Oct 292013
 
What's Your Wine Manifesto?

My latest wine column went live today on WashingtonExec. In it I review the wine manifesto laid out by Jaime Goode, a long time wine blogger and wine columnist for the U.K. newspaper The Sunday Express. It’s natural to get passionate about wine. Some of Jaime’s points are good one in my opinion, others not […]

Oct 252013
 
Content Marketing to Support Sales

Earlier this month my partner Marc Hausman spoke at the Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, organized by Pulse Networks. As part of his address, the conference produced a video with Marc on five tips for aligning your content marketing efforts to support sales. Marc does a great job in the video distilling principles I’ve talked […]

Oct 232013
 
Fall is Wine Season at Calvert Woodley

Calvert Woodley Wine and Spirits is an institution in Washington D.C., with a history dating back to 1949. Every fall the store publishes a wine catalog chock full of great values and lots of information about all kinds of wine. Click here to download your copy. For a long time I despaired of finding good […]

Oct 202013
 
Instrument Cluster Removal on the BMW E39

Pixel failure is a common problem on the BMW E39 5 Series. My friend Steve’s cluster was going bad on his 2002 525 Sport, and he wasn’t happy about how much a brand new cluster would cost from BMW. So he decided to explore aftermarket repair options. He decided to go with a company called […]

Oct 162013
 
Content Without Distribution Equals Failure

Recently there has been good coverage of how critical distribution is for a content marketing strategy. This is something I talk to clients about often. There is no “build it and they will come” with content marketing, no matter how good your content may be. Forrester came out with a new report early this month […]

Oct 132013
 
The Challenges of the Hybrid Marketer

The role of marketing has changed dramatically over the past five years. That was the message loud and clear when my agency organized a roundtable discussion on the challenges faced by our clients. We spoke with senior level marketers from 3Pillar Global, Mandient, Blue Coat Systems and the Immix Group. The term hybrid marketer was […]

Oct 092013
 
Three Worthy New Reds

Recently I’ve enjoyed three new red wines. One was a Bordeaux that continues the theme of 2009 as a great value year for Bordeaux. One was a California Cabernet Sauvignon that was pleasantly atypical, and the other was an excellent California Pinot Noir. I wrote last year about 2009 petit chateaux Bordeaux wines and how […]

Oct 022013
 
Everyone Needs to Get Social, Not Just Marketing

I saw an interesting story in Fortune this week with the catchy title “The Social Media Manager is Dead – Long Live Social Media.” Citing a number of other sources, the article argues that social media is spreading into all areas of the corporation, making the consolidation of social media responsibility in one person redundant […]

Sep 282013
 
Replacing the Cabin Microfilter on My BMW E36 M3

Last year I performed the 60,000 mile tune-up on my E36 M3 myself. I replaced the air filter, the fuel filter, the sparks plugs and I cleaned the mass air filter. There was one replacement I didn’t do at the time, partly because I knew it would be a real pain in the butt. That […]

Sep 242013
 
Kimpton Debunks the Hotel Restaurant Stereotype

WashingtonExec published my latest Wine and Dine column today. I talk about the common bias against hotel restaurants, and how that shouldn’t dictate your dining decisions. Case in point are two excellent meals we had recently at Jackson 2o and Morrison House Grille, two properties in Old Town Alexandria managed by the Kimpton hotel chain.  […]

Sep 222013
 
Wine and New gTLDs -- Do They Go Well Together?

This week I saw an article in Decanter via Nick Stephens’ Bordeaux Undiscovered site.  The story combined two things I write about here – wine and new generic top level domains, or gTLDs. I last reported on gTLDs back in March — their rollout has been repeatedly delayed. Partly this is due to the kind […]

Sep 182013
 
OutBrain Promises Content Success for Publishers and Brands

  On this site I talk regularly about content marketing, and the need for online media properties to find new revenue streams. Yesterday I was given a product demo from a company called OutBrain that promises benefits on both fronts. OutBrain could be viewed as an AdSense network for content, as opposed to advertising. It’s […]