An In-depth Analysis of McDonald's Marketing Approaches and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of McDonald's marketing strategies within the hospitality industry. It begins with an introduction to marketing concepts and current trends, followed by an overview of marketing processes. The report delves into the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function at McDonald's, examining how marketing interrelates with other functional departments. It emphasizes the value and importance of marketing in the hospitality sector, focusing on the marketing mix elements (product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence) and their application to McDonald's. The report also includes a comparison of McDonald's marketing mix with Burger King's and concludes with an assessment of the interrelation between functional departments and how they contribute to achieving business objectives. The report also covers marketing tactics such as market analysis and benchmarking strategies.

Hospitality Marketing
Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY-1...................................................................................................................................3
Concept of marketing with current and future trends.................................................................3
Overview of marketing processes...............................................................................................4
Roles and responsibilities of marketing function in the context of McDonald's........................5
Analysis of how marketing interrelates and influences other functional departments...............6
Value and importance of marketing role.....................................................................................6
Marketing-mix to achieve company objectives..........................................................................6
Conclusions based on critically analysing the interrelation between functional departments....8
ACTIVITY-2...................................................................................................................................8
Covered in PPT...........................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing consists of all the activities of an organisation which helps it in promoting its
product or services in the market. For the success of any product or service in the market, it is
important that it is communicated in the correct manner, to the right people, at the right place and
on right time. In a hospitality industry marketing plays an important role in building the image of
organisations, attracting new customers and maintaining loyalty of old customers (Baker, 2016).
Hospitality relates to creating experiences for customers and building relationships with them so
that customer satisfaction can be ensured by providing them the services they demand from the
hospitality industry. Through this report principles of marketing, elements of marketing-mix,
marketing plan etc. will be studied in reference to McDonald's which are used by it for
influencing the customers to purchase their products. Different theories and frameworks will also
be applied to understand the concept of marketing better.
ACTIVITY-1
Concept of marketing with current and future trends
Marketing includes all the activities of an organisation through which its products and
services can be promoted so that their sale can be increased and customer satisfaction can be
achieved by creating value for the customers.
Marketing concept is related to analysing the needs and wants of customers so that such
products or services can be produced which can help in achieving customer satisfaction with
increase in sales and profit maximization (Faßmann and Moss, 2016). This also gives companies
a competitive advantage in the market. The five marketing concepts are discussed below : Production concept : It states that customers usually prefer products that are easily
available and affordable. Product concept : Customers choose products of good quality, performance and
innovative features. Selling concept : Customers buy products or services if they are heavily promoted and
advertised. Marketing concept : Customers choose products of a company that satisfies their needs
and wants better than their competitors.

 Social marketing concept : Customers choose products which gives better value and
ensures well-being to them and society as a whole.
Illustration 1: THE FIVE MARKETING
CONCEPTS EXPLAINED. 2017
Source : THE FIVE MARKETING CONCEPTS EXPLAINED, 2017
Current trends in marketing : These are the trends that are currently followed by companies to
communicate about their products and services to customers and capture markets. Some of these
are : Social media marketing : The process of gaining website traffic or attention of customers
through social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
 Text message advertisements : It means sharing information about new updates, sales or
offers via text messages to the customers (Glende and et. al., 2016).
Future marketing trends : As the use of technology by people is increasing, people are becoming
more receptive to marketing tactics. In future following marketing techniques could be in trend :
 Use of virtual reality and augmented reality in content marketing.
 Live videos about using products and services will gain more popularity.
Overview of marketing processes
Marketing processes are related to analysing the opportunities in the market by
discovering unfulfilled customer needs, selecting the target market, developing marketing-mix
and management of marketing efforts (Harrington and et. al., 2017).

 Analysing opportunities in market : This can be done by analysing the needs and wants
of customers that remain unfulfilled or untapped by the competitors by the way of market
research. These opportunities should be beneficial in the long-run success.
 Target market selection : This can be done effectively by applying the STP technique by
the companies which includes segmentation, targeting and positioning of the product or
service in the market.
 Developing marketing-mix : It is composed of certain variables which are composed of
7P's which must be efficiently focused by the companies so that a desired response can be
generated from the targeted audience.
 Management of marketing efforts : This is the action phase where the marketing efforts
are appropriately managed so that target customers can be provided with right items, at
the right place and at the right time.
Roles and responsibilities of marketing function in the context of McDonald's
The marketing department of McDonald's helps it in achieving its business objectives by
increasing sales and promoting its brand image amongst the customers. The roles and
responsibilities of this department helps the company in identifying the needs and wants of their
target market so that the customers can be satisfied in a better way than its competitors some of
which are discussed below : Market research : This helps the company to identify its market where it can offer its
products to the customers by knowing about their needs and wants which helps it in
achieving competitive advantage (Kerin and Hartley, 2015). It helps McDonald's to
provide best quality of food to the customers at affordable prices by offering them a
uniform menu. Product development : It helps in improving the already existing products and
introducing new products based on the changing demands of customers. McDonald's can
introduce new and innovative foods in its menu by this function.
 Advertising and Promotional campaigning : It helps in promoting the products and
creating awareness so that prospects can be converted into customers. McDonald's uses a
tag-line 'I'm lovin' it!' so as to advertise and promote its products.

