Marketing Plan for McDonald's: A Comprehensive Analysis

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Essential
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Table of Contents
Introduction:..........................................................................................................................................2
LO1: Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional units of an
organisation...........................................................................................................................................3
P1: Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function..........................................3
P2: Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.5
LO2: Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve
overall business objectives....................................................................................................................9
P3: Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives...............................................................................9
LO3: Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan.............................................................................12
P4: Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation............................................12
Conclusion:..........................................................................................................................................16
References:..........................................................................................................................................17
Introduction:
For any business organisation, successful and effective marketing serves as the
lifeline and therefore enables it to achieve growth and success. The marketing is the
process that is mainly concerned with identification of the various needs as well as
customer requirements and therefore making use of the marketing strategies so as
to meet those requirements in the efficient manner. The following assignment is
based on the marketing essentials and the roles and responsibilities that are
performed by the marketing function. The organisation considered in the following
assignment is the leading fast food chain of UK i.e. McDonald’s. The various aspects
of marketing function in relation with McDonald’s will be focused in the following
assignment.
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LO1: Explain the role of marketing and how it
interrelates with other functional units of an
organisation.
P1: Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function.
Marketing is a crucial process for the success of any business organisation as it is
the process that deals with identifying the requirements and the various needs of the
customers and meeting those requirements by working in the most profitable manner
for the organisation. It may be refereed as the set of activities within an organisation
which mainly focuses on creating products and services so as to communicate those
services, deliver them and exchange them with the customers for fulfilling their
requirements (Kotler, 2012). Thus, it looks after the needs and requirements of the
customers and provide services as per their needs and suitability.
McDonald’s, which is the largest food chain in whole UK and all over the world,
makes use of the marketing process and marketing concept so as to carry out its
business operations. In order to run smoothly and satisfy the needs and
requirements of its customers, it focuses on the changing trends of the market and
serve its customers accordingly. For example: They serve food in different nations in
differently keeping in mind their norms and cultural differences so as not to hurt the
emotions and feelings of the customers. For the same reason, they does not sell
beef products in countries like India and Pork in Malaysia so as not to hurt the
sentiments of the people of these nations (McDonald’s, 2018). The core marketing
process that is used by McDonald’s can be explained using the marketing concepts
that are based on the current and the future market trends and comprises of
production, product, its selling, marketing as well as societal.
Production Concept: The production concept illustrates that the customers are
attracted towards the goods and services in market that are available in grand
quantities and that too at prices that are affordable. McDonald’s keep this concept in
mind in its marketing planning and focus on increasing the rate of its production
(Brassington & Pettitt, 2012).
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Product Concept: According to the product concept of marketing, a company needs
to provide value to its customers through the various products and services provided
so as to retain them for the longer period of time.
Selling Concept: Selling Concept mainly focuses on the importance of promotion so
as to increase the sales and ultimately the profitability of the organisation
(Brassington and Pettitt, 2012).
Marketing Concept: Marketing concept focuses on the importance of brand image
and brand value for staying ahead of the rivalries in the competitive market.
Societal Marketing Concept: According to this concept, every organisation like
McDonald’s must focus on the specific needs of its customers so as to make them
choose its products and services in the market.
Therefore, McDonald’s need to follow a systematic process of marketing in order to
remain competitive and achieve its organisational goals as well as objectives. The
marketing process mainly performs functions such as market research, proper
marketing planning, development of product according to needs, its promotion,
product selling, it’s packaging and labelling as well as its distribution (Griffith, et.al,
2014). The key roles and responsibilities within the marketing department of any
business organisation are described as follows:
Marketing President: The marketing president or generally known as the marketing
director of the organisation is the one who is responsible for carrying out all the
activities related to marketing and taking the final decisions of the marketing
activities. The marketing director of McDonald’s plans the marketing strategies as
well as develops the marketing plan after identifying successfully the long-term as
well as short-term goals of the organisation.
Product Manager: The role of the product manager involves doing the market
research so as to find out the exact needs of customers and then developing the
product as per requirements and finally promoting the product in the market. The
product manager is responsible for developing the product so as to suit the varying
needs and requirements of the customers (Pike, 2015).
Advertising Manager: McDonald’s appoints advertising manager in its marketing
department so as to carry out the activities in relation with the promotion of its
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products and services. Therefore, the advertising manager at McDonald’s take care
of all the promotional needs of the organisation and communicate its goods and
services to its potential as well as target customers by promoting its products
through various advertisements and messages and other promotional campaigns.
Public Relations Manager: The PR Manager or the public relations manager is the
one responsible for communicating all the information of the products and services
offered by the organisation to its customers (Pike, 2015). They serve as the
spokesperson for the organisation and hence interacts with the outside media and
public so as to make them aware of its services and hence attract customers
towards their products.
Marketing Manager: The marketing manager is the one who has the main
responsibility of coordinating all the marketing activities and developing the
marketing plan so as to effectively create marketing strategies for the organisation.
The marketing manager works in close coordination with other departmental heads
so as to ensure smooth functioning of the organisation (Pike, 2015).
P2: Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider
organisational context.
