Marketing is a discipline where creativity meets the scientific rigor of quantitative research. Careful strategic planning, strong customer intuition, amazing storytelling abilities, and quantitative aptitude are all key to driving success.

But if you're just getting started, where should you look for advice? There are tons of marketing folks out there who claim to be experts. Who should you trust?

If you're running a startup or small business, you don't have time to waste. That's why we're presenting you with 5 of the experts!

From design to SEO, these experts will quickly become your best mentors and teachers.

1. Neil Patel - For Content Marketing and SEO Lovers

Neil Patel is a marketer who 'gets it'. That's because he's an entrepreneur, too. He's most famous for founding CrazyEgg, a software company that generates website heatmaps and KISSmetrics, a website analytics platform. Patel's core marketing strengths are in three key areas: conversion optimization, content marketing, and SEO. His blog posts are especially valuable for marketers who want the backstory, analysis, and conceptual how-tos.

2. Oli Gardner - For The Visually Interested

Oli Gardner is a master of all things visual. He's the co-founder and creative director at Unbounce, a company that specializes in simple and elegant landing page creation. In his writings, he commonly provides roundups of awesome landing page examples as well as areas for potential improvement. He knows how to take something top-notch and make it even better. Be sure to check out his work at the Unbounce Blog.

3. Kristi Hines - For Practical Marketers

Kristi Hines is a marketing writer who has positioned herself as somewhat of a web celebrity. Primarily a freelance blogger, she writes for some of the industry's best marketing blogs including Social Media Examiner, the KISSmetrics blog, and Search Engine Watch. Her specialty includes incredibly detailed, step-by-step how-tos. For the practical marketer, her work is an absolute gem.

4. Pamela Vaughan - For Generalists

If you're remotely interested in the field of marketing, the HubSpot blog has probably come across your radar. As a company, HubSpot is a marketing go-to, and Pamela Vaughan is the editor behind the inbound marketing firm's influential presence. Pamela seamlessly integrates many experts and authors to present a wide variety of great marketing material in HubSpot's blog. Her philosophy? Extremely high quality and award-winning work, always.

5. Joanna Wiebe - For Startup Writers

This copywriter has committed her career to teaching startups how to write great copy. Her company, CopyHackers, provides more than consultative services. They've developed a suite of ebooks, videos, and guides for leaders who need insight into improving their storytelling. Joanna's experience has taken her from agencies to big companies like Intuit to co-founding a writer community.

There you have it. Five stellar marketers who will lead the way on your quest to become the best marketer around. They'll instill you with the vision, knowledge, and skills to succeed.

We'd love to hear who you go to for marketing expertise. Who's a great expert for us to follow?