What are the 4 types of marketing mix?

Even if you are a scrooge at Christmas time, you gotta still love the classic MnM holiday commercial. 

As the Red and Yellow MnMs round the corner from their hallway and walk into their living room, they run into Santa leaving gifts near the Christmas Tree. 

“Ah! He does exist!” – Red MnM

“They do exist!” – Santa

Both promptly faint, leaving the yellow MnM staring at them as they both lay on the floor. 

“Uh, Santa?” – Yellow MnM

This simple 15 second commercial cleverly used their marketing resources to create a marketing mix that has not only served the Mars company well since 1996, but has also become a part of Christmas nostalgia. 

So what can we learn from this classic commercial and their marketing strategy?

What are the 4 Ms of marketing mix?

The 4Ms of a marketing mix are: merchandise, market, message, and media.

Merchandise includes the products, services, people, or ideas. Really, whatever it is you are marketing, this is your merchandise. For the MnMs commercial, their “merchandise” are primarily MnMs, but they are also promoting Santa and gift giving in the Christmas campaign..

Market is the “to whom” you are marketing your merchandise. The MnM commercial is reaching out to those who celebrate a traditional, cultural Christmas (a twinkling tree, stockings by the chimney, Santa for their kids). 

Message is the story being told about your merchandise to the market. There is a lot of subtle messaging going on between the MnMs and Santa:

• MnMs are a great treat to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve.
• Santa IS real (nostalgia for adults/verification for kids).
• MnMs are friendly, funny, and relatable characters who celebrate Christmas just like us.

Media is where the message is being shared, to reach the market and promote the merchandise. The type of media you choose to utilize depends on all of the elements of your marketing mix. Mars chose a TV commercial as the primary media for their MnMs campaign. It has run every year, unchanged. You can find the MnM characters on point of sale materials (cardboard stands in stores and on the MnMs bags themselves). You can also buy the lovable MnMs Christmas character toys, going full circle back to merchandise.

Why is the marketing mix so important?

As you can see from the MnMs marketing mix example, the importance of the marketing mix cannot be underestimated. Done well, a clever and strategic campaign can provide a return on investment that lasts decades. The MnMs commercial, specifically, found success because they did their due diligence with the strategy that led to the commercial. 

Mars identified their merchandise clearly while leveraging the dreams and nostalgia of their market. They told a simple, fun story that resonated with their market, and placed the media that further fueled their nostalgia (Christmas movies, anyone?) and allowed repeatable success. 

What are the features of a marketing mix?

Don’t skip any of the elements of the marketing mix. Each part is critical to achieving success. 

Craft data-driven customer personas so that you know everything there is to know about your target audience. 

Conduct a thorough competitive analysis so that you know everything there is to know about what your competitors are doing in the market and how you can stand out among them. 

Establish brand voice guidelines that give you a clear story to tell that holds true to your brand, while also leveraging what you know about the market. 

Map out customer journeys that track where you are sharing your message and how it is being received.

Each of these marketing tools will solidify your strategy and lead you towards success.

What is the importance of marketing?

Hopefully the MnMs commercial helped you to better understand the concept of the marketing mix and the 4 Ms. While that campaign came from a national brand and has had incredible success, the concept can be applied to small businesses with a small budget.