For every business organisation, the roles and responsibilities of the marketing
function remains same as they mainly looks after providing goods and services as
per the needs of the customers and promoting them (Dibb and Simkin, 2013). The
main functions that are performed by the marketing function within each and every
business organisation comprises of market research, product development, its
promotion and selling, its financing, packaging as well as its distribution in the market
so as to reach potential customers. Hence, marketing is crucial and the rate of
growth of the organisation depends very much on this function. The roles as well as
responsibilities of the marketing and hence the marketing manager within an
organisation are explained below:
Market Research: It is the prime responsibility of the marketing manager to identify
the exact needs as well as customer’s requirements so that the organisation can
provide goods and services in accordance with those needs. The market research
must focus on the pricing strategy of the competitors, the taste and the flavours liked
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by the customers and the quantity in which its products and services are in demand
by the customers. In this manner, the organisation can fulfil its business organisation
as well as meet the demands of its customers (Griffith, et.al, 2014).
Analysing Marketing environment: Analysing the business environment and the
various changes taking place within the marketing environment of the business is
very important for the success of the organisation. The changing customer
preferences as well as the changing requirements and trends in the market make it
imperative for the marketing manager to regularly monitor the business environment
and keep up with the changes so as to remain existent as well as ahead of
competitors.
Market Strategies: Market strategies plays an important role in the growth as well
as success of the business organisation and therefore it becomes extremely
important for the marketing manager to develop effective marketing strategies so as
to meet the goals of the organisation as well as customer’s requirements. In order to
fulfil the needs of the customer’s, the marketing manager of McDonald’s need to
provide products in accordance with the customer’s expectations and this can be
achieved with the help of proper marketing strategies (Griffith, et.al, 2014).
Market Segmentation: Market segmentation is the process of dividing the potential
customers of the organisation into different groups in the way that each group
consist of customers with same needs and requirements. By doing marketing
segmentation, McDonald’s can provide goods and services to its potential customers
effectively by providing specific services to a particular group of customers.
Packaging, Labelling and Branding: Another important function of the marketing
manager at McDonald’s is to give its product a unique as well as personalised
identity and this is achieved by doing the packaging, labelling as well as branding of
the services as well as products. Packaging increases the value of the products and
hence the company can achieve better and increased profits (Dibb & Simkin, 2013).
Risk Taking: The job of the marketing manager also involves taking various risks as
the manager is the one who is responsible for carrying out the production process so
as to fulfil customer demands and this involves taking risks in the business.
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Product Distribution: In order to achieve its organisational goals, McDonald’s need
to provide products to its customers and therefore product distribution is important so
that the goods reach the customers on time and as per their needs.
Financing: The business can carry out all the functions and activities only in the
presence of sufficient finances and money as no business can run in absence of
money. The marketing manager also makes sure that the business has proper
finances so as to carry out all the activities for the smooth functioning.
M1:
Marketing is significant in order to ensure smooth functioning as well as growth and
success of the organisation. The role and functions performed by the effective
marketing with in context of the marketing environment are as follows:
Marketing Communication: Marketing communication is the role played by the
marketing department which refers to the effective communication of information in
between the marketing department and other functional departments of the
organisation so as to make sure the proper functioning (Baines, et.al, 2013).
Enhance the liability of organization: Among the main roles as well as
responsibilities performed by the marketing function is to increase and maximise the
organisation’s liability towards its customers and their needs. The McDonald’s has
become the largest and the most popular fast food chain because of its effective
marketing and promotional activities.
Quality of services and products: The quality of the goods and services provided
to the customers matters a lot as it makes the customer experience. McDonald’s
identify the needs of its customers through its marketing function by doing proper
market research and hence it enables the organisation to provide the quality of the
products and service as per their expectations.
Promotion of services: Marketing function also involves promotion of the products
of the McDonald’s in the market so as to make aware its customers in the market
about the goods and services that are offered by the organisation and hence to
attract customers towards their products (Baines, et.al, 2013).
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M2:
Just like the marketing department, each business organisation consists of other
functional units as well and their interrelationship with each other as well as proper
and effective functioning is important for the organisation’s growth and success
(Jobber and Chadwick, 2012). The various functional units existing within
McDonald’s are dependent on each other’s working and the smooth functioning of
one depends on the proper functioning of the other department. This can be
explained properly by considering the various functioning units and their working
from following:
HR Department: The HR department in any business organisation looks after the
proper management of the human resources within the organisation. It performs
several functions like the recruitment and selection of candidates, their performance
management etc. Therefore it mainly provides human resources i.e. the human
personnel to McDonald’s so that the organisation can carry out the various major
functions and activities required to ensure the smooth working. Hence marketing
department is dependent on HR department for the supply of the human personnel.
IT Department: The proper functioning of the IT department is dependent on the
correct and valuable information which is provided to the department by the
marketing department with the help of the market research. In turn, the marketing
department is favoured by IT department as it helps in the development of effective
and innovative promotional strategies for the organisation’s products.
Research and Development: The human personnel required to carry out market
research is provided to marketing department by HR department and hence R&D
department performs market research which enables the production department to
proceed with the production of products as per the needs and expectations
(McDaniel and Gates, 2014).
