Marketing Analysis of KFC: Strategies and Performance Evaluation

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of KFC's marketing strategies, focusing on the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within its environment. It explores current marketing trends, the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional departments, and the implementation of the 7 Ps of the marketing mix. The report highlights KFC's effective digital media strategies, customer feedback mechanisms, and customization of strategies to meet diverse consumer segments. It also discusses future marketing trends for KFC, including emotional connection with consumers, expansion of product range, and advanced technological applications. Furthermore, the report examines the functions of a marketing manager, including managing tasks, understanding market trends, analyzing competitive positions, and monitoring performance. The importance of interdepartmental relationships, such as those between marketing and finance, HR, IT, and operations, is emphasized. Finally, the report evaluates the impact of marketing on KFC's overall performance and the benefits of integrated functional activities.

MARKETING
ESSENTIAL
TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................2
Key roles and Responsibilities of marketing function in context of marketing environment.....2
Introduction to current marketing trends...............................................................................2
Significance and evaluation of interrelationship between marketing and other functional
departments..................................................................................................................................5
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................7
Marketing mix and its elements (7 Ps)........................................................................................7
STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN.............................................................................................12
TACTICS USED BY KFC TO ACHIEVE ITS BUSINESS GOALS..........................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing is defined as the process to build and manage the exchange relationships. It
aims at promoting the business activities so that customer relations, satisfaction, profits and
brand equity parameters can be achieved (Scarborough, 2016). The document will focus on
various marketing processes and role of marketing manager in context of KFC. The KFC is a
global and the second largest fast food chain in the world with great huge customer support all
over the world. The report will explain the concept and importance of marketing. It will also
highlight the current practices of marketing used by the organizations to achieve business goals.
The study will also explain the impact of marketing on other functional activities of organization.
It will explain the implementation of seven elements of marketing mix in business activities of
KFC. Further the report will also describe the benefits of interrelationships between various
departments of organization.
LO 1
Key roles and Responsibilities of marketing function in context of marketing environment
Marketing is known as the strategy which defines every scope involved in delivery of
goods and services to consumers. It coordinates elements such as place, price, product
specifications and promotion. Customer satisfaction and retention are the major factors which
contribute to success of organization. The marketing concept will allow KFC to guide business
and operational activities in direction such that it maximizes the profitability and long term
business objectives can be achieved.
Introduction to current marketing trends
The marketing strategy of KFC is highly effective. It has helped organization to explore
its business activities all over the world which has great cultural diversity and variations in
preferences of consumers.
 The organization follows the most influencing digital media tools for promotion. Social
media interaction, online bookings and digital payments facilities make it easy for the
consumers to recognize and connect with brand (Ambat and et.al., 2017). To connect
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emotionally with consumers it uses various tag lines and gives discounts on various
occasions.
 To provide high quality services, KFC always gives priority to complain and feedbacks
of customers. It keeps introducing changes in its services to bring innovations without
affecting the quality of products and services.
 The current marketing trends are mainly focused on customizing the strategies as per the
requirements of each customer segment. Organization operates in various countries but it ensures that its promotional strategy
meets the cultural diversities and can have significant impact on consumers.
Future marketing trends: For sustaining the growth and to expand its restaurants KFC can use
following marketing trends in the future:
 The organization can make more efforts to connect emotionally with consumers. It will
help organization to maintain brand loyalty.
 KFC can use its high brand value to develop consumer segment in different parts of
world. The online food delivery and expansion of product range can also serve as
effective strategy for KFC to meet its future goals.
 With advent of digital technology organization can use highly advance techniques such as
mobile applications for managing orders and highly secure platform for payments. It will
attract more consumers.
 These practices will be effective for KFC to sustain its successful performance and to
give tough competition to other companies such as McDonalds.
The marketing process of KFC is described as follows:
KFC use various approaches for marketing. The organization first identifies the target
audience and segment and develops products and services which can meet their requirements.
