Marketing Essentials Project 2: Comparing Marketing Mix Strategies

This report, titled "Marketing Essentials Project 2," analyzes the marketing strategies of McDonald's, a leading fast-food chain. The project begins with an introduction to the essentials of marketing, emphasizing the importance of the marketing mix. Task 1 compares McDonald's and Burger King's implementation of the 7Ps of the marketing mix (Product, Place, Price, Promotion, Process, People, and Physical Evidence), highlighting their product offerings, distribution strategies, pricing approaches, promotional activities, operational processes, employee management, and physical environments. Task 2 focuses on creating a marketing plan for McDonald's, including a company profile, industry and market analysis, and a PESTLE analysis to understand the political, economic, social, technological, and legal factors affecting the business. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and insights into McDonald's marketing practices.

MARKETNG
ESSENTIALS
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Contents
PROJECT 2......................................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
P3. Comparing the ways in companies implements marketing mix......................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P4. Marketing Plan for McDonalds........................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
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PROJECT 2
INTRODUCTION
In the present business context there are many aspects related to the marketing which is
considered as essentials of marketing and makes its more effective and efficient. All these
essentials are used in a way to understand the needs of the market as well as designing products
according to it (Wertime and Fenwick, 2011). Marketing mix is one such technique that is
helpful for the company to sell its products in a best possible manner. This part of the report
highlights the ways in which McDonalds uses its marketing mix. On the other hand marketing
plan for the MacDonald’s has been illustrated in this report.
TASK 1
P3. Comparing the ways in companies implements marketing mix
Marketing mix is one of the strategic tools that is used by the company so as to make
marketing more effective. There are 7P’s that is used in marketing mix and helps in
creating the better place in the market. In order to understand the marketing mix in a better
way comparison between McDonalds and Burger king is done:
Elements McDonalds Burger king
Products There is larger number of products
that this company is making. It
ranges from making Hamburger,
ice-creams, cheese burger, Big
Mac, Quarter Pounder with
cheese, chicken sandwiches,
Nuggets, French fries, fish fries
etc. This company also offers
salads, shakes,, cold drinks, coffee,
sundaes, pies, oat meals etc. This
company makes the food that is
not very healthy.
This company is having wider
product range that is offered by this
company. It consists of Hamburgers,
Nuggets, French fries, Cold drinks,
many kinds of desserts. Its products
range has both veg and non-veg
items which is able to attract taste
buds of many people (Malhotra,
Birks and Wills, 2013).
Place It is using its 36,258 MacDonald’s It is also offering its services through
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restaurant for serving to its
consumers. All the products are
available at the outlets which are
present in around 119 countries.
Due to its aggressive expansion
policy it was able to establish itself
in urban and semi urban areas
(Bean and Hussey, 2012). The
stores are available at almost all
the major places in the market like
the airport, malls, Colleges as well
as many other place of public
gathering.
its various outlets. This company
also has larger number of outlets
throughout the globe. Its restaurants
have extremely cheerful
environment and it is having
customised rooms for celebrating
birthday parties. It has also been able
to make its place in semi-urban
areas.
Price It believes in the cost leadership
strategy in their industry. Most of
their products are at lower cost
when compared to the products of
the rivals. They adopt the price tag
according to the market in which it
is operating. Since it has larger
amount of resources which help
the firm in setting the price range
at lower levels and hence
attracting larger number of
consumers from different sections
of the society
The pricing strategy that company
uses for its product is on the lower
side still it assures maximum profits.
It uses many kinds of offers on
combo packs which helps to attract
many consumers. Many of its
desserts are having premium price
tags. It is also having huge amount
of financial resources which help in
winning the price wars. Pricing is
also been decided by checking the
competitors price of the same
products.
Promotion This company has made
promotional strategy according to
the various segments it has made
(Huotari and Hamari, 2012). Their
most important target section is the
There are many kinds of promotional
campaign that is used by the firms to
attract large number of consumers
towards family products. They also
apply marketing strategies which
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children as well as the youngsters.
In the happy meal promotional
strategy they offer small toys to
children. Various lucky coupon
prizes are offered to the consumers
so as to attract them towards
outlets. It takes use of traditional
mediums like newspapers, TV,
Radio, sign boards, banners etc.
