Analysis of Marketing Concepts and Strategies

The provided document is a solved assignment that delves into various marketing concepts and strategies. It includes a list of references to academic papers and books related to marketing research, planning, and international marketing. The document also provides information on essential marketing research techniques, such as the 7P's of online marketing, and discusses the impact of integrated marketing communication on consumer behavior. Furthermore, it covers social engineering in marketing and its implications. This assignment is likely intended for students studying marketing or business-related courses.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function...................................................................1
P2 Relation of roles and responsibilities with wider context of organisation.............................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Marketing mix strategy of different organisations.................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Marketing plan for McDonald...............................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
In today competitive environment, marketing plays an important role because it aids in
achieving competitive advantages over its rivals. It can be defined as a procedure by which
company identifies the needs or wants of consumers and then accordingly provides goods or
services to them so that their requirements can be satisfied and they will become loyal customers.
With the help of marketing, firm creates awareness about their merchandise by providing all
relevant and important information to them (Baker and et. al., 2016). It creates positive
perception in the mind of customers so that they will only purchase its products instead of its
rivals. In other terms, it can be said that marketing is a procedure by which company provides
value to its customers and also maintain better relationship with their consumers so that it can
capture large market share. This project is based on McDonald which is an American hamburger
and fast food restaurant chain. This assignment will state about roles and responsibilities of
marketing functions and how they are related to wider organisational context. It will also explain
marketing mix strategy of different companies as well as their marketing plan.
TASK 1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Marketing which includes set of activities and procedures by which it creates value for
the consumers by providing better quality of goods or services to them as well as according to
their requirement so that they will only prefer its products rather than of its competitors. With the
help of marketing, McDonald can create positive brand image and also can maintain good
relationship with their customers. It includes various types of concepts that are given below- Production concept- In this concept, company only concentrates on the production
process so that its efficiency can be increased. This framework was used at the time of
industry revolution till early 1920. This concept was used so that better quality of
products or services can be created which will satisfy the requirements of consumers.
This model has main motive to generate high quality of merchandise at lower price so
that enterprise can attract to large number of customers (Berkowitz, 2016). Selling concept- This model was used early 1930 in which mainly focus was given on
effective and aggressive marketing. It is very important concept because everyone wants
to take that merchandise which will be popular in the market.
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 Marketing concept- This model came into force after world war II which mainly focused
on pull strategy. In this era, company only concentrated on creating positive brand image
in the society because if firm will have goodwill in the market then everyone will want to
take only its products or services.
 Societal marketing concept- This model states that company should try to deliver their
products or services as per requirement of consumers so that it can capture large market
share.
Roles and responsibilities of marketing function- It has to perform various roles and
responsibilities for getting desired result that are given below- Product- It can be defined as a bundle of utilities which satisfies the need or wants of
target market. So company should try to identify the requirements of its consumers so
that it can design their merchandise accordingly. For this purpose, research activities are
carried out by marketing department that collects all relevant and important information
related to clients. This collected data helps in designing goods or facilities as per needs of
consumers (Brassington and Pettitt, 2013).
 Price- It is very important monetary element that is charge by company from its
customers in exchange of their goods. While setting value of merchandise, marketing
department plays an important role because it knows very well about its customers. It
provides idea to the company that what price can be afford by its target consumers. If
McDonald wants to get success then it should charge reasonable prices so that customers
can afford it. Selling- Buying process ends on it in which merchandise are handed over to consumers.
For deliver of goods in more convenient manner, marketing department has to take lots of
efforts. McDonald should try that its every products are easily available to all nearby
stores. Promotion- It is one of the most important task of marketing department of McDonald.
In this, it creates awareness about their merchandise and also communicate with their
clients about benefits of goods so that they will only purchase their products or services. MIS (Management information system)- Marketing department is one which collects all
relevant and important information related to customers and recent trends of market. This
information aids top management in taking strategic decision by which company will be
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able to reach to its decided destination. So it will be better for McDonald to make sure
that its marketing department is collecting all necessary information so that it can make
strategy accordingly and smoothly. Distribution- There are various channels by which McDonald can distribute their
products or services like retail outlet, franchise, online etc. In this, marketing department
has responsibility to select best cost effective method which will help in achieving
desired result (.Brooks and Simkin, 2012). If transaction value of merchandise will be
lower then overall cost of production will also be minimum that will be beneficial for
customers because they will be able to afford products at minimum prices. Apart from
cost, concerned department should also ensure that distribution channel is time effective
so that needed person can get products without any delay. So for getting best result,
manager of McDonald should focus on distribution channel. In some situation, enterprise
should evaluate the their competitors and their policies which will help in selecting best
effective media for distribution.