According to the interest of targeted audience, the promotional strategies are prepared (Chernev,
2015). For example; it encourages the uses of vouchers and coupons so that organization is
always a well known name among consumers. The mouth word publicity is one of the most
influential marketing processes. Thus, KFC always make attempts that queries and issues of
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consumers are resolved at the earliest so that they can promote organization themselves. The
organisation is using influential advertisement programs and loyalty rewards to influence
consumers. The regular innovation in products is also appreciated by the people.
To develop emotional connectivity with customers, the company gives attractive discount
offers on festival seasons and special occasions. Considering the interests of technological
dependence the company is also giving preference to internet marketing. Along with the
publicity in magazines and hoardings the company regularly interacts with customers through
social media and its website. The company also considers the price factors. Though price and
product quality are as per KFC brand value but they follow the purchasing nature of consumers
as well.
Functions performed by marketing manager of an organization
Managing tasks and operational activities: The marketing manager of KFC plays crucial role
in achieving the success goals of company. It is the responsibility of manager to identify and
understand the needs of market and consumers. This assessment helps organization to develop
marketing plan as per the requirements. Marketing managers ensure that all necessary resources
are available and effectively used by the team members so that they can efficiently achieve the
operational goals.
Understanding marketing trends and needs of organisation: Within marketing scope, if
managers are not able to understand the purchasing behaviour of consumers then it is almost
impossible for the company to meet its profit goals (Fine, 2017). For example: if in any
particular country KFC does not perform well then it will be the duty of manager to evaluate the
situation. It will give description of all factors that what are the possible causes which leads to f
failure. If consumers are not happy with price, quality or they are unknown to the organization
then manager will assess these reasons. Marketing managers frames new guidelines and
strategies which are essential for the long term success of company and for sustaining the strong
position within market. These managers also assess the needs of skills which can improve the
performance of company so that its training can be provided to the team members.
Analysing competitive positions of organisation: Marketing manager plays a significant role in
analysing the position of company among its strong competitors. This analysis will always
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encourage the marketing team members to bring innovations so that company is always able to
receive competitive advantage. These professionals also evaluate the innovative and quality
aspects of the company performance which can maximize the benefits with minimum operational
costs. Managers make every attempt to ensure that only advance marketing practices are adopted
which must achieve profit and business goals of the company. The analysis of strategies and
actions of other competitive companies as well as the self evaluation of the company is one of
the necessity for the success. Marketing managers use sales statistics and other approaches to
evaluate this aspect so that effective improvements can be introduced to the marketing
operations.
Monitoring and control: Marketing managers also regulate the performance of marketing team
members. These managers prepare strategies for promoting the services and products of
organization. In order to implement these strategies marketing managers evaluate the
performance of their team members so that marketing strategies can be accomplished and desired
results can be obtained. The regular monitoring and controlling of marketing activities by
marketing managers helps to gain desired goals in the fixed time frame.
Motivating employees and developing team members: Marketing managers motivates the
other members so that marketing goals can be achieved. Another important function of
marketing managers is that they formulate the marketing plans in alignment with the market
trends, business objectives and consumer needs. Marketing managers motivates the other
members by rewards and appreciation so that they can put more efforts in quality of work.
Significance and evaluation of interrelationship between marketing and other functional
departments
Marketing not only influence the performance of organization but it also affects different
departments of the company. It creates an interrelation and dependencies between these
departments.
Marketing and finance department: The promotional strategies must be according to budget
consideration of the company. If marketing team will start any promotional campaign which
involves huge investment then it is necessary for the financial team to ensure that the necessary
profit is also obtained from the outputs of marketing (Yakimchuk and Kochetkova, 2016).
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Marketing and human resources: Human resources are the key elements for ensuring the
functionality of organization. The human resource development must coordinate with marketing
team so that suitable marketing team must be created. For example for digital marketing the
teams requires individuals who are innovative and technical as well. Thus marketing team must
have interrelations with other functional sections of company.
