Comprehensive Marketing Analysis: McDonald's Strategies and Plans

This report provides a detailed analysis of McDonald's marketing strategies, focusing on its role and responsibilities within the organization. It explores the formulation of strategies, product development, brand awareness, and sales support functions. The report examines McDonald's marketing mix, including product, price, place, and promotion elements. It also compares McDonald's approach to marketing with other organizations. The report evaluates McDonald's basic marketing plan and strategies, offering insights into its business operations and market position. The report includes an introduction, literature review, and conclusion, providing a comprehensive overview of McDonald's marketing efforts and their impact on its success.

MARKETING ESSENTIAL

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P1 Role and responsibilities of marketing functions..............................................................1
P2 Explanation about how roles and responsibility of marketing relates to the organisation..3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
P3 Comparison of the ways in which McDonald applies the marketing Mix and how it
different from other organisation............................................................................................4
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................10
P4 Evaluation of basic Marketing plan of the McDonald....................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a very important aspect for business enterprise by which firm can introduce
its product and services in the market. It is an activity by which organisation introduce and
promote its commodity in the market and attract large numbers of customers. In simple words, it
can be said that marketing is a process under which company sales its product and services to
customer and its value is determined in terms of money (Aaker, 2011). It includes activity like
advertisement, promotion, distribution, packaging, production, marketing research etc. The
following report provides depth knowledge and understanding about the marketing process, its
function, roles and responsibility and importance with respect of McDonald. It is one of the
largest food retailer which deal with the food products. The main purpose of this report is to
understand the importance of marketing principle, plan and strategies in the business operation of
McDonald. Moreover, marketing mix element has also systematically described in this report.
LO 1
P1 Role and responsibilities of marketing functions
Marketing concept defines that accomplishment of organizational goal is much more
depended upon knowing requirements of target market and deliver them satisfactory products
and services. It is the promotional strategy through which company can promotes its brand
across the world. Marketing can be defined as process through which corporations create value
for the consumers and try to build strong relationship with them.
Current trends
Currently MacDonald is taking support of market its food products through retail stores
and uses promotional campaigns as well. That impacts on its business performance because by
this way number of consumers are getting attracted towards the brand. But when economic
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condition, political, legal conditions get changed then cited firm has to modify its marketing
strategies so that it can sustain in the market for longer duration (Edward, 2000).
Future trends
In future McDonald will take support of online platform and before launching marketing
strategies. Competition is too high and to sustain the brand in such complex environment it
would be necessary to take support of such marketing tool that can help in gathering attention of
mass audience so that it can gain competitive advantage.
Illustration 1: Social media marketing of McDonald
Role and responsibilities of marketing functions
Marketing is one of the major department that supports McDonald in improving its sales
volume and promoting the brand across the world. It plays significant role in the organisation,
role and responsibilities of marketing function in the workplace are as following:
Formulation of strategy
It is the great function that helps the marketing manager in identifying needs of
consumers and accordingly manager can make effective strategies which can support in meeting
with the expectation of clients. McDonald's main aim is to satisfy the users so that they be loyal
towards the brand (Halal, 2003). Marketing department of cited firm discuss the aspects with
senior management team and make strategy before planning promotional campaign. Effective
strategy has helped the entity in increasing its revenues from previous years performances.
Product development
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Marketing function plays role of developer in which it is the responsibility of marketing
manager of McDonald that to identify the performance of product in external environment and
identify the loop falls. So that company can address the features which requires improvements
and manager can develop the products as per the external market requirements.
Brand awareness
It is the responsibility of marketing function that to promote products and services of
company in such manner so that it can make people aware with the quality of food. It can
enhance communication with the consumers and can build trust in the mind of customers. Punch
lines use by the McDonald in its promotional campaigns are attractive that attract most of the
people towards the brand (Bahadir, Bharadwaj and Srivastava, 2015). That is why people are
very positive towards the brand and they are giving positive reviews on its social sites.
Sales support
Marketing function of McDonald assists in increasing sales revenues of the cited firm.
Marketing department of cited firm provides the manager high quality leads such as telephones
numbers, email address etc. marketing manager of the organisation send them email and make
them aware with the discount offers etc. It attracts people towards the brand that helps in
increasing sales revenues of the entity.
P2 Explanation about how roles and responsibility of marketing relates to the organisation
As per the above discussion it has been ascertained that there are various roles and
responsibility of marketing function which is important for the McDonald success and growth in
the market. In order to get effective stability in the market, cited venture required to use
marketing prices, principles and function. Following are major roles and responsibility of
marketing related to the organisation are as follows- Exchange of goods and services- Marketing have major roles related to the organisation
are exchange the product and services in the market. McDonald can get the benefit by
marketing as it can able to introduce and advertise its product and services in the market
(Barrett and Weinstein, 2015). Attract large numbers of customer- This is major role and responsibility of the
Marketing with respect of organisation. McDonald can advertise its product and services
in the market by help of marketing. Customer can able to attract only while company
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effectively perform its marketing function. Thus, it can be said that it assist in attracting
the large number of customer toward the organisation. Develop brand image- Marketing assist in developing brand image of the organisation in
the market. By increasing promotional activities and advertisement in the market, it can
establish its different image in the market (Chen and et.al., 2015).