 Financing- It is one of the most important function of marketing department of cited
company. In this, it has to make budget as well as also has to distribute funds to every
activities so that everyone can carry out their duties without any hindrance. With the help
of this, firm will be able to utilize all available resource or funds inn effective and
efficient manner by which it can reach to its decided destination.
All above mentioned aspects are the roles and responsibilities of marketing department
which should be perform in effective and efficient manner. For this purpose, it should have all
required or necessary detailed information because if they will have then they will be able to
perform in better or effective manner which will provide benefit to the firm.
As above discussed that if marketing department will perform their job according to the
expectation then products or services of McDonald will get positive response from the clients
and then company will be able to attain its desired objectives. Overall it can be said that market
department plays an important role in the success of company because with the support of this,
firm will be able to attract large number of customers by which enterprise can achieve
competitive advantages over its rivals (Caragher, 2016).
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P2 Relation of roles and responsibilities with wider context of organisation
Generally, people have perception that marketing has main function to sell product of
company to final consumers but is not right statement because it includes not only selling of
goods whilst it is the wider concept in which it has to identify need or wants of consumers or to
deliver merchandise to them as per their requirements. In other terms, it can be said that
marketing includes set of activities like to set prices of products, promotion etc. which helps the
company in providing value to its customers that assists in attaining competitive advantages over
its rivals.
Activities of marketing department affects the overall functioning of McDonald company
and its success is totally depend on this section of firm. If cited firm will understand all relevant
facts then it will be able to make future planning effectively and efficiently.
If manager of McDonald will understand the objectives of marketing function then he
will be able to carry out his function in more effective and efficient manner by which company
can achieve its specified objectives. Relationship of marketing functions with other organisation
function can be understood by reading the following points that are given below- Relationship between marketing and operational functional- Operation department has
responsibility to carry out production process easily and effectively and to make final
merchandise as per requirement of customers so that attention of large number of
individuals can be attained. So for designing goods or facilities for clients, there should
be proper information regarding them so that this section of company can attain its
desired result (Desai, 2013). And this data is collected by marketing department. It
conducts research in which information regarding consumers and market trends are
collected that is provided to operation department that helps in performing their duties
without any disturbance and also gives direction to them to make necessary changes in
basic products of firm so that company can attain competitive advantages over its rivals.
So both department have close relation because operation management can not do
anything without help of marketing department. Marketing function and finance department- Finance is one of the the most important
element because without having this, no task can be completed in the company.
Marketing department also requires funds for doing promotion and other related
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activities. Finance section of the company prepares budget for every task and
accordingly allocates funds to them so that every project can be completed effectively. So
for this, there is requirements of proper coordination and coordination among both
department of McDonald because without coordination, no task can be completed
effectively and then company will not be able to reach to its decided destination (Gamble
and et. al., 2011). Human resource and marketing function- If there will be proper coordination among
both department then it will aid the firm in achieving its set target like effective
production process, designing of specific products etc. There is close relation between
cited department cauterise without having manpower, marketing section will not be able
to carry out its operation effectively. So it the responsibility of manager to hire best
skilled and capable employees who will be suitable for job. Marketing and sale department- For increasing their sale, company has to take help of
marketing department because this section promotes its products or services and also tells
about its benefits. It helps in attracting the large number of consumers towards it by
which sale of firm increases. So it can be said that sale department can not be reached to
its specified target without help of marketing section. Information technology and marketing department- McDonald can promote their
products through various ways like online, offline, newspaper, magazines, hoardings,
distribution channel etc. It is selected by marketing department that which one will help
in achieving the desired result. If it wants to do advertisement through online then in this,
information technology will play an important role because it will help in preparing the
same. Tools and techniques that are using by company, influence the marketing activities
of an organisation because accordingly marketing department has to make their plan so
that firm can move into right direction.
 Customer relationship and marketing function- Marketing manager has main
responsibility that it should ensure that customers are getting products or services as per
their requirements so that they will get good experience and will remain in the company
for long period of time.
So after discussing all above mentioned points, it can be concluded that functions of
marketing department influences the other functions of company in direct and indirect ways. If
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McDonald wants to carry out its activities in an effective and efficient manner and also wants to
maintain qualities of its products then for this purpose, marketing section should maintain
healthy relation and proper coordination with other department of the company so that firm can
reach to its decided destination easily and smoothly. If there will be cooperation then cost of
production will be minimize by which company's profit will be increased and if there will no
coordination then it will create disturbance in business activities and then firm will not attain its
set of objectives (Dibb and Simkin, 2013).
After analysing all pros and cons, it can be said that marketing is very essential part of
company because it provides support the company to reach to its prescribed destinations. If this
department will not be present at workplace then it will not be possible for company to obtain
desired result or outcome. Overall, it can be said that there should be proper coordination and
cooperation among all members so that everyone will use their full competent for completing
their duties and respo0nsibilities so that enterprise can achieve its desired result.
