Marketing Essentials Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of McDonald's marketing strategies, covering key marketing functions, their interrelationship with other departments, and a detailed marketing plan. It also includes a comparison of McDonald's marketing mix with KFC, highlighting the tactics used to achieve business objectives.

Marketing Essentials

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Key roles and responsibilities of marketing function.............................................................1
P2 Interrelationship of marketing with other functions...............................................................3
M1. Roles and responsibility of marketing function...................................................................5
M2 Importance of interrelationship between Marketing and other functional unit.....................5
D1 Analysis of marketing functions and their interrelationship with other units........................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P3. Usage of marketing mix in marketing planning process.......................................................6
M3. Different tactics applied by McDonald's to achieve business objectives:............................9
D2. use of 7P's to achieve marketing objectives of McDonald's.................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P4. Marketing plan of McDonald's............................................................................................10
M4. Marketing plan for McDonald's.........................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the set of activities such as promotions, distribution and selling of
product & services to fulfil end user's need in an most efficient way. Main aim of marketing
function is to influence customer to purchase its product or services using various promotional
methods and to retain them for long term by providing support services(Pappa, 2014) . MC
Donald's is a worlds largest restaurant chain in terms of revenue and company was established in
year 1940, headquarter in America. It deals in fast food products like French fries, cheese
burgers, chicken products etc. Company also added foods like salads, fish, smoothies and fruits
in its menu to deal with the increasing trend of healthy food. This project includes descriptions of
roles and responsibility that a manager have to perform while operating its marketing functions
along with their inter connection to functional department of an organisation. It also explain
marketing mix of MC Donald's in comparison with KFC. In addition to this, assignment contains
the marketing plan that help MC Donald's to achieve its planned objective.
TASK 1
P1 Key roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Marketing refers to the transfer of goods and services from manufacturer of product to
final consumer to satisfy their needs and preferences. It include promoting, selling and delivering
of goods and services to customer's place in an most efficient manner. Marketing manager of MC
Donald's performs several marketing function with the aim to create value for customer and
develop relationship with them. Following are the key roles and responsibilities that an manager
of MC Donald's must follow while performing marketing functions: Pricing:- Price refers to the amount that a manufacturer of product will get on exchange
of goods and services. This is the most essential part of marketing as it affect directly
over the profitability and growth of organisation. Price of a product is set according to its
quality, quantity and service or benefit it offer to the customer( Functions of Marketing,
2018). MC Donald's follows price bundling strategy in which they offer more than one
product (combo pack) as a deal with relatively low price to attract customers. Its main
objective behind this strategy is to maximize the market share. Promotion:- It refers to the set of activities that is used by marketing manager in order to
communicate about product and services, its brand to its potential users. Main aim behind
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it is to make people informed and to introduce and attract them toward its offering. MC
Donald's spend more over promotional activities to attract more customers by
communicating to them about offer provided and new items added to their menu. It uses
promotional strategies like advertisement, sales promotions, public relations and direct
selling. Its advertisements are most notable for which it uses various sources like TV,
radio, banners, print media and internet. MC Donald's also attract its customer using sales
promotion where it offer discount coupons and combo packs for certain products. Distribution network:- It refers to the chain of intermediaries consists of storage facilities
and transportation systems who supply goods and services to customer. This factor
indicates the venue or location where the firms products are offered. MC Donald's most
prominent place for product distribution are Restaurants, Kiosks, Post-mates websites and
app, MC Donald's mobile app(Tyre, 2015). Customers can order food over Post-mates
websites or mobile application which allow them to get product over special offers. MC
Donald's restaurant are the place where company earn most of its sales revenue. Marketing information system:- MIS refers to the system that collect, analyse and gather
marketing information from internal and external sources of organisation. It help in
decision making and to identify various approaches that leads to company's growth.