Along with it they take the use of
modern mediums such as Social
media and other online sites for
promoting products. It takes the
use of its Clown mascot for giving
the image to its promotional
campaigns.
differs for section of the market. It
usually gives discounts in many
festive seasons. It takes use of
traditional mediums as well as
modern mediums such as e-
commerce sites, YouTube, social
media and many public sites for
promoting its products.
Process The manufacturing of food at
McDonalds is transparent and they
take use of high tech technologies
for manufacturing food. It
generally uses raw materials that
are ready to use and hence helping
in delivering to the consumers at
much faster rate. The hygiene
standards are being taken care of
very harshly. Any consumer can
check the whole kitchen for
ensuring quality.
In terms off process they use the best
practices in the market. This
company is also taking use of high
tech machineries for maintain and
making of products. They manage
all their data with the Point of Sale
machine which makes management
of records easier. Various standard
operating procedures is followed by
staffs for making of their food.
People They have the staffs that are
highly effective in performing
their task. They are provided with
They have employed the best of
talents in the industry. They ethics
and behaviour standards are known
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uniforms. They generally
employees people form the local
regions and hence it becomes
easier for them to adopt the culture
that is present in the society which
helps them in serving consumers
in a best possible manner
(Weinstein, 2013).
worldwide. They are also treating
the consumers in friendly manner so
that maximum consumer satisfaction
can be achieved. They also hire more
local talents for working at their
outlets.
Physical
evidence
Company is focusing on delivering
its food in clean and hygienic
environment. It has made its
outlets very clean and tidy. They
are offering products according to
what it has promised to its
consumers.
This company is also delivering its
products as it has promised. Both in
terms of manufacturing as well as
delivering it in their outlets which is
very clean and are having the
hygienic environment.
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Figure 1. 7P's of Marketing
TASK 2
P4. Marketing Plan for McDonalds
Marketing plan is the blue print that a company uses to achieve all its marketing activities. It
consists of various elements like companies profile, strategies for marketing, budget that will be
required for marketing, industry and market analysis as well as the performance of the company
in the market. It is essential for the company to make a good marketing plan as it will helps in
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shaping the whole efforts in a particular direction so that goals and objectives can be easily
achieved.
Company’s Profile: McDonalds is one of the biggest company that deals in the business of fast
food. It was founded in the year 1940 In California USA. It started with business of Hamburgers
but right now operating with the menu that has capability of luring many taste buds at a single
time. This company is operating in around 36,900 locations in more than 119 countries. It is
doing good business which can be understood by its net income that is around 4.686 billion
USD. Its workforce strength is around 375,000. It is named as the world’s biggest restaurant
chain and serving around 69 million consumers. Only demerit that is attached with this company
is that it is in the business of food products that is unhealthy. It has franchised it business in most
of the countries.
Industry and market: With the changing eating habits of the people there had been consistent
increase in the amount of consumers who prefer to eat fast foods even after its unhealthiness.
This is the positive sign for the firm. Apart from this competition in the market has increased
considerably (Cox and Wray, 2011). Due to this a very rigorous analysis of the consumer
demands and many kinds of strategies need to apply by the firm. McDonalds need to
continuously have to change the products that are not doing good business. In order to
understand environment PESTLE analysis is as follows:
 Political: There is large amount of political changes that is going all around the
world. Political changes have direct effect on the business of the firms of the scale
of McDonalds. The decisions such as Bexit have changed the political condition of
Europe hence the McDonalds have to make effective strategies to combat with such
situations. The change in the political tie ups and tensions in many part of the world
has affected the business of the firm. Governments are pressurising firms to buy
their raw materials from the farmers of the same country. This may lead to increase
in the operational cost which has direct effect on revenue.
 Economic: There are many kinds of economic alterations that can be noticed in
many parts of the globe. In the last few year the American economy has witness a
slow growth while the European economy has seen many kinds of up and downs
like case of Greece (Kapferer, 2017). This had reduced the people choice of eating
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food in the outlets and especially having premium products. This economic
imbalance has reduced the margins of profits in many parts of the world.
 Social: There had been significant change in the taste of the people which has
increased the need of having large variety of foods in the single outlets. People love
to spend their free time in outlets where they can enjoy many kinds of food. It is
also to be taken care of that people these days have become conscious about eating
healthy food and hence McDonalds have to think about it.
 Technological: There has been a large amount of changes that took place in the
industry in terms of technology. These technologies have changed the world of
business. This company has also implemented applicable technologies in their
operations. But the most important technology that this company needs to think
about is the artificial intelligence in the business as it is considered to be as the
future of the many industries. Managing data effectively using cloud can be
beneficial for this multinational company so at that they can easily take use of the
information whenever they want.
