10 Marketing Influencers That Every Entrepreneur Can Learn From Keep up with the trending social media topics with these influencers.
By Jonathan Long •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Digital marketing constantly changes. New trends like behavior-based email workflows, multivariate testing and influencer marketing are just some of the newest developments. Machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and voice search are also on the rise and will surely impact marketing strategies in the coming years.
Staying current with the latest marketing trends requires paying close attention to the information shared by influencers who have the time and knowledge to uncover new and effective tactics -- those who are deep in the trenches day-to-day.
Here are 10 marketing influencers worth following who regularly share advice and tips to help you stay up to date with the latest digital marketing trends.
AJ Agrawal
AJ Agrawal specializes in getting large brands to think like startups. A Fortune 500 marketing consultant, the 26-year-old has helped brands like IBM with their marketing strategies and talks about many of these hacks via his personal blog. If you're looking to add new growth-hacking strategies to your marketing arsenal, check out Agrawal's content.
Jon Youshaei
Jon Youshaei is the founder of Every Vowel. Youshaei also delivers on stage -- NPR ranked his graduation speech as one of the best ever, alongside Steve Jobs and Sheryl Sandberg. Youshaei has also worked with Eric Schmidt, Adam Grant and Neil Strauss to market their bestselling books and today works as a YouTube marketing manager.
Related: 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing
Ann Lewnes
The current chief marketing officer of Adobe, Ann Lewnes has more than 30 years of marketing experience. Prior to leading the marketing at Adobe, Lewnes served as the vice president of marketing at Intel. Working for Adobe, a company that offers a number of digital marketing software solutions, Lewnes is well situated to identify future marketing trends.
Lewnes regularly shares helpful marketing content with her Twitter followers, making her a great resource for anyone interested in bite-sized information related to marketing trends.
Joel Contartese
Joel Contartese was one of the first entrepreneurs to jump on the social media monetization train back in 2012. Now, he's known as "The Architect" for building the blueprint used today by many of the most successful social media brands.
Ann Handley
Ann Handley serves as the chief content officer for MarketingProfs, a media brand that provides marketers with access to helpful resources. Prior to serving as CCO, Handley founded and scaled ClickZ, a company dedicated to sharing marketing best-practices. Handley is a regular speaker at leading digital marketing conferences and is a bestselling author.
Handley shares marketing content to her 400,000 plus Twitter followers, along with examples of digital marketing strategy, which serves as a point of reference for others.
Related: 4 Ways to Market Your Business for Free
Brian Evans
Brian Evans is the founder of BDE Ventures, a fast-growing advertising and marketing agency, and Influencive.com, a new-age digital publication read by millennials and unconventional thinkers. Evans is also one of the leading voices of the blockchain and cryptocurrency movement. He pens one of the most-read blockchain columns.
Joel Comm
A bestselling author, keynote speaker and advisor to big brands, Joel Comm is a great marketing mind to watch. Comm started his career developing online games for Yahoo before moving on to found his own brand. He regularly shares helpful and inspiring content on Twitter and creates inspiring videos that he shares on social media and his website.
Kim Garst
If you're interested in social media marketing strategies, Kim Garst is a great marketing expert to follow. Garst is a small business owner and entrepreneur who shares actionable advice with her 500,000-plus social media followers. Garst is known for creating easy to digestible blog posts and e-books designed to help marketers use social media platforms more effectively.
Related: Use These 5 Steps to Create a Marketing Plan
Neil Patel
A long-time digital marketer, Neil Patel is the co-founder of KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg. Patel is also known for regularly sharing helpful content in the form of blog posts, e-books and webinars on his website, neilpatel.com.
Patel's content is typically related to growth hacking, digital marketing, content marketing and website optimization. He also contributes for Entrepreneur.
Jay Baer
Known for his inspirational keynote presentations and helpful books, Jay Baer is a seasoned marketing influencer who shares helpful and thought-provoking content with his Twitter followers. Baer is the founder of Convince and Convert, a media company and consultancy that helps organizations create and implement effective customer service and digital marketing programs.
Baer is also a customer service evangelist who has studied how brands can turn frustrated customers into evangelists through outstanding customer service.
