Marketing Essentials: Strategic Analysis of McDonald's and Burger King

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the marketing strategies employed by McDonald's and Burger King. It begins with an introduction to marketing essentials, focusing on the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, process, physical evidence, and people) and its application in the fast-food industry. The report compares how McDonald's and Burger King utilize the marketing mix in their planning processes, highlighting various tactics used by McDonald's to achieve its business objectives. Furthermore, the report develops and determines a basic marketing plan for McDonald's, including its mission, vision, objectives, target market segmentation (demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral), targeting, and positioning strategies. The analysis also covers McDonald's product offerings, promotional strategies, competitor identification, and fund management. Finally, the report emphasizes the importance of monitoring results to ensure the effectiveness of the marketing strategies. The report concludes with a strategic marketing plan that tactically applies the 7Ps of marketing mix.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ..........................................................................................................................................1
P3 Compare ways in which McDonald’s Burger King apply marketing mix to the marketing
planning process..........................................................................................................................1
M3 Various tactics applied by McDonald’s to achieve its business objectives.........................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P4 & M4 Develop and determine basic marketing plan for McDonald’s...................................4
D2 Strategic marketing plan that tactically applies use of 7Ps ..................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
.........................................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Marketing essence refers to exchange of values and transaction which is intended to
satisfy the needs and demand of the people. The marketing refers to activities of an organisation
which are concerned with the selling of services and goods. McDonald’s is a big restaurant
which provides the fast food services to the people (Askeland and Wright, 2013). Under this
given report discuss about the comparison of marketing mix among the McDonald’s and Burger
King fast food restaurants. Under this report mentions about the formulation and also
determination of the marketing plan of McDonald’s.
TASK 1
P3 Compare ways in which McDonald’s Burger King apply marketing mix to the marketing
planning process
Marketing mix refers to the combination of all components those can effect on the
purchasing power of the buyers and company can control these kinds of business. The marketing
mix is the basic part of marketing and in this includes product, place, , promotion, process,
physical evidence and also people (Clow and James, 2013). Marketing mix means some set of
tactics and also actions that McDonald’s company uses for the purpose of promoting the goods at
the market place. Under this, there is a comparison of the marketing mix between the two fast
food restaurants and these are McDonald’s and Burger king. Both organisations deal in the same
sector.
McDonald’s is a fast food restaurant in the United Kingdom. It deals in many fast food
items such as Hamburger, Chicken products, desserts, French fries etc. The marketing mix of
McDonald’s mentions below as above:
Product- It is one of the largest fast food restaurants chain in all over the world. This
company sells the chicken items, desserts, breakfast items, hamburgers, cheeseburgers etc. The
management of McDonald’s restaurants makes product related strategies. It makes regular
changes in the menu on the basis of customer requirements. In a short period of time,
McDonald’s keeps on developing new food products and also make some changes in the existing
good products.
Price- The value of consumer perception is very essential determinant of cost which is
charged by the restaurant. In some of the countries, McDonald’s reduced the prices of its all
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food items from this large number of people attracted towards the company and enjoy its food
items. The management of this company makes regularly changes in its pricing strategy. It also
gives offers to the people by this many people get attracted towards it. Offers discounts which
are the best strategy to attract the people (Desai, 2013). Its pricing strategy is adopted by lower
and middle section of society. The McDonald’s mainly targets the young people who are very
convenient and also brand conscious.
Place- McDonald’s operates and managed more than 36000 restaurants all over the
world. In more than the 110 countries it operates its restaurants. It has various kinds of
restaurants such as Mc Express, Mc Drive, McDonald’s Next, Mc Cafe etc. Many of the
McDonald’s restaurants allow the consumers to take the indoor and also outdoor facilities. In its
restaurants, it banned the smoking and maintained high standard.
Promotion- This fast food restaurant spends the more money on the promotional
strategies (Bhasin, 2016). It conducts many advertisement campaigns and gives the
advertisement with the help of billboards, newspapers, signage sponsors etc. Its primary source
of advertisement is television and also social media.
Process- McDonald’s regularly make improvement in its cooking process and also
methods. It spends money to conduct the research on making improvement in its process. The
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Illustration 1: Marketing Mix
(Source: Bhasin, 2016)

process of food production of this McDonald’s is visible to the consumers. Along with this it
provides the quick service delivery to the people.
