8 Business & Marketing Thought Leaders to Follow in 2024
Marketing is such an integral part of your business, both B2B and B2C but it’s such a vast subject to learn especially now in the digital era. So, it helps to get guidance and one of the best places to get it is from business and marketing thought leaders. Check out our list of the top 8 global business and marketing thought leaders to follow in 2024.
Who Exactly are Business & Marketing Thought Leaders?
Simply put business and marketing thought leaders are both experts and influencers of the business and marketing space. This can be content marketing, social media marketing, digital marketing, personal branding and overall, just a combination of different business and marketing spaces. These thought leaders share their knowledge and expertise through a variety of platforms like books, public speaking, blogs, podcasts, videos, and more.
As a business owner you want to make good use of these thought leaders to help grow your business. Pick their brains and apply their strategies to your business to get a great ROI for your business. Thankfully with the digital age you don’t have to go scouring through tons of books to find these thought leaders. They are online, so are just a click away and we are bringing some of them to you here.
Top 8 Business & Marketing Thought Leaders: Pick Their Brains!
Below we’ve put together a list of the top 8 business and marketing thought leaders to follow in 2024. Many of these you can follow into 2025 and beyond as they are at the top of the game and not about to disappear anytime soon.
Our list contains both a mix of established and lesser-known business and marketing thought leaders. Best to follow both as each have something of value to teach you.
But do make sure that you follow thought leaders that resonate the most with you and are the most relevant to your business and industry.
In addition, it helps to know your business objectives and goals for at least the next 6-12 months. By knowing these you can have a much better understanding of where your business is heading and whose guidance and advice is best
1- Seth Godin
Who is He?
He is one of the ‘gurus of marketing’ a bestselling author, teacher, speaker, mentor, and founder of the Akimbo podcast.
Why Follow Him?
He has been in the industry for more than 30 years so naturally he has a wealth of knowledge, but more importantly perhaps he has a great way of bringing that knowledge and sharing it with audiences globally in a way that deeply resonates. Hence his popularity and almost celebrity status in the marketing world. His marketing approach is all about solving people’s problems, pain points and connecting with customers on an emotional level. He encourages you to think of your customers as students not buyers.
Where to Follow Him?
Follow Godin via his blog, podcast, X (formerly Twitter) and his numerous books ( published 19). One of his most famous marketing books is This is Marketing: You Cant be Seen Until You Learn to See.
2- Gary Vaynerchuk (also known as Gary Vee)
Who is He?
A Belarusian-American entrepreneur, author, speaker, and famous Internet personality. He is chairman of VaynerX, a media and communications holding company, and the CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency. In addition, he is also the co-founder of the restaurant reservation software company Resy and Empathy Wines.
Why Follow Him?
With his strong personality and downright sensical, blunt and practical business and marketing advice Gary Vee has amassed a massive following on all his social media channels. He is a strong proponent of creating content for growing a business and he is great to follow if you’re needing a motivational boost. Many consider him a business motivational speaker. He travels the world speaking to audiences on growing and sustaining a business.
Where to Follow Him?
Follow Gary Vee on his website , his YouTube channel, X (formerly Twitter) and his podcast.
3- Grant Cardone
Who is He?
A bestselling author, one of world's top sales trainer, renowned speaker, trainer, international social media influencer, and real estate mogul.
Why Follow Him?
At heart Cardone is a ‘practicalist and strategist’ who applies sound business principles to everything he does and when it comes to marketing you can learn so much from someone who lives and breathes sales. After all sales and marketing go together like salt and pepper. In addition, being a social media influencer, he knows a thing or two about social media marketing. His downright practical and in your face approach to things has made him popular with his followers who connect with his personality and style and trust his advice.
Where to Follow Him?
Follow Cardone on his website, events, podcast and his LinkedIn. He has also published several best-selling books, one of his popular ones being: The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure.
4- Bryan Kramer
Who is He?
The CEO of one of Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing companies, PureMatter, a TedTalk and keynote speaker, performance coach and bestselling author.
Why Follow Him?
He is reinventing the language around B2B and B2C and replacing it with H2H- human to human interaction and so much of his thought leadership, focus and messaging resides around this concept. He believes in the value of human-to-human interaction with finding better and more innovative ways of connecting with your audience. So, if you’re interested in the human- to- human interaction and applying it to your business than Kramer is a must to follow.
Where to Follow Him?
Follow Kramer on his website, blog, podcast, social media channels like X (formerly Twitter) and check out his TedTalk.
5- Evan Bailyn
Who is He?
A Google expert, international bestselling author, entrepreneur, and founder of First Page Sage, the biggest SEO company in America.
Why Follow Him?
He was one of the early pioneers of SEO and is a Google expert, bringing you a wealth of knowledge when it comes to ranking on Google, content, SEO, and overall marketing. With Google getting bigger and bigger every year and constantly changing too with its countless algorithms it pays to get advice and guidance from someone who understands the search engine inside out. Bailyn gives you essential SEO advice and user experience advice which is appliable no matter your industry. In addition, he does have extensive knowledge of B2B lead generation.
Where to Follow Him?
Follow Bailyn on his social media like LinkedIn . In addition, he is the bestselling author of three books on SEO and thought leadership marketing.
6- Patrick Ambron
Who is He?
The Co-founder and CEO of BrandYourself, a reputation management tool that enables you to control what people find when they search you on Google. Ambron is an entrepreneur and thought leader aged in his early twenties.
Why Follow Him?
Ambron brings with him a fresh and up to date perspective on personal branding and even marketing. Being a young entrepreneur and thought leader he represents the next generation of thinkers and leaders. Branding is essential to your overall marketing and professional reputation so following Ambron is a good step to take for your business and personal brand.
Where to Follow Him?
Follow Ambron via his website, blog, and social media channels like X (formerly Twitter) and even on Medium.
7 -Dorie Clark
Who is She?
A regular Forbes and Harvard Business Review contributor, Clark has become an authority on building a community centred on thought leadership. She’s an author and an executive education professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business
Why Follow Her?
She’s a great resource to learn strategies for being an influencer, building a following and creating thought leadership content for your niche. Her strategies can be applied to both B2B and B2C so any business owner and brand can apply her wisdom.
Where to Follow Her?
Follow Clark on her website, online courses, TedTalks and social media like LinkedIn.
8- Goldie Chan
Who is She?
An Award-winning keynote speaker, LinkedIn video creator, and social strategist. Dubbed the “Oprah of LinkedIn” by the Huffington Post.
Why Follow Her?
If you’re interested in using influencers to market your brand or just want to create your own video content channel, in particular videos for B2B audiences than Chan is the person to follow. She offers lots of advice on hiring influencers especially around companies that market lifestyle products or experiences like resorts and clothing.
Where to Follow Her?
The starting point is definitely LinkedIn but you can also follow Chan at her website, her blog and YouTube.
So, there you have it – our list of the top 8 global business and marketing thought leaders to follow in 2024. We hope that you make good use of this list and for more expert marketing guidance Book a Time with WORD EMPIRE who will build your online empire with epic content and marketing.