Information technology and marketing department: The current marketing strategies are
mainly based on internet. Thus, information technology team must be involved in some decisions
because if consumers will face difficulty during online payment and order booking then KFC
may fail to achieve its marketing objectives.
Operational & production department and marketing: Before promoting any product
specification the marketing team must consult with the operational team to ensure that if it is
possible or not. In case if there will be discrepancy then wrong message will be given to the
consumers that KFC fails to meet product value.
Significance of marketing role on performance of KFC
The performance of organization largely depends upon the marketing role. The marketing
functions analyses the market and develops suitable marketing campaign. To evaluate the
effectiveness of these campaigns these professionals monitors the sales records and brand value
of the company. The marketing functions gives guidelines to KFC that how organization is
performing and what measures can be adopted to improve its performance. The marketing
approaches also monitor the competitive performance and self evaluation of organization
through tools like SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis. There are companies which are
performing better than KFC. Without effective marketing strategy KFC may fail to recognise the
needs of its target audience and marketing trends. It will have an adverse impact on overall
performance of the organisation.
The marketing department of company regularly makes researches and finds the risk and
barriers which prevents company from achieving these goals (Lusch and Vargo, 2014). It also
encourages KFC to implement innovations and improvements according to changing technology
and consumer behavior. These marketing strategies are important for organization to achieve its
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profit goals in regularly changing and competitive environment. Marketing functions always
aims at improving the performance of KFC by effective planning and market analysis.
Importance and effect of interrelationships between various functional departments
For effective accomplishment of operational activities with minimum cost and optimized
benefits it is essential that all functional departments of KFC are interrelated with each other.
The interrelationships between all functional units of KFC will help company to avoid errors and
loss. For instance when marketing department defines products without coordinating with other
departments then it is possible that it become impossible for the KFC to implement it practically
(Paley, 2017). The interrelationships are essential between various departments so that there is an
alignment in functional activities and desired profits can be obtained.
On the other hand when strategies are developed with discussion from all functional units
then it makes the practical implementation of the suggested plans. It also helps company to
analyze the possible barriers in implementing plan before directly exposing plan among
customers or competitors.
LO 2
Marketing mix and its elements (7 Ps)
The marketing strategies can be made successful and productive with continuous
evaluation. It helps to assess the drawbacks and performance of the business. Marketing mix is
defined as the concept which uses various elements for performance evaluation of business. It
will help KFC to implement its operational activities which can maximize the profits. The
marketing mix has following elements which are known as the 7 Ps of marketing.
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(Source: Extended Marketing Mix (7P's), 2018)
Element KFC McDonald
Product KFC must include products
which are innovative and can
attract more customers. The
organization must monitor that
which existing products are
profitable and which is not so
that company can make
improvements. The quality of
products must meet the safety
and health standards otherwise
customers will not prefer the
organization. For instance the
standard product quality and
taste of KFC products all over
the world make it well-known
brand. For example Apart
McDonald which is the leading
competitor of KFC, is greatly
innovative. McDonald keep
introducing products as per the
taste of its region centred
consumers. For example in
Australia it serves Australian
cheese and bacon fries while in
Hong Kong its main attraction
is Mcspicy chicken sandwich.
For example Apart from this
other products of McDonald’s
include that of Egg McMuffin,
Egg White Delight McMuffin,
Hash Browns and man more
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Illustration 1: Elements of marketing mix

from this other products of
KFC include KFC veg burger
and veg rice bowl for the
vegetarian and KFC chicken
Zinger is its bestselling
product.
Price To address more consumers
the company must be flexible
to its prices. For example it
may happen that same
products are sold by other
competitors at extremely lower
prices than in order to retain
consumers KFC must lower its
prices. To achieve more
benefits more price benefits
like gift vouchers or discounts
can also be used. For example
KFC target its middle and
upper middle class people. So
it is using variety of pricing
strategies like for example
optional pricing to increase
amount of money which
customer are spending and
bundle pricing for offering
more number of product
together at low price.
