Comprehensive Analysis of McDonald's Marketing Plan and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of McDonald's marketing plan, examining its key roles, responsibilities, and interrelations within the organizational context. It delves into the concept of marketing, current and future trends, and the five elements of the marketing process, as well as the roles and responsibilities of marketing concerning the marketing environment. The report explores how McDonald's utilizes the marketing mix to achieve its business objectives, comparing applications across different organizations and outlining various tactics employed. Furthermore, it develops and evaluates a basic marketing plan for McDonald's, strategically using the 7Ps to attain marketing objectives. The report highlights advertising techniques, marketing strategies, and the importance of customer satisfaction in McDonald's operations. The report also examines the role of various departments like finance, research and development, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and human resources in the successful implementation of marketing plans.

Marketing Essentials
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ROLE OF MARKETING AND INTERRELATIONS WITH OTHER FUNCTIONAL
UNITS OF ORGANIZATION........................................................................................................3
a) Key roles and responsibilities of marketing function and their relation with organizational
context Significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units..........3
b) Concept of marketing, including current and future trends, overview of five elements of
marketing process........................................................................................................................5
c) Roles and responsibilities of marketing with respect to marketing environment....................7
d) Key elements of marketing functions and interrelations with other functional units of
organization.................................................................................................................................8
TASK 2 WAYS OF USING MARKETING MIX FOR ACHIEVEMENT OF BUSINESS
OBJECTIVES..................................................................................................................................9
a) Comparison of application of marketing mix in marketing planning process in different
organizations................................................................................................................................9
b) Different tactics applied by the organizations to achieve business objectives........................9
TASK 3 DEVELOPMENTS AND EVALUATION A BASIC MARKETING PLAN...............11
a) Basic marketing plan for McDonald.....................................................................................11
b) Rational marketing plan that strategically uses 7P’s to attain marketing objectives............12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
Advertising is a very important aspect of the today’s marketing world. Marketing is not a small
thing but it is a combination of different segments which leads to the success or failure of a
product. It basically includes the study of the market segment; know the desires and demand of
the customer, building good relationship with others, formulating client friendly techniques and
providing good quality product or service to the end user. Market is ruled by the customer. The
electronic product segment has seen the importance of advertising in building good customer
relation. The business organizations know the importance of advertising and providing a
competitive advantage (Babin and Zikmund, 2015). This report brings forward the advertising
techniques to be adopted by McDonalds for its positioning in California. McDonalds has its
brand name in the food industry and have aninfluential status in comparison to the competitors.
The organization work on the principle of business to business advertising structure. It has a
large manpower which is increasing day by day. The organization is running into profit because
their employees provide full customer satisfaction. This research paper focuses on the
advertising and marketing strategies adopted by the McDonald. The organization can achieve its
goals and objectives by using advertising and marketing strategies. This research paper brings
forward the marketing plan of McDonald. The elements of the marketing mix which are adopted
by the organization can vary upon the product and geography. There can be different marketing
strategies, means of advertising and the purpose of advisement for the targeted audience. There
are many techniques and multiple strategies used by the organization simultaneously to promote
a product into the market. With the help of this research paper we will highlight and study the
marketing plan for the food chain McDonalds.
TASK 1 ROLE OF MARKETING AND INTERRELATIONS WITH
OTHER FUNCTIONAL UNITS OF ORGANIZATION
a) Key roles and responsibilities of marketing function and their relationshipin context to
organizational Significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional
units
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Every marketing strategy is based upon creating a theme for the product which satisfies the
expectations of the consumers. It should also help the company to increase the sales and thereby
market share. Thus, it can be said that a marketing strategy is used for the promotion of a product
in a market. The foremost agenda of the successful marketing is to conduct a thorough research
with regards to the product, the markets, the targeted audience, then preparing a plan for the
product, development plan for the product at various stages, assistance with increase in the sales
of the product and then also helping the consumers with any service related issues. Any company
which is going ahead with a new product has to perform various functions listed above to make a
successful plan. There are almost all the departments which are involved in the process of
marketing and they can be listed as finance department, research and development department,
manufacturing department, sales and marketing department, distribution and logistics
department, and Human resource department. A successful marketing plan needs strong
coordination among all of these departments and then performing the functions towards the
marketing plan.
