Mark Schaefer
Mark Schaefer writes about marketing, community, and the human side of business through the {grow} blog, books including KNOWN and Marketing Rebellion, and talks and classes.
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Latest
Mark’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus their backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
Overview
- Work
- Author, marketing consultant, speaker, and educator
- Started
- Consulting business in 2008; {grow} blog in 2009
- Breakout idea
- Content Shock, published in January 2014
- Teaching
- Rutgers Business School executive education
Mini bio
How it started.
After a corporate career at Alcoa, Mark started a consulting business in 2008 and the {grow} blog in 2009. He expected to work with businesses in East Tennessee. Instead, readers found him around the world, and the blog opened the way to books and speaking.
An idea that traveled.
In January 2014, Mark published Content Shock, an argument about the growing supply of online content and the limits of people’s attention. In a tenth anniversary reflection, he described how the idea began with notes scribbled on a flight to Montreal.
People at the center.
His books explore different parts of the same conversation: KNOWN looks at building a personal brand, Marketing Rebellion focuses on human connections, and Belonging to the Brand examines community. Audacious and How AI Changes Your Customers bring that interest in people into his writing about AI.
Beyond the page.
Mark teaches through Rutgers Business School executive education and brings marketers together at The Uprising retreat. He also founded and hosted The Marketing Companion, sharing his final episode in December 2025 before handing the show to Sandy Carter.
Creditschronological, newest first
Books
- 2025How AI Changes Your CustomersAuthor
- 2025Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing WorldAuthor
- 2023Belonging to the BrandAuthor
- 2019Marketing RebellionAuthor
- 2017KNOWNAuthor
- 2012Return On InfluenceAuthor
Podcasts
- Through 2025The Marketing CompanionFounder and host; final episode 331
Awards
Quotes
I never published a perfect episode, but I kept publishing work I was proud of.Mark Schaefer, My Fond Farewell to The Marketing Companion
Reflecting on his final episode: https://businessesgrow.com/2025/12/29/marketing-companion/
Trivia
- Honey from his bees won a blue ribbon at the Tennessee State Fair, according to his official press kit.
- He studied under Peter Drucker for three years.
- He holds seven patents from his corporate career.
- His first watercolor class happened when he and his wife were snowed in at a mountain resort.
Find Mark
Keep up with Mark’s writing, talks, and creative experiments.
Are you Mark Schaefer?
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