Physical evidence- McDonald’s leaves a good impression when this comes in to the
physical evidence of the marketing mix (Griffitts, 2016). Physical evidence develops the big
positive impact on customers. The major focus of fast food restaurant is on the hygienic and also
the clean interiors. Its outlets are very attractive.
People- The uniform of McDonald’s is standard. The employees of this company deal
with its customers very friendly. Manager gives training to its staff members so that they can
deal with its consumers ion an effective manner.
The Burger king is global chain of the fast food restaurants of America. It has many fast
food restaurants in all over the world. The marketing mix of Burger King given below as above:
Products- This food restaurant deals in the many food items such as Salads, Onion Rings,
Shakes, French fries, Cookies etc. These elements of marketing mix shows outputs of an
organisation which is offered to the target consumers. In many different cities, there are many
outlets in all over the world.
Price- This fast food restaurant uses the competitive pricing strategy because in this the
competition level is very high from the McDonald’s. It major competitors are Domino,
McDonald’s, KFC etc. The management of Burger King regularly monitors and also determines
its pricing policies.
Place- Burger King has many outlets in global market. In about 79 countries, it has
almost 13000 outlets (Jones and Rowley, 2011). In the United States, it has around 66% outlets
and among those 99% are privately owned and also operated.
Promotion- Burger King uses many different tactics for the purpose for promoting its
food items and also its services. This marketing mix element is very useful and also effective in
order to communicate with the people. It uses advertisement, public relation, sales promotion and
also the personal selling in promoting its products. Burger king gives advertisements with the
help of Television, printed media, online etc.
Process- The main focus of Burger King is to segmentation of consumers that spend their
money on the restaurants. Majorly young generation visit this fast food restaurant. The
concentration of the Burger King is on adding some values to its restaurants.
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Physical evidence- In 50 states, Burger King has more than the 11900 restaurants. It has
a big presence in the United States. The interior of this restaurant is modern and people are
attracted towards its restaurants.
People- The manager of this fast food restaurant gives the training facilities to its
customers, so that they can give the good customer service to its clients and satisfy their needs.
The employees deals their clients in a very friendly nature (Kennedy and Parsons, 2014).
M3 Various tactics applied by McDonald’s to achieve its business objectives
For achieving the organisational objectives in a very effective way, McDonald's fast food
restaurants applied many different tactics and these are given below as above:
 For enhancing the development and also sales of business, it provides the better
quality of the food items at reasonable costs.
 The manager of this McDonald's increase the morale of its staff members in order
to enhancing their working abilities.
 Top management conducts training and development related facilities for the
purpose of enhancing the capabilities and also knowledge of staff members. From
this they can perform better and give the good customer service to people.
TASK 2
P4 & M4 Develop and determine basic marketing plan for McDonald’s
Marketing plan refers to the blueprint and also a document that outline business
marketing efforts and also advertising for coming years (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2011). In the
marketing plan, there is an explanation about the existing position of the market in which many
different elements are included. The each and every business organisation make its own
marketing plan in order to enhancing the sales and productivity of the business. McDonald's is a
biggest fast food chain restaurant in all over the world. It has 34000 restaurant in local who
serving almost 69 million people in 119 countries every day. Basically the plan is formulated for
the future. The marketing plan of McDonald's given below as above:
Mission of McDonald's- The mission of the McDonald's is to make the favourite place
of consumers and a way to drink and eat the products. This fast food restaurant going to
dedicated the great and attractive place for the people to work by maintaining the positive
environment.
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Vision of McDonald's- Its vision is to be the fast food leading and number one restaurant
in all over the world.
Objectives-
 The main objective of McDonald's is to serve the people best quality food
products.
 Its another objective is that the cooperation of McDonald's is to the favourite
place for consumers to eat.
 The main focus of McDonald's is on fulfil the needs and wants of customers by
identifying their tastes.
Target market- The McDonald's divide its food items on the basis of 3 different
categories (Papasolomou and Melanthiou, 2012). Under these includes the children, family and
also students. They all are very passionate towards the fast food. The main motive of
McDonald's is to offer the services to customers in friendly nature and also make the fun
environment Si that every one can enjoy. In this the segmentation is on the basis of demographic,
psychographic, geographic and also behavioural.
