Marketing Essentials Report: McDonald's Performance Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of McDonald's marketing strategies, exploring various essential concepts. The introduction highlights the significance of marketing essentials in modern organizations, emphasizing tools like e-marketing and relationship marketing to identify customer needs. Task 1 delves into the crucial role of the marketing department, outlining its functions such as market research, product development, and promotion, with a focus on advertising, packaging, and sales. The report further examines the responsibilities of the marketing department, including market research, communication, product development, and event organization. Task 2 discusses the marketing department's role in maximizing sales and profits through market research, product development, and communication strategies. The report also covers sales support and the importance of setting effective marketing strategies. Task 3 then explores the 7Ps of the marketing mix model, including price, product, and place, providing insights into how these elements are applied in McDonald's operations. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and a discussion of the overall effectiveness of McDonald's marketing strategies.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................2
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................2
P1......................................................................................................................................2
P2......................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2.......................................................................................................................................5
P3......................................................................................................................................5
TASK 3.......................................................................................................................................9
P4......................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................13
1

INTRODUCTION
Now a days in every organisation the term marketing essential is significant. Without
applying the strategies of marketing essential the organisation can not run its business. There are
many concepts which include in marketing essentials such as marketing tools and techniques, e-
marketing, relationship marketing and many more. These essentials help the organisation to
identify the customers needs and provide the goods and services to satisfy their requirements. It
also help the organisation to understand the market research and needs of customers that how to
apply the strategy of market segmentation, to analyse their competitors and many more also. This
report is based on McDonald's company which is a popular restaurant in all over the world. The
aim of this company is to open more an more stores in every and provide high quality of services
to customers (Adamson, 2011). They serve the vegetarian and non vegetarian foods to
customers. This organisation is trying to understand the market place and customer needs and
develop integrated market programmes to deliver the customer value and delight and to build a
strong customer customer relationship.
TASK 1
P1
In every business organization, marketing department play a important role in generating
the profits. All employees who are working in this functional unit they have to communicate
with the customers who are going to purchase the services. Marketing is a process that will lead
the firm towards success than any other competitors. Through this, McDonald's will be able to
generate their profits. The department have to perform many functions in order to achieve its
objectives and goals. Some functions are like market research, marketing plan, product
development, promotion, distribution, sales and so on (Musibau, Oluyinka and Long, 2011). In
order to fulfil these functions the marketing manager have to perform some roles in the firm so
that they can get success in the market. They also have to perform some responsibilities so that
overall performance can be improved. Some of the roles are:
Advertising: This is an important role of the marketing department of McDonald's
because through this they can promote their services in the market by using some methods. In
order to promote their products and services they have to use these activities so that they can
attract number of customers towards their products. For this, it is necessary that all employees
2

should be innovative and creative. If they are more creative then they can increase their sales
then their rivals (Ogunmokun and Tang, 2012).
Packaging: It is also an important factor that which can be used by the marketing
department in order to attract more customers towards their services. Packaging of the products
and services be good and attractive so that consumers get attracted towards the services. Through
this the customers will be able to understand about the products. So, there should be proper detail
about the products like its manufactured date, expiry date and so on.
Sales: This is another role of marketing department to assess the sales of McDonald's.
Marketing department work with the sales department so that they can make tactics and
strategies inn order to increase their sales. Sales functional unit is the one that communicate with
the customers directly and they can also influence the consumers so that they buy the services.
There are some responsibilities of the marketing department and they have to follow all
these then only the business organization will be able to achieve its objectives (Papasolomou and
Melanthiou, 2012). These are:
Market research: This is an important duty of the business organisation. The marketing
manager have to conduct a survey in the market so that they can identify the need and demand of
the customers. McDonald's offer products according to the need and demand of the people. They
can gather the information by using the interview method as well as internet media. When people
start preferring healthy products then the food industry start offering services according to their
need.
Communication: It is the responsibility of the marketing department to improve the
communication gap between all the employees. If communication gap is their between
employees and between employees and customers then the firm will not be able to achieve its
objectives. In order to improve overall performance of McDonald's they have to reduce their
communication gap.
Product development: It is the responsibility of the marketing functional unit to develop
a product according to the need of the customers. McDonald's offer their products at flexible
prices so they can attract number of customers towards their services. They have to identify the
opportunities that where they can perform good and on the basis of that they can sustain their
competitive advantage as compare to their competitors (Pike and Page, 2014).
3