All the departments in the organization are in one way or the other are connected with the
marketing functions. It can also be said the marketing department is one of the strongest
department in the organization and it propels the working of the other departments. Any
organization which want to create a marketing plan for their product and want it to be the best in
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the market then it has to rely on the support of the sales department, finance department, human
resource department, production department, and other supporting department which are present
in the organization. In case of McDonalds this holds true as well, in the case of any promotional
offer which is strategized by the marketing department such as BOGO i.e. buy one and get one
free then the marketing department cannot just execute it on their own. They need the support
from all the departments for making it a success. Support from finance department is required for
the budget for promotion and also for procurement of materials to be used for the promotion.
Support from the human resource department is required for the purpose of staffing as there will
more staff required to execute the offer. McDonalds have a separate marketing department still
they need support of each and every department in the organization for its working and also for
the execution of strategies which are devised by them. All of this in turns helps the company to
make more profit and support its departments and working. The vital function of a marketing
department is to increase the profits of the company by increasing and expanding the market
share. Thus, in event of increase of sales of the organization the production also has to go up in
proportion to that. The role of the finance department is to provide budget to the marketing team
for its working. The purpose of the logistics department is to ensure that the product reaches the
consumer on time be it the raw materials delivery from the warehouse to the store outlet or the
home delivery of the products ordered by the customer. Even the human resource department has
it own importance as they only employee the staff in each and every department thus they need
to function well to have proper staff as per requirement of the job. Each department has a
specific role to play in making the marketing plan a success and each department has to work in
coordination with the other departments to make the end customer feel the benefits of the
product (Lewis, 2013).
b) The basic concept of marketing and future needs, Overview of the elements of marketing
process
The elements of a marketing process can be broadly classified into five major components. An
effective marketing plan does not only take care of the present however is prepared to take care
of the future demand which can come up from the customers. These five components of the
marketing process are also present in the marketing for McDonald’s products. These are the
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concept of production, concept of selling, concept of product, concept of marketing and concept
of society.
Production Concept: An organization has to be always working for their customers and has to
be centric to them. Any customer would like to have a product which is giving value for their
money and is also of a good quality. When these two criteria’s get fulfilled then the marketing
department can say that the plan was a success. This will further boost the sales of the
organization and also positively impact the profitability of the company. An organization can
also manufacture the products in bulk quantities to get benefit of scale of economies and a close
watch has to be kept on the rate of production versus sales in market.
Product Concept: This concept covers the aspects related to the product and highlight that any
customer who is going to buy the product has to be of decent quality and meets the expectations
of the customer. In case the product is not at par to their consumers needs and expectations then
they will not go ahead to buy the product. There is also seasonality in the demand of a product
which the company has to keep in mind which production of the product. An organization should
always be creative and keep on developing new products keeping in mind the demands and trend
in the markets.
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Selling Concept:The selling concept is related to creation of need of the product in the targeted
audience. A customer will buy a product only when they have a need for it or they are attracted
to the features of the product. The selling concept gives the tools and means to assist sales in the
selling of the product.
Marketing Concept:The concept is related to how the company should fulfill the demand which
is currently available. The world today is very competitive and they should be able to provide
world class product and the services to strive in the market. It is the marketing department which
helps to create an image of the product in the minds of the customer which gives a positive vibe
to them. It has to be the goal of the marketing team to ensure that the product is placed in the
positive mindset of the customer to make a product successful.
