Marketing Report: Analyzing McDonald's Strategies and Marketing Mix

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of McDonald's marketing strategies, examining the company's approach to satisfying customer needs and wants. The report is structured into three key tasks. Task 1 explores the marketing concept, its role and responsibilities in the marketing function, and its impact within the wider organization. Task 2 delves into McDonald's marketing mix, dissecting the 7Ps of marketing (Product, Place, Price, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Evidence) and how they are applied in the business. Task 3 focuses on developing a marketing plan for McDonald's, addressing potential shortcomings and proposing improvements to enhance its effectiveness. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting marketing strategies to meet evolving customer demands and achieve long-term business objectives, with focus on pricing strategies, promotional activities, and the company's operational structure.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1: Marketing concept and its role and responsibilities in marketing function..........................1
P2: Role and responsibilities of marketing in wider organization..............................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3: Marketing-mix followed by McDonald's..............................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4: Marketing plan for McDonald's............................................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the activity and processes for inventing, communicating, delivering and
dealing offers that have value for customers, partners and society. In other words it can said to be
process by which goods and services transform from idea to customer. Under his project report
marketing strategies of McDonald's is being discussed that they are using it into their business to
satisfy customer needs and wants (Berkowitz, 2016).
The objective of this project is to know about how companies are using marketing
techniques in their business in relation to satisfy customer needs and demand. The project is
carry three task which summaries of various aspect related to marketing. First part of task talk
about role and responsibilities of marketing function and in organisational context. In the next
task different ways in which marketing mix are applied in marketing planning.
It will help to achieve business objectives and development of company in coming future.
Last task is related with marketing plan for above selected organization. As a marketing manger I
have asked to overcome bad condition and miscommunication system that is lacking in the case
of McDonald's. A proper design of plan will help the company to reduce their marketing plan in
order to make it more suitable achieving their objectives.
TASK 1
P1: Marketing concept and its role and responsibilities in marketing function
Marketing concept: It is the study that company should analyse the needs of their
customers and after then make decision to fulfil those needs, much more easy way. McDonald's
is using these concepts in their business operations to provide better services to its customers as
well as society. The marketing concept are most important for any company because it will
provide a complete shape to their business. Some of the marketing concepts are:
The production concept: The reason behind this concept are customers will use that products
that are available and extremely economical (Campbell and Martin, 2015). McDonald's is using
this strategies to as to major risk of focusing too broadly on their own operations and reducing
sight to attain its objective. It will help the company to modify production and distribution
system to increase efficiency.
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Product concept: This concept hold that customers will using those product that are of best
quality, performance and attractive features. Continuous improvement is the main target of this
concept. Companies are using this concept very wisely to make improvisation in their product.
The selling concept: Next concept in marketing is selling of production. It build relation among
customers and business. It is based on that idea that customers will not purchase much of product
of unless it proceeds a large selling and promotion effects. It aim is to sell what company makes
those which are demanded by market (Ebert and Griffin, 2015).
Marketing concepts: It is a huge challenge that are faced by the every business to follow above
mention concepts. Development of right plan and techniques will help them to attain its
objectives in allotted time frame. It is mostly based on that concept that delivering that product
which can satisfied customer need and wants.
Societal concept: It means that company should create value to customers in the way to organise
and improves their taste and preferences in relation to their product to get long term benefits. It
indicate that company should plan to achieve sustainable marketing that would meets current
needs of customers as well as business.
Role of marketing:
It play an important role in building relationship among customers and the organisation
those are offered to the market (Gummesson, 2011). Function of marketing is also branding of
participation in publicity activities customer interaction through regular feedback and reviews.
The main role of marketing is to increase maximum sale by offering most productive product to
its customers. To make healthy competition at market place will help to face it in more effective
manner.
Function of marketing:
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 MIS( management information system): It is responsible for obtaining, managing and
using information about customer to improve business decision making, performance of
activities and to estimate what is going to sell by company (Hagan, 2011).
 Pricing: McDonald's is using appropriate setting and communicating the value of
product and service. It is associated with fixing of price at right level.
 Product and service management: it is based on designing, implementing and
improving product services that would meet consumer needs. In case of McDonald's
packaging and designing of product are given more preferences.
 Distribution: Establishing the best ways in customer point of view to locate, obtain and
make use of product of an organization. A network of distribution is followed by
McDonald's in delivering product to its customer.
 Financing: Preparation of marketing budget and collecting of necessary fund for
available sources and to provide financial support to its customer if they are in
requirement. It is a function of McDonald's to attract customer to buy their products.
 Selling: As customer need and wants are satisfied through communicating directly to
potential customer who are interested in the business activities.
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 Promotion: Make reach of product to its customers are made motive of McDonald's.
Because it is only way through which they can capture more customer by using
appropriate mode of promotion techniques (Judge and Robbins, 2015).
