2001 Debunker Newsletters

Resume Redux and the 2001 NoSpin "Spin" Awards—December 17, 2001

Back in the summer I wrote a couple of Debunkers (July 30th Debunker and August 6th Debunkers) about the topic of "resume embellishment." Well, George O'Leary, recently fired and 5-day coach of Notre Dame, should have listened. More about resume embellishment and why cutting "Spin" may be a good New Years Resolution for 2002 for some businesses and individuals. Read more.

Give Your Web Site Visitors a Reason to Return—December 10, 2001

OK, a new visitor just clicked on your web site. If you're lucky, he or she will spend more than 20-30 seconds perusing your homepage and perhaps clicking to other pages. But did you give that person a compelling reason(s) to return to your site after that first visit? This debunker recommends a number of dynamic I-content options for you to consider for your web site. Read more.

Caught in Web Site Purgatory? Getting Beyond Brochure-Ware—December 3, 2001

Thousands of B2B web sites are caught in sort of web site purgatory: as "brochure-ware". Brochure-ware can give the illusion of a serious company and serious web site, and they can look good and cost a lot of money. But they are a waste of time and resources. NoSpin recommends two alternatives for businesses that want to escape web site purgatory. Read more.

The Forgotten “P” of Marketing—November 26, 2001

In many companies more than 80% of their ongoing marketing effort involves only one “P” of marketing: Promotions. Too often, Marketing Departments have little to do with the actual products (and services), their pricing, and distribution mechanisms (place) for the products that your business sells. Product is THE forgotten Marketing “P”—check out debunker myths about products as they relate to marketing. Read more.

Have you married your messages? —November 19, 2001

A lot of businesses “marry their messages” even though their products and services change, their customers change, their competitors change, and their marketplaces change. Messages tend to lag behind the realities of a business and often become albatrosses for a company’s marketing and sales. Here are some helpful hints for divorcing messages that you don’t need and developing new messages to help you sell. Read more.

Business Mentors—a dying breed? —November 12, 2001

How many business mentors have you had over the past dozen years of your career? Do some people just think they've had a mentor--when they really haven't? This week's NoSpin poll asks that question. Will your answers debunk my debunker about business mentors? We'll see. Read more.

The Rise of I-Commerce, Content Part III—November 5, 2001

The E Commerce Special Section of the Wall Street Journal Reports this past week (Monday October 29, 2001) is entitled: "The Rise of I-Commerce-- Companies are discovering that giving consumers information online is as valuable as making a sale." Find out what a flour company and several others are doing to provide compelling information content that enhances their companies’ respective commerce. Read more.

Web sites are like kids and dogs, Content Part II—October 29, 2001

Your homepage is your most critical content and "context" page. You’ve usually have less than a half-minute to get someone’s attention. Here are a few homepage content myths and helpful hints. Read more.

Content is King, Part I)—October 22, 2001

There are no easy, cookbook recipes for a business to develop the optimal web site as a part of its own marketing and business strategy. But there are some helpful hints to start you on that path. Effective content is clear, concise, deep, without jargon, well organized, accurate, consistent, dynamic, positive, searchable, interactive, entertaining, interesting…Read more.

Marketing-only web sites: What’s the point? —October 15, 2001

There are plenty of reasons that the web should be part of every company’s marketing strategy—even if you don’t sell or deliver products/services directly. Effective Marketing-only sites: differentiate your company, products, and services; forces a dynamic marketing discipline on your company; enables you to leverage and complement your marketing content efforts; saves you significant print dollars; lets you communicate more effectively than print or other marketing vehicles; provides a basis to graduate to a sales and/or delivery web site. Read more.

Web Site Strategy 101—Oct 8, 2001

All business web sites are about commerce—connecting buyers and sellers. There are three primary rationales for business sites: 1) marketing 2) sales 3) and delivery of product/services--Marketing is the prerequisite for all sites. Read more.

You’ve got a web site, but do you have a web site strategy? —October 1, 2001

Take a look at what the Target Corporation has done in developing its web site strategy. Unfortunately, many companies don’t have a web site strategy--Also take a look at several flawed reasons for having a business web site. Read more.