Marketing manager of MC Donald's gather information to determine current and future
demand that help in aligning the product to satisfying customer need. This system help in
identifying factors like changing demand and preferences of customer, trends in
promotional activities, competitor's initiatives, change in distribution practices etc. Selling:- Selling refers to the transaction between the seller and the customer where
goods and services are exchange for money. MC Donald's is more focused on provi8ding
satisfactory product and their services to customer for capturing larger share of market. It
always marketing mix provide different offers, coupons and discounts over their product
to reduce competitions. Company uses several marketing strategies to increase its sales
and earn profit by maximizing sales. MC Donald's follows market penetration strategy to
attract more customer by lowering price of its product on regular time interval. Product and service management:- It refers to managing the proper mix of product and
services to provide valuable services to their customer for satisfying them. It also provide
various marketing opportunities that help in maximizing revenue of the firm. MC
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Donald's offer such product that satisfy needs of different customers. For instance MC
Donald's offer its burger at low price with good taste and in three difference sizes.
 Financing:- It refers to the investment of fund over various business activities in hope of
getting desired result in future( Vellas, 2016). Main responsibility of financial
department is to generate fund from available sources and then allocate fund to financing
various operations of an organisation. For financing various activities like promotion,
distribution, warehouse etc. an marketing manager of MC Donald's must have an proper
co ordination and communication with finance department. It help in developing budget
report and other plans so that they have fund in advance for financing these marketing
activities. It results in minimizing the cost of MC Donald's and help in maximizing the
profit.
P2 Interrelationship of marketing with other functions
Marketing is a process that includes set of activities by which company create customer's
interest in product and services. It includes formulation of strategies to decide sales and
promotional techniques to be used in order to make customer aware about product and to sale
them in order to fulfil market demand. But marketing function doesn't exist in isolation, its
operations are interdependent with other functional unit of a company. Functions of all the units
within an organisation are customer centric and have common goal to satisfy customer.
Following points describe the inter relationship between marketing and other department of MC
Donald's are Human resource management and marketing :- HRM is responsible for managing staff
of the organisation by performing functions like recruitment, selection, training,
performance management, payrolls etc. Marketing department is very much dependent
upon HR unit for recruiting competent staff to perform marketing functions. Therefore,
there must be an proper coordination & communication between marketing and HR unit
of MC Donald's, as HR will assist marketing manager in arranging interviews, induction
and training of employees. Research & development and marketing :- R&D department works for performing
research over market and determine trends prevailing over there. Its main aim is to
develop new and innovative product or improving the existing product to remain
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competitive in market( Wiktor, 2014).. This unit is closely link with marketing function
as it provide information related to market segment of MC Donald's that help in
satisfying the customer by providing product as per the customer's preferences. MC
Donald's perform several surveys over market through R&D department to determine the
needs of customer and try to innovate their products. Company tries to be unique in their
offerings by adding different flavours in their existing product and new items in their
menu. Finance and marketing :- Finance department is responsible for managing the fund of
organisation and allocating capital required to perform various business operations.
Marketing is department is depend upon this unit as it required large amount of fund to
finance its activities like promotions, distribution etc. MC Donald's performs several
promotional activities to create Brand awareness and attract more customers like TV
commercials, Banner displays, public relation campaign etc. To perform these operations
marketing manager must have an proper communication with finance department so that
they can formulate budget plan to estimate amount required.(Järvinen and Taiminen.,
2016). It help in identifying fund to be used and assist them in reducing cost in best
possible manner to increase revenue of the firm. Production and Marketing :- Functions of both department are interlinked with one
another. Role of production unit is to develop product with required quality and quantity
specified by customer, on the other hand marketing unit is responsible for promoting and
introducing product for attracting customer and influencing them to purchase it. MC
Donald's is high depend over production department for its market growth, as revenue of
company depends upon the quality of product developed by production department. Sales and marketing:- These two functions are inter connected with each other. Role of
sales department is to sale goods and services to customer as per their demand. Marketing
manager of MC Donald's target customers using appropriate marketing strategy and then
pursuing them to purchase goods and services. It doesn't sale products rather it target the
people and position the product which is then sell by the sales department. Customer service and marketing :- Customer service provision is responsible for
performing several activities to satisfy customer and maintain long term relationship with
them. This function is very much integrated with marketing unit as it facilitate exchange
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of goods by ensuring customer satisfaction. Customer service is an very essential part of
MC Donald's as it provide detail about the need and problems that may be faced by
consumers. It also help company in retaining customer by providing them with product as
per their requirement and by making them available with online services to deliver
product quickly.
