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10 Growth Marketers to Follow in 2022

Growth hacking

For any business entrepreneur to succeed, growth is essential. Finding new customers, keeping the ones you have ... and the cycle repeats. You may ask, how can you achieve sustainable growth? The most effective way to grow is to follow the advice of growth hacking consultants. A growth hacking consultant is an expert at helping businesses grow quickly and efficiently. A marketing consultant, for instance, has innovative methods and strategies to enable a fast business. So, if you're looking for some growth inspiration this year, check out our list of the 10 top growth marketers to follow in 2022. But first, let us take a look at the difference between growth hacking vs. growth marketing.

What is Growth Hacking?

Growth hacking is a term coined by Sean Ellis in 2010. He used it to describe a novel method of marketing that focuses on rapid growth.

Growth hacking

Moreover, growth hacking is all about experimenting with different marketing channels and strategies to find the most efficient way to grow a business.

The goal of growth hacking is to acquire and retain users by any means necessary.

To do this, growth hacking consultants use a mix of marketing, engineering, and product development strategies.

What is Growth Marketing?

Growth marketing is a term that was popularized by Andrew Chen in his blog post “Growth Hacker is the New VP Marketing”.

growth hacking with digital marketing

It's similar to growth hacking in that its focus is on acquiring and retaining users.

However, growth marketing is more holistic and emphasizes the entire user journey, not just acquisition; or the product-market fit approach.

Growth marketers are also concerned with engagement, retention, and growing revenue.

It's all about growth.

So, what's the difference between growth hacking and growth marketing?

Growth hacking is all about experimentation with different marketing channels and strategies to find the most efficient way to grow a business.

digital growth hacking

The goal of growth hacking is to acquire and retain users by any means necessary. This may be achieved through engineering, product hunting and development, and innovation.

On the other hand, growth marketing focuses on sustainable growth using tried-and-true techniques.

To do so, growth marketing understands the people involved- the customer's behavior, the competition, and the market.

Overall, both aim for growth- acquiring new customers, keeping them engaged, and monetizing from them through data and experimentation- on a long-term basis.

digital marketing consulting

So, now that we know the difference between growth hacking vs growth marketing, let's take a look at our list of 10 most influential growth hacking consultants to follow in 2022.

10 Growth Hackers Leading the Market

See today's top growth hacking consultants leading the growth marketing industry.

1. Eric Ingrand

Eric Ingrand  

Website: ericingrand.com

Blog: ericingrand.com/blog

Eric spent most of his career's formative years heading the content Marketing Agency EnVeritasGroup.com and European Cloud computing leader OVH in France, then moving to the United Kingdom.

Coming from a diverse background- born in Germany and growing up in Brazil and France, and working in London- Eric gained a deeper understanding and new ideas of marketing from people from different walks of life in different parts of the world.

This is why Eric puts high importance on multilingual and multicultural marketing in order to drive a sustainable global presence.

  digital marketing consulting

Eric worked with renowned international organizations like:

Eric, through his extensive experience in multiple cultures, focuses on sustainable business growth marketing. He uses customized strategies, new techniques, and useful insights. Then, delivering data-driven quality content creation for startups and corporations.

2. Brianne Kimmel

Brianne Kimmel

Website: briannekimmel.com

Blog: worklife.vc/blog

Brianne Kimmel, the 'Angel Investor', as named by Business Insider, is the founder and managing director of Work-Life Ventures.

She previously worked at Zendesk with the go-to-market team focusing on self-serve growth and technology integrations.

Now, she's running her own company, Work-Life Ventures, 'a future work-focused fund investing in tools and services for people at work'. In addition, she invests in Webflow, Tandem, Command E, and 20+ more startups.

Leading a life as a growth hacker and a startup mentor, Brianne currently runs an invite-only program, the SaaS School designed for startup founders to learn growth hacking strategies from the world's fastest-growing software companies- Slack, Dropbox, Drift, Twilio, and more.

Brianne, on her website and her blog, shares her personal stories and professional advice on how she led a successful career in investment and growth hacking, as she is today.