Prices bring significant
differences in the choice of
customers. For instance as
compare to McDonald, the
prices of KFC are higher thus
despite fast services of KFC
most of the consumers prefers
McDonald. This is one of the
key reason for the bigger
market share of McDonald.
For example McDonald is
using variety of pricing
techniques in way of selling
their products. Like that of
value pricing, going rate and
cost plus pricing.
Promotion To create brand awareness
among public KFC can use
In order to promote the
product organisation can join
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social networking sites, pay
per click, sponsorship of
public events and charity
events. It will make
organization easy to recognize
and to create strong brand
value. For instance for this
purpose KFC can join hands
with another popular brands
for its publicity. For example
KFC is using all type of media
to create awareness like like of
BTL, digital channels and
ATL.
hands with other successful
organisations. For instance
McDonald has started joining
hands with Starbucks for
innovations in cup size and
other products. For example:
advertisement is mostly
notable among its promotional
tactics. As they are using
television, magazine and
newspaper as well.
Place The region in which company
operates greatly affects the
sales. KFC must open its
restaurants in locations which
are easily accessible to people
and highly density of people is
available to use services. For
example the customers can
find KFC in any region of the
world without any difficulty. It
helps KFC to maintain its
customers throughout the
world. For example KFC is
using mix of both franchise
and company outlet. Other
than this company is also
The organization is also easily
available in most of the cities
however it is exploring its
growth opportunities to new
cities as well in which there is
low competition. Like for
instance McDonald is planning
to open several new outlets in
the developing countries so
that new customers can
become part of the
organisation. For example
company is having various
distribution channels in
different countries like
offering home delivery in
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giving up option of online
channels to order food through
KFC app or website
countries. Many of its outlets
are open 24*7.
Physical evidence KFC is having impact not only
impression of customer of
restaurant but also way
function
This refer to physical
environment elements, visitors
and customer experience as
well. The interior are attractive
and maintain hygienic interior
of outlets.
Process This refer to activities which
are performed in order to
achiev something. There are
many activities which are
taken place like preparation of
food.
The food preparation in
McDonalds are very much
clear and transparent as this is
visible to custoners when they
wait for their order to
prepared.
People The Company must have clear
understanding of its target
group so that for each
audience strategies can be
made. KFC must have skilled
human resources so that
quality services are provided
to consumers and high
performance can attracts great
investors. This can be
understood by the example
that if serving staff will not be
polite then people will not
prefer KFC instead they will
McDonald regularly focuses
on the behaviour and demands
of its consumers and ensures
that its human resources are
able to meet those
expectations. For instance
when McDonald received
some complaints regarding
delay in serving orders then
instead of blaming employees
the company try to find out the
cause of the problem and then
suitable actions were taken so
that both employees and its
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search for other options. For
example: there are about more
than 1 million employees in
UK. They are devising
appropriate strategies to
address problem and need of
both employee and customers.
customers can be managed.
For example: approx. 97000
people are working in
McDonalds in UK and
Northern Ireland and about
70% of the restaurants are
owned by local business who
are investing 40 million on
employee training.
These concepts of marketing mix will help KFC to emerge as the leading food chain
across globe and to sustain this performance in upcoming years as well.
STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN
Objective:
With the help of marketing plan KFC can achieve following marketing objectives.
Demand creation so that more customers can make purchasing decision for KFC.
Increase and sustain high brand value and profits.
To hold huge market share.
To provide quality services so that customers can be retained for long term and consumer
loyalty is achieved. KFC is operating in various countries thus to maintain its brand value all
over the world is challenging and one of the key marketing objective. It will help organization
to perform better than competitors and to meet future as well as current requirements of market
and consumers.
MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY KFC
 Social media and email marketing
 Collaboration with other influencing brands.
 More interaction with consumers regarding quality of products.
 Mobile applications with more security and advanced features for order management.
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