Societal Concept: The concept relates to the social environment in which the company operates
and has the external factors impacting the organization. The organization has to be committed
towards the upbringing of the society and ensuring the environment is favorable for the
customer. The product which the company is producing should not have any harm on the
environment and the society (McDonald, 2013).
c) Roles and responsibilities of marketing with respect to marketing environment
There are important roles and responsibilities of the marketing department which they need to
fulfill for the success of the marketing plan, strategy or the overall department. The efficient
usage of the various concepts of market is also known as marketing management. It involves
attributes such as selling, distribution, logistics, pricing, promotion etc. Below we have discussed
the various marketing roles:
Market Strategies: The first and foremost role of any marketing team is to create a marketing
plan and the strategies around it for its implementation. All of this has to be created with keeping
in mind the current needs and expectations of the customers. The strategies are the link which
strongly binds the customer with that of the end objective of the organization.
Marketing information system: This is a system which is used just as a database to which has
all the information with regards to the consumer preferences, product features, customer
geographies etc. This tool helps all the other department to pull out information which is then
used by them to create strategies around the product
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Evaluation of the marketing environment: There are lot of factors which impact the marketing
environment. The factors are controlled and uncontrolled and can include the factors such as
societal environment, cultural environment, political environment, economic environment. The
needs and expectations of the customers is very much depended on these factors and the
companies should develop a product in a specific location after studying all of these factors to
ensure their product is a success
Marketing research: Research is a key for getting the right information and then using them to
make the product, marketing strategy and dealing with the marketing environments. It is said that
right input will give us a right output thus this step is not only continuous however should be
done diligently to make the product successful in the market.
Market segmentation: Selecting the right audience for your product and devising a strategy for
the targeted audience is one of the most important aspect. No marketing plan can be made to fit
all types of customers and staying in all geographies. It is very important to identify the key
customers which needs to be selected for the marketing plan and thus focusing the strategies
around them.
Brand Equity: The role of the marketing department is to ensure they build a very strong image
of the product in the minds of the customers. Only when the customers have a positive image for
a product then only they will go ahead and buy the product and then leading to the increase of
sales and profitability of the organization. They need to ensure that the positive benefits of the
product are highlighted in context of the customers and as well as the society.
d) Key elements of marketing functions and interrelations with other functional units of
organization
Success of the marketing function is not only a job of the marketing department however is very
much dependent on how the other departments contribute with their role and responsibilities to
make the marketing plan a success. From departments such as human resource, finance, sales,
logistics, distribution etc. all have to contribute towards the success of the marketing function.
Below are the major marketing functions.
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Research:This is one of the most important function as with the help of this department the
marketing strategies are formulated and this is the information store house for the organization.
This department has to ensure that a complete and detailed research has been conducted on both
current and the probable customers for the organization. Once the outcomes of the research are
with the department then they can discuss on finalizing the best plan which will suit their
targeted audience.
Strategy: After the research department comes the role of the strategy department who helps to
formulate the strategies using the data collected by the research department. They need to ensure
that the strategies are in line with the objectives of the organization and will help the company to
achieve their goals. The strategies should also be attainable and not something which cannot be
achieved. The focus should always remain on the needs and expectations of the end consumers.
Planning:Planning department is the one who pen down the various steps that needs to be
undertaken for the execution of the strategy devised. They assign roles and duties to each
department and also bring out the success parameters for each department for performance
evaluation purpose as well. They have to deal with all the departments which are present in the
organization.
Tactics:This is where the focus is on how the organization should achieve the short-term
objectives. Once long-term strategies are formulated then comes the role to have short term
tactics to be decided. Again, they have to be in line with the long-term strategies and also in line
to the objectives of the company. For example, 20% extra over a product is a short term tactic to
increase the demand of a product however this tactic cannot be stretched for a longet duration.
