McDonald's: A Comprehensive Marketing Plan and its Objectives

This report evaluates the role of marketing in promoting McDonald's products and achieving organizational objectives. It assesses the tactics and policies implemented by the company to connect with consumers and devises an effective marketing plan. The report covers key marketing functions such as product and customer service management, marketing information management, financing, marketing research, promotion, and risk management. It analyzes the role of marketing in the context of McDonald's marketing environment and its interrelationship with other functional units like HR, operations, and finance. The report also applies the marketing mix to McDonald's planning process, comparing it with Subway, and includes a detailed marketing plan with an executive summary, market situational analysis, PESTLE analysis, Porter's Five Forces, SWOT analysis, business goals, company strategy, STP, budget, and control measures. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments for students.

marketing essentials
McDonald’s

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1..............................................................................................................................................4
P1: KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MARKETING FUNCTION....................................4
M1: ANALYSING THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING IN CONTEXT OF
MARKETING ENVIRONMENT OF MCDONALD.............................................................................7
P2: ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MARKETING RELATED TO WIDE ORGANISATIONAL
CONTEXT FOR MCDONALD..........................................................................................................8
M2: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARKETING AND OTHER
FUNCTIONAL UNITS FOR MCDONALD.........................................................................................9
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................11
P3: MARKETING MIX APPLIED ON PLANNING PROCESS TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
FOR MCDONALD........................................................................................................................11
M3: USE OF DIFFERENT TACTICS FOR ACHIEVING THE OBJECTIVES BY MCDONALD...............15
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................17
P4: PRODUCE AND EVALUATE A BASIC MARKETING PLAN FOR AN ORGANISATION...............17
M4: MARKETING PLAN FOR MCDONALD..................................................................................17
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...............................................................................................................17
OVERVIEW OF THE COMPANY...................................................................................................17
MARKET SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS..............................................................................................17
PRIMARY ACTIVITIES..................................................................................................................18
EXTERNAL ANALYSIS..................................................................................................................19
PESTLE ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................................20
PORTER 5 FORCES......................................................................................................................22
SWOT ANALYSIS.........................................................................................................................24
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BUSINESS GOALS........................................................................................................................25
COMPANY’S STRATEGY..............................................................................................................25
STP OF THE MARKET..................................................................................................................25
BUDGET......................................................................................................................................26
CONTROL...................................................................................................................................26
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................27
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................28
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INTRODUCTION
The marketing has been found to be an effective way to successfully promote a product of an
organisation. The given report would be beneficial in evaluating the role played by marketing in
promoting and advertising the product of an organisation in an efficient method. Furthermore,
it also helps in achieving the objectives of the organisation and comes out with better results. In
the given study, the case of a fast food giant called McDonald would be taken into
consideration. In order to have a direct connection with its consumers, various tactics and
policies have been implied by the company which was assessed and evaluated in the given
study. Furthermore, the effective market plan would be devised which would help the company
to fulfil its objectives in an appropriate manner.
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TASK 1
P1: KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MARKETING FUNCTION
The major functions of marketing in any given organisation have been to promote its products
and services for selling it in the consumer market (Achrol and Kotler, 2012).
Figure 1: Marketing Functions
Source: [Achrol and Kotler, 2012]
In case of McDonald, it has some important roles and responsibilities of marketing functions
such as:
Product and Customer Service Management
It consists of providing assistance to the marketing managers in developing and designing of the
products of McDonald so as to meet the requirements of the customers. The role of the
assistant of the manager is to check that there is the provision of good quality and a wide range
of products which would be available to the consumers for 24/7 hours. Furthermore, the
assistant would also check that there is comfortable environment and an effective pickup
service so that customer leaves the restaurant satisfied (Goodman and Robison, 2013).
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Marketing Information Management
It requires collecting, managing and using market information for improving the decision
making and hence improving the performance of various marketing activities of the company.
The assistance of the manager is responsible for the proper collection of information and using
it for expansion of the business.
Financing
It is used for the preparation of the budget so as to obtain the necessary financial sources for
financing the product of the company. The role of the manager is to collect finance which
comes from the individual owner who through the franchise, pay the rents and fees to the
company for providing service to the customers (Achrol and Kotler, 2012).
Marketing Research
It helps in conducting a wide research about the products so that it would help in preparation
of proper