Influencer Marketing Software Onalytica shared their list of the leading content marketing influencers for 2018. The criteria are based on:
- Number of engagements
- Number of content created
- Number of followers
- Number of links to their posts or site as a reference
Here are the personalities who made it to the top three.
Top 3 Content Marketer to Follow: Neil Patel
[Influencer Score: 83.79]
- New York Times bestselling author.
- Names as the top influencer on the web by The Wall Street Journal
- One of the Top 10 marketers according to Forbes
- Recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama
- A top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 35 by the United Nations
What I Like about Neil Patel’s Story
Neil grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. He was trained to look for opportunities and enhance existing business ideas he sees around him.
For example, when he learned that his high school classmate was selling CDs with burned CDs, he copied the idea. He sold the same product (but avoiding pirated music) and eventually upgraded to selling black boxes.
When he was looking for a job using Monster.com, he noticed how their business model is making money. So instead of looking for a job on the website, he created a website job board called Advice Monkey.
He’s been to many other job and business ventures before landing to the success of his current company, Kissmetrics.
Despite thriving in business and content marketing, he doesn’t want to do this forever. His goal is to serve nonprofits and work with their websites so they can raise more funds and change their lives.
My Top Three Favorite Quotes from Neil Patel
- “I started out in business to make money and I have. But I found that money doesn’t bring you happiness, doing something worthwhile for others is much more rewarding.”
- “Don’t try to plan everything out to the very last detail. I’m a big believer in just getting it out there: create a minimal viable product or website, launch it, and get feedback.”
- “Create content that teaches. You can’t give up. You need to be consistently awesome.”
Top 2 Content Marketer to Follow: Joe Pulizzi
[Influencer Score: 96.83]
- Founder of the Content Marketing Institute, the leading education and training organization for content marketing
- Winner of the 2014 John Caldwell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Content Council
- His third out of five books, Epic Content Marketing was named by Fortune Magazine as one of “Five Must-Read Business Books of 2013″
What I Like about Joe Pulizzi’s Story
Unlike Neil Patel, researching about Joe Pulizzi’s life story was difficult for me. There is more published content about his content marketing views than where he grew up and how he adopted an entrepreneurial mindset.
But this guy eats and breathes content. He worked for seven years as an executive for a business media company in North America. Early on, his role was to help brands attract and retain customers by publishing and distributing their own stories. That’s how he had an idea to created the term “content marketing.”
In 2007, Joe founded Content Marketing Institute (then named as Junta42), an industry leader in content marketing matching training and resource.
My Top Three Favorite Quotes from Joe Pulizzi
“Strategy is all about making choices. If you choose to do everything, it’s not a strategy. That means we have to focus on what we can actually be the best in the world at.”
“Why do most content marketing programs fail? The answer is, they stop. Consistent publishing is where most enterprises fall down.”
“Write down specific and measurable life, career and financial goals and review them on a daily basis.”
Joe Pulizzi’s Content Marketing Tips for Startups and Small Business
- Focus on one content type—for example, textual content as in a blog, audio content as in a podcast or video content etc.
- Focus on one main platform (a blog, YouTube, iTunes, etc.).
- Have consistent delivery (no campaigns, just a commitment to deliver amazing information on a regular basis).
- Be patient. You are not going to see content marketing success overnight—it will take time to see results if you stick with it.
Top 1 Content Marketer to Follow: Jeff Bullas
[Influencer Score: 100.00]
- Featured on Forbes as a “Top 20 Influencer of Chief Marketing Officers” in 2018
- #1 Global Content Marketing Influencer in 2018
- Listed on Forbes as one of the “Top 20 Influencers of CMO’s” in2017
- Ranked by Apollo Research in the “Top 20 Influencers of Digital Marketers in the USA” in 2016
What I Love About Jeff Bullas’ Story
He was unemployed in March 2009 when he started his website jeffbullas.com as a passion project with only a $10 investment.
Oh, wait. Aside from being unemployed, Jeff was going through a divorce, had a $50,000 debt and had to close his business.
A few weeks later, Jef got a job for a digital agency building e-commerce sites. He continued to write on his blog while working. A year after publishing his blog, he was invited to speak about how social media can grow networks and change one’s life.
While Joe Pulizzi coined the term ‘content marketing’ and founded Content Marketing Institute, the top spot went to Jeff Bullas. Here’s why we think so: Jeff describes his mission as “How to win at business and life in a digital world”. This value for growth both as a person and as an entrepreneur makes his content and writing style very conversational and relevant.
My Top Three Favorite Quotes from Jeff Bullas
“Done is better than perfect”
“The number 1 reason most startups succeed is timing. For me, it was right. When I started my blog, there weren’t many bloggers on social media, I got my voice out there, got heard. I picked the trend early, sometimes you can get it too early – good idea wrong timing.”
“Less is more. Keeping it simple takes time and effort.”
Jeff Bullas’ Top Three Inspirational Books
- Tim Ferriss, “The 4-hour workweek”
- David Meerman Scott, “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”
- Seth Goldin’s books – Permission Marketing
How about you? Which of these three content marketers have you followed?
Do you recommend any content marketer influencers that we should check out and feature in our blog?
References
- An Interview With Joe Pulizzi On Content Marketing. (2014, October 12). Retrieved from https://marketingland.com/interview-joe-pulizzi-content-marketing-88418
- Bullas, J., Prakash, A., & Parikh, J. (2018, September 04). About. Retrieved from https://www.jeffbullas.com/bio/
- CMI: Content Marketing Strategy, Research, “How-To” Advice. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/
- Content Marketing Speaker, Strategist, and Thought Leader. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.joepulizzi.com/bio/
- Forbes Listed Jeff Bullas as One of the “Top 20 Influencers of CMOs” for 2017; he shares his journey and inspiration but his most important piece of guidance is “Done is better than perfect” – Nothing Happens until You Start! (2017, August 30). Retrieved from http://www.reachormiss.com/forbes-listed-jeff-bullas-as-one-of-the-top-20-influencers-of-cmos-for-2017-his-most-important-piece-of-guidance-is-done-is-better-than-perfect/
- Meet the Marketer: Joe Pulizzi, the Godfather of Content Marketing. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/content-marketing-thought-leaders/2016/meet-the-marketer–joe-pulizzi–the-godfather-of-content-marketi
- Pope, E. (2016, December 02). How to Launch a “Content-First” Business with Joe Pulizzi. Retrieved from https://generalassemb.ly/blog/interview-with-joe-pulizzi/
- Relevance, T. (2018, February 06). Joe Pulizzi On The Orange Effect Foundation, CMI Goals, and Telling Stories That Matter. Retrieved from https://www.relevance.com/joe-pulizzi-on-the-orange-effect-foundation-cmi-goals-and-telling-stories-that-matter/
- The Top 25 Content Marketing Influencers For 2018. (2018, February 17). Retrieved from https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/top-25-content-marketing-influencers-2018/
- Top 18 Quotes by Neil Patel. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.azquotes.com/author/31096-Neil_Patel
- Who is Neil Patel? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://neilpatel.com/about/
Jonah helps freelancers and entrepreneurs promote their personal brand or business by teaching writing and content marketing principles. During a casual day off, she enjoys painting, shopping for home decors, watching Netflix, or hosting meetups with friends.