3. Sujan Patel

Sujan Patel

Website and Blog: sujanpatel.com

A veteran of more than 15 years of experience in the field of being a SaaS marketing leader, Sujan has built SaaS companies from the ground up.

Starting as an eCommerce founder in the early 2000s, Sujan failed on his first site. However, he converted those early-stage failures into SEO practices that drive growth for his second business venture, the Single Grain marketing agency.

webprofits

Today, Sujan is a CEO-Founder of successful companies. Additionally, Web Profits and his other two companies, Mailshake and Right Inbox are among today's leading email marketing tools.

Sujan is known for his 'mind for marketing', specializing in growth hacking, branding, SEO, and distribution. In his talks and blogs, he shares tips about everything he knows from his deep domain knowledge.

I got schooled on business by trying and failing,” Sujan says.

Aspiring growth hackers will surely benefit from Sujan's constructive lessons from failing as a startup to building multiple SaaS companies from the ground up.

4. Brian Balfour

Brian Balfour Website: brianbalfour.com

Blog: brianbalfour.com/essays

Brian Balfour is Reforge's Founder/CEO, educating executives with advanced professional education programs. He specializes in product and client acquisition growth, while also showing a passion for growing people, processes, systems, and cultures.

reforge

His formative years were spent working with HubSpot as VP of Growth, working on today's renowned HubSpot Sales and CRM products.

During the past 10 years, Brian has become a co-founder of 4 companies and an investor/advisor in multiple companies, including Drift, Loom, Pipefy, Wonder School, VoiceOps, and more.

Brian shares his expertise in growth marketing through his website's essays, but you won't see him publish as often. Usually, once a month, he publishes his unique quality content on his site, and also on his company's blog.

5. Noah Kagan

Noah Kagan

Website: okdork.com

Blog: okdork.com/blog/

Being the Chief Sumo at the Sumo Group, Noah helps professional entrepreneurs and aspirants grow their brands through SaaS solutions. Namely, AppSumo, Sumo, SendFox, and KingSumo.

sumo

Way back before the Sumo Group was formed, you can find Noah working on the Facebook cube, then Mint, and also with Intel.

Noah has an interesting mix of life advice, from failure to success stories in his career. These stories have led him to build a business for businessmen who seek advice and growth.

Catch his stories and latest posts about start-ups, careers, marketing, growth, personal improvement, and more through his blog, YouTube channel, and Podcast episodes.

6. Andrew Chen

Andrew Chen

Website and Blog: andrewchen.com

Andrew Chen is an Andreessen Horowitz general partner who invests in consumer technologies such as social, marketplace, entertainment, and gaming experiences.

Andreessen Horowitz

Today, he is a board member of All Day Kitchens, Clubhouse, Envoy, Hipcamp, Maven, Reforge, SandboxVR, Singularity6, Sleeper, Snackpass, and Substack.

On the other hand, Andrew is a prominent author and a thought leader in the fields of mobile, analytics, and user growth.

You can read more of his insights on his website in essay forms. To date, he has his latest book entitled The Cold Start Problem. His most recent book explores how startups begin and grow through network effects.

Andrew also serves on Reforge's board of directors and teachers. He teaches about data, product, marketing, and engineering to entrepreneurs craving more growth in their businesses.

Interestingly, Andrew is the one who popularized the term 'growth marketing' through his blog “Growth Hacker is the New VP Marketing”.

You can find more insights on Andrew's blog about tech and growth on his website.

7. Sean Ellis

Sean Ellis

Website: seanellis.me

Podcast: seanellis.me/breakout-growth-podcast.html

Sean Ellis is the founder and worldwide ambassador of the Growth Hacking movement, which he began in 2010. He is also a co-author of the multi-lingual book, "Hacking Growth", translated into 16 languages.

Sean's growth hacking insights generated billions of dollars at the following companies:

  • Eventbrite
  • Dropbox
  • Lookout
  • LogMeIn
Qualaroo

Sean then served as CEO/Founder of the company, Qualaroo, serving clients such as Uber, Starbucks, Amazon, and Intuit.

Until today, Sean offers his insights into the industry through workshops, case studies, keynote speeches, and advice.

