecture, graphic design, and usability. A globally-recognized leader, Oli loves to share his experiences with the world.
Recently, he developed a theory and coined the term 'Conversion-Centered Design' which explains its 7 principles. Further, he has introduced the Data-Driven Design concept which is an optimization framework that unlocks the true potential of marketing teams by giving them access to significant data including developments of machine learning.
12. Seth Godin
Seth Godin leaves a massive digital marketing legacy behind. He is a well-known author and entrepreneur. Seth founded two companies, Yoyodyne and Squidoo. He sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo and became its Vice President of direct marketing while Squidoo was sold to Hubpages.
He is a New York Times bestselling author and a proud author of 18 books. Seth introduced the concept of permission marketing to the world. In 2018, Godin was appointed into the American Marketing Association's Marketing Hall of Fame. He is also the host of popular Akimbo podcast.
Seth's blog was listed among the 25 best blogs of 2009 by Time. His book 'The Dip' was featured as Business Week and New York Times bestseller. In 2015, his book 'Linchpin' made it to the list of Business Week's '20 best books by the most influential thinkers in business.'
13. Luca Tagliaferro
The Guru of SEMRush, Luca Tagliaferro is famous for guest blogging. He is also leading the top Future Fit Training company as the senior digital marketing specialist which offers personal training courses in the UK.
Luca has worked with renowned marketers and experts around the world. His exceptional research in ROI-based guest blogging for marketing publications has been discussed by famous digital marketing experts like Rand Fishkin.
He has contributed as a guest blogger to Search Engine Land, Crazy Egg, Smart Insights, SEMRush, and more. He has also worked for several small e-commerce companies and large websites. He runs his own blog and writes about Analytics, SEO, and content.
14. Brian Solis
Brian Solis is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and a leading anthropologist. He has been named as ‘one of the greatest digital analysts of our time'. For an expansive 30 years, Solis has studied the influence of emerging technology on business and society.
His worldwide famous books provide in-depth research for executives and people enabling them to understand the relationship between technology and its impact on people. Solis's book about 'Lifescaling' sparks creativity and allows people to break away from any diversions faced in the digital world.
Currently, he helps brands, startups, and celebrities adopt new strategies and transform digitally. He has helped over 1,000 startups around the world and is also the host of a popular online video series called 'Revolution'.
15. Mark Kaigwa
Kenya-based Mark Kaigwa is the founder of Nendo which is a strategy and storytelling consultancy. He is a world-renowned speaker, digital marketing expert, author, and entrepreneur.
Mark believes in creating better data-driven experiences in digital Africa. He is serving small and large businesses by offering digital growth services to them. He is also working as a Partner and Digital Strategist for AfricanDigitalArt.
For the past 6 years, he has published two of the most influential blogs. During his time in Sub Saharan Africa, he directed films and created an award-winning video game. He has also earned the title of Forbes 30 under 30 best young entrepreneurs in Africa in 2013. He has spoken in more than 20 countries around the world and was an ambassador of the Sandbox Network in Africa which is the best global network of innovators under 30 years of age.
16. Dan Knowlton
Dan Knowlton is a renowned keynote speaker. He has also worked for Social Media Examiner and Content Marketing Institute. He is currently running Knowlton, a digital marketing agency that includes clients such as Boston Consulting Group, Nestle, FIFA, and Eurotunnel.
Dan worked as a marketing specialist in his father's company. In 2015, he decided to launch his own digital marketing firm. In 2016, Dan was named the #12 most influential digital marketer on twitter by Onalytica.
In 2016, Knowlton won the title of Social Media business of the year at the KITA awards.
17. Bryan Eisenberg
Optimization Expert and New York Times best-selling author, Bryan Eisenberg is a keynote speaker and a co-founder of BuyerLegends. He is also the co-founder of the Web Analytics Association.
Bryan and his brother have helped several companies enhance sales by over a billion dollars. They have trained several organizations including Google and NBC Universal. Bryan is also serving as a member of the advisory board for multiple capital-backed ventures like Sightly, Runa, Usertesting.com, and more.
This award-winning blogger has been recognized as one of the top 10 User Experience Gurus. He has been featured on CNN, Advertising Age, Inc Magazine, Entrepreneur, Chicago Business Tribune, and more as an expert in internet marketing and landing page optimization.
18. Jay Baer
Jay Baer is the CEO of Convince & Convert and is a New York Times best-selling author. He plays a significant role as a digital marketer and CX expert for more than hundreds of digital community professionals.
Jay has helped several brands to enhance their digital marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and word of mouth marketing through his consulting business. Furthermore, his Convince & Convert Media resource hub includes award-winning blogs and podcasts, weekly emails, videos, and webinar series.
Regarded as one of the world's most inspirational marketing and customer service speakers, he also travels to different countries for presentations and professional speaking. Jay has published 6 best-selling books and is the founder of 5 multi-million dollar companies.
19. Barry Schwartz
Specialist in search engine marketing, Barry Schwartz is an editor of Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Land. He is also the CEO of RustyBrick Inc, which helps businesses in managing their sales.
Schwartz is an expert in web marketing and online technology. He has worked over 15 years in driving out valuable search engine strategies for businesses and inspiring them through his blogs. He is currently playing an advisory role for Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
In 2019, he received an award for Outstanding Community Services from Search Engine Land while he was awarded 'US Search Personality of the Year" in 2018. Barry is featured in a variety of publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, and more. He has also been interviewed in shows like CBS Sunday Morning and NBC Nightly News. Recently, he has appeared in TWiT net shows like Google and Tech news.
20. Ryan Deiss
Introducing the latest frameworks in the digital marketing world, Ryan Deiss is not someone to miss. He is the CEO of DigitalMarketer and Founder of RivalBrands. Also, he is one of the most dynamic speakers in the U.S.
Ryan's entrepreneurial journey began in college when he launched his first website. By the time he graduated, his online hobby had already grown into a real business. He is also the Managing Partner of NativeCommerce.com which owns multiple e-commerce groups. He is the creator of ‘Customer Value Optimization' methodology' and an advocator of digital selling marketing strategies.
Having more than 15,000 community members, his company DigitalMarketer is leading the industry by providing digital marketing certifications and training. He is also the founder of the largest digital marketing conversion conference in North America called Traffic and Conversion Summit. He is also a sought-after speaker and has shared the stage with famous personalities like Gary Vaynerchuk, William Shatner, Dave Ramsey, and more. Currently, he is planning to expand the size of 10 thousand businesses by 2020.
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SOURCE: Hybrid Media Group