Demographic
Age- It is basically for the all group age people'
Gender- Male and female
Income level- Small and medium income group people.
Family size- nuclear and also single family.
Occupation- Student, Children, employed, unemployed
Geographic segmentation
Country- All countries
Regions- 13 Other countries and also United Kingdom.
Density- Rural and Urban both
Psychographic Segmentation- It is based on the lifestyle, attitude, personality, beliefs etc.
Lifestyle- Traditional, western , business class
Personality- Easy going and Determined
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Behavioural segmentation
User status- Switcher, active user
Attitude- Negative and positive
Occasion- Regular and Festive
Targeting- The McDonald's uses the Mass Marketing related strategy. With the help of
this strategy, McDonald's can target the various people of group from the various market. Its
major focus is on the needs and also wants of all categorises people whether it is student,
children and also family (Nguyen and Simkin, 2012). It attract the consumers by providing the
attractive offers and discount.
Positioning- McDonald's offers the many productive things and do some effective
strategies in order to increase the goodwill of company. Its main motive is to maximising the
sales and productivity of business.
Services and Products- McDonald's deals in providing the fast food items such as
Chicken Products, Cheeseburger, Hamburgers, French fries, desserts, salads etc. It always take
care the needs and demand of people and also fulfil.
Promotional strategies and also marketing- McDonald's uses many different ways of
promotion such as news papers,holdings,radio, social media, magazines etc in order to know
people about the products (Swenson, Rhoads and Whitlark, 2014). The social media is the best
and also effective way of promotion because from this many people are connected. In its
promotion, it gives the offers on its food items.
Identification of Competitors- For making the business effective, it is necessary for
company is to know about the competitors and also their making related strategies, the main
competitors of McDonald's are Burger king, KFC, Domino's etc. It is important for company to
increase its sales, manager should analyse the strengths and weaknesses of its competitors.
Manage funds- For the marketing related all the activities, there will be the requirement
of the funds. It is the duty of financial department is to arrange and also manage the funds for the
marketing related activities. So, that the marketing department make its marketing plan effective
and also implement properly.
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Monitor result- After all these steps, it is necessary for the manager is to evaluate that all
the marketing related strategies are properly workable or not.
D2 Strategic marketing plan that tactically applies use of 7Ps
The McDonald's fast food restaurant develops the effective and also a better marketing
related plan for formulating of new goods and services. In the marketing plan, McDonald's uses
the 7Ps for making the marketing plan effective (Wirtz, 2012). In the 7p's includes price,
product, place, promotion, physical evidence, process, people. With the help of using these all
components McDonald's can achieve the organisational objectives in a particular time period.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above given report that marketing plays an important roe
in meeting of buyers and also sellers at the particular place. In this given report studies about the
marketing mix comparison in between Burger King and also McDonald's fast food restaurants.
There is also studied regarding formulation of the marketing plan in a systematic way.
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REFERENCES
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in UAE. IUP Journal of Management Research. 12(1). p.22.
Griffitts, M., 2016. Human Resources Marketing and Recruiting: Essentials of Internship
Management. Handbook of Human Resources Management, pp.103-118.
Jones, R. and Rowley, J., 2011. Entrepreneurial marketing in small businesses: A conceptual
exploration. International Small Business Journal. 29(1). pp.25-36.
Kennedy, A.M. and Parsons, A., 2014. Social engineering and social marketing: why is one
“good” and the other “bad”?. Journal of Social Marketing. 4(3). pp.198-209.
Lamb, C.W., Hair, J.F. and McDaniel, C., 2011. Essentials of marketing. Cengage Learning.
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oriented marketing landscape.The Marketing Review. 12(4). pp.333-344.
Papasolomou, I. and Melanthiou, Y., 2012. Social media: Marketing public relations’ new best
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Swenson, M.J., Rhoads, G.K. and Whitlark, D.B., 2014. Startup marketing: Leveraging
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Wirtz, J., 2012. Essentials of services marketing. FT Press.
Wu, C., Kirkole, S. and Huang, Y., 2016. Environmental Protection: Essentials/Antecedents of
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Online
Bhasin, H., 2016. Marketing Mix – The 4 p’s of marketing. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-4-ps-marketing/>.
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