P2: Role and responsibilities of marketing in wider organization
In Mc Donald there are various activities that are carried out and for them various
departments are established in which the functions will be carried out. In the marketing there
will be a relation that is established with all these departments which is explained below:
 Production: In the process of marketing, research is conducted by which needs of
customers will be identified and then those findings will be used by the production
department in order to make the product in accordance with customer preferences
(Koontz, 2010).
 Research and development: This department is directly linked with the marketing as it
will be the one who will be conducting the research that is used in it and then on the basis
of the outcomes of marketing development will be carried out.
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 Administration: The main function of this department is to manage the work of all and
due to this it will also be linked with marketing as the activities in marketing will be
managed in most effective and efficient way and all the objectives will be achieved.
 Customer service: It is very important that customers should be satisfied with the
services provided to them (Malhotra, Birks and Wills, 2013). For this marketing
department will take steps so that all the requirements of customers are met in the best
possible manner.
 Distribution: With the help of this all the products of Mc Donald will be distributed in
various segments. For this it is required that consumers should be aware about the
services which will be done with the help of marketing. By this new markets will be
identified in which also distribution can be made and business can be expanded.
 Finance: In the process of marketing various promotional activities are undertaken and
for them there will be requirement of funds. These needs will be met with the help of
finance department as it will be responsible to manage the funds so that all the work is
done without any hindrance. Also it will ensure that provided money is utilised in
appropriate manner.
 Human resource: In this the skilled staff will be hired and this is related to marketing.
By this the new and innovative ideas will be used by them which will be helpful in
carrying out promotion in different manner which will be beneficial for Mc Donald. Also
the production targets that have been set will be achieved as the work will be conducted
in adequate manner (Mihart, 2012).
 ICT: In the global economy there are various new technologies which are coming and
they will be used to develop better products and also strategies. With the help of them
marketing will also be done in advanced manner such as websites can be made and also
advertisements can be provided on internet by which large number of people can be
reached. Lot of information will be collected with the use of them which will be used by
Mc Donald in its processes.
 Marketing: This department is very important as with the help of this the products will
be promoted and there will increase in the sales. This will be because in this various
activities will be undertaken with the help of which the large number of customers will be
attracted.
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Sales: Sales department is highly related with the marketing as with the help of this only the
sales will be improved and the company will be able to increase its earnings. With this customers
will be made aware of the services of the company and they will be promoted (Ormrod, 2014).
From above mentioned various operational structure of McDonald's will used in
managing marketing strategies in increase productivity and maximising sales of the company.
TASK 2
P3: Marketing-mix followed by McDonald's
It refer as combination of various action that the company uses in their business
operations. It is said to be set of actions, or tactics that McDonald's uses to promote its brand and
product in the market. In general term it is a foundation model of marketing. It is said to be most
attractive aspect of company that can be implemented in business in order to attract positive
results. It comprises of 7ps of marketing that are used by company as business strategies. They
are followed underneath:
 Product: McDonald's is associated with selling a large range of fast food product such as
cheeseburger, hamburgers, several kind of sandwiches and French fries. The other
product of this company are soft drink, pies, soft serve cone and coffee and other
beverage. The company has definite to exploit nutritional values of its meal.
 Place: There are more than 36,258 restaurant in 119 countries. Because, of large
expansion in business plan, the a company vision is to captured urban market as well as
rural areas. They are trying to build quality restaurant in neighbourhoods as wells airport,
malls and college it is done all to create value to our customers (Peter and Donnelly,
2011).
 Price: They are using cost leadership business strategies and in respect to it foods and
drinks are provided for competitive prices. Fast food chain offered mixture of customers
the possibilities to feed for portion of cost. Like for example Dollar menu and more are
offers food and beverages that cost up to USD5.
Pricing strategies used by company are:
1. Price bundling: Combination of various product or services into one single package for
an reduce price. It means providing product at discounting rate, it can help to increase
profitability and help to promote more than one product.
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2. Psychological pricing: This pricing strategies are used by company to certain price those
are having psychological impact (Pike, 2015). Retail prices are often said to be odd price.
These of the above mentioned pricing strategies are used by McDonald's within their
business model.
 Promotion: McDonald's is communicating with customers regarding their product and
services to achieve the desire outcome. Customer demand for product and capacity to buy
it should be mostly depend upon how promotion is done in order to increase the demand
for their product. It has many modes available with the company like advertising,
personal selling and television and by making banners and poster.
 Other promotional techniques are point of sale display, merchandising, direct mail and
other sources. Its main target are children as they are forced on providing happy meal to
them under this small toys are given with that particular meal.
 People: Study of quality, services, cleanliness and value are the direction regarding
service offered to the people. It is most based on fast and friendly services. It also based
on standard homogeneous situations for employs for equality service treatment. So it is
important for the company to make trained people in their business organisation who are
ready to deliver product those are of best quality.
 Physical evidence: It is based on the product availability in the market. It mostly that
affect not only the impression outsiders of a business but all the fashion that business is
functioned. It included staff members, location of quality, structure maintenance and
interior impact of company. It is generally based on various aspect like cleanliness,
speed, quality and transparency (Wirtz, 2012).
