Neil Patel is an author, entrepreneur and marketer who started his first website at age 16 and his own marketing company a few years later. He is now helping companies like Amazon, NBC, HP and Viacom increase their revenues. Brian Dean is an internationally recognized entrepreneur and SEO expert specializing in providing marketers with strategies they can use to get more search engine traffic. No matter how many tools and tactics come and go with the evolution of technology, certain underlying marketing principles will stand the test of time.
These principles are the best practices behind the most successful marketing strategies, from community building to growth hacking, which will always be valid. If we look back at the great business and community leaders throughout history to the present day, they were the best marketers, some long before “marketing” even existed. But what made them so great? Plato is considered one of the most important figures in the development of Western philosophy. He was the founder of the Academy of Athens, the first institution of higher education in the Western world.
He is also known for being one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality, in particular Christianity. Clearly he was an entrepreneur and leader, but what made him a great marketer? He focused on educating his audience to build movements. He was a teacher first and foremost, building a large following and influencing the masses through education. Brinkley is by far the most controversial marketer on the list.
Known as the “goat gland doctor”, Brinkley fraudulently claimed to be a doctor, promoting his procedure—xenotransplantation of goat testicles to humans—as a cure for male impotence. Obviously that's not what made him a great marketer. But in an effort to promote his cure, he invented television advertising, almost by accident. He built a radio station in 1923 where he combined entertainment (he reserves some of the great country music acts of his time), Bible readings and a strong sense of memorable phrase.
He invented “infotainment” long before it was a word. Dale Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer and developer of famous courses in self-improvement, sales, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills. He was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People (193), a bestseller that is still popular today, as well as several other books. He may be known today as one of the best salespeople in history, but he was also an excellent marketer because he focused on interpersonal relationships and valuing people.
He was an expert in communication, a fundamental skill for any marketing function. Ray Kroc is credited with making a series of innovative changes to the food service franchise model, turning McDonald's into the fast food company it is today. In particular, he wanted consistency in service and quality across all McDonald's locations. Those things make Kroc an intelligent businessman in his day.
What made him a great marketer was his dedication to his loyal customers. He famously wrote a letter to Walt Disney seeking to place a McDonald's in Disneyland but refused to agree on a 5-cent increase in the price of French fries for Disney's benefit because he didn't want to uproot his loyal customers. Walt Disney was a pioneer in the American animation industry who expanded his media company to a production studio and several theme parks. According to an article in American Express Open, “To create a truly extraordinary Disney World that could literally market itself, Walt Disney had corporate and park employees ride on attractions before opening to the public”.
He believed in applying authenticity to magical experiences and cared deeply about details and quality; creating experiences that promoted themselves. Steve Jobs was one of the most innovative marketers of all time who embraced the value of standing out: being unique, breaking the status quo. He focused on creating the best possible designs knowing that they would sell themselves; keeping his marketing messages mysterious and focused on the movement they created; embracing being different and coveting things of beauty which was reflected in everything he did; thinking differently than everyone else around him. Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the best-known experts in digital marketing who began his business journey in early childhood and jumped on the fast-growing Internet technology bandwagon in late 90s.
He was one of the first in e-commerce niche and one of first marketing influencers to flourish on YouTube with his own programs; he is also one of best-selling marketing authors, angel investor, public speaker and owner of digital marketing agency VaynerMedia; it's been at top charts of top digital marketing influencers for while and it's unlikely to stop there; if you want learn from best Gary Vaynerchuk is one! Neil Patel is THE true guru of digital marketing especially when it comes to search engines and content marketing; he is leading force in SEO education and was ranked as one top 10 digital influencers according Forbes; best thing about Neil Patel is that he doesn't just talk: he's tried everything he teaches practice as co-founder Crazy Egg, HelloBar, Kissmetrics more; addition his own businesses he has consulted hacked growth companies such Amazon General Motors Hewlett Packard NBC.