Events: Marketing department is also responsible to conduct a event in the organization.
These events can be related to the seminar, exhibition and so on. Through these events they will
be able to promote their services.
P2
The marketing department have more responsibilities in the organisation to identify the
customers needs and wants. They have a overall responsibility to increase he revenue, to increase
the market share, contributing the growth and profitability etc. In large business organisation
they have large market size, areas and so many customers are there who are eating the food of
cited company. There are following some role and responsibilities of marketing department
which help the company to maximize their sales and profits.
Market Research – In market research there is a key responsibilities for the marketing
managers or departments. By conducting the proper research it helps organisation to identify the
market and to understand the strength and weaknesses of competitors. By doing McDonald's can
take proper actions to protect their business to retain the existing customers and to win from the
competitors (Alrubaiee and Al-Nazer, 2010). The marketing department can carry survey
through market data on websites, by studding the industry reports and many more techniques are
there. Market research should be done on time to time because customer's needs are changing
from time to time.
Product Development – In the organisation the marketing department works with the
internal and external products development to develop a improve the existing products and to
develop a new products. The marketing manager have the responsibility to analyse the sales of
existing products and identify those gaps in product range and may have the opportunity for
McDonald's to fill that gap by increasing their more and more quality of foods. Marketing
manager also set the prices of products and prepare the plans that when these products should be
launch in the market. They analyse the customers needs and preferences and serve those foods
only which can satisfy the customers requirements (Adamson and et. al., 2011).
Communications – The cited company plan champaign to promote products and
services to customer prospectus. They develop the communication between the customers by
advertising different ads to attract them. They offer the food sometimes on discount, coupons to
attract a large number of customers. It depends on the McDonald's budget that how will they
plan for the adverting, campaign, to develop a e-mails marketing programmes. Communication
4

is necessary between the organisation and customers as it help the company to increase their
sales and profits by providing the different foods to them. If there is strong communication
between the employees, staff or customers then it will easy for the company to give
advertisement on different places (How to Create an Effective Marketing Plan. 2017).
Sales Support – In the cited organisation there is good coordination between the sales
department and marketing department and it improves the sales performance year to year and
help to grow the business. The marketing department or manager also prepare the presentation
for sales team that how much varieties of food should be sold in the market. The marketing
department provide the high quality services to sales team that how they will work or advertise
the company food in different ways. The sales department can encourage the visitors to visit the
company website to register their complains or details whatever they are facing problem with the
services of McDonald's (Baines, Fill and Page, 2013). There is strong relation between the
marketing department and sales department because they have to coordinate with each other
every time to increase the profits.
Strategy – In marketing department there is one senior manager who takes all the
responsibilities to set the marketing strategies with company strategy and objectives. By
applying the proper strategy it help the organisation to increase share in specific sector. The
strategy can also help McDonald's to enter into a new market sector also. While making the
proper strategies on time then marketing manager can also implement on time to hit the targets
of the company. The pricing strategy can be used by the manager to increase the customers. It is
beneficial for the company to increase maximize their sales.
TASK 2
P3
The marketing mix model is used by every organisation to considered wide range of
activities to construct proper planning and implement on time (Brooks and Simkin, 2011). The
using of marketing mix it helps the food industry to reach in those places where there are so
many people are living and need some fast food. The 7ps of marketing mix are s described
below:
5

(Marketing Mix, 2017)
Price – This may refer as cost related of products. In the organisation the pricing of
products is tougher then the pricing of services. The food which are provided by McDonald's is
burger, frenchfries, Ice tea and many more foods. The prices of these food are reasonable so that
every customers can enjoy the food quality of this organisation (Brooks and Simkin, 2012).
Pricing the products always help the organisation to shape the perception of the product in
customer eyes. If there is low price then customer thing that the company is selling the cheap
products which cannot satisfy their needs. Consequently, if the price of products are too high
then middle class person can not afford to use the services of McDonald's. But the company have
to set the prices in such a way to beat the competitors. The marketing department can use the
pricing policies to sale the products and services in the market. These are as Market penetration
price, Market skimming price and neutral pricing. While setting the price of food the market
department have to analyse some question with in the organisation like can the current price of
products and services keep with the price of product competitions, the prices which are set for
the services can increase the market share (7ps of marking mix. 2017).
Product – The product consists some technical features, benefits or limitations which are
offer by the organisation. It depends on the business that products are tangible or intangible or it
6
Illustration 1: 7ps of Marketing Mix, 2017