 Process: The food processing techniques are transparent to customers because they are
using new method of packaging and distribution. The are using more appropriate cooking
equipment in producing their product. It is said to be the that department of organisation
which are related with service and execution. It also shows presence of product and the
business in relation to branding of product.
Comparative analysis of 7 P's of marketing of McDonald's and Burger King
Basis McDonald's Burger King
Product McDonald's have studied the
behaviour of customers in the market
The products in burger king consisted
of hamburgers, French fries, soft
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and has limited its product depth and
width according to the demand of
product in the market (Raj, Walters
and Rashid, 2012).
drinks, milkshakes and deserts. The
changes in the menu are made timely
for expansion and meeting consumer
demands in the market.
Price The pricing strategy followed by
McDonald's was keeping in mind the
class of people and age groups. They
followed bundled pricing strategies
like combo meal, happy price menu,
family meal etc.
Burger king uses competitive pricing
and psychological pricing strategy.
They monitors and evaluates their
pricing policy and analyse the
amount a customer is willing to pay.
Place The place factor for McDonald's is
target market, distribution channels
and outlets of company at various
locations of the world.
Presently it has its outlet almost
everywhere in the world. The
distribution network of the company
is build around the main company, its
franchises and its outlets.
Promotion The promotional methods followed
by McDonald's are advertising, direst
marketing, sales promotion, etc. to
make access to the communication
channels and make coverage over
target audience.
The promotional strategies are based
on the concept of reorganizing and
revitalizing its brand at definite
periods. The advertisement helped in
uplifting and maintaining its brand
image.
Process The process includes food
transparency to consumers, adopting
new methods of packing and
distribution, innovative cooking
equipments,etc.
The burger king derive process
design and offer assemble to order
products ( to lesser extent). Burger
king has lower volume and follows
process of modified line flow.
People McDonald's held internal as well as
external marketing so that employees
can serve and satisfy the customers
Burger king focuses on the different
sections of various age groups
providing premium ingredients,
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and provide fast friendly services. signature recipes and family friendly
dining experiences.
Physical evidence The physical evidence factor
includes transparency, speedy
delivery of products, quality of
product, location and appearance,
building maintenance, etc. which
affects the business functions along
with the impression of outsiders.
It refers to the experiences of using a
product or services and the way
business functions. It is required by
the service provider to make
customer aware about the service it
desires. Brochures, pamphlets, etc.
serves the purpose of providing such
various information.
TASK 3
P4: Marketing plan for McDonald's
Marketing plan are said to be a comprehensive blueprint that present a outline as business
advertising and efforts for future year (Puddle, 2015). It consist of action related to specific
marketing objectives within a set time exposure. It is design to fulfil McDonald's marketing
aims and objectives. Some of the point that are to be covered under this planning process are as
follows:
 Executive summary: Any marketing plan started with a well planned ideas that are
related with marketing of their products. As ideas should be more consider and clear to
every concern people those are working on that particular plan. Overall summary of this
plan is to define aim, objective, mission and vision of McDonald's. It is a kind of short
detail about various aspect that are used in marketing plan like target market,
segmentation and position of the product as well as fund required during planning
process. Under this a short kind of proposal all marketing related information are
provided on the basis of that various decision are being taken into consideration.
 Company overview: It contain various information about company which consist of
address and other contact details. It is the first impression of company that is present in
the plan. It will help to attract more and more customers by seeing its details and
analysing overview. It consist of various things:
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Name of the company: McDonald's
Address: County Hall, Westminster Bridge Rd, Lambeth, London SE1 7PB
Contact number: 0370 524 4622
Annual sales: £24.6 billion in 2016.
Total number of employee's: 375000 approx.
Primary line of company: Restaurant industry.
Andrew j. McKenna: President
Steve Easter brook: Chief Executive officer(CEO).
 Overview: It is said to be one of the major fast food restaurant chain. It was founded in
1940 by Richard and Maurica McDonald's. It is one of the largest restaurant chain that is
serving more than 68million customer every day in more than 120 countries. They are
most get revenue come from rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchises (Simkin,
2012). It is said to be most largest company in fast food division that are offering best
quality product to its customers. Its headquarter is situated in Oak Brook, Illinois US it
has move to Chicago in 2008.
 Background and development: The marketing opportunities for McDonald's product
sales are increase more than other fast food restaurant brands during financial year. The
company are trying to use more effective strategies by using new technologies in their
product plan to meet customer requirement.
 Present situation: In the current situation McDonald's is one of the top most companies
in the field of fast food. They are planning to be most effective company in providing
healthy food to their customer and to attract more toward them.
 Work forces: More than 375000 employee's are working as a team unit in the company.
They are working as to fulfil their objective as common to individual as well as team. All
of them directly or indirectly related to increase its set target that are fixed by the
company.
 Current Marketing Situation analysis: Role of situation analysis in marketing plan
faced to increase more business environment and systematically implementation of plan
that play important part in organisation in terms of maintain wide level of operational
efficiency. For this purpose internal and external environment are analysed by the
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