The in-personal and virtual Content Marketing World 2021 is finally upon us. As the largest content marketing conference in the world, CMWorld brings together a leading array of talented professionals who are filled to the brim with curiosity for future trends, marketing insight, and aspirations for new levels of success in the post-pandemic world.

For the past 13 years leading marketers from all over the world have joined to gather in Cleveland, Ohio for one of the world’s most authoritative content marketing events, and this year’s Content Marketing World returns for in-person networking and learning, after taking place entirely in the virtual realm in 2020.

Readers of our blog know we have a long history with the conference starting at the beginning, with 11 years of speaking and attending along with eight years during which we partnered with the Content Marketing Institute to develop speaker and influencer content marketing campaigns.

A TopRank Marketing tradition that has been imitated in recent years but never truly duplicated is our annual list of content marketing experts ranked according to their social influence, a helpful compilation derived from the hundreds of excellent #CMWorld 2021 speakers.

List Methodology: For this list we utilize the Traackr influencer marketing platform to filter the content marketing subject matter experts who are speaking at the current year’s Content Marketing World conference — using a large number of criteria including the relevance of the individuals to the topic, the degree to which their networks engage, the size of their networks, and other factors. Online data is pulled in from blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and other social platforms.

The focus topic in question is most undoubtedly “content marketing,” and everyone included on this list is:

• A speaker at #CMWorld 2021
• Ranked in the top-25 for “content marketing” according to our relevance, resonance, reach and audience metrics

Many thanks go to all the people who are actively sharing knowledge about content marketing in 2021 by engaging and helping others with helpful opinions, insights and expertise on the social web. This list is only a beginning point to help expand your own content marketing universe.

In this year’s list there are a few familiar faces and a welcome number of new additions. We plan to learn new lessons from each of these 25 content marketing influencers, and hope you’ll do the same throughout the rest of the year and into 2022 and beyond.

25 Content Marketing Influencers Speaking at CMWorld 2021

Ann Handley @MarketingProfs
Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
Presenting: The Art of Storytelling: Telling True Stories Well

Jay Baer @jaybaer
Founder, Convince & Convert
Presenting: How to Lower the Three Drawbridges of Content Success

John Jantsch @ducttape
Founder, Duct Tape Marketing
Presenting: Rethinking the Customer Journey

Michael Brenner @BrennerMichael
Content Marketing Agency CEO & CMO Influencer, Marketing Insider Group
Presenting: 10 Steps To Optimize Your Content Marketing Program for ROI
Presenting: How to Define and Build Your Content Marketing Strategy

Andy Crestodina @crestodina
Co-Founder & CMO, Orbit Media Studios
Presenting: From Keyphrases to Content: The SEO Workshop for Hands-on Marketers

Bernie Borges @bernieborges
Vice President Global Content Marketing, iQor
Presenting: How to Produce Epic Content by Conducting Epic Interviews

Carla Johnson @CarlaJohnson
Marketing & Innovation Strategist, Keynote Speaker & Best Selling Author
Presenting: Courageous Creativity: How Content Marketers Get to “YES!” with Bold Ideas

Andrew Davis @DrewDavisHere
Keynote Speaker & Best-Selling Author, Monumental Shift
Presenting: Embrace The Constraints: Why Adding Constraints Sparks Creativity, Inspires Action & Creates Better Content

Ardath Albee @ardath421
B2B Marketing Strategist & CEO, Marketing Interactions
Presenting: Building B2B Buyer-Driven Digital Experiences

Amy Balliett @AmyBalliett
Founder & CEO, Killer Visual Strategies
Presenting: Building B2B Buyer-Driven Digital Experiences

Melanie Deziel @mdeziel
Chief Content Officer, StoryFuel
Presenting: Prove It: Using Content as Evidence of Your Most Important Claims

Doug Kessler @dougkessler
Creative Director & Co-Founder, Velocity Partners
Presenting: Ask A Dev: Why Your Content Team Needs Developers!

Pam Didner @PamDidner
Author, Founder & VP of Marketing, Effective Sales Enablement
Presenting: Create A Scalable Global Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps
Presenting: Let’s Get Glocal…Balance Global and Local for Content Marketing

Kathy Klotz-Guest @kathyklotzguest
Founder, Keeping It Human
Presenting: Yes And…And the Culture of Now: Why the Future of Marketing is Improv

Erika Heald @SFerika
Marketing Consultant, Erika Heald Consulting
Presenting: How to Conduct a Social Media Audit That Helps Your Community Thrive

Meryl Evans @merylkevans
Digital Marketing Professional, meryl.net, Equal Entry, ProResource and Diamond
Presenting: Accessibility Is Everyone’s Job — Marketing Included

Michele Linn @michelelinn
Co-founder and head of strategy, Mantis Research
Presenting: From Flat to Fascinating: 8 Essential Elements to Help Your Original Research Stand Out

A. Lee Judge @ALeeJudge
Co-Founder & CMO, Content Monsta
Presenting: The Content Remix: Turning Familiar Into Original
Presenting: The Future of Work: The Importance of Mentorship Programs

Shafqat Islam @shafqatislam
CEO, Welcome
Presenting: Embracing the Silver Linings: Applying What We’ve Learned to Build Better Connections (& Become Better Marketers)

Zontee Hou @ZonteeHou
President & Chief Strategist, Media Volery
Presenting: Content Optimization & Distribution Workshop
Presenting: Data & Storytelling: Using Social Insights to Shape Your Content

Michael Barber @michaeljbarber
Brand Consultant and Marketing Strategist,
Presenting: Email Marketing for 2021 and Beyond
Presenting: Open Rate Is Dead: What Marketers Need to Know About iOS15

Jessica Best @bestofjess
Vice President, Data-Driven Marketing, Barkley
Presenting: Email Marketing Workshop: What Works and What Doesn’t Work

Joe Lazauskas @JoeLazauskas
Head of Marketing, Contently
Presenting: What Buyers Want from Content Marketing — And Where Marketers Are Falling Short

Joe Pulizzi @JoePulizzi
Founder, The Tilt
Presenting: 10 Content Strategies in 20 Minutes: What Corporate Content Creators Can Learn From Content Entrepreneurs

Tequia Burt @TequiaBurt
Global Blog Editor, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Presenting: How LinkedIn is Using its Blogs as a Vehicle for Building Diversity Against a Backdrop of Growth

Even the most detailed statistical analysis, no matter how deep and well-researched, can only take you so far in finding the people who you’ll consider the most helpful and influential in your own daily professional marketing lives, which is why we’d love it if you’d please share the name of other content marketers that influence you the most in the comments section below.

To further your own content marketing expertise, here’s a bonus list of some of our best recent posts about content marketing:

If you’d like to learn more about how being the best answer can help B2B marketers dominate in search, you’re in luck, as our CEO and co-founder Lee Odden will be presenting at Content Marketing World on the topic. Here are the details:

Thursday, September 30 – 2:45pm – 3:15pm Eastern
Workshop with Lee Odden
How B2B Content Marketers Can Dominate in Search: Be the Best Answer

We hope to see you either in-person or virtually at the Content Marketing World 2021 conference, and be sure to follow us on Twitter at @toprank for real-time updates during the conference using the #CMWorld hashtag.

MARKET NEWS