Top Influencers & People to Watch – Volume 4

Welcome to the fourth installment of our Top Influencers and People to Watch series of blogs. Here, we’ll take a closer look at such movers and shakers in the marketing industry as Matt Heinz and Michael Brenner, both of whom bring rich experience and marketing expertise to the proverbial table, as well as Aaron Lee and Pat Flynn, whom have more than one trick up their sleeves with regard to growing a business.

Reserve a few moments out of your schedule to get to know these influencers a little better…after all, every one of us learns something new each day!

Matt Heinz

As President and Founder of Heinz Marketing (HeinzMarketing.com), Matt Heinz kicks off our roundup boasting experience as a prolific author and nationally-recognized, award-winning blogger in addition to possessing 15 years of marketing, business development and sales experience in a myriad of industries and organizations. Matt is often referred to as a dynamic speaker, standing out not only for his keen insight and humor, but for the actionable and motivating takeaways experienced by his audiences. This career-focused leader – who regularly concentrates on consistently delivering measurable results with greater sales, revenue growth, product success and consumer loyalty – is credited with authoring such books as The Modern Marketing Field Guide, Successful Social Selling, Successful Selling, Are You Selling Pants, or Selling a Dream? and Move the Mouse & Make Millions! Matt is also a repeat winner of the Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management and Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers surveys.

Michael Brenner

Speaker, blogger and marketing leader Michael Brenner is a results-driven strategic marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience under his belt for delivering solid results in marketing and sales. As the Head of Strategy at NewsCred, he now helps brands create integrated digital content strategy and content marketing platforms that scale and boasts such credentials and accolades as being National Board Member for The Business Marketing Association; contributor to The Economist, Forbes, The Guardian and more and blogger for B2B Marketing Insider (http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/); frequent speaker at marketing and leadership events and former VP, Global Marketing at SAP, where he was responsible for driving integrated digital and content marketing strategies. Michael earns a place in our roundup for being a passionate leader exuding the experience, presence and history of building effective teams that deliver quantifiable results.

Pat Flynn

Pat Flynn (PatFlynn.com) has been described as a “beloved thought leader” in the areas of online entrepreneurship, digital marketing and lifestyle businesses as he helps inspire and educate others on how to succeed with their own entrepreneurial careers. He has been routinely praised for his authentic leadership style and business principles, with Forbes recently naming him “one of the 10 most transparent leaders in business” and The New York Times profiling him as a “case study in smart online business building.” Further, countless podcasts and blogs have featured Pat’s story and the techniques he utilizes to manage and grow his audience. Presently, Pat Flynn is focused on writing books, growing his top-ranked business podcast and speaking at conferences, with his personal memoir, Let Go, available now.

Aaron Lee

Hailing from Malaysia, Aaron Lee (AskAaronLee.com) is a social media manager and entrepreneur who has outreached some 500,000 people globally through his own site and Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Some of his work has been featured on prominent sites such as The Huffington Post, Social Media Examiner, Mashable and others where he routinely contributes his thoughts. As the “Grand Master of Customer Delight” at Post Planner, Aaron utilizes the platform to help businesses gain an extra edge on Facebook, and to date his achievements have been documented regularly on numerous blogs and websites in addition to local newspapers such as The Star Malaysia and Kosmo Malaysia. Perhaps best of all, Mr. Lee’s genuine love for helping people has yielded his ranking as number five on Forbes’ Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers in 2013 list.

In the world of online business, it seems just as easy to lose your path as it is to find it. If the aforementioned marketing gurus teach us anything it’s that when bad things happen, we must learn from them and vow not to repeat the behaviors that allowed them to occur. ActiveDEMAND has more than a few guiding principles to keep you grounded and focused on the right things.