Top Influencers & People to Watch – Volume 8

We’re going to be honest here: Online marketing isn’t a concept that small businesses – or even marketing agencies that haven’t made the transition yet – need to “consider” anymore. The fact is, reality dictates it’s quite the opposite… this is an important element for small business success, no doubt about it. Indeed, far too many business owners neglect how important online marketing is, often blaming their lack of interest on time, money or simply not believing in its power. In order to be relevant in today’s crowded marketplace, being online is a must.

That said, nobody understands this notion better than the following movers and shakers in the online marketing industry, so take a few moments and enjoy the eighth volume of our Top Influencers and People to Watch series!

Neil Patel

Neil Patel is the co-founder of Crazy Egg and Hello Bar, helping companies such as Amazon, NBC, GM, HP and Viacom grow their revenue. As a primary entry on ActiveDEMAND’s Top Influencers and People to Watch list, Neil has been cited by Forbes as one of the top 10 online marketers, with Entrepreneur Magazine pointing out that he created one of the 100 “most brilliant companies in the world.” Further, he has been recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations.

David Airey

A graphic designer and writer who specializes in brand identity design, David works from his studio in Bangor, Ireland where he designs with companies of all sizes – all over the world. His impressive client list reads like a who’s who across a multitude of industries, encompassing the BBC, Yellow Pages, blinkbox, Rupp, Asian Development Bank, Berthier Associates and many others, and his first book, Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities, has been a best-seller in Amazon’s branding category. Most impressive about David’s experience has been his ability to virtually read clients’ minds to deliver a corporate identity which perfectly symbolizes their vision.

Ann Hadley

Ann heads up all of the content at MarketingProfs, an online resource serving marketers, teams and entire organizations at the world’s largest corporations, and is a 15-year veteran in the area of creating and managing digital content to build relationships. She’s also the co-author of Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business, reflective of her burning passion for building community particularly with regard to using new media tools to broaden and build value. Previously, Ann was the co-founder of ClickZ.com, one of the first sources of interactive marketing news and commentary.

Pete Cashmore

CEO and founder of the popular blog Mashable – a Technorati Top 10 blog worldwide – Pete Cashmore grew up in Banchory, Scotland and founded Mashable in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2005 at the age of only 19. In 2009, he was recognized in Inc.’s “30 Under 30,” Forbes’ “Top 25 Web Celebs” and The Huffington Post’s “Top 10 Game Changers 2009.” In addition to writing a weekly column on technology and social media at CNN, Pete holds the accolade of making Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2012, while also being crowned by INQ as the most influential Briton and Twitter user in the world in 2009.

Changes in advancements in the digital marketing sector are accelerating, and it can be difficult for the casual observer to keep up. As some of these influential forces in the industry have taught us, we can be sure mobile optimization will become more important than ever, social media ad spend will sharply increase as brands realize the importance of social media marketing, content marketing will be even bigger than ever and email marketing will continue to flourish amidst renewed focus agendas… and that’s just the beginning.