The Top 5 Content Marketers and What You Can Learn From ThemWant to become a better content marketer? Learn from these 5 influencers.

What I foresee is a confluence between ever-evolvingcontentmarketing andinfluencermarketing. The momentum for both continues to grow -- and, if you look toward the top content marketers, you'll gain insights into where things are headed, and what you can learn along the way.

这是一个营销人员(我看五大内容n no particular order) and a peek into what you could pick up from following them.

1. Lee Odden

Lee Oddenis the CEO ofTopRank Online Marketing, based in Minneapolis. His organization provides digital marketing that specializes in content and influencer marketing, SEM, PR, email and conversion optimization.

He's held a number of keynote speaker roles at major marketing conferences, sharing a great deal of insight while also providing a wealth of marketing information via the Top Rank Blog.

WhileOdden covers a variety of topics, there are some important things to learn from his insights -- particularly, the need to be the best answer when someone is searching for information. That's because content isn't great until people find it, consume it and act on it.

2. Guy Kawasaki

Once upon a time,Guy Kawasakiwas the chief evangelist for Apple, and he's since moved on to join the board of trustees for Wikimedia. He's a brand ambassador for Mercedes Benz USA and now the chief evangelist ofCanva, an online graphic design tool.

You might wonder, "What does any of that have to do with content marketing?" In fact, Kawasaki has also published more than nine books, includingThe Art of Social MediaandEnchantment.Something that has always stood out to me about Kawasaki is the authenticity he maintains. It comes across in his interviews, his books and certainly his social media.

What distinguishes Guy, is that he pumps out tons of curated content. He and his team are always trying to find stuff the educates, entertains and inspires people. He does this because social media is a platform for him, and his value proposition is that if you follow him, you'll get stuff you never would have gotten.

3. Ann Handley

Ann Handleyis a longtime veteran of creating content that focuses on building relationships. She has long held the role of chief content officer withMarketingProfs, and co-wrote one of my favorite books on content marketing,Content Rules.

In all ofthe content Handley has shared, what I keep coming back to is the idea that we need to create bigger, braver and bolder content marketing, with an emphasis onstorytelling.

She is one of the influencers I believe is helping drive the industry away from short, soft content with little value. If any content marketer could teach you how to be a better storyteller, it's Ann Handley.

4. Jeff Bullas

Jeff Bullasis a respected speaker and author of the best-selling bookBlogging the Smart Way -- How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media.He also has a long list of achievements that include being recognized as the number one global digital marketing influencer, and being listed in "top" lists for content marketing and social media, forOnalyticaandHuffington Post, among others.

His blog reachesmore than 4 million peopleeach year.

If you look atBullas' meteoric rise, you'll begin to see how content played a huge part in his success.

When he launched his blog in 2009, he was unemployed and $50,000 in debt, but he used insights he gained from books byTim Ferriss(The 4-Hour Workweek) andDavid Meerman Scott(The New Rules of Marketing and PR) to overcome those obstacles and find success.

When youdissect his content, you can see how he analyzes the science of distribution and promotion to best reach his audience.

That shows you that it's not just about the quality of the content -- it's also about the art and science of optimizing for search, understanding available tools and usingcontent promotionresources like social to best reach the people you're targeting.

5. Joe Pulizzi

Joe Pulizziis the founder of theContent Marketing Institute, an organization that leads the charge in content marketing training and education. It also oversees the largest annual in-person content marketing event in the world,Content Marketing World.

He's the author of several best-selling books, includingContent Inc. andEpic Content Marketing.

Most importantly, and one of the reasonsPulizzi使这个列表,他可能被视为poster child for content marketing. His organization put a solid name to a rising category of marketing -- a new way of thinking -- that has changed the way brands and professionals engage with their audiences.

One of the most important lessons I've learned from following him all these years is the need to be different. When you're creating a content strategy, producing new content, and taking stock of what you have, ask yourself: "Is the content I'm creating and distributingany differentthan anything else out there?"

In everything you do, it's critical to give your customers a reason to care. Be different -- like these five people -- in how you provide value.