 Distribution and marketing :- Role of distribution department is to make product
available to the end user in the most efficient manner and on time. This function uses a
chain of intermediaries through which product it transferred from the manufacturer to its
final user( Ooi and Yazdanifard, 2015). Marketing department of MC Donald's
determines the need of customers and collect their orders over mobile application which
are then fulfilled by distribution department by delivering product on required time,
quality & quantity.
M1. Roles and responsibility of marketing function
Marketing refers to the flow of product and services started from manufacturer of goods
through various intermediaries to final consumer of product. Main objective of marketing
manager is to fulfil customer's need and preference in an most efficient manner by providing
valuable services. Roles and responsibility of marketing manger toward MC Donald's is to
manage a balance between demand and supply of products in order to achieve maximum benefit
along with customer satisfaction. Company uses several promotional activities such as
advertisements, print media, sales promotion, public relation etc. to attract more customer by
providing its food at more affordable price using coupons and discount strategy.
M2 Importance of interrelationship between Marketing and other functional unit
Main aim of marketing function is to make customer available with product that can
satisfy their demand, but it is not the only responsibility of marketing department rather customer
satisfaction is the overall objective of an organisation. Therefore the functions of all the
department like Human resource management, Finance, Production, Sales and R&D are inter
linked with one another. Communication among these departments are very essential for proper
functioning of an organisation. Coordination among marketing and finance department of MC
Donald's is very essential as it help marketing manager in estimating fund needed by various
marketing activities. It help MC Donald's to develop strategies that can reduce cost and
maximize profit of an organisation.
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D1 Analysis of marketing functions and their interrelationship with other units
Marketing department has to perform several functions like setting price of the product,
promotion, managing distribution channels, selling, product and service management etc. But
these functions are inter linked with other functional unit of the MC Donald's. So, there should
be a proper communication between other functional unit of a company which provides better
functioning and enhance the performance. By maintaining proper coordination among marketing
and R&D department MC Donald's can achieve higher market share and maximum revenue. As
R&D provides information related to the customer's need and issues they are facing regarding the
quality and service offered by company. It help marketing department to improve their product
as well as services and to best satisfy their customer's preferences.
TASK 3
P3. Usage of marketing mix in marketing planning process
It refers to the set of activities or strategies which an organisation uses to promote its
brand and product in the market. Marketing mix is consist of 7P's that are- Price, product,
promotion, place, process, people, physical evidence. This is concept which means ensuring right
product at right place and at the right time. It is very important for manager to know about every
aspect related to business plan. In McDonald's, they are also use 7P's for achieving their goals.
As it is leading company therefore it is compared with various organisation so, the firm requires
to conduct a marketing mix through which they know about their market position. McDonald's
having many competitors in the market such as Dominos, Burger King, Subway, KFC etc.
Currently McDonald's facing tough competition with KFC as they are providing good product
and services to consumer.
The comparison of marketing mix of McDonald's and KFC is as follows:-
Basis McDonald's KFC
Product Company offers wide range of
products such as
cheeseburgers, hamburgers,
big mac, filet-o- fish, various
chicken sandwich, wraps &
French fries and chicken Mc
It is one of the popular fast
food joint which is specialist in
burgers. KFC offers various
products to its costumers such
as Chicken burger, variety of
finger foods like crispy
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Nuggets. The firm also provide
salads, shakes, sundaes, soft
drinks, coffee, Mc cafe
beverages and various other
beverages, etc.
chicken strips and hot wings,
popcorn chicken, chicken
nuggets, krusher frozen
beverages, French fries, bread
rolls, salads, PepsiCo soft
drinks and pressure fried
chicken. Company recently
launches Flaming crunch
chicken. It also provide wide
range of desserts also that are
choamor, soft wirl and
brownie sundae, etc.
Place There are more than 36258
McDonald's restaurants in
more than 119 countries
(Brennan and et. al., 2014).
Company mostly operates
from busy places such as
highways, malls, markets, etc.
The main reason is choosing
these places so that customer
easily able to visit the place.
The company currently has
20500 outlets in more than 125
countries and this shows that
firm has strong place tactics in
marketing mix. There are
various factors by which
location is chosen by KFC that
are business climate, total cost,
infrastructure, quality of labour
and proximity to customers.
