The Role of Internet Marketing: McDonald's Marketing Mix Analysis

This report delves into the realm of internet marketing, exploring its role in the modern marketing context. It examines how businesses, specifically McDonald's, utilize internet marketing strategies, including social media and online platforms, to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and customer engagement. The report details the benefits of internet marketing for both customers and businesses, such as price transparency, product information, and increased sales opportunities. It also analyzes the challenges of globalization, including the need for businesses to adapt their online strategies to meet varying customer needs and navigate potential threats in an increasingly interconnected marketplace. The report covers the e-marketing mix, including product, price, promotion, and place strategies, and emphasizes the importance of market research in creating effective marketing campaigns, as illustrated through the McDonald's case study.

INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
P1.Describe the role internet marketing has within a modern marketing context.......................3
P2. Describe how selected organisations use internet marketing................................................4
P3. Explain the benefits to customers of a business using internet marketing............................5
P4. The benefits and opportunities to the business of using internet marketing within the
marketing mix of McDonald's.....................................................................................................6
P5. Internet marketing has made a business of McDonald's more efficient, effective and
successful.....................................................................................................................................6
P6. The challenges of globalisation face by McDonald's when using the internet as a
marketing tool.............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing, it is the process of promoting a brand, products or services over the Internet.
Its broad scope includes email marketing, electronic customer relationship management and any
promotional activities that are done via wireless media (Clarke, 2015). It also combines the
technical and creative aspects of the World Wide Web such as advertising, designing,
development and sales. Moreover, Internet Marketing also deals with creating and placing ads
throughout the various stages of customer engagement cycle. A type of web marketing which
promotes web sites by increasing visibility in search engine results pages through search engine
optimization as well as through paid advertising, strategic content marketing and social media
networks. Marketing using social media outlets such as Facebook or other similar sites. This type
of marketing includes creating pages on the site directly promoting a company, organization, or
product which can be easily accessed from on or outside of the site.
P1.Describe the role internet marketing has within a modern marketing context
Traditionally the Marketing Mix is coordinated so efficient product price promotion and
place strategies are developed for products purchased in shops. The internet has changed the way
we sell our products and services. That’s a fact. Consumers use the internet to research and
purchase products online, so firms need online strategies to attract and retain customers. The e-
Marketing mix refreshes the marketing mix ready for the online market place.
 E product: We walk into a shop and see a product we like, we can assess it, touch it.
Firstly there are clear online facts about the product you are purchasing. The buyer knows
immediately about product features, the facts, not a sales persons assumptions (Parker,
2014). The buying process is also customized for returning visitors, making repeat
purchases easier. Organizations can also offer immediately ancillary products along with
the main purchase. For example, the chance to buy extra printer cartridges along with
your purchase of your printer online. The product can also be customized to consumers
needs.
 E price : As mentioned in our Marketing Mix section, pricing is always difficult to do and
must take into account many considerations. Traditionally pricing was about finding
about your costs, discovering how many consumers are willing to pay, taking account
competition pricing then setting your price. The internet has made pricing very
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competitive. Many costs i.e. store costs, staff cost have disappeared for complete online
stores, placing price pressures on traditional retailers.
 E promotion : Most organizations today have some form of web page used in most if not
all advertisements. Placing banner advertisements on other web pages is a common form
of e-promotion. Banner ads must be placed where potential customers browse (Sheikh,
2016). News worthy stories based on product or service launches can be placed on the
company's web page, or WPR. Direct e-mail is a popular and common form of e-
promotions, although slowly becoming the most hated my many consumers (Suk, 2013).
 E place : One of the biggest changes to the marketing mix is online purchasing.
Consumers can purchase direct from manufacturers cutting out retailers totally. The
challenge for online retailers is to ensure that the product is delivered to the consumer
within a reasonable time.
P2. Describe how selected organisations use internet marketing.
Social media platforms such as facebook, twiter, linkdln, instagram are popular tools.
Technology has enabled people to access social media and connect with others. Smart phones,
tablets and gadgets come pre loaded with access to social networking sites like Twitter and
Facebook so users can instantly set up profiles and access their social media "on the go".