Above listed are the roles which the marketing team has to be perform in coordination with other
departments. As without the other departments the marketing department cannot perform these
functions. The one of important department which is linked with the marketing department is the
finance department as they are the one who will define the budget and pass the budget for
initiating the various activities involved or decided by the marketing department. There has to be
a clear communication and discussion in between the both departments to ensure the functions
are performed without hassle. Production department is another department which is linked with
the marketing department as they are the one who will execute on the increase in demand
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forecasted by the marketing department after their marketing plan. Thus, any alteration in any
product must be clearly communicated to the production department in advance thus to ensure
the quality of the product is maintained and also enough time is given to them to ensure quality
tests are conducted. The production department has also to work on to get the necessary raw
materials are procured and enough people are staffed in their department to meet the increase in
demand from the marketing department strategy (Pike, 2015).
Task 2 Ways of using marketing mix for achievement of business objectives
a) Comparison of application of marketing mix in marketing planning process in different
organizations
The marketing mix varies largely form different organizations and their workings. The use of
marketing mix is also based on the various objectives and goals of the organization. There are
various factors which influence the marketing mix and can be categorized as product, consumers,
the market and the level of the production in the company. This tool is used to understand the
marketing needs and revolves around 4P’s of the marketing i.e. product, place, promotion and
price. This was later transformed into a more advanced version i.e. 7P’s which includes now
people aspect along with processes and physical evidence.
The company has largely grown on their brand image over the years and the reason why
McDonald has been also to reach this place as a big brand is that they have always kept customer
in their focus and all of their marketing strategies using marketing mix are made with the central
focus on customers. There are many competitors to McDonald’s in the current market however
they are able to come up with strategies to overcome the competitions and give something
different to their customers.
b) Different tactics applied by the organizations to achieve business objectives
Every organization has their own way of implementing or opting for a strategy. These are
applied with keeping in mind the customer and the objectives of the organization. McDonald’s
using very efficiently the 7P’s strategy along with other tactics to reach to their end goal.
 Which markets has to be targeted has to be ascertained
 Various market segments are then proposed
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 Assessment is done basis various marketing segments is done
 Process map is created for each segment
 Market evaluation in term of attractiveness
 Further selection of the targeted market is taken
 Adopting a positional strategy and implementing it
 Response from the segment process is ascertained.
TASK 3 DEVELOPMENTS AND EVALUATION A BASIC MARKETING
PLAN
a) Basic marketing plan for McDonald
The basic marketing plan for McDonald can be created by the below mentioned steps.
 McDonald has to prepare a plan with keeping the needs of their targeted audience and also the
expectations of the consumers from their product, they have to conduct a research.
 McDonald should select which type of audience they want to target and then come up with a
plan to execute. The research should be able to give them answers to what is the best segment
that they need to go after
 The step next to that is then identifying which type of product will be able to cater to the needs of
the target audience and thus the organization should also invest time to think whether or not they
will be able to produce such a product.
 Evaluation of the research is very important as it gives a more confident feeling when going
ahead with formulation of the strategies. After this step comes the part of cost allocation and the
budget allocation to each department to be able to deliver to what is required from them.
 Then the best medium which will be used to reach their target market and audience has to be
selected. It should be the one which reaches most of the target audience in best possible way and
the one they can correlate to. It should also generate the need in the minds of the target audience.
 In the end the evaluation of the marketing plan is done to see where we can improve when futher
extending the product in the same or other markets. (Dibb and Simkin, 2013).
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Estimate the marketing plan and supervise the outcome to verify the efficiency of
marketing plan
b) Rational marketing plan that strategically uses 7P’s to attain marketing objectives
The marketing mix is made up of various variables which are put together to deliver the product
to the customers and also satisfy their needs (Wang, 2015). The plan of McDonald’s using the
7P’s of the marketing mix is given below:
Product: The product needs to be of a very good quality and should also be able to meet the
needs of the customers. The product should be without any flaw and must be in line to the brand
of the company. McDonalds need their customers to get a happy experience once they receive
the product from them.
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