As the founder of Growth Hackers, Sean shares his success strategy and deep knowledge of growth marketing with this online community for growth hacking consultants and the like.

8. Neil Patel

neil patel

Website: neilpatel.com

Blog: neilpatel.com/blog

Born to both Indian parents, Neil Patel was raised in Orange County, California, in a middle-class family.

Neil has always had the heart of an entrepreneur in his early stage in life, as his family has run businesses since then. He launched his first website at the age of 16, and despite failing, that's where he 'had no choice' but to learn marketing.

UberSuggest

'Content is king'- Neil is one of the most popular bloggers on the web and who's a jack of all trades. He is the founder of the famous UberSuggest, and the co-founder of CrazyEgg, KISSmetrics, and HelloBar. Not to mention, Neil also helps build growth marketing strategies for popular organizations such as Amazon, HP, and General Motors.

Neil is popular for his easy way of explaining the complexity of content marketing and growth hacking.

Through his YouTube videos, blog, and books, Neil generously shares actionable tips in a way that even people outside the niche will understand.

9. Josh Fechter

Josh Fechter

Website: joshfechter.com

Blog: joshfechter.com/blogA product worth a great story is a product worth selling.”- Badass Marketers and Founders (BAMF)

Badass Marketers and Founders is a growth marketing agency based in Los Angeles, co-founded by Josh Fechter, a growth hacking agency in Los Angeles.

BAMF

Josh Fechter is a growth hacking guru, marketing thought leader, social media influencer, community builder, and a co-founder of several reputable companies in the field of SaaS and education.

Through his marketing agency, Josh helps any growing company in the industry drive their ROI using 'cutting-edge growth marketing and growth hacking tactics'. The BAMF Media works with TEDx, Voo, LawTrades, Mixmax, Autopilot, Deputy, and Book in a Box.

Josh shares his great insights through blogs, case studies, and courses on his website. Courses range from 10 to 20 hours. (Find Josh's courses here)

10. Ann Handley

Ann Handley Website: annhandley.com

Blog: annhandley.com/blog

Ann Handley is the Wall Street Journal's best-selling author and a pioneer in the world of internet marketing as the world's first Chief Content Officer.

Ann has writing deeply embedded in her veins. She has been in the field of writing content since 1985, as the Associate Editor at the weekly Boston-based business newspaper. Way back in 2010, ForbesWoman listed Ann as one of the top 20 women bloggers.

MarketingProfs

Today, Ann is a keynote speaker and director for the B2B marketing resource MarketingProfs. MarketingProfs provides entrepreneurs in the business industry with marketing insights and actionable tips that deliver real results.

Through training programs, conferences, online events, and complementary resources, MarketingProfs helps industries scale their marketing and grow revenue.

In addition to the training Ann spearheads, she also publishes helpful free resources through her blog and tweets that are worth following for any marketer.

BONUS: #11 Joe Pulizzi

Joe Pulizzi

Website: joepulizzi.com

Blog: joepulizzi.com/podcasts

Since 2001, Joe Pulizzi has been known in the content marketing industry for his work. A decade later, in 2011, Joe founded the Content Marketing Institute with the mission of helping brands optimize their marketing. Although CMI or the Content Marketing Institute, was subsequently acquired by UBM (now Informa), today, it is still in the business of promoting better ways to market.

Joe's track record shows he always had a growth mindset. It shows by his fruits. Joe fathers multiple startups, all of which are closely related to online marketing and content strategy creation.

The Tilt

He founded The Tilt, for instance, a content creator education site; also the Creator Economy Expo (CEX), which is a content entrepreneur event.

Additionally, Joe is also an author of a "Must-Read Business Book" (as Fortune Magazine says of it), the Epic Content Marketing. Other books he wrote were also on the bestselling list: Content.Inc and the Killing Marketing, for instance.

Until today, Joe still stands on the growth marketing stage as a keynote speaker. You can also subscribe to his newsletters and weekly podcasts, all of which are available on his website. And lastly, he continually empowers 'content creators to become content entrepreneurs' with his program, The Tilt.