Internet Marketing McDonald’s- McDonald’s was found in 1937 by Dick and Mac McDonald in
California. They first started in an octagonal food stand, on Huntington Drive (Route 66) selling
hamburgers for ten cents and all-you-can-drink orange juice for five cents McDonald’s does a lot
of (internet) marketing especially with the help of social media, because this saves a lot of time,
effort and money. They also use role models as Justin Timberlake to attract more customers
especially focused on the youth.
They use Facebook, twitter and blogs to know what their consumers desire, also to
promote the new products that they are introducing. For example, at Facebook they use sharing
and liking for promotion (Rahimnia, 2013). McDonald’s generally posts fewer than five updates
a month yet each one attracts several thousands ‘likes’ and comments, which is more than the
brands that posts several times per day. Furthermore, McDonald’s UK hasn’t made any effort to
reward its Facebook fans in any way. Many brands run Facebook competitions, with Ikea’s
warehouse sleepover being a notable example.
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It posts several updates each day to entertain its 995,000 followers, however it tends to
avoid tweeting anything too quirky or off-message and instead remains resolutely focused on
promoting it products. This could be because this Twitter feed was the subject of a fairly major
social fail in 2012 (Sheikh, 2016). McDonald’s used the hashtag #McDStories to promote video
content of their suppliers talking about McDonald’s ingredients.
P3. Explain the benefits to customers of a business using internet marketing.
When it comes to internet marketing the customers are also having benefits. The
technique is growing fast and customers and getting more and more familiar by using internet.
The benefits which customers have been.
 Price transparency : By price transparency we mean the customers easily can check the
prices between products and services of organizations.
 Product information : Internet marketing is providing customers a lot of information
about the products and also compare the features of the products. The product details are
mostly price, description, color, images, drawing, promotion details. Customers can make
contact by e-mail and chat with staff.
 Dynamic pricing : Customers can have advantages and disadvantages of dynamic
pricing. When there are many products in stock and the businesses doesn’t sell well,
prices will be of influence of that and will go down (Jones, 2015). When there is much
demand to the product and there are not many products in stock the price will go up.
 Responsive transactions : Internet marketing is providing customers the immediate
satisfaction feeling they bought a product. When you buy a product on certain websites
and they got your e-mail address they mostly send you an email by thank you for doing
business with us, other customers were also interested in these products.
 Customers service : The internet marketing helps businesses to give better services.
They can use the FAQ forms and can see how they can contact the business. If customers
have a complaint they also can send an e-mail by special forms, which is handy to the
business because than they can category those complaints. When the customers send an
e-mail some businesses send an e-mail directly back they will answer the complain in 48
hours. The customer knows than where he/she is up to. Some businesses are also offering
chats to customers they can ask their questions to each other but also can talk about the
products the business is delivering.
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P4. The benefits and opportunities to the business of using internet marketing within the
marketing mix of McDonald's
Having identified its key audiences a company has to ensure a marketing mix is created
that appeals specifically to those people. The marketing mix is a term used to describe the four
main marketing tools (4Ps), product, price, promotion and the place through which products are
sold to customers. Market research is the format which enables McDonald's to identify this key
information. Accurate research is essential in creating the right mix to win customer loyalty.
In all its markets McDonald's faces competition from other businesses. Additionally,
economic, legal and technological changes, social factors, the retail environment and many other
elements affect McDonald's success in the market.
Market research identifies these factors and anticipates how they will affect people's
willingness to buy. As the economy and social attitudes change, so do buying patterns.
McDonald's needs to identify whether the number of target customers is growing or shrinking
and whether their buying habits will change in the future. Market research considers everything
that affects buying decisions (Ahmad, 2016). These buying decisions can often be affected by
wider factors than just the product itself. Psychological factors are important, e.g. what image
does the product give or how the consumer feels when purchasing it. These additional
psychological factors are significantly important to the customer. They can be even more
important than the products' physical benefits. Through marketing, McDonald's establishes a
prominent position in the minds of customers. This is known as branding.
P5. Internet marketing has made a business of McDonald's more efficient, effective and
successful.
Below are the points which show that internet marketing has made a business of
McDonald's more efficient, effective and successful:
1. Opportunities for business: The increasing availability of the web gives McDonald's all
kinds of opportunities to speed up their interaction with both suppliers and customers.
This can lead to a number of efficiencies.
2. Efficiency in suppy chain : A business will always be both a buyer and a seller, buying
products from other businesses, buying product from others and selling to others or
private consumers. A company like McDonald's has to buy the raw materials to use
before it can produce them in finished products (Duermyer, 2017). For business working
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with supply chain creates smother faster ways of dealing with the firms they regularly
buy from.