Analysis of how marketing interrelates and influences other functional departments
Marketing department works closely with all the functional departments of the
organisation so as to integrate, coordinate and co-relate with the activities performed in those
departments. This helps the organisation in achieving common goals and objectives by working
together and simultaneously influencing and supporting the work of each other (Kotler and et.
al., 2017). For example Marketing department helps the production department by informing it
about the needs and wants of customers so that products and services can be produced as per the
quality, quantity and customer specifications required by the customers so that customer
satisfaction can be ensured.
Value and importance of marketing role
Marketing plays an important role in creating awareness distributing goods and services
to satisfy the customer needs. Through market research process it can also help in analysing the
market needs so that a customer advantage can be gained by being the first company to introduce
any new product and service in the market. In hospitality industry it helps in giving best
experiences to the customers by creating good relations with them so that their value for money
increases.
Marketing-mix to achieve company objectives
Marketing mix is a combined set of activities which are under control of the company
for motive of encouraging and attracting their customer's towards buying its products and
services (Lane, 2016). This strategy is used by the company to promote their brands and products
in the target marketplace. In this report the marketing mix of McDonald's compared with Burger
King which can be described below.
Basis McDonald's Burger King
Product The company sells wide range of fast
food products which includes
vegetarian, non- vegetarian,
beverages as well as frozen deserts
and supply a variety of choices. Now,
the company wants to introduce oil
free French-fries.
It has product line of burgers,
chicken and fish, sides, salads and
veggies, sweet, deserts as well as
beverages. In addition company
bundles its products as value meals
and kids nutrition.

Price McDonald's adopts cost leadership
strategy and offer foods and drinks
for competitive prices. Also have
heavily marketed “happy price
menu.”
Burger King follows market-oriented
pricing strategy and bundles pricing
strategy as well. It has comparable
prices which effects through
demands and market behaviour.
Place There are total 36258 restaurants in
total 119 countries. Almost available
in big cities especially at prime
locations such as shopping malls.
It mainly on the physical presence of
its restaurants but along with this
Burger King use mobile apps and
websites for delivery.
Promotion McDonald's uses newspaper,
television, internet, radio, cinema,
magazines as well as other social
media outlets to communicate with
their customers and also offers lucky
draw and scratch card facilities.
Burger King mainly focused on
advertising strategy like
newspapers, magazines, hoardings as
well as provide discounts on
application based orders and
distributing discount coupons.
People Approx 97000 employees are
working in restaurant. It has standard
uniform for employees to facilitates
equality service treatments.
Philosophy related to quality, fast
friendly services, value as well as
cleanliness.
It focuses on their customers as well
as employees and provides quality
food, fast food availability and more
unique dining experience made
Burger King more customer centric.
Process Food producing, methods of
packaging and distribution as well as
invented most effective cooking
equipments.
It is the main part of operation which
is internally designed by experts to
operate globally. It made huge food
chain to work in more reliable
environment.
Physical evidence The quality, speed, transparency and
cleanliness etc. considered as a
physical evidence of McDonald that
Reinventing in its image through key
changes in decorum with modern
features architecture, building etc.

helps in maintaining buildings and
appearances.
considered as a physical evidence of
Burger King.
Different tactics that are used by an organization
To achieve the desired goals and objectives of an organization management plays an
important role. Company can use several innovative and creative tactics to become the market
leader and ultimate customers choice (Langston and Loreto, , 2017). McDonald's can use market
analysis as a tactics which helps in achieving competitive advantages and sustainable
improvements in their business positions. Market is dynamic in nature so a company needs to
analyse the market factors on a continuous basis which helps in identifying the market situations
and customer experience. Also, a company can use benchmarking strategy which defines as a
research strategy for evaluating the current capabilities and find opportunities in the market to
compete with their competitors.
Conclusions based on critically analysing the interrelation between functional departments
Interrelations between different functional departments plays an important role in
successfully achieving the common goals and objectives of a company. It helps in enhancing the
functions of all the departments and improving the efficiency so that good quality products and
services can be produced for customer satisfaction and being competitive in the market. In
McDonald's all the departments work together so that standard food is formed which is high on
quality which helps in increasing its sales and capturing a large market base.
ACTIVITY-2
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that marketing plays an important role in the
hospitality industry as it helps in promoting and advertising the products and services so that
customers can be attracted and sales can be increased thereby increasing the profitability of the
business. Marketing-mix and strategies helps the organisations relating to hospitality in
successfully launching new products in the market by delivering right products, to right people,

at right place and on right time so as to ensure customer satisfaction. Hospitality mainly deals at
making customer relations which can be done through effective marketing strategies.
REFERENCES
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Faßmann, M. and Moss, C., 2016. Instagram als Marketing-Kanal. In Instagram als Marketing-
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Glende, S and et. al., 2016. Increasing the acceptance of assistive robots for older people through
marketing strategies based on stakeholder needs. International Journal of Social
Robotics .8(3). pp.355-369.
Harrington, R.J. and et. al., 2017. QSR brand value: Marketing mix dimensions among
McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Subway and Starbucks. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management .29(1). pp.551-570.
Kerin, R. and Hartley, S., 2015. Marketing: the core. McGraw-Hill.
Kotler, P. and et. al., 2017. Marketing for hospitality and tourism.
Lane, P., 2016. Human resources marketing and recruiting: essentials of employer branding.
Handbook of Human Resources Management, pp.23-52.
Langston, R. and Loreto, D., 2017. Seamless integration of predictive analytics and CRM within
an undergraduate admissions recruitment and marketing plan. Strategic Enrollment
Management Quarterly .4(4). pp.161-172.
Mariani, M.M., Di Felice, M. and Mura, M., 2016. Facebook as a destination marketing tool:
Evidence from Italian regional Destination Management Organizations. Tourism
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Pettigrew, S., 2016. Pleasure: an under-utilised ‘P’in social marketing for healthy eating.
Appetite .104. pp.60-69.
Symons, M and et. al., 2019. Multichannel digital marketing platform. U.S. Patent Application
10/332,042.
Weinstein, A. and Pohlman, R.A., 2015. Customer value: a new paradigm for marketing
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Online
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