TASK 2
P3 Marketing mix strategy of different organisations
Marketing mix strategy plays an important role in today competitive environment
because with the help of this tactic, company can provide better quality of goods or services to
their consumers by which it can get attention of large number of people (Hsu, 2011). By getting
support from this strategy, McDonald can get competitive advantages over its rivals and can
reach to its decided destination in an effective and efficient manner. In this concept, there are
four basic elements which are known as product, price, place and promotion. But with the
passing of time, in this model, three elements are more added that are people, process and
physical evidence. It can also be known as extended “Ps” of marketing mix. This concept is used
by McDonald because of increasing features of its products, setting of reasonable prices, uses of
effective promotion tools etc.
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This strategy is used by most of the companies for achieving its targets like McDonald,
burger king etc. Comparison of the concept of marketing mix or how company apply this for
achieving objectives of enterprise can be understood by the following:
Basis McDonald Burger King
Product McDonald provides various ranges of
products related to food or beverages like
hamburgers, chicken, salads, snacks,
breakfast, desserts etc. Generally, it develops
menu card according to the requirements of
its target market. For this, it conducts
researches and evaluation process on a
regular basis so that it can capture the
attention of large market and can reach to its
decided destination (Illing and Anders, 2016).
Its core product is burger. It mainly
focuses on providing quick services
to its customers. Its product line has
various range of goods like sides,
veggies, sweets or desserts etc. Sides
includes various things such onion
rings, fries, nuggets and hash
browns. Its desserts involves Dutch
Apple Pie, Oreo shakes etc.
Price It is the most important element because it Its pricing strategy is mainly focused
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Source 1: 7P’s of Online Marketing, 2016

influences the perception of customers.
Clients purchase product after seeing its rate
and evaluates that it can afford by them or
not. Cited firm adopts price bundling and
psychological pricing strategy. In bundling
prices, it offers combination of variety of
products at discounted prices. While in
psychological pricing, it keeps that value
which can be afford by everyone and that
affects their perception like .99 pound instead
of rounding it off.
on its generic tactics of cost
leadership that helps in minimizing
the cost and prices of products.
Burger king adopts market oriented
which is primary approach of it. In
this, company sets value of products
on the basis of current market
situation as well as on the ground of
competitors strategy. While in
bundle pricing strategy, it combines
different types of offers together and
offers to it on discounted pricing.
Place It has opened their branches at every place
where company's products are available. It
can referred as a venue where customers can
get products or services. McDonald
distributes their merchandise restaurant,
kiosks, post mates websites and mobile
application. So it is very important element
because it helps in reaching products to the
final consumers by which it generates sales
revenue (Jones and Rowley, 2011).
Its products are available in its
restaurant throughout the world. It is
that point whereby people can get
goods. It has various distribution
channel like mobile application,
websites for deliveries etc. If
customers orders through mobile
then they can access various special
offers and freebies etc. But
generally, Burger King believes on
physical presence of its restaurants.
Promotion It is also very important element which
creates awareness about the existence of
company as well as about their products.
There are various methods for doing
promotion like radio, TV, online, posters etc.
Apart from this, there are various other
methods like sales promotions, point of sale
Cited firm adopts various media for
doing promotion. With the help of
this element, firm creates awareness
about its offers and also attracts large
number of customers. It uses
advertising, sales promotion,
personal selling and public relation.
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display, loyalty scheme etc. But McDonald's
main target market is children so for doing
promotion, it provides toys and various other
things along with happy meals. It also offers
various scheme like lucky draws etc.
It generally advertise their products
via television.
People It is also very important element because
without having them,, no task can be
completed effectively and efficiently. In
McDonald, there are also large number of
employees who wear standard uniform. It
also concentrates on providing quick and
effective services to its customers by their
employees. If it hires any new worker then it
provides training to him so that they can
easily handle customers' problems and give
happiness to them.
It provides training to their staff so
that they will provide effective and
quick services to clients so that they
will come again. In this, customers
can also get own drink while waiting
for their order. If any worker is free
then he will go for taking order from
other customers (Kennedy and
Parsons, 2014).
Process McDonald should keep transparent food
processing so that everyone can know that its
products are hygienic. It also invites
customers to check ingredient which are
using in making products.
It wants to expand their business via
using innovative marketing tool such
as king television commercials.
Physical
evidence
McDonald tries to keep clear and clean
interiors of outlet. It tries to make attractive
exterior so that it can attract large number of
customers.
It has own website on internet which
provides video history of the
company, press release and stock
information.