can be services also. It is important for the organisation that the technical feature of the product
will able to determine the customer wants or not. A product have certain life cycle which
includes growth phase, maturity phase and sales decline phase. McDonald's changes their quality
of food time to time to satisfy the customer needs. The taste of their food remain same but it
offers more and more quantity of food. The company is offering a right product according to the
customer needs only (Dibb and Simkin, 2013). For the organisation benefits are the utility of
customers that what they expect from the product.
Place – The marketing department have to select those place in which distribution of
services takes place easily. For McDonald's organisation distribution and placement of products
and services is important. The main target of the organisation to open more and more stores in
every country and provide the food according to the customer taste and preferences. Now a days
advancement in technologies have change the have change the face f distribution. The customers
want that McDonald's should also provide online delivery of foods so that they can enjoy
anywhere. The location of service product is considered more important. Because if organisation
does open its outlet in crowd area then it will easy for them to attract a large number of customer
and the company can beat in the market.
Promotion – For McDonald's promotion of services is very important and it boost the
brand recognition and sales (Durmaz, 2011). The marketing mangers are using different
marketing tool for promote the services of cited food company. Some of the various elements are
Sales promotion, Advertising, Public relations, Direct selling such as face-to-face interactions
etc.
McDonald's promote the sales of there services through providing the discounts on them,
provide vouchers to customers etc. It increase the sales of services and to attract those customers
also who are not aware about this food industry. Advertising cover communication method and
for this the cited food company have to pay some costs. It includes the advertisement on
televisions, print media, internet advertisement and many more techniques can be used by the
organisation. On the other hand, public relation includes the press release, seminars, conferences
and events etc. and in this so many customers are attracted. Direct selling includes the face to
face communication with the customers and it is very beneficial because customers can do
complain hand to hand if they are not able to enjoy the proper services (Ebert and et. al., 2014).
7

Customers feels happy because it does not contain any process or anything and it does not take
lots of time to complain.
People – This marketing mix is important for McDonald's to offer them a wide range of
products and to provide services which differentiate from other competitors. If this company
does not serve the food as per the requirements of people then it will difficult for them to run and
success the business for a long period of time. The employees of marketing department is
significant because they also deliver the services to customer's. For McDonald's it is important to
train and hire the suitable candidate to deliver the superior services to customers so that they can
enjoy more services. They also provide proper training and development programme to staff and
employees to provide the best services to customers. For many organisations, staff become
priority for top management to trained them properly. In McDonald's staff also requires a proper
service knowledge in order to deliver the best quality of services (Gamble and et. al., 2011). The
company is providing proper training and development programme to staff and employees to
behave properly with the customers.
Physical Evidence – The services which are provided by McDonald's is tangible. In food
industry services are intangible but there physical evidence is important for the customers. For
example, if McDonald's is providing any services to customers they want the evidence weather
this food industry is there or not in the market. Through physical evidence it help the
organisation to establish more and more business in all over the world. There are some examples
which can used as effectively marketing mix of physical evidence such as business card, design
of web pages, loyalty cards etc. This marketing element mix will distinguish a company from its
competitors (Hospers, 2010). The organisation can charge premium price for services and can
establish a positive relation in the market. The customers of McDonald's will judgement about
the organisation which can be based on physical evidence. If McDonald's does not provide any
bill to customers then customers will that this food company is not in existence. So it necessary
for every company to establish their physical evidence between the customers.
Process – This marketing mix is vitally important for the organisation when they are
delivering their services to customers. McDonald's apply so many strategies to deliver their best
services to the end customers. For example, more of the organisation blue print which provided
the details of process of products that how much goods should be transferred from one place to
another at point of time. If the right process is used by the organisation to deliver the goods to
8

customers then customer will also able to enjoy these services. In food industry, in any restaurant
for the customers it is important that how this restaurant will provide the services what process
they will use to serve the best quality of services and attract them to use these services again. If
any customer is not able to use the services of the organisation then McDonald's should provide
them a simple process to complain against them so that the organisation will also able to come
know that the customers are not happy what services which are providing to them (Hoványi,
2013). The web site should be provide to customers to give feedback bout the food or services.
TASK 3
P4
The many organisation finds difficult to know weather that their marketing tactics are
working properly or not. The marketing should not be set for motion but consistently reviewed
should be there to analyse the company current needs and wants. McDonald's company it is very
important understand weather the marketing plan is delivery their best possible outcomes or not
to save the time and money and ensures that success of business in future. The marketing plan of
organisation describes the who are customers of this food company, from where they will get
the information to satisfy more requirements of customers, what strategies should be adopted by
the company to research the market places (Hultén, 2010). There are some following basic
marketing plans which have to be analyse by the marketing department time to time.
1. To identify the consumer targets – There are numerous potential customers in the
market, but to succeed faster and better it is very important to target the customers.
McDonald's have to identify those customers who can enjoy the services. If once, the
consumers are targeted by the company then it will easy for them in increase the sales
and to maximize the profits. The target customers should be described in detail so that
McDonald's can serve the varieties of fast food to them.
2. Identify those competitors that would also want your target customers – In modern
times no matter how organisation products and services are original (Illing and Anders,
2016). There are so many competitors of this food company like KFC, Subway these
company will attract those customers also who are using the services of McDonald's. The
marketing manager of this company should prepare some strategies to know about their
what is core advantage etc. Once the customers will attract to competitors company then
9

