Who are the top marketing influencers in Australia? That's harder to answer than it sounds. Marketing covers everything from brand strategy and advertising to SEO, performance marketing, B2B growth, content, personal branding and entrepreneurship. And influence isn't the same thing as followers.
Some of the most influential marketers in Australia aren't necessarily the people with the biggest LinkedIn audiences. They might be academics whose research has shaped how marketers think, operators who have built and scaled businesses, or specialists who consistently publish genuinely useful ideas.
So this isn't a ranking based on follower count. It's a curated list of Australian marketing influencers worth paying attention to in 2026.
Some are academics. Some are executives. Some are creators. Some are consultants. Some have built companies. They don't all agree with each other, either. That's a good thing.
How I chose this list
There isn't an objective way to rank marketing influencers across such a broad industry.
Instead, I looked at a combination of:
Marketing expertise and experience
Original thinking and point of view
Quality and consistency of content
Influence within their specialty
Practical experience and commercial results
Contribution to the Australian marketing industry
Ability to educate, challenge or change how marketers think
The list also deliberately covers different areas of marketing. If you're looking for someone to follow for SEO, you shouldn't necessarily follow the same person you'd follow for B2B growth or marketing science.
1. Mark Ritson
Specialty: Marketing strategy, branding and marketing effectiveness
If you've worked in marketing for more than five minutes, you've probably encountered Mark Ritson.
The Australian marketing academic, columnist and commentator is well known for his willingness to challenge marketing bullshit, questionable trends and whatever shiny new thing marketers are currently obsessed with.
What makes Ritson particularly influential is that he consistently brings the conversation back to strategy, positioning, customers, brands and commercial outcomes. He's also very good at saying the thing many marketers are thinking but won't say publicly.
Whether you agree with him or not, that's useful.
Why follow Mark Ritson: For sharp commentary on marketing strategy, branding, advertising and the industry's latest obsessions.
Best for: Marketing leaders, brand marketers and anyone who enjoys having their assumptions challenged.
2. Professor Byron Sharp
Specialty: Marketing science, brand growth and consumer behaviour
Professor Byron Sharp has had an enormous influence on modern marketing thinking through his work at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science at the University of South Australia.
His book How Brands Grow challenged a number of long-held assumptions about marketing, including ideas around loyalty, segmentation and how brands grow.
You don't have to agree with every implication of the Ehrenberg-Bass approach to find it useful. One of its biggest contributions has been pushing marketers to question whether their strategies are actually supported by evidence.
That's particularly valuable in an industry where conventional wisdom spreads incredibly quickly.
Why follow Byron Sharp: For evidence-based thinking about brands, consumers and sustainable growth.
Best for: Brand marketers, marketing strategists and anyone interested in marketing science.
3. Christopher Chow
Specialty: B2B growth marketing, LinkedIn, content and GEO
Christopher Chow is a Sydney-based B2B growth marketer, content creator and career coach with more than 10 years of experience across companies including Microsoft, Apple, Autodesk, Dovetail and Smokeball.
He is currently Head of Growth Marketing at Smokeball, where his work spans demand generation, content, LinkedIn, ABM, SEO, AI and broader growth strategy. He has been recognised as a LinkedIn Top Voice, published op-ed articles, and spoken at industry events, and been featured across news publications, podcasts, and on LinkedIn.
Why follow Christopher Chow: For practical B2B marketing ideas, LinkedIn experiments, content strategy, GEO and contrarian takes on the marketing industry.
Best for: B2B marketers, growth marketers and marketers looking to build a personal brand.
4. Eugene Healey
Specialty: Marketing, brand and growth
Eugene Healey is a strong voice in Australia's marketing community, particularly around the intersection of brand, growth and commercial marketing.
His work is useful for marketers who want to move beyond the traditional brand-versus-performance debate and think more broadly about how marketing contributes to business growth.
That's an increasingly important conversation as marketing teams are asked to demonstrate both immediate pipeline impact and longer-term brand value.
Why follow Eugene Healey: For practical perspectives on marketing, brand and growth.
Best for: B2B marketers, marketing leaders and growth teams.
5. Brodie Clark
Specialty: SEO and organic search
Brodie Clark is one of the Australian marketers worth following if you're serious about SEO.
His work covers technical SEO, Google updates, ecommerce SEO, organic growth and the increasingly complicated world of search in the age of AI.
