There are numerous digital marketing techniques spanning just as many platforms -- email, social media, blogging, website optimization, video, and so on..

(Editor’s note: This is Part 2 in a two-part series about how a relationship with an inbound marketing consulting firm can fail. In Part 1 we covered five ways the client can be at fault in a failed partnership.)

Hashtags: One of the most underrated marketing tools there is. While many may see these as a trendy joke to post with your highest-quality photo of a dessert, they actually play a massive role in your social media content creation and audience reach.

You're kinda small, and your competition is very, very large. What's a small business to do? Although it might seem like a losing battle, small business SEO services can provide some aces for your sleeves. 

If you’ve seen any ad lately, chances are there’s something hashtagged in it. 

Hashtags have become a standard part of marketing campaigns. They’re a quick and simple way to maximize the reach of a piece of content.

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Log into any social media platform and you’ll see them -- hashtags. 

To the untrained or unfamiliar eye, words preceded by a hashtag may just seem like something done for emphasis or to be funny. In actuality, hashtags are part of a much larger world within the social media universe and are absolutely critical to social media advertising.

Change happens daily for marketing and sales teams, and it can be difficult to keep track of every single contact and their information. And once you combine the number of contacts you have with the different stages of the sales cycle, you can quickly become overwhelmed.

This is where B2B marketing automation tools come in.

(This guest post is written by Curt Anderson, founder of B2Btail, author, and noted LinkedIn influencer.)

It’s not a question anymore whether you should be on LinkedIn, it’s now how you should be on LinkedIn.

Although you may feel comfortable with your current profile, are you truly maximizing your business opportunities on LinkedIn?

There's a common misconception that hiring an agency to do your marketing is much more expensive than handling it internally.

The trick about marketing is that it's not one single job that you're paying someone to do. There are many tasks and responsibilities that require a variety of skill sets. The salary of an individual who can do all of those things effectively is much higher than a monthly agency retainer fee. Hands down.

"Marketing" is one word that encompasses a lot of components and gears and creative production. You may decide to outsource some of those pieces, while taking care of others in-house. So, the real question you want to ask yourself is: What parts of my inbound marketing strategy do I need to outsource, and which can I do internally?

For some of our clients, they can't do anything internally. Whether it's a matter of time, resources, or ability, they're simply unable to take care of their marketing strategies on their own.

Other clients have some experience with different aspects of marketing, plus a little extra time to churn those bits out. They take care of those pieces, and we handle the unfamiliar territory.

So, what are the different pieces that need work? How do you know if you can handle them yourself, or if you should hire an expert? Let's take a look.

Large investments typically cause sticker shock. We get it. We hate sticker shock too. But if you make a smart investment, it really ends up paying for itself.