Interrelationship between various functional department in the organisation
In the McDonald, there are various functional department like marketing, finance, human
resource, administration etc. Marketing department have great relationship with all functional
unit of business. This interrelationship are as follows- Finance department- This department have major role to maintain the records and
financial performance of the organisation. Effective marketing aid in increasing the
profitability and revenue of firm which positively affect the financial performance of
business unit. Operation and production- Operation and production department is also connected
which marketing department as if company increase its production and manufacturing
then it outcome will automatically improve and marketing department can able to deliver
the product and services in the market (Dhar and Varshney, 2011). Marketing department- This department have major aim to distribute the product and
services in the market. The entire success and profitability of the business enterprise is
largely depended upon the marketing department as company increase its marketing and
distribution then it earns revenue and profitability.
LO 2
P3 Comparison of the ways in which McDonald applies the marketing Mix and how it different
from another organisation
In the present era, every firm requires excellent growth and success in the market. For
this objective, it makes various efforts and use strategies for compete with rival and develop its
own brand image. By use of right direction and effective tactics of marketing, corporation can
attain its objective in an effective manner. In addition to this, marketing principles can also aid to
firm carry out marketing activities and functions in a smooth manner. Furthermore, marketing
mix is another very important aspect for attain the business success as it includes seven major
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elements. (Extended Marketing Mix: The 7 Ps of Marketing. 2014) There are 4 Ps of marketing
mix which aid to design an effective marketing mix that are product, price, place and promotion.
McDonald effectively follow the marketing mix in its business by which it taking the right
product, at the right time and at the right place. Cited venture is one of the largest food retail
organisation which have own stores in 36615 locations in various countries (Ferrell and et.al.,
2014). Cited venture aim is to deliver the high quality and luxury food product to its customer
and satisfy their needs. Its objective is to earn maximum market share and profitability by
attracting large number of customer. McDonald is famous due to its high quality of food and it is
customer oriented which always focused on customer needs. McDonald marketing mix involves
varied approach that meet business concern in various market around the world. It marketing mix
applies globally and it also uses variation of elements according to local condition of the market.
Following are Marketing Mix element of McDonald-
 Product- The major purpose of this element is to discover the product and services of the
organisation that offers to target customers. McDonald delivers mainly food and beverage
product in the market like hamburgers, sandwiches, chicken, fish, salad, snakes,
beverage, desserts, shakes, McCafe, breakfast etc. Its burger is very famous in the market
(Goldfarb and Tucker, 2011). At the present time, it's another product like chicken, fish,
desserts, breakfast meals are also like very much by customers. According to the survey it
has been founded that recently cited venture have launched the Maharajah McBurger
which is vegetarian burger. It offers non-vegetarian food like halal in the Muslim
countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan etc.
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 Price- In the concept of Marketing mix, price is another major element which define the
value and standard of the product and services. Different company used different pricing
strategy to develop its own brand image and attract the large number of customers.
McDonald is using price skimming strategy for develop its strong position in the market.
This pricing strategy assist in attract the large customer and maintain its position in the
competitive market. In this pricing strategy company offers its product and services at the
high prices for initial level (Pels, 2015). According to the survey it has been founded that
company is using price bundling under which it offers meals and other products in bundle
for a discount. Cited venture strive to differentiate itself from the other food organisation
and it offers variety of menu items, dollar menu and also offers free toy with happy
meals. Place- Place is another major element of the marketing mix which define that where
company establish its stores and from where it offers product and services to customers.
McDonald offers online and offline channel of distribution for its customer for facilitate
about purchasing. In the context of Offline channel of distribution, it has various physical
stores in the various countries. It physical stores is famous because it has used its logo so
as it has great appearances (Salavati and Karami, 2015.). On the other side, it also has
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online channel of distribution by which it offers product and services by use of various
online channels like social media, company website, direct mail etc. McDonald have its
own website and application from where customer can directly order for meal and it
offers fastest free delivery of product and services to customers. Promotion- Promotion is another major element of marketing mix which assist in
advertise and promote product and services in the market. McDonald has adopted both
online and traditional promotional method for advertise its product and services in the
market. In the context of online promotion, it has developed its own website on the
internet and also generate its pages on the various social media sites like Facebook,
twitter, Instagram etc (Sethuraman, Tellis and Briesch, 2011). It also advertises its
product and services by the texting, message, email etc and uses direct mail marketing for
adverse its food products. On the other hand, in the context of traditional method
promotion, McDonald uses newspaper, magazines, radio, television etc. Physical evidence- This is another essential component of the marketing mix buy which
customer can directly get touch with company representative. McDonald have established
36,250 physical stores and restaurant in the 118 countries. Its physical stores are situated
in the commercial area of the market so as every customer can easily buy its product and
services. In addition to this, its online sales is continuously increasing due to online
promotion and fastest delivery (Tadajewski, 2012). People- People refers to the individuals who engage with organisation. McDonald have
developed effective and healthy relationship with its customers by delivering high quality
and luxury product to them. It also designs various facilities for customer like feedback
option, quick and easy delivery, attractive discount and offers along with product and
services etc. By this doing company have generated healthy relationship with them. On
the other hand, its employees are quite dissatisfied from the company because their
financial need does not effectively fulfil by company. It should develop impressive
measure for the employees like effective policies, practices, attractive salary package also
as it can develop healthy relation with them.