BONUS: Growth Hacking Strategies

 

1. Grow Brand Presence on Social Media

Growth Hacking Strategies

If you're not using social media to market your brand, you're behind the times. These days, it's all about reaching customers where they are – and that's online.

Luckily, growth hacking techniques make it easy to dominate social media and reach more people than ever before.

Why take social media seriously?

Consider what statistics say:

Facebook has "2.93 billion monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2022" according to the Statista Research Department.

Imagine the scope of the market!

How about the user's habits?

Take another study.

"People with smartphones check their Facebook pages an average of 14 times per day... with an average of about 32 minutes of Facebook time on their phone ... every day." -NBC News

I am also on twitter

These numbers are for Facebook alone, not to mention Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, all of which have millions to billions of active monthly users.

If you are serious about growth marketing, then you should know that social media marketing can also skyrocket that success and revenue.

The market is wide. Marketing is grand.

2. Optimize Organic Traffic

optimize organic traffic

"71% of marketers say using strategic keywords was their number one strategy for SEO."- HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2021

Do the keyword research first.
 

Before you start writing any content, take the time to research the keywords that your target audience is most likely to use. This will enable you to provide information related to your business.

Once you know which keywords to focus on, make sure to include them throughout of traffic to a website is organic, which means it comes from search engines. This number continues to grow as people become more accustomed to finding what they need online.

the rest is magic

One way to ensure your website appears in relevant search results is to optimize your content for specific keywords.

This can be done by including the keywords throughout your content, as well as headlines, titles, and descriptions.

Invest in high-quality backlinking.

"The #1 result in Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10."- Backlinko

Another way to improve your website's ranking in search results is to earn high-quality backlinks from other websites.

This can be done by publishing relevant content that other websites want to link to. It can also be done, it can be achieved by reaching out to other website owners and asking them to link to your site.

3. Post Content Regularly

growth hacking digital marketing

"56% of marketers who leverage blogging say it's effective and 10% say it generates the biggest return on investment."- Hubspot Blog Research

One of the most significant aspects of growth marketing is publishing content regularly.

If you want to reach more people and grow your business, you need to be creating content on a regular basis.

post

Blogging is a very effective way to reach more people and grow your business. But it's not the only way.

This means that although blog posts are helpful, don't forget about other types of content like ebooks, infographics, and videos.

Use Marketing Automation
 

To help you streamline the posting of regular content, you can now opt for marketing automation.

The marketing automation software automates marketing processes and management. It works with multifaceted growth strategies.

  • Email marketing
  • Website monitoring
  • Lead scoring
  • Live chats
  • Social marketing

Adding these modern techniques to your content strategy not only helps you save time but also enables a more personalized experience for your customers.

Wrapping Up

 

We hope you have found this list of the best growth hacking consultants inspiring. We also hope that it has given you some actionable tips for who to follow in order to stay ahead of the curve in digital marketing.

Do you have any favorite growth marketers that we missed? Let us know in the comments below!

Additionally, if you are looking for more tips on how to grow your business, be sure to check out our blog for more relevant content like this.

We'd Love to Work with You!

 

Eric Ingrand Digital Marketing Consulting can help you with your digital marketing! We partner with fast-growing startups to Fortune 500s and founders worldwide.

logos

Eric directly works with company founders and their teams to build disruptive growth strategies and deliver results.

How Eric does it:

 

Knows what your customers need.

Understand your customers' pain points and needs and identify what they are looking for online or offline so that their questions don't need answering anymore.

Leverages through lead generation strategies.

 

Develop a lead generation strategy by providing information on the products/services available which keeps them coming back to your business both through web traffic as well as personal consultations.

Uses data-driven methods that work.

 

Assess clients' problems from different angles- qualitative research methods like surveys & workshops alongside quantitative techniques such as A/B testing, etc.

Eric's digital consultancy services use:

  • Social media and internet marketing approaches
  • Customer-oriented content
  • White hat SEO
  • Outsourced content
  • Dev workforce
  • And more

Through these tried-and-tested strategies, Eric builds brand content through creative and engaging stories that generate conversions in the growth marketing industry.

We'd love to work with you to help grow your business! Contact us today for a free consultation.

   

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