3. Opportunities to increase sales from existing customers : Businesses that adopt internet
marketing strategy do so because they can see the opportunities either to improve sales
with in the marketers they already serve or to enter complete new markets. As internet
penetration increases and more business uses online strategy the web will become the
accepted method for marketers.
4. Make new customers : by using the platform of internet McDonald's can create new
customers through advertisements on the social media and other visited sites by
consumers of the potential customer range. This idea can give McDonald's a whole new
customer batch.
P6. The challenges of globalisation face by McDonald's when using the internet as a marketing
tool
While the internet offers marketing benefits and opportunities it also throws up many
challenges generated by an increasingly global marketplace (Jones, 2015). These challenges have
to be prepared for. Businesses such as McDonald's must go through the challenge of facing
potential threats online on the internet.
Globalization is the worldwide movement toward economic, financial, trade, and
communications integration. Globalization implies the opening of local and nationalistic
perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free
transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. However, it does not include
unhindered movement of labor and, as suggested by some economists, may hurt smaller or
fragile economies if applied indiscriminately. Globalization can be summarized as the process
that an organization starts to integrate on a global scale.
When it comes to online marketing there are many dangers people face when buying
online. As this generation is all about technology most things that are set up online require
personal information for example Adidas requires its customer to set up an online account to
purchase items. This may make the customers wary, as they wouldn’t like to become a victim of
fraud due to payment security being an issue. Adidas have met customer expectations as they
have made the online website more user friendly for their customers by providing product
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information and also allowing customer to choose their own delivery times for more eficiency.
But as its online business,
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it is proved that the internet has become a important medium of
business for the companies operating in the market. Companies can sell their products and
services with less expenses and to an audience which is cheap for the companies. The internet
marketing has also become an essential element to earn profit in this scenario as it is has wider
range. McDonald's has profited immensely from the internet marketing. Various benefits and
opportunities to the business of using internet marketing within the marketing mix. From the
context, it has been analyzed internet marketing has made business more efficient, effective and
successful. The role internet marketing has within a modern marketing and use of internet
marketing by the organization also been evaluated.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ahmad, S. S., Darbari, M. and Purohit, H., 2016. Application of Evolutionary Algorithm in
Supply Chain Management for Internet Marketing. In Software Engineering Perspectives
and Application in Intelligent Systems (pp. 139-146). Springer, Cham.
Clarke, A., 2015. Search engine optimization 2016: Learn SEO with smart internet marketing
strategies. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Jones, J. M. and Vijayasarathy, L. R., 2015. Internet Shopping: Findings from an Exploratory
Study and Research Propositions. In Proceedings of the 1998 Academy of Marketing
Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 349-349). Springer, Cham.
Parker, B. J., 2014. Innovating the marketing curriculum: Establishing an academic major in
internet marketing. Atlantic Marketing Journal. 3(2). p.13.
Rahimnia, F. and Hassanzadeh, J. F., 2013. The impact of website content dimension and e-trust
on e-marketing effectiveness: The case of Iranian commercial saffron
corporations. Information & Management. 50(5). pp.240-247.
Semerádová, T. and Vávrová, J. N., 2016. Using a systemic approach to assess Internet
marketing communication within hospitality industry. Tourism Management Perspectives.
20. pp.276-289.
Sheikh, A. A., Shahzad, A. and Ishak, A. B. K., 2016. The mediating impact of e‐marketing
adoption on export performance of firms: A conceptual study. Journal of Technology and
Operations Management. 11(1). pp.48-58.
Suki, N. M. and Suki, N. M., 2013. Consumer online shopping behavior: The effect of internet
marketing environment, product characteristics, familiarity and confidence, and
promotional offer. International Journal of Social, Management, Economics and Business
Engineering. 7(3).
Sung, C.G., 2015. A Study on Internet Marketing Strategy of an Online Women’s Apparel Brand
‘INMAN’.
Online
Duermyer, R., 2017. How to Start an Online Marketing Business. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-start-an-online-marketing-business-
1794233//> [Accessed on 16th August 2017].
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Online E marketing mix: A Step-by-Step Guide. 2017. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.learnmarketing.net/emarketing.htm//> [Accessed on 16th August
2017].
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