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Marketing avenues have grown immensely in recent years, days and even hours with a constant flow of fresh forms of media and innovations, popping up all over the place. Interactive in-store promotions, new retail POS systems allowing space for major innovation, hyper-tags, e-coders, mobile bar-coded vouchers, skype, online magazines, my space, you tube, facebook, viral marketing, pod casting, mobizines and blogging, to name but a few.

Consumers are now taking the driver's seat in the marketing industry, knowing the power they hold and taking ownership of brands, altering the way we approach consumers in terms of how we connect with them is being revised, as the outdated 4 P's of marketing just don't cut it! Sure, for today's marketing strategies to even see the light of day, you have to know your product, price, place and promotion, but to be quite blunt; these have become hygiene factors in the bringing of your product to life in a differentiated and relevant manner. In order for marketers to now ensure their products are ahead of the pack and their marketing opportunities are properly optimized, you need to play by the revised rules the 6C's of marketing'.
Customers - with consumers taking centre stage marketing strategies are now focused on understanding the consumers as individual people, considering their wants, needs and desires. Crucial here is to differentiate between customers, consumers and shoppers, and in each case knowing the person will shed a great deal of light on how their behavior can be managed and/or changed.
Consistency is of utmost importance, ensuring that all elements of the brand are consistent with the message. This will reinforce the brand in the minds of the consumer, known an integrated marketing communications.
Creativity through imaginative marketing consumer attention can be captured, and in a world tangled with messages and the bombarding media this is imperative. Creativity makes marketing more vivid, which is a good thing as this attracts attention, maintains interest and stimulates consumer's thinking. Quite simply, creativity informs, persuades and reinforces marketing messages.
Culture to reach the consumer one must speak their language, this is where the marketing communicator's cross-culture' research comes into play. Understanding the consumer's culture will unlock how the consumer thinks, enabling marketers to persuade the consumer to purchase a product or service effortlessly. It goes without saying that

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