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50 Top B2B Marketing Influencers 2017

Posted on Oct 3rd, 2017
Written by Lee Odden
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    B2B Marketing Influencers

    It’s October and you know what that means? Its B2B Marketing influencer speaker list time again.

    One of my all-time favorite conferences is MarketingProfs B2B Forum in Boston and for the past few years I’ve had some fun listing out a top list of speakers ranked by influence around the topic of “B2B marketing”.

    As usual, I used the influencer marketing platform Traackr to import the list of speakers from #mpb2b 2017 and rank them according to a combination of topical resonance and relevance as well as network reach related to “b2b marketing”.  Of course, use of their platform in this way is like 1% of what Traackr can do. I imagine they cringe every time I use their robust tool for such a simple list – but hey, they provide me with access and I use the tool as I see fit.

    To clarify, my agency TopRank Marketing is also a paying customer of the Traackr platform for clients, where it is used in support of B2B influencer marketing programs for brands like SAP, BMC Software, McKesson and others in ways that are more in line with the platform’s capabilities.

    B2B Marketing influencers network

    This is a legit list that recognizes people creating content around B2B marketing that resonates with their social following. At the same time, sometimes people take lists a little bit too seriously, so let’s have a little fun here and there with some special “awards”.

    First, here are some “compelling” stats about the people on this year’s list:

    • 40% are women
    • 14 are CEOs
    • 4 are CMOs
    • 6 are named Chris
    • 12 have beards

    And the “Khaleesi of Content” Award goes to:

    Ann "Queen of Content" Handley
    Ann Handley @marketingprofs
    Chief Content Officer
    MarketingProfs

    Here’s the 49 additional B2B marketing speakers that came up in the search for influencers:

    Pam Didner @pamdidner
    Senior Marketing Consultant, Author, Speaker
    Relentless Pursuit

    Michael Brenner @BrennerMichael
    CEO
    Marketing Insider Group
    Winner of the “nicest guy you’ll ever meet in marketing” award

    Lee Odden @leeodden
    CEO
    TopRank Marketing
    Winner of the “Puts himself in his own list” award – actually, it’s legit

    Ardath Albee @ardath421
    CEO & B2B Marketing Strategist
    Marketing Interactions

    Katie Martell @KatieMartell
    Marketing Consultant
    Katie Martell, On-Demand Marketing
    Winner of “I will always remember the marching band at B2B Forum” award

    Christopher Penn @cspenn
    Vice President of Marketing Technology
    SHIFT Communications
    Winner of the “You think you know AI? I AM AI!” award

    Kerry O’Shea Gorgone @KerryGorgone
    Director of Product Strategy, Training
    MarketingProfs

    Jon Miller @jonmiller
    CEO and Co-Founder
    Engagio
    Winner of rocket scientist marketer AND serial entrepreneur award

    Doug Kessler @dougkessler
    Creative Director & Co-Founder
    Velocity Partners
    Winner of the “I swear and people love me for it” award

    Carlos Hidalgo @cahidalgo
    Founder & CEO
    VisumCx

    Joe Pulizzi @JoePulizzi
    Founder
    Content Marketing Institute
    Also Co-Founder & Board Member, The Orange Effect Foundation
    Winner of “I’m doing whatever I want from now on” award

    Mark Schaefer @markwschaefer
    Keynote speaker
    Schaefer Marketing Solutions

    Pawan Deshpande @TweetsFromPawan
    CEO
    Curata

    Ashley Zeckman @azeckman
    Director of Agency Marketing
    TopRank Marketing

    Mary Ellen Slayter @RepCapital
    Owner
    Rep Cap

    James Thomas @jthomas_44
    CMO
    Allocadia Software

    Chris Chariton @cchariton
    Senior Director, Marketing & Business Development
    GTM

    Samantha Stone @samanthastone
    Founder & CMO
    The Marketing Advisory Network

    Stephan Hovnanian @stephanhov
    Content Solutions Architect
    Bambu by Sprout Social

