Technology. It’s supposed to be a marketer’s friend -- the tool that democratizes and empowers marketing everywhere. Except ... how often does that happen?

Instead of empowering, it paralyzes. Marketers see all the choices -- marketing automation, social media, landing pages, content management systems, pay-per-click platforms, social tracking tools, social publishing tools, social advertising tools, marketing analytics, lead management tools, lead tracking tools -- they get overwhelmed, and they freeze or veer off course into a doomed solution.

You need people to email, and you need them quickly. Oh, and if you could make them pretty cheap, that'd be great, too.

That's the mindset many marketers find themselves in when they're on the phone with a list-purchasing company. Acting on that moment of desperation, however, will cause them more long-term (and short-term) harm than good.

We marketers are known for launching and running various campaigns. But like lots of other terms in our industry -- 'engagement,' 'brand equity,' 'virality' --  what an inbound marketing campaign actually is sometimes seems like sort of a mystery.

This is a guest post from Steve Lazuka, founder of Interact Media, the software development firm behind the Zerys Content Marketplace and question-and-answer website, YoExpert.

If you read this blog regularly, you understand the impact inbound marketing and, more specifically, content creation have on a business' lead generation and customer acquisition efforts.

More and more marketers are jumping on the mobile-optimization bandwagon, but it's important to remember that being a mobile inbound marketer extends beyond simply having a mobile-friendly website. If you haven't thought about optimizing your email marketing for mobile yet, your email marketing program may face some seriously sad results.