SEO has changed dramatically over the past few years. It's no longer enough to think about ten blue links. Marketers now need to consider AI Overviews, generative search, changing SERPs and how users discover information across multiple platforms.
Brodie's content is useful because it focuses on what's actually happening in search rather than simply recycling generic SEO advice.
Why follow Brodie Clark: For detailed analysis of SEO, Google and the changing search landscape.
Best for: SEO specialists, content marketers and marketers responsible for organic growth.
6. Kate Toon
Specialty: copywriting and digital marketing
Kate Toon is one of Australia's best-known names in copywriting.
Through her education business, content, podcasting and community, she has helped make SEO and digital marketing more accessible to small business owners and marketers.
Her approach is particularly practical. Rather than treating SEO as some mysterious technical discipline, she focuses on how businesses can actually use search, content and copywriting to attract customers.
That's a useful perspective for marketers who need to turn marketing theory into something they can implement.
Why follow Kate Toon: For copywriting and digital marketing advice.
Best for: Small business owners, content marketers, copywriters and SEO beginners.
7. Axel Sukianto
Specialty: B2B marketing, community and growth
Axel Sukianto is another marketer worth following if you're interested in Australia's B2B marketing scene.
His work sits around B2B marketing, growth and community, with a particular focus on connecting marketers and creating conversations around what's actually working.
That's valuable because B2B marketing can sometimes become overly focused on frameworks, funnels and jargon. The best communities tend to do something different: they give marketers a place to compare notes, share experiments and learn from each other.
Why follow Axel Sukianto: For B2B marketing ideas, community and conversations with other marketers.
Best for: B2B marketers, growth marketers and people looking to get more involved in the Australian marketing community.
8. Kayla Medica
Specialty: Product marketing, positioning and B2B SaaS
Kayla Medica is a marketer to watch for anyone working in B2B SaaS and product marketing.
Product marketing sits in an interesting position between product, marketing, sales and customers. Done well, it helps companies communicate not just what their product does, but why someone should actually care.
That's particularly relevant in SaaS, where products can quickly become difficult to differentiate from competitors.
Medica's work is useful for marketers thinking about positioning, messaging, go-to-market strategy and how marketing connects back to the product itself.
Why follow Kayla Medica: For product marketing, positioning
Best for: Product marketers, SaaS marketers and B2B growth teams.
9. Alisha Conlin-Hurd
Specialty: Performance marketing and paid acquisition
Alisha Conlin-Hurd is a marketer worth following if you're interested in performance marketing and paid acquisition.
Her work focuses on connecting marketing activity with measurable commercial outcomes, rather than treating clicks, impressions and other platform metrics as the end goal.
That's an important distinction. Performance marketing can become very tactical very quickly, particularly when marketers optimise campaigns without thinking about what happens after the click.
The best performance marketers understand the entire customer journey, from acquisition through to conversion and revenue.
Why follow Alisha Conlin-Hurd: For practical thinking around performance marketing, paid acquisition and growth.
Best for: Performance marketers, growth marketers and ecommerce teams.
10. Tim Reid
Specialty: Small business marketing and podcasting
Tim Reid is the founder and host of The Small Business Big Marketing Show, one of Australia's long-running marketing podcasts.
His focus is very different from the highly technical marketing content you might find elsewhere on this list. Reid has spent years talking to business owners about the practical realities of marketing, branding and growth.
That's part of what makes his content useful. Marketing advice can sometimes become so focused on enterprise brands and large budgets that it stops being particularly relevant to smaller businesses.
Why follow Tim Reid: For practical marketing stories and ideas from Australian small businesses.
Best for: Small business owners, entrepreneurs and marketers working with SMEs.
11. James Norquay
Specialty: SEO, digital PR and content marketing
James Norquay is an Australian SEO and digital marketing specialist and the founder and SEO Director of Prosperity Media, a Sydney-based SEO agency.
Norquay has worked in SEO and content marketing for more than 20 years across Australian and US markets. He has worked with large organisations across industries including telecommunications, retail, financial services, legal and education, and has spoken at SEO and digital marketing events around the world.
His work spans SEO, digital PR, content marketing and organic growth. He is particularly relevant for marketers trying to understand how search is evolving, including the growing overlap between traditional SEO and AI search.
Norquay also has a strong connection to Australia's SEO community. He founded Prosperity Media in 2012 and is the owner of the Online Marketing Sydney group.
