Nov 112014
 
Window Trim Replacement on the BMW E39

The rubber window trim around the front and rear windshields of BMWs can cause owners heartburn. Sometimes called molding or gaskets, the rubber can dry up and deteriorate quickly, seemingly faster than on other cars. Here’s a long and passionate thread via Bimmerfest that stretches back to 2006 on the topic. The window trim doesn’t […]

Nov 022014
 
Calvert Woodley Fall Wine Sale

Having grown up in Connecticut, I’ve always loved fall. One fall tradition I really enjoy here in the greater Washington, DC region is the Calvert Woodley fall wine sale. When the weather turns cooler, I know their impressive catalogue will soon be arriving at my door. More than just a listing of sale items, it’s […]

Oct 282014
 
My New M3

Earlier this month I wrote about selling my 1999 M3, after almost 11 years of ownership. Here’s the car that made that happen — my “new” 2006 Interlagos Competition Package E46 M3. The purchase happened quickly, and involved a lot of serendipity. I wasn’t in the market for an E46 M3, which is the BMW […]

Oct 212014
 
Is Social Media Just Another Promotional Channel?

Content marketing and social media promotion — it’s hard to imagine one without the other. Once a company embraces a publisher mentality, it’s natural to use social media channels to engage your audience, build relationships with vertical influencers and provide a valuable feedback loop. Companies also use social media channels to promote their content to […]

Oct 132014
 
Selling My BMW E36 M3

A personal era closed out this past weekend. After almost 11 years of ownership, I sold my 1999 BMW E36 M3. It only has 62,500 miles, and is in pristine condition. Not only was it in great shape with loads of preventative maintenance, but over the years I made incremental  improvements — performance software, exhaust, […]

Oct 092014
 
Car Show at River Farm

This past weekend I attended a car show at River Farm, located off the George Washington Parkway in Alexandria. It’s a beautiful property on the banks of the Potomac river, and is the headquarters of the American Horticultural Society. The focus this morning however was cars, and there were some beauties. All makes were welcome. […]

Sep 262014
 
Content Marketing Interview with Carrie Majewski of Content Boost

Recently I had the pleasure of connecting with Carrie Majewski, Director of Content Marketing for Content Boost. In the Q&A below, we discuss what clients are looking for from content marketing and Carrie’s thoughts on how content marketing is evolving. Carrie also attended the recent Content Marketing World conference and shares some of her takeaways […]

Sep 212014
 
The Long Tail Wine Post

The rise of the Internet made popular the concept of the long tail — serving a great number of interests and niches individually small in number but collectively making up a significant population. A long tail strategy is the opposite of offering a few products broadly popular to a mass market. Long tail in the […]

Sep 082014
 
Paul Valliere BMW Interview -- Part Two

Welcome to part two of my interview with BMW enthusiast Paul Valliere. (You can listen to part one here.) In this conversation Paul and I hypothesize about the future for old-school BMW enthusiasts like ourselves. Here’s a heads up on my take written in 2011, and Paul raises some issues I hadn’t considered. We also […]

Sep 022014
 
BMW Enthusiast Interview with Paul Valliere -- Part One

Today I’m publishing part one of my interview with Paul Valliere. Paul is a long-time BMW enthusiast who owns three classic BMW M cars, one of them being the Euro-spec E36 M3 pictured above. Only 45 of these vehicles were imported to North America in 1994, and Paul has the official number one. Bimmer magazine […]

Aug 222014
 
How to Organize a Content Marketing Effort

More and more companies I talk to understand they need to adopt content marketing principles. What isn’t nearly as clear for most of them is exactly how to organize their efforts, and plan for how it will change their current marketing structure. The energetic folks at the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) recently published a report […]

Aug 112014
 
Obstacles to ROI-Driven Marketing

The Oracle/Eloqua All About Revenue blog published an interesting infographic recently, posted below. It contains data points from various sources that illustrate the challenges facing CMOs as they attempt to quantify the ROI of their marketing efforts. In many ways there has never been a better time to establish these metrics. The inherently data rich […]