4 Awe-Inspiring Digital Marketing Specialists You Simply Must Follow

Are you satisfied with being a ‘good-enough’ digital marketer? Happy to call yourself a specialist while remaining mediocre? Well then, fair digital marketer this article’s not for you.

Are you, on the other hand, serious about pursuing excellence? Do you strive to be your very best, most creative and amazing self? Are you not afraid of standing out, of being unique, of taking risks and defining a new and unstoppable standard for your specialist area?

We highlight the top 4 expert digital marketers you should follow, learn from and occasionally even emulate.

Study their success stories and get ready to be inspired…

1. Content Marketing Expert – Jon Morrow

Who is Jon?

Jon Morrow is a blogger extraordinaire, programmer, marketing strategist and expert speaker. He is the founder ofBoost Blog Traffic and has blogged for numerous well-known digital marketing sites, including Copyblogger – one of the world’s most popular and best-loved blogs.

Jon’s Success Story:

If ever there was an inspiring digital marketing story it’s Jon’s. In 2006 Jon was hit by a car and broke his leg in 14 places. Faced with plenty of time alone to think, Jon realised he was ultimately dissatisfied with his job. And so he did what so many dream of and yet so few are brave enough to do – he quit. No job lined up, no grand plan – just a looming notice period and a relaxed notion of ‘Maybe I’ll be a blogger.’

However there was no maybe in Jon’s determination – there was nothing but certainty in those 8am to 11pm shifts he spent writing, reading and connecting with other bloggers. He now lives in his own version of paradise and dedicates his writing to inspiring others to find theirs. Love to blog but lacking in motivation? Just read Jon’s story: ‘How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get Paid to Change the World.’

Jon’s Twitter Handle: @JonMorrow

Why You’ll Love Jon (& What You’ll Learn):

You’ll love Jon for his sheer passion and understanding of human emotion. You see, Jon is enigmatic – he does exactly what every content marketer should do – he thinks of his audience first and speaks to his audience always. If ever there was a digital marketer to incite passion in the most cold hearted and passive of readers, Jon’s your man.

I’m convinced – content marketers often underestimate the value of getting right to the heart of your audience’s problem. Sure, you cite empathy as important when asked and maybe you’ve included it in your content strategy, but you’re still creating boring, uninspired and formulaic posts that miss the mark and your reader’s heart.

That’s the beauty of Jon: he turns an abstract and often-talked-about idea into reality. He gives you, as a content marketer, an example of the quality you should be aspiring to reach. Instead of suiting himself, Jon suits his audience. And then he gets paid with visitors, shares and a ready-made community.

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2. Social Media Expert – Jeff Bullas

Who is Jeff?

Jeff Bullas is a social media marketing blogger, keynote speaker and digital strategist, consultant and best-selling author. An impressive man, Jeff has many social media accolades under his belt. Amongst them? He was ranked at #8 on Forbes ‘The World’s Top 40 Social Marketing Talent’ in 2014, voted the #1 ‘Content Marketing Influencer Globally’ in 2014 and listed by Forbes as one of the ‘Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers’ in 2013.

Jeff’s Success Story:

Now, Jeff’s story should get give you a bit of get up and go – he was unemployed, going through the middle of a divorce, $50,000 dollars in debt, had just closed a business and had some time on his hands. After reading a few marketing books he became passionate about social media marketing and started a blog. Jeff found that blogging offered him many psychological benefits that helped him overcome difficult times in his life. And he was fortunate enough that his passion resulted in a profitable business.

Jeff’s Twitter Handle: @jeffbullas

Why You’ll Love Jeff Bullas (& What You’ll Learn):

You’ll love Jeff for his understanding and insights. Jeff is a social media superstar with an-depth knowledge of its workings – he understands how the human mind responds to social media messages and content marketing and his advice is always human-centric.

You can look forward to in-depth how-to articles with actionable and easy-to-understand advice, useful social media stats, lists and advice. If you’re low on budget and relying on organic tactics to help you achieve reach and gain leads, Jeff’s blog posts contain some truly unique ideas.

Watch the video below to catch Jeff’s full story:

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3. SEO Expert – Rand Fishkin

Who is Rand?

Rand Fishkin is the founder and former CEO of one of the world’s fastest growing software companies – Moz, co-author of 2 SEO books and the co-founder of Inbound.org Rand is one of the best-known search marketing specialists in the world.

Rand’s Success Story:

With just two classes away from graduating, Rand dropped out of college to start his own start-up – a small agency that did consulting around website building. He contracted some other consultants to help him with the SEO but the company was doing such a terrible job that Rand decided to take the project on himself.

Plagued by expenses, the business was plunged deep into debt. But instead of giving up – in true Rand fashion he persevered and set up the SEO Moz blog. Rand admits he set up the blog to help him with both his financial problems and to learn SEO (which he claims he was struggling with and found very challenging).

As Rand became a better blogger and SEO expert, his followers, reach and influence grew and enabled him to transition into software. To this day Rand still values content marketing and is an advocate of giving to your customers generously before asking for anything in return.

Rand’s Twitter Handle: @randfish

Why You’ll Love Rand (& What You’ll Learn):

You’ll love Rand both for his in-depth technical knowledge of SEO best practice and for his understanding of how the human mind influences search. Whether he’s writing about canonicalization, SEO strategy, content marketing, consumer intent or a new Google update, Rand sure knows how to convey a message clearly, concisely and bang on point.

Rand is a born storyteller – he adds flavor and interest to even the most technical of subjects, making it easy for digital marketers with no technical knowledge to understand and learn from. His Whiteboard Friday’s are well worth tuning in for – I challenge you to read one of his epic how-to guides and not pick up a tip or two and heaps of inspiration.

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4. Analytics Expert – Avinash Kaushik

Who is Avinash?

Avinash Kasuhik is a Google evangelist and author of two bestselling books ‘Web Analytics 2.0’ and ‘Web Analytics: An Hour a Day’. He is one of the world’s leading experts on Google Analytics.

Avinash’s Twitter Handle: @avinash

Why You’ll Love Avinash (& What You’ll Learn):

You’ll love Avinash for his sheer simplicity. He is one of those rare bloggers who has the power to transform the complexity of advanced data analysis into simple, digestable and most importantly understandable, articles. This is a true sign of an expert writer, digital marketing expert and teacher – a man who understands his art and is not afraid to convey lessons in the simplest of terms.

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