    Raviv Turner @ravivturner
    Co-Founder & CEO
    CaliberMind

    Heidi Cohen @heidicohen
    Chief Content Officer
    Actionable Marketing Guide

    Tim Washer @timwasher
    Creative Director, SP Marketing
    Cisco
    Winner of “deadpan everyman funnyman” award

    Justin Gray @Jgraymatter
    CEO
    LeadMD

    Nancy Harhut @nharhut
    Chief Creative Officer
    Nancy Harhut & Associates

    Andrea Fryrear @AndreaFryrear
    President and Lead Trainer
    AgileSherpas

    Tamsen Webster @tamadear
    Founder and CEO, Strategic Speaking
    Winner of “I’m on the same list as Tom” award

    You Mon Tsang @youmon
    Founder and CEO
    ChurnZero

    Bob Meindl @BobMeindl
    Director, Marketing
    Cisco

    Mitch Joel @mitchjoel
    President
    Mirum Agency
    Winner of “best looking bald man dressed in black” award

    Bill Sebald @billsebald
    Founder / Partner / SEO
    Greenlane Search Marketing

    Dayna Rothman @dayroth
    VP Marketing & Sales Development
    BrightFunnel
    Winner of “coolest tattoos on a marketer” award. 

    Chris Arrendale @Arrendale
    CEO & Principal Deliverability Consultant
    Inbox Pros

    Chris B Wilson @DrSocialMedia
    Inbound Consultant
    HubSpot

    Chris Marr @chrismarr101
    Founder & Director
    Content Marketing Academy
    Winner of “the best accent, ever” award

    Ahava Leibtag @ahaval
    President
    Aha Media Group

    Derreck Kayongo @DerreckKayongo
    CEO
    Center for Civil and Human Rights

    Jessica LaHaie @JessieLaHaie
    Influencer Relations Coordinator
    TechSmith Corporation

    Brian G. Peters @Brian_G_Peters
    Digital Marketing Strategist
    Buffer

    Michelle Huff @michelle_huff
    Chief Marketing Officer
    Act-On Software, Inc.

    Meagan French @mkfrench
    Founder and President
    Lotus Growth

    Tom Webster @webby2001
    Vice President, Strategy and Marketing
    Edison Research
    Winner of “I’m on the same list as Tamsen and she’s kicking my butt” award

    Scott Monty @ScottMonty
    CEO & Co-Managing Partner
    Brain+Trust Partners

    Jason Hsiao @jason_hsiao
    President & Co-Founder
    Animoto

    David Berkowitz @dberkowitz
    Chief Strategy Officer
    Sysomos

    Alison Levine @Levine_Alison
    Executive Producer — The Glass Ceiling, Follow Your Dream

    Chris Goward @chrisgoward
    Founder & CEO
    WiderFunnel Marketing Optimization

    Matt Childs @MattyChilds
    Director of Digital Marketing Sales, North America
    Brightcove

    Melissa Case @startabuzz
    Corporate Blog Manager
    Citrix

    Joe Chernov
    Joe Chernov
    @jchernov
    CMO
    InsightSquared
    Winner of “most epic beard on a CMO” award

    If you’re a conference organizer looking for influential speakers on all topics around B2B marketing, then this list might be a good reference for your 2018 planning.

    And if you’re attending MarketingProfs B2B Forum in Boston this week, there’s an entire schedule of talented marketers enlisted to share their B2B knowledge bombs on you including this fine group.

    Why to ROI B2B Influencer Marketing
    TopRank Marketing will be participating in the B2B Forum with Alexis Hall and Dan Rasmussen attending. Ashley Zeckman and I will also be involved with multiple presentations including:

    • Wednesday at 3:15pm, From Why to ROI: B2B Influencer Marketing Case Studies for Success with Lee Odden
    • Thursday at 11:15am, What You Know About Content Marketing—FoGetAboutIT—This Is ABM with Joe Chernov, Meagan French, Justin Gray & Lee Odden
    • Friday at 10:30am, Scrappy B2B Creativity Hacks with Nick Westergaard, Ashley Zeckman & Andy Hunt

    We hope to see you there!  If not, be sure to follow us on the conference hashtag #mpb2b and @toprank.