I've been in the content marketing game for three years now. I've been writing for… well, since I was taught how, really. And I still don't know everything about content marketing. Not even close. That's why I read people who know more than me!
Below, I've briefly profiled seven content marketing experts who influence me and who I think can benefit anyone who does content marketing. I've included a brief bio, a summary of why I think they're worth following, and where you can find them.
1. Ramit Sethi
Claim to fame
I've been following Ramit since 2010. A content marketing pioneer, Ramit published "I Will Teach You to Be Rich," his bestselling book, in 2009. He promoted it through extremely candid, detailed blog posts about his own challenges being a hustler/entrepreneur.
Why you should follow him
Instead of acting like he's got it all figured out, Ramit earns readers' trust by admitting that he doesn't know what he's doing but is slowly figuring it out, and we're invited to learn along with him. A blog post such as "How to talk to people (even if you don't know what to say)" could easily be boring, basic, and condescending. But quotes like “I was so awkward I made Urkel look like Robert Downey Jr." make it seem less like reading a blog post and more like reading an email from a particularly funny and self-aware friend.
Where he's most active
Where is Ramit not publishing #content? He's got a newsletter, a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, an Instagram account, a YouTube channel, and a series of podcasts.
2. Larry Kim
Claim to fame
I, like a great many other SEOs, found out about Larry Kim in the late aughts through the WordStream blog. Larry began the search engine marketing automation company in 2007. Today it's worth millions and serves more than 10,000 clients in dozens of industries. The PPC Hero Blog voted Larry the most influential PPC expert in 2015, 2014, and 2013. He was also U.S. Search Awards and Search Engine Land's 2015 “Search Marketer of the Year."
Why you should follow him
A year after starting WordStream, Larry stepped down as CEO and focused exclusively on marketing and product management as the company's chief technology officer. Since then, he's started a marketing chatbot company and has been relentlessly still trying and testing new approaches to increase engagement and results with his newest venture, Mobile Monkey.
For instance, when he wanted to increase his Twitter engagement, he says, “I did a test with tweets that had emojis and ones that didn't, and the ones with emojis were about 30% higher. I put those dumb pizza emojis in all my tweets and it dramatically increases my engagement rates."
Where he's most active
Lately Larry's been posting almost daily on the Mobile Monkey Blog. The WordStream blog still gets more than 1 million visitors a month, though Larry isn't writing for it as often since he stepped down from WordStream. It's still a good read though. He also has a column at Inc. and he's active on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium.
3. Neil Patel
Claim to fame
Neil Patel is a New York Times best-selling author and co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, and Kissmetrics. He consults for companies including Amazon, NBC, GM, HP, and Viacom. President Obama recognized Neil as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30. The United Nations named him a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 35. He's a top influencer on the web according to The Wall Street Journal, and a top ten marketer according to Forbes.
Why you should follow him
Neil is one of those people who tests marketing tactics relentlessly. Crazy Egg is a company aimed at making those tests easier to run and evaluate. He also freely shares the results. Blog posts such as "Why I'm Spending $144,000 on Video in 2018 (And Why You Should Too)" take you through split tests such as replacing lots of copy on a landing page with a video and tell you exactly how it worked out.
Where he's most active
Follow Neil on Twitter and subscribe to his blog. He also posts and comments on LinkedIn. He's got an active Facebook page, and, as you might have guessed from the aforementioned blog post, a YouTube channel. He also has a podcast.
4. Joe Pulizzi
Claim to fame
Joe Pulizzi is the founder of the Content Marketing Institute, which runs Content Marketing World, the world's largest in-person content marketing event. In 2014 the Content Council chose Joe for the John Caldwell Lifetime Achievement Award. He's written five books, the third of which, "Epic Content Marketing," was named one of “Five Must-Read Business Books of 2013" by Fortune Magazine.
Why you should follow him
You should follow Joe, if for no other reason, because so many of your content marketing colleagues follow him. He literally helped define content marketing, and wrote several books on the subject, which are widely read. If you want to get people's references and speak the same language as your fellow content marketers, Joe is good source material.
Where he's most active
It's hard to say at this point. Joe announced in an Oct. 29, 2017 post that he was stepping down from CMI to “continue to raise money for children who desperately need speech therapy and technology equipment to help them communicate more effectively," with the Orange Effect Foundation, which aims to ensure that "children with speech disorders receive the speech therapy and technology they need," according to the nonprofit's website. But in the meantime you can read the archives of Chief Content Officer, any of his five books, and find him on Twitter.
5. Eric Siu
Claim to fame
Eric Siu is the CEO at Single Grain, co-founded CrazyEgg with Neil Patel and Hiten Shah, and is co-host of the Marketing School podcast with Neil Patel.
Why you should follow him
Eric is a great source for trends in content marketing and how to prepare for them. He, like Neil and Hiten, likes to get into the nitty gritty, like how long you can expect to wait to see results from your content marketing efforts and how many followers you need to gain before you start getting network effects.
Where he's most active
You should definitely check out the Marketing School podcast with Neil Patel. In addition, Eric writes for Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Forbes and more. He's also active on Twitter.
6. Joe Lazauskas
Claim to fame
Joe Lazauskas is head of content strategy for the content management platform Contently. He and Shane Snow, a New Yorker-published journalist, recently published a book on content marketing.
Why you should follow him
I'd highly recommend not just Joe's posts but the entire Contently blog. One reason I like the blog is that it's so much more than just content marketing advice such as "Show, Don't Sell: How to Use Empathic Marketing to Win More Business in 2018." Posts ask, and answer with actual data, interesting questions such as "Why are our major institutions losing our trust, and how can they get it back?" Contently has won some awards for their blog, including Best B2B Content Marketing—2015 Drum Awards, Best Brand Publication—2016 Digiday Content Marketing Awards, and it was a finalist for Best New Publisher—2015 Digiday Publishing Awards.
Where he's most active
You can find Joe speaking at industry conferences including Content Marketing World, Web Summit, and Collision. He's active on Twitter and posts occasionally to Medium. But really, just follow the blog.
7. Emma Brudner
Claim to fame
Emma Brudner is the director of marketing, blog, and community at HubSpot. Before that she honed her skills as an HR tech journalist.
Why you should follow her
Under Emma's leadership, the Hubspot blog (actually three blogs) have become must-reads in the marketing, sales, and customer support worlds.
Where she's most active
Follow Emma's posts on the Hubspot blog. From "26 Psychological Biases to Help You Sell Better and Faster" to "36 Apps Every Sales Rep Needs on Their Phone in 2018," her posts are short but full of good research and sound advice. I especially liked "10 Hard Truths About Management No One Tells You."
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