Price McDonald's uses cost
leadership business strategy so
its foods and drinks are
provided for competitive
prices. Company provide
affordable prices to their
products so that large number
of people attracted to buy their
KFC offers affordable prices to
their customers and company
also adopt inventive strategies
to compete in various markets.
The target segment selected by
KFC is families of young
people in urban and semi
urban location.
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products.
Promotion McDonald's promotes its
product to attract more number
of people. This component of
marketing mix states the
approaches used to
communicate with the
potential
consumers(Dogramatzis,
2015) . Company uses various
strategies in promotional mix
that are advertisement, public
relations and sales promotion.
The firm uses radio, TV, print
media and online media for its
advertisement.
KFC promotes its product by
providing add-ons to the menu,
t-shirts, kids meal, gift
coupons, etc. The company
also promotes its products by
LCD displays on its outlets
which promotes their product
and induce desires of potential
consumers. KFC promotes
their products through their
social networking websites
such as twitter, Instagram,
Facebook and you tube. It also
depends on mass media of
promotion.
Process The food manufacturing
process used by McDonald's is
transparent that means the
process is visible to
consumers. Company also
allows its customers to judge
and view the hygienic
standards. Consumers can also
check the ingredients used by
them.
Process is the important
element of marketing mix. The
delivery services provided by
KFC is very limited. Website
of company is very attractive
and it includes telephone
number to place order and also
various promotional offers that
induce customers to buy a
product.
People It is very important component
of marketing mix. The staff
member of McDonald's have
uniform and company
The employees of KFC outlets
are trained in communication
and customer services. It
provides highest quality meals
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concentrated on prompt and
friendly services to its
consumers from their
employees.
at reasonable price and the
target customer for company
are families. In the website of
organisation there is option for
employment opportunities in
KFC corporate and restaurants.
Physical evidence The location of service
delivery also plays vital role in
marketing mix( Marketing mix
of McDonald’s, 2017).
McDonald's main aim is to
focus on hygienic and clean
interiors of its outlet as well as
ambience is comfortable,
lively and fun loving.
The last component in
marketing mix is very
important element . KFC
maintains transparency with
customers as they can visit the
kitchens and also see the
process of developing a
product.
M3. Different tactics applied by McDonald's to achieve business objectives:
Marketing manager applies various strategies to attain the set objectives that involves
different tactics that are training management, motivate staff members, managing cash flows,
provide feedbacks to their employees, incentives staff, financing efficiency through technology,
set employees goals that helpful in achieving firm's objective. The goals set for employees aims
to contributing in overall organisational objective(Eagle and Dahl., 2015). McDonald's also uses
a strategy for accomplishing its goal is provide proper training to employees how to deal with
customers and also train employees for how they influence customer to purchase more products
and services. Another tactics used to company to attract large number of people is by providing
coupons, discounts and other schemes to customer.
D2. use of 7P's to achieve marketing objectives of McDonald's
Marketing mix is the compound of various factors which can be controlled or managed
by the company to induce potential customers to buy its product and services. It is associated
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with 7P's of marketing that are product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical
evidence. These elements used by McDonald's are as follows:
 Product: McDonald's must develop innovative products by adding flavour to that or
create products that are health conscious.
 Price: Company should maintain its brand image or customer base by keeping price
affordable along with the high quality.
 Place : Outlets and restaurants of McDonald's are on busy places such as malls, markets
and highways. The main reason of choosing busy places so that customer easily avail
their products.
 Promotion: McDonald's uses various promotional tools that are TV, Radio or print media
commercials to attract large number of people.
 Process : Company has transparency, customer go to kitchen and see their production
process.
 People: Providing incentives and promotions to employees according to their
performance.
 Physical evidence : Ambience of outlets and restaurants of McDonald's is comfortable
and clean.
TASK 4
P4. Marketing plan of McDonald's
Marketing plan is a written document that frameworks a company's overall marketing
efforts. It is the concept that outlines how organisation will implement its marketing strategies
and uses various resources to attain the set business objectives (Gummesson, 2014). It can be
defined as the process in which manager of firm make an effective and appropriate plan which
contains various components that are strategies, objectives, vision and budget. The marketing
plan of McDonald's is as follows:
Introduction of company:
McDonald's is the one of the most popular food joint, having 35000 restaurants in more
than 100 countries. It offers wide range of product such as French fries, cheeseburgers, chicken
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products, milkshakes, soft drinks, wraps and deserts. There are more than 235000 people
working in this organisation and the revenue generated by company annually is $24.622 billion.
