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Direct response marketing doesn’t work. In fact, it doesn’t really even exist. Many marketers have suspected this for years, but haven’t really had the analytical tools to back up this sentiment.

Now, I know many will argue with this post and this assertion. There are probably litanies of “success stories” that showcase amazing direct response campaigns. But they’re all BS.

We don’t exist in a vacuum. There can be a direct response component to a larger campaign, but too often we hear clients (and less savvy marketers) say, “let’s just focus on direct response.”

Really??

Everyone who knows Nebo knows we take our donuts seriously.

So, for National Donut Day, we filled the office with dozens of treats from the best spot in Atlanta - Sublime Doughnuts (not that we needed a holiday as an excuse). But that was only the beginning of the celebration here at Nebo.

After the grazers of the office got their fill, two of our bravest and most confident eaters stepped up to the plate for a gut-busting, winner-take-all donut eating contest.

2007 was supposed to be the “Year of Mobile.” Then later that year it was said 2008 was “really” going to be the “Year of Mobile.” Then, 2009, 2010, etc. Each year predicts the same thing about the next, but the truth is we need to stop sitting around waiting for mobile to take off and start realizing that we’ve been in the Age of Mobile this whole time.

Last year, 30 percent of all web traffic occurred on mobile devices, and that number is expected to reach 50 percent by next year. In fact, in some industries that percentage is higher. Take your pick of statistics:

• There was a 40 percent increase in mobile purchases in 2012.
• 70% of mobile searches lead to an action within 1 hour.
• Soon, mobile devices will outnumber people—an 18-fold increase from 2011 to 2016.
• Americans spend more than two hours per day on mobile (nearly equaling television with just over 2.5 hours).

Every quarter the stats pour in, and it becomes clearer that the marketers, developers and digital agencies that aren’t devoting an equivalent portion of resources to mobile will quickly fall behind. So when crafting a mobile strategy, make sure it’s truly ready for the mobile age by considering how the following apply to your audience.

Anyone that knows me knows that my dog, Cami, is the most important thing in the world to me. Cami is incredibly smart and super sweet. She’s also very spoiled and thinks that she’s a person. As you can see in the picture below, she’s quite comfortable on the couch. Hence, it was time to get her a dog bed of her own.  Of course given her sophisticated tastes, I needed to find a dog bed that matched her lifestyle and worldview: stylish yet eco-friendly. Yes, she’s environmentally conscious as well as quite charitable. But, where to begin??

Every epic battle pits two worthy combatants in a winner-takes-all contest. Good versus bad. Protagonist versus antagonist. Many times there’s more hype than substance, but every now and then, we get to witness history.

The coming battle between Facebook’s soon-to-be unveiled Graph Search and Google’s search empire is being touted as one of the tech industry’s epic showdowns. Some people are even calling Graph Search the Google killer.