it will difficult for them to attract again them (What is the role of marketing in an
organization?).
3. The advertising and promotional activity is responding them properly – The
marketing managers should know that whatever advertisement they are doing to attract
the large number of customers. These strategies should be use properly so that customers
can respond properly. It is very important to do proper advertisement of their services.
4. Develop a very clear and focused plan that why potential consumer would use
services of our business – It is more specifically to figure out core needs that can satisfy
the customer needs and wants (Jung and Hong, 2012). It helps the organisation to offer
those products and services which are highly in demand and it can increase the brand
position to beat other food industries.
There are some market approaches which also have to analyse by the marketing manager
to increase the customers and to gain the competitive advantage from other competitors. It help
the organisation to make the better market plan to reach in top position. Some market approaches
are as follows:
 Social media – Social media has become essential part for every organisation to make
marketing plans because every customers are connected the social media site like
Facebook, twitter or any other social network. It is a better platform for the large
organisation to attract large number of customers. While advertising any ads on social
media so many people came to know about this food company and they have choice also
to use the services.
 Mobile – The popularity of smart phones has helped the organisation also to target their
customers (KAUR, 2015). Most of the people are using new technologies to increase
their knowledge about the internet services. The marketing manager of McDonald's can
text the customers about the discounts on burgers, Mc-puff and many more items so that
particular customer can came to know about the discount policies.
 Email – The organisation have variety of choices to use the social media to increase their
brand position and to attract so many customers from different places. McDonald's can
implement the email marketing techniques which including the using of newsletter,
promotional campaign and transactional emails. For the customers for choosing the best
10

marketing email plan is to visit the company website to get whatever information they
want.
There are many ways to develop a marketing plan which have been made by the
marketing manager. There are some ways to implement the marketing plan to gain competitive
advantages. They are
 Purpose and Mission – McDonald's should decide that what is the purpose of selling
these fast food to customers and by it customers can satisfy their needs. The mission of
the company should be clear that why we are here to serves these food (Kennedy and
Parsons, 2014).
 Situation analysis – The part of marketing plan is extremely important for every
organisation and it consumes a lot of time of manager to conduct a research on time to
time to identify the needs of customers. The situation analyse covers the following key
areas which help the organisation meet out from the expenses which are done for the
customers. They are
1. Current products they may include the distribution, pricing, services offered, promotion
etc.
2. Current competitors it can include the strengths and weaknesses of competitors.
3. Financial analysis it includes current sales analysis, profitability analysis so that it will be
beneficial for McDonald's to set the targets according to their budget (Lamb, Hair and
McDaniel, 2011).
4. External forces as it includes the economical, political, technological, ethical or social or
culture factors which affects the business objectives to hit the targets on time (Mihart,
2012).
 Marketing strategy and objectives – In this it includes the what are the marketing
strategies are used by the company to grow their business and to control the cost. The
marketing objectives of McDonald's company are to target the market share, what are the
promotional activities are used by the company to attract large number of buyers.
 Budget, performance analysis and implementation – The marketing plan is the area that
ultimately sale the products and services to customers. The marketing departmen5t have
to decide those areas according to their budget. It the organisation does not have so much
finance then they should not do so much expenses regarding the advertisement. In the end
11

of the year the company should analyse their current market performance with the last
year performance in regard to sales, profits so that proper actions can be taken on time
and to implement them properly (Malhotra, Birks and Wills, 2013).
 Additional consideration – Sometimes the organisation need additional consideration to
meet out the objectives of the company. If the organisation does not have enough
resources then they have to control their expenses. Well the financial position of
McDonald's is very strong so that they can meet out the expenses which are doing every
year.
In last the manager have to monitor all the results and can take feedback from the staff or
employees to offer more quality of services. The cited company is monitoring time to time all
results so that they can take appropriate actions on time and implement them properly to achieve
the targets.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that McDonald's company is using the
marketing mix tool to promote their products and services. It is good for the company to use
these marketing tool place, promotion, products, people, physical evidence, process, price. The
role and responsibilities of the manager are very important because they have more responsibility
to identify the customer needs and wants to satisfy them on time. To analyse the key roles of
marketing function it will help the organisation that when company have to launch new services
and products to customers. McDonald's is having the strong position in the market in the market
so that they can use different techniques to make more strong brand position.
12