Recently company launches a product for health conscious people that fries are oil free.
Vision: McDonald's visions statement is “ to become a modern, progressive burger company
delivering a contemporary customer experience (Hamper, 2014) .
Mission : Company's mission states “ Customer's favourite place and way to eat & drink.”
Marketing objective: The main objective of McDonald's
 To attract health conscious people and increase the sale by 15% To increase its profit by 50% in coming next year.
STP :
It refers to Segmentation, Targeting and positioning of product. The process of STP is to
directs the organisation to develop and implement the effective marketing mix. This is helpful in
selecting the most suitable segment and develop a product positioning strategy for each segment.
Segmentation: It means subdividing the population in different groups on the basis of common
attributes and characteristics(O'Leary, 2017). The segmentation of McDonald's is kids, family
and students. It divides its market in different segments such as demographic, psychographic and
behavioural segmentation.
Targeting: It involves a specific group that is identified by the segmentation. The target market
of McDonald's is people who are health conscious it results in increase growth and company and
also maintains the brand image.
Positioning: It defines the position of product to its customer. Company want to position itself as
the health provider and also wants become number one company in health consciousness.
SWOT analysis of McDonald's
Strength Weakness
 McDonald's has successfully
introduced its new items such as
coffees, Angus burger, smoothies and
expand the variety in menu.
 Company offers wide range of products
results in increase in growth of income.
 It is very difficult to identify prime
location for company's outlet.
 The annual dividend increases than the
growth rate has been slowing(Hunt,
2016).
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Opportunities Threats
 There is great opportunity for
McDonald's to introduce new
restaurants outside the United States
and company must take advantage of it.
 Low interest rates gives cheap capital
for growth.
 There must be innovations in menu and
also launches new products.
 Company faces tough competition from
KFC, subways and Burger King.
 Another threat is fluctuation of foreign
exchange rates.
 Recession in economy may affects the
retailer sales.
Marketing budget:
McDonald's develops budget to find out the amount to be required its activities related to
promotion and position of its goods and services without any outstanding expenses and
postponement.
Marketing budget
Particulars 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year 5th year
Initial money 8000 5000 10000 12000 18000
Investment 18000 25000 35000 18000
Total 8000 23000 35000 47000 36000
Marketing outlay
Promotion 8000 9000 9000 10000 3000
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sales publicity 2000 4000 3000 2000 2000
Direct selling 4000 5000 2000 4000 4000
Total 14000 18000 14000 16000 9000
Monitoring and control:
It involves various controlling measures that is used by marketing manager after
applying marketing strategies to control actions that are set before(Layton, 2015).
Plan is very important for success of company and it is required to be managed.
Controlling helps in comparison between actual performance and the standard
performance and than find out the gap between them and remove the difference.
M4. Marketing plan for McDonald's
Marketing plan is a operation that involved in achieving marketing goals within a
particular span of time. It begins with developing various kinds of strategies that are STP and
SWOT analysis to product guideline to attain firm's set objectives. SWOT analysis helps in
minimizing the threats and maximization of opportunities(Mišič and Podnar, 2017). It can also
identify internal and external factors which helps in accomplishing competitive advantage. STP
is the marketing strategy used by company to subdivide customers according to their common
attributes so that organisation can target a specific market and position their product to its
customers. Evaluation is very essential for firm it compares actual performance to standard
performance and find out difference and remove them.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that marketing plays vital role in giving valuable
services to potential customers and also increases the customer base. Marketing manager
performs various functions that helpful in meeting the consumer demands and increases the
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profit and growth of the company. Operations of marketing department are inter linked with
other wings of an organisation. McDonald's launches product for health conscious and increase
the sale of firm. STP strategy is used by organisation to provide customer with right product that
helps in satisfy their needs and wants. Swot analysis helps the company to analysis the internal
environment.
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Hunt, S. D., 2016. Controversy in Marketing Theory: For Reason, Realism, Truth and
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<https://www.howandwhat.net/marketing-mix-mcdonalds-mcdonalds-marketing-mix/
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of-marketing-explained-with-examples>./
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