Production and Operations: The operations department is responsible for the main
functioning and hence the production of the products so as to fulfil the needs of the
customers. The production department gets the valuable information obtained
through market research by marketing department and hence carry out its activities.
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Finance: Finance department performs the most important function of providing
funds and monetary resources to all the departments including marketing
department for carrying out all the functions and activities that are required by the
organisation (Jobber and Chadwick, 2012).
Thus, the interrelationships as well as the inter dependence of the various functional
units is important in order to ensure the proper functioning of McDonald’s and the
achievement of the organisational goals in the effective manner. or the success and
growth of organisation, it is important for the McDonald’s to understand the
interrelationship between its marketing department and the other functional units.
The importance of HR department is crucial as it provides valuable human resources
and similarly, finances are provided by Finance department, market research is
carried out by marketing department which helps production department to carry out
production of products. Therefore, the successful functioning and the huge popularity
of McDonald’s is the result of the proper functioning and inter-relationships between
the marketing department and other functional units.
LO2: Compare ways in which organisations use
elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve overall
business objectives.
P3: Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives.
Marketing mix is one of the most important strategic tools that is used by the
business organisations for the development as well as the implementation of the
effective strategies of marketing (Baker, 2014). The main elements of the marketing
mix are the products, price, place, promotion, people, process and the physical
evidence which helps the organisation in the identification of the proper marketing
strategies. Therefore, McDonald’s considers these elements of the marketing mix
carefully and then implements its marketing strategies so as to achieve the goals
and organisational objectives in the effective manner. McDonald’s regularly
implement changes in the various elements of the marketing mix as per the changing
trends and requirements and therefore this helps the organisation in the effective
achievement of their organisational goals. The application of the marketing mix
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elements within two different organisations i.e. McDonald’s and Burger King can be
compared as following:
Product: Product is the main element of the marketing mix and is referred to all the
services as well as the goods that company has for offering to its customers in the
market (Jain, 2013).
The product range of McDonalds is wide and large. The various items that are
included in the product portfolio offered by the McDonald’s are burgers, ice creams,
sandwiches, fries, cold drinks, shakes etc. In order to remain ahead of its rivalries,
the company continuously keep on updating its menu by including new and
innovative products as customers are attracted towards new things and flavours
(Harrington, et.al, 2016). On the contrary, Burger King Works on the theme of “Have
it your way” and therefore offer its customers to choose their meal as per their need.
The product portfolio of Burger King comprises of sandwiches, drinks, hamburgers
etc.
Price: Price is the element of the marketing mix which signifies the value of the
product that the organisation charges from its customers in exchange for their
services (Jain, 2013).
McDonald’s follows the competitive pricing strategy and therefore focuses on the
demand of its products carefully so as to price its products accordingly (Rahman,
2019). On the other hand, the pricing strategy that is followed by the Burger King
mainly focuses on attracting customers and therefore it sets the prices lower than
most of its competitors in order to give them tough competition.
Place: Place is another important element of the marketing mix and refers to the
safe and easy distribution of the products so as to make products reach their
customers (Jain, 2013).
McDonald’s adopts different distribution strategies in order to carry out operations in
different countries. At few places, the home delivery service is offered while in few
other countries, the same service is not provided by McDonald’s. in the similar
manner, Burger King also makes use of its prime restaurant locations such as near
residential areas, malls etc. in order to make its products available to its customers
(Harrington, et.al, 2016).
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Promotion: promotion refers to the process involved in advertising and
communicating various products and services of organisation to its customers (Jain,
2013).
McDonald’s uses different promotional strategies so as to advertise its products and
promote them in the market. It includes advertisements through television as well as
newspapers and magazines, social media etc. In the similar manner, the products of
Burger King also gets promoted through advertisements, banners, social media
pages etc. (Harrington, et.al, 2016).
People: The various staff members and the employees of organisation are referred
to as the people (Jain, 2013).
McDonald’s is a large organisation and therefore more than 95,000 employees are
working for it across the globe. The company value its staff and provides them
training and development in order to improve their efficiency and skills (Rahman,
2019). In the same way, training is also provided to employees by Burger King.
Physical evidence: The experience that company has on its customers is referred
to as the physical evidence. The customers of McDonald’s have the impressive
opinion due to the clean and hygienic restaurants. Similarly, in order to provide good
customer experience, Burger King also maintains attractive interiors and hygiene at
its restaurant outlets (Rahman, 2019).
Process: Process refers to the set of activities through which the various services
are delivered to the customers (Jain, 2013).
In order to gain the trust of its customers, McDonald’s follows the simple and
transparent procedures in its product production. In the similar manner, Burger King
also ensures hygiene and timely delivery of its food products to customers by
following simple and safe processes (Harrington, et.al, 2016)
M3:
Various different tactics are used by the business organisations in order to achieve
the goals and objectives of the organisation. One of the various tactics is to carefully
analyse and utilise the 7Ps of the marketing mix. Following are the tactics that are
used by McDonald’s in order to achieve business goals:
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