The Mystique is Gone

That's what Jay Conrad Levison said in his keynote address at this year's Growth 2.0 Conference this morning. In fact, he says that for small businesses, traditional marketing is the least effective form of marketing. It's too expensive, linear, selfish and detached.

Instead, Levinson says that small businesses take advantage of the differences between guerrilla and traditional marketing. Differences like improved customer service and connectivity, following up after the sale, communicating ideas instead of logos and collaborating with competitors.

He also talked about giving. Traditional marketing is usually about the company, not the customer. Levinson says that making emotional connections and delivering value to customers is more effective than telling customers how great your product is. Customers want to feel personally invested and purchasing decisions are ultimately emotionally motivated.

Customers also want to be part of a conversation. Traditional marketing is a monologue. This doesn't work anymore. The internet enables people to provide immediate feedback and a dialogue between companies and their customers. It's important for companies to engage with customers using social media and other forms of technology.

He left us with these 20 words and a guarantee that employing these words will result in successful business building:

• Commitment
• Investment
• Consistent
• Confident
• Patient
• Assortment
• Convenient
• Subsequent
• Amazement
• Measurement
• Involvement
• Dependent
• Armament
• Consent
• Content
• Augment
• Congruent
• Experiment
• Enlightenment
• Implement