Who’s really in charge of your web site? —September 24, 2001

The majority of business web sites are a waste of time. They are boring, uninformative, non-interactive, and disingenuous in their attempts to sell products and services. One big reason is that the wrong people are in charge: web sites should be under the purview of Marketing and not IT--of course that assumes you have a good marketer. Read more.

Results of the CEO PC Proficiency Poll—September 3, 2001

Here are the results and commentary of the latest NoSpin Poll that starts with the question: "Rate your CEO’s PC proficiency from 1=Can’t turn on a PC to 5=extremely handy; uses multiple software programs." Read more.

Part III of the series: IT: Guardians of the Status Quo? —August 27, 2001

Based on responses of Debunkers readers, Part III offers some advice to IT professionals, non-IT managers, IT vendors for communicating better and not getting so stuck in the status quo. Read more.

Part II of the series: IT: Guardians of the Status Quo? —August 20, 2001

Part II continues the dialogue regarding readers’ ideas about why IT departments tend to be defenders of the status quo—or do they? Read more.

Part I of the series—IT: Guardians of the Status Quo? —August 13, 2001

I asked a couple dozen Debunker readers: "Why do so many IT (or IS, MIS) departments love the status quo so much-why are they so reticent to change and make a leap forward to improve efficiency, costs, etc?". Here is Part I of the results based on what they said. Read more.

Resume Embellishment Poll Results—August 6, 2001

Results from last week’s poll regarding resume embellishment including: Nearly 4 in 5 respondents said that they personally knew someone who had "embellished" their resume…and more. Read more.

Employees as Spinners: Resume Embellishment—July 30, 2001

It was in the news again this past week--people who just can’t help themselves: embellish, exaggerate, or lie about their resumes and backgrounds. Some initial comments about fibbing on resumes and debunker poll about resume embellishment. Read more.

The Competitor Conundrum—July 23, 2001

Everyone has them—competitors—but a lot of businesses seem puzzled and/or puzzling about their attitude toward their respective competitors. Should you love ‘em, hate ‘em, worry about them constantly, copy them, or just ignore them and go about your business? Or what? Read more.

The End of Marketing As We Know It—July 16, 2001

The third of three book reviews: "The End of Marketing As We Know It by Sergio Zyman, former CMO of Coke—a really good foundation to think strategically about your marketing. Read more.

The Cluetrain Manifesto—July 9, 2001

A review of "The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual" by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger is a very anti-corporate, pro-business read for anyone who wants to get a clue about the Internet—the second in a series of book reviews. Read more.

The Tipping Point—July 2, 2001

The first of three book reviews—this one is about "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell shows convincingly that very seemingly small, subtle things can make a monumental difference that "tip" the balance and cause social epidemics, ideas, or even marketing campaigns to spread like wildfires. Read more.

MIA: The Golden Rule—June 25, 2001

What accounts for the deterioration of everyday business behavior and ethics over the last few years? This debunker examines the denigration of the Golden Rule in business and some reasons why. Read more.

Partying On: Insanity or Just Stupidity? —June 18, 2001

The gist of a recent WSJ article was that a number of companies (primarily technology types) are spending a half million bucks and up for one evening of caviar, martinis, big name music groups, amusement rides in the Superdome and other exorbitant stuff to schmooze their customers. Has nothing been learned? Read more.

Drinking Corporate Kool-Aid—June 11, 2001

A lot of businesses, young and mature, can’t avoid drinking the corporate Kool-Aid. Is your business or one you know letting the Kool-Aid destroy your business? Read more.

Bad Blood—or Primo Marketing—June 4, 2001

Employees should be your best marketers (and not just your top managers). But companies continue to institutionalize bad blood between employees and "corporation" with non-compete agreements. It’s a business choice: bad blood or primo marketing. Read more.

How Much to Invest in Marketing? —May 28, 2001

Marketing is not a "nice-to-have." It’s an investment in your business that sells more product and increases profits. But there is no textbook formula that dictates the right amount of money to invest in your marketing efforts. How much should you invest? Read more.

Beware "Solutions"—May 21, 2001

One of the worst examples of corporate jargon that is still rampant across the technology world is the use of the word, "solutions." Beware. Read more.

A "Quality" Problem? —May 7, 2001

The first ever Debunker. Sometimes you get what you ask for: more business. But can you handle that kind of "quality" problem? Read more.