 Process- Process is another major element of marketing mix which defines that how
company establish and develop the relationship with customer in the market. In this
manner, cited venture has used electronic customer relationship management system so
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as it can easily handle the complaints and queries of customer by online and electronic
medium. It also used the feedback option on the online page so as customer can easily
place their comment, review, and feedback regarding product and services.
Marketing Mix of KFC
KFC is one of the tastiest fast food chain across the country. It is specializing in fried
chicken and founded on March 20, 1930 in North Corbin. It has more than 18875 outlets in over
118 countries. Following are marketing mic of KFC-
Illustration 2: Marketing Mix
Source:De Mooij, 2013
 Product- KFC offers various product like fried chicken, chicken burger, Wraps, popcorn
chicken, flaming crunch chicken, Krusher frozen beverage, snack Box, Rizzo Rice,
Tower Zinger, Bucket chicken, dessert, Chamoe, Brownie Sundae. KFC generally
focused on the quality and taste of the food product that is why it is famous for the
Chicken. Price- KFC follows optional pricing and mixed bundling pricing to its customers. In the
bundling pricing, it offers food product and service in the attractive discount. In the
festival season, it offers attractive discount and offers to its customer along with its
product and services (De Mooij, 2013).
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 Place- KFC have its own physical stores like McDonald and it’s also used logo as
appearance to attract the large numbers of customers. Its physical outlet situated in the
Metros and Tier I cities. It has overtaken Pizza Hut in quick service restaurants that is
why it is very famous for its luxury and delicious food. It also offers product and services
by online as it has own web page on the internet and own application.
 Promotion- KFC is also using both online and offline promotion so as it can effectively
advertise and promote its product and services in the market. It offers add-one to the
existing menu, gift coupons, T-shirt, kid’s meal etc. It promotes its products through
LCD displays which kept in the stores of KFC and assist to promote its product and
services. In addition to this, it also used magazines, newspapers, Television etc.
Furthermore, it also uses online promotion under which it uses various direct mail
marketing, social media to advertise its product and services. In the India, KFC has
become the fastest growing fast food chain aside McDonald and Pizza Hut.
 People- KFC effectively satisfies its customer as well as employees. For employees, it
organises training and development program so as they can learn the skill to work in the
restaurant. In addition to this they also provided with certain guidelines to communicate
with the customers. On the other hand, in order to maintain healthy relation with
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customer, it offers high quality of food product in reasonable prices. It has developed
feedback resolving option on the web page so as every customer can place their
complaints, queries, requirement and suggestion related to services and product to
company. Process- Company is using easier and convenient process for its customer so as they can
get the product and services on the time. It also uses electronic customer relationship
management system through which it can resolve the queries and complaints of
customers (De Mooij, 2013).
 Physical Evidence- KFC used high and quality of technical equipment for design outlet
interior. It has various attractive physical outlet in various countries.
LO 3
P4 Evaluation of basic Marketing plan of the McDonald
Executive Summary
Marketing plan assist in addressing the objective of organisation. With assistance of
marketing plan, internal and external business environment of McDonald can analyse. In this
also include marketing situation analysis with respect of the McDonald. Furthermore, with help
of PESTLE, SWOT has also addressed in this report for analyse its competencies and business
environment (Nykiel, 2007). In order to introduce new product in the market, segmentation,
positioning, targeting, pricing strategy has also addressed in this report.
Company Overview
McDonald is one of the most famous food retailer in the UK for its high quality and
luxury food. It has major objective is to supply the high quality of food product and services to
the customer and satisfy their needs and wants. It desires to become the number one food retailer
corporation in the world. Company have total 420000 human resource who have given their best
contribution for attainment of organisation goal. McDonald delivers mainly food and beverage
product in the market like hamburgers, sandwiches, chicken, fish, salad, snakes, beverage,
desserts, shakes, McCafe, breakfast etc. Its burger is very famous in the market.
PESTLE Analysis
In order to survive in the competitive business environment, it is very important for organisation
to analyse various component of business environment. McDonald have largely influenced by
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