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TASK 3
P4 Marketing plan for McDonald
Marketing plan is a written document which contains all necessary steps and decisions
that will be taken by company in future (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2011). It involves various
types of information related to firm like its market position, application of marketing mix
strategy, its goals and objectives etc. This document is very important for the success of
company because with the help of this, enterprise can carry out its activities effectively and
smoothly and can reach to its decided destination within specified period of time. This
instrument is made for short period of time [generally for 12 months].
While making this document, McDonald should evaluate the internal as well as external
environment and accordingly make policy so that it will help in getting success. It should also be
flexible so that it can change according to the requirement and situation.
McDonald has also prepared a marketing plan that is given below- Company's overview- It is an American hamburger and fast food restaurant chain which
provides various range of products or services to its customers and also makes menu card
as per requirement of clients. It is established in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant which was
carried out by Richard and Maurice McDonald in California. It has very long product line
like burgers, chicken, salads, breakfast, desserts etc. which helps in satisfying the needs
or wants of its target market which are children. Currently, it is one of the largest
restaurant chain through out the world (7P’s of Online Marketing. 2016). Marketing mix analysis- Before making a plan, McDonald should evaluate its strategy so
that it can identify that how to get attention of large number of individuals. In this, it will
consider that which type of goods will satisfy the needs or wants of consumers and what
prices should be kept which can be afford by target market. It should adopt that
distribution and promotion channel which can be reached to clients and will generate
positive result for the company. Current market analysis- Before implementing any kind of plan, it is very necessary for
the company that it should analyse its market situation so that it can make its strategy
accordingly. In this analysis, organisation will evaluate the competitors policies and their
strategies so that it can make their policies accordingly and will achieve competitive
advantages over its rivals. In this, it will also be evaluated that what are the requirements
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of customers and what type of nature they have etc. If company will know all about that
then it can easily achieve its specified result or outcome ( Functions of marketing. 2017). Company analysis- If McDonald wants to evaluate its strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats then it can take help of SWOT analysis by which it will be able
to know about the same. After completion of this analysis, firm will be able to utilize its
full capacity in an effective manner and can also remove its drawbacks which are creating
disturbance in business operation. McDonald' SWOT analysis is as follows-
Strengths
 It has good brand image in the market
and its trade mark is easily
recognizable.
 Its market is diversified.
 Its process is standardized.
 It is operating their business throughout
the world.
 Its products are getting positive
response from the customers like happy
meal, Big Mac etc. It is well established business in
market.
Weaknesses
 Due to increasing competition, its
market share is decreasing
continuously.
 Its products are not developing
continuously as per changing
environment.
 Slow revenue and income.
Opportunities
 It can expand their business operation
in developing countries
 It can also develop its market in middle
east.
 It can get opportunities by diversifying
their product line. By increasing concentration on
corporate social responsibility which
will reduce the impact on environment
Threats
 More competition
 Foreign exchange rates are
continuously fluctuating.
 Changing taste and preferences of
consumers.
 Now a days, people are more health
conscious so they avoids fast food.
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and community linkages.
 Environmental analysis- Before making marketing plan, it is very necessary for
McDonald to evaluate environmental factors which are influencing its business operation
(Malhotra, Birks and Wills, 2013). In this, PESTLE analysis will help more which will
provide insight of political, economical, technological factors etc. that are given below-
◦ Political- It includes governmental component by which business operation is
affected in positive or may be in negative manner. In McDonald's case, there are
various political factors like-
▪ International trade agreements are increasing continuously.
▪ Government is making more health related policies.
▪ Pending tax reforms.
◦ Economical- In the era of globalisation, there are various factors which are
influencing McDonald's industry environment. In international food restaurant chain,
it includes-
▪ Increasing rate of unemployment
▪ No stability in foreign currency
▪ Chinese economy is decreasing continuously.
◦ Social- It involves various things like increasing wealth gap, people are becoming
more particular towards their health, enhancing cultural diversity etc. (Mihart, 2012)
◦ Technological-
▪ Now people wants to order their food by sitting their home through mobile
application.
▪ Increasing business automation.
◦ Environmental-
▪ Environment is changing continuously.
▪ Increasing interest for corporate environmental programs.
◦ Legal-
▪ Introduction of health related regulations at workplace and school.
▪ Enactment of legal minimum wage level in U.S.
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So while making marketing plan, McDonald should follow a process that are written
above because it will help in achieving competitive advantages over its rivals as well as in
reaching to its decided destination within stipulated period of time.
CONCLUSION
From above report, it can be said that marketing is very important activities for a business
because it helps in getting success in the market. This assignment has stated about roles and
responsibilities which have to perform by marketing department for getting competitive
advantages like setting prices of products, distribution etc. For getting competitive advantages
over its rivals, it is very necessary that firm should use marketing mix strategy which will aid in
delivering goods or facilities in better manner to its consumers by which it can gain competitive
advantages.
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