Why follow James Norquay: For practical SEO, digital PR, content marketing and organic growth insights.
Best for: SEO specialists, content marketers, digital marketers and businesses looking to grow through organic search.
12. Ramzy Ibrahim
Specialty: Performance marketing, growth and ecommerce
Ramzy Ibrahim is another marketer worth following for performance and growth marketing.
The interesting thing about performance marketing is how quickly the discipline changes. Platforms change their algorithms, attribution gets harder, acquisition costs move and tactics that worked six months ago can suddenly stop working.
Good performance marketers therefore need to understand more than individual ad platforms. They need to understand customers, creative, offers, measurement and the economics of growth.
Why follow Ramzy Ibrahim: For perspectives on performance marketing, growth and ecommerce.
Best for: Growth marketers, performance marketers and ecommerce professionals.
The best marketing influencers in Australia by specialty
If you don't want to follow everyone on this list, you don't need to. I'd start with the people most relevant to what you're trying to learn.
| Marketing specialty | People to follow |
|---|---|
| Marketing strategy | Mark Ritson, Byron Sharp |
| Brand marketing | Mark Ritson, Byron Sharp |
| B2B marketing | Christopher Chow, Eugene Healey, Axel Sukianto, Kayla Medica |
| Growth marketing | Eugene Healey, Alisha Conlin-Hurd, Ramzy Ibrahim |
| SEO | Brodie Clark, Kate Toon, James Norquay |
| Digital PR | James Norquay |
| Performance marketing | Alisha Conlin-Hurd, Ramzy Ibrahim |
| Product marketing | Kayla Medica |
| LinkedIn and personal branding | Christopher Chow |
| Content marketing | James Norquay, Tim Reid |
| Small business marketing | Kate Toon, Tim Reid |
| Entrepreneurship | Tim Reid |
Final thoughts
There are thousands of people publishing marketing content in Australia, so this list could easily have been 50 people rather than 13. I've deliberately kept it relatively tight.
The best person to follow depends on what you're trying to learn. If you're interested in marketing science, start with Byron Sharp. If you want strategy, look at Mark Ritson. If you're learning SEO, follow Brodie Clark or Kate Toon. If you're working in B2B, there are several people here worth following.
The bigger point is to build your own marketing feed rather than relying on whatever the LinkedIn algorithm happens to put in front of you.
Who did I miss?
If there's a marketing influencer in Australia you think belongs on this list, let me know.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the top marketing influencers in Australia?
Some of the top marketing influencers in Australia in 2026 include Mark Ritson, Professor Byron Sharp, Christopher Chow, Eugene Healey, Brodie Clark, Kate Toon, Axel Sukianto, Kayla Medica.
The right person to follow depends on your area of marketing. Brand marketers, SEO specialists, B2B marketers and creators will naturally have different people at the top of their list.
Who is the best marketing influencer in Australia?
There isn't one objectively "best" marketing influencer in Australia. Mark Ritson and Byron Sharp are particularly influential in marketing strategy and marketing science, while specialists such as Brodie Clark, Kate Toon and Christopher Chow are more relevant to specific areas of digital, SEO and B2B marketing.
Who are the best Australian marketing influencers on LinkedIn?
For LinkedIn and B2B marketing, people worth following include Christopher Chow, Eugene Healey, Axel Sukianto, Kayla Medica and Norquay.
For broader marketing strategy, Mark Ritson and Byron Sharp are also worth following.
Who are the best Australian SEO influencers?
Brodie Clark and Kate Toon are two Australian marketers worth following for SEO. Their content covers different aspects of search, from technical and organic search through to practical SEO and copywriting.
Who should B2B marketers follow in Australia?
B2B marketers should consider following Christopher Chow, Eugene Healey, Axel Sukianto and Kayla Medica. Each brings a different perspective across growth, brand, community, product marketing and SaaS.
How do you become a marketing influencer?
Build expertise in a specific area, develop a clear point of view and consistently publish useful content. You don't need a huge audience to become influential. A smaller audience that trusts your expertise can be more valuable than a large audience that barely pays attention.
Are marketing influencers worth following?
Yes, provided you choose carefully. The best marketing influencers can help you discover new ideas, challenge your assumptions and stay current with changes in the industry. Don't judge them purely by follower count. Look for people who consistently demonstrate expertise and original thinking.