 Legal: There are many kinds off legalities that have changed all around the world
which can affect the business of the McDonalds. The rules of employment have
increased the demand of the company for doing business that is legally correct
(Cadilhon and Even, 2012). Consumer laws have strengthened in many parts of the
world. This has empowered the consumers and hence company needs to take care
of all the standards that are made in fast food industry.
 Environment: Nations are forcing the companies to follows the environmental
protection norms while performing the business. This firm do not takes use of
plastics and has a proper food disposable system so that left over materials can be
replaced. McDonalds have upgrade the waste management policy in the coming
years.
McDonald’s performance in the market: It has been performing best over the years in
the fast food industry. In order to understand this SWOT analysis can be an excellent tool:
Strength
 70 years of experience in the fast food industry.
 Largest company in terms of outlet chain any company has in this industry.
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 It has captured larger part of the fast food market by being operational in around
119 countries.
 Large consumer base and big brand name in the market.
 Have a very big deep pocket which can prevent others from coming to business.
Weakness
 It is facing many kinds of problems with their franchise partners.
 It has not entered into the business of healthy products.
Opportunities
 Can enter into the business of healthy food products.
 It has opportunities in many sub-urban cities of the world.
Threats
 Increasing number of competitors from both regional and multinational companies.
 Slowdown and hiccups in many economies has reduced the profit margins of the
company.
Strategies: It is important for the company to concentrate on any particular marketing strategy.
One of the most important marketing strategy that this company can use is product
differentiation and innovation. Since it is essential for the company in the present competitive
environment. Innovations or new product development must be done after understanding the
local taste of the people where company is operating. Along with this market development can
also be included in its coming year strategies.
Budget: It is essential for the firm to allocate budget to marketing activities so as to assure that
all operations are performed in a smoother way. Budget for McDonalds’ for the marketing
Purpose is as follows:
Marketing Budget for McDonalds (In million $)
Particulars 1st 2nd 3rd
Direct marketing 24000 20000 20000
Sales 15000 10000 8000
Traditional
advertisement
6000 5000 11000
Social Media
marketing
5000 5000 15000
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Total 50000 40000 54000
Monitoring and controlling: It is essential for McDonalds to monitor the whole process of
marketing which will be helpful for making evaluation (Babin and Zikmund, 2015). It must be
done on regular intervals. It is the role of the managers to control the whole process so that it
must be in any particular direction.
CONCLUSION
From the above section of the report it can be deduced that marketing mix is an essential
component of marketing. It helps in making marketing more effective as well as ensures that
every element of it has been considered and hence helping in making product a success. 7P are
resent in marketing mix and every firm applies it in their own way. Other than this marketing
plan for McDonalds has been illustrated which is essential for the success of marketing activities.
It helps in aligning all the activities in a way so that maximum effectiveness in the marketing
procedures can be achieved. Marketing plan also consist of budget for coming years has been
illustrated.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Wertime, K. and Fenwick, I., 2011. DigiMarketing: The essential guide to new media and digital
marketing. John Wiley & Sons.
Malhotra, N.K., Birks, D.F. and Wills, P., 2013. Essentials of marketing research. Pearson.
Bean, J. and Hussey, L., 2012. Marketing Public Sector Services: essential skills for the public
sector. HB publications.
Huotari, K. and Hamari, J., 2012, October. Defining gamification: a service marketing
perspective. In Proceeding of the 16th International Academic MindTrek Conference (pp.
17-22). ACM.
Weinstein, A., 2013. Handbook of Niche Marketing: Principles and Practice. Routledge.
Cox, C. and Wray, M., 2011. Best practice marketing for regional tourism destinations. Journal
of travel & tourism marketing, 28(5), pp.524-540.
Kapferer, J.N., 2017. Managing luxury brands. In Advances in Luxury Brand Management (pp.
235-249). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Cadilhon, J.J. and Even, M.A., 2012. Marketing and quality assurance, essential keys to rice
production increases in Ghana.
Babin, B.J. and Zikmund, W.G., 2015. Essentials of marketing research. Nelson Education.
Online
Understanding the market mix concept. 2017. Available through <
https://www.cleverism.com/understanding-marketing-mix-concept-4ps/ >.
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