This weekend we caught up with some old friends over dinner at Le Diplomate. This relatively new French place in the Logans Circle area of DC has received a lot of good press and it was on our list for places to try. So when my best friend’s wife picked it for his surprise birthday […]
The technology publishing company GigaOm closed its doors last Tuesday. As a consultant working in the technology space for many years, this news really struck me. Back in the day I’d occasionally pitch GigaOm for my technology clients. You really had to know the space to have any chance, which I always respected. And way […]
Good question – why are they? This was the title of a conversation thread started recently on Bimmerfest.com. The conversation crystallizes perfectly the gulf of understanding between old school BMW enthusiasts and the majority of new BMW purchasers today. The original poster (OP in forum lingo) cannot fathom why anyone would be excited about an […]
When putting a marketing effort together, it’s important to understand how various types of content contribute to the overall campaign. I’ve written previously about the PESO acronym for content types — Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned. This way of looking at content makes it easier to distinguish the different types and how they complement each […]
A fantastic source for information on Pinot Noir is The Prince of Pinot, published by retired physician William “Rusty” Gaffney. Since retiring from his practice in 2001, Dr. Gaffney has written the PinotFile, an online newsletter exclusively devoted to Pinot Noir. As a retired doctor, Gaffney has long been interested in research attempting to document […]
Here’s one of the best, most succinct videos I’ve seen defining quality content marketing. It was done by a former client of mine, George Stenitzer. A few years back Tellabs, a manufacturer of telecom and optical networking equipment based near Chicago was a major client of mine. I have telecom experience so I enjoyed the […]
Things have been quiet on the BMW M car front for me lately. That’s a very good thing to be able to say, but it hasn’t left me much to write about on the Wheels front. Last week a small issue surfaced that reminded me some DIY fixes can be very simple. The driver side […]
To be an effective marketing consultant today, you have to embrace continual learning. That’s something that is easy to say, but hard to do. It’s hard to follow through on for two main reasons — human nature and time. We all say we will pursue continual learning, but human nature prefers to focus time and […]
2014 was another successful year for chrisparente.com. I’d like to say thank you to all of my visitors, and I wish you all the best in 2015. 2014 was a year of transition for me. Early in the year I launched my own content marketing firm, StoryTech Consulting LLC. I’m very happy to say the […]
Last week Gabriele and I enjoyed a special wine dinner event. Merry Edwards, one of the most respected and recognized producers of California Pinot Noir, was in town and attending a dinner featuring her wines. The event was held at La Bergerie in Old Town Alexandria. Merry Edwards was a pioneer in producing high quality […]
BMW November sales numbers for North America have just been released. Month to month sales were down 2.3 percent, though year to year BMW sales are still up 9.7 percent. It’s been a good year for BMW but sales have definitely cooled since I looked at the March and May sales numbers. Looking behind the […]
Last week I registered for a webinar featuring Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs and best-selling author. The presentation was a distillation of her new book Everybody Writes. An unexpected client issue prevented me from attending the webinar, but thankfully Ann (and Marketo) sent the presentation to us no-shows. I’ve known Ann a long time. […]