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adamson, G., 2011. Management Essentials: Managing Partner 101. CPA Prac. Mgmt. F.. 7. p.5.
Adamson, G and et. al., 2011. Management Essentials: Managing Partner 101.
Alrubaiee, L. and Al-Nazer, N., 2010. Investigate the impact of relationship marketing
orientation on customer loyalty: The customer's perspective. International Journal of
Marketing Studies. 2(1). p.155.
Baines, P., Fill, C. and Page, K., 2013. Essentials of marketing. Oxford University Press.
Brooks, N. and Simkin, L., 2011. Measuring marketing effectiveness: an agenda for SMEs. The
Marketing Review. 11(1). pp.3-24.
Brooks, N. and Simkin, L., 2012. Judging marketing mix effectiveness. Marketing Intelligence &
Planning. 30(5). pp.494-514.
Dibb, S. and Simkin, L., 2013. Marketing essentials. Cengage Learning.
Durmaz, Y., 2011. A theoretical approach to the concept of advertising in marketing.
International Journal of Economic Research. 2(6). pp.46-50.
Ebert, R.J and et. al., 2014. Business essentials. Pearson Education Canada.
Gamble, J and et. al., 2011. The Marketing concept in the 21st century: A review of how
Marketing has been defined since the 1960s. The marketing review. 11(3). pp.227-248.
Hospers, G.J., 2010. Spatial self-preference: On the limits of place marketing to attract new
residents and firms. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. 6(4). pp.280-286.
Hoványi, G., 2013. Essentials of Corporate Communication: Implementing Practices for
Effective Reputation Management. European Journal of Marketing.
Hultén, B., 2010. Sensory Marketing: The Multi-Sensory Brand Experience. In 39th EMAC
(European Marketing Academy) Conference," The Six Senses–The Essentials of
Marketing" Copenhagen, 1-4 juni, 2010. Copenhagen Business School, Dept. of
Marketing.
Illing, L. and Anders, F., 2016. Human Resources Marketing and Recruiting: Essentials of
Executive Search. Handbook of Human Resources Management. pp.139-171.
Jung, M. and Hong, M.S., 2012. Positioning patient-perceived medical services to develop a
marketing strategy. The health care manager. 31(1). pp.52-61.
KAUR, M.N., 2015. MARKETING ESSENTIALS FOR NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH:
STRATEGIES ACROSS VARIOUS PHASES OF PRODUCT LAUNCH. Asia Pacific
Journal Of Marketing and Management Review. 3(3).
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.
Malhotra, N.K., Birks, D.F. and Wills, P., 2013. Essentials of marketing research. Pearson.
Mihart, C., 2012. Impact of integrated marketing communication on consumer behaviour: effects
on consumer decision–making process. International Journal of Marketing Studies. 4(2).
p.121
Musibau, A.A., Oluyinka, S. and Long, C.S., 2011. The relationship between strategic planning
and the effectiveness of marketing operations. International Journal of Innovation,
Management and Technology. 2(5). p.390.
13

Ogunmokun, G.O. and Tang, E.C.H., 2012. The effect of strategic marketing planning behaviour
on the performance of small-to medium-sized firms. International Journal of
Management. 29(1). p.159.
Papasolomou, I. and Melanthiou, Y., 2012. Social media: Marketing public relations’ new best
friend. Journal of Promotion Management. 18(3). pp.319-328.
Pike, S. and Page, S.J., 2014. Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A
narrative analysis of the literature. Tourism Management. 41. pp.202-227.
Pike, S., 2015. Destination Marketing: Essentials. Routledge.
Rudden, D., 2016, November. Can You Hear Me Now? Marketing Essentials for Audiologists in
a Noisy Health Care World. In Seminars in Hearing (Vol. 37. No. 04, pp. 325-339).
Thieme Medical Publishers.
Wieser, P., 2012. Essentials of Logistics and Management, The Global Supply Chain (No.
EPFL-BOOK-197496). EPFL Press.
Online
7ps of marking mix. 2017. [online]. Available through:
<http://www.professionalacademy.com/blogs-and-advice/marketing-theories---the-
marketing-mix---from-4-p-s-to-7-p-s>. [Accessed on 4th February].
How to Create an Effective Marketing Plan. 2017. [online]. Available through:
<http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4-creating-effective-business-marketing-
plan.html>. [Accessed on 4th February 2017].
What is the role of marketing in an organization?. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.reference.com/business-finance/role-marketing-organization-
c8774c727e40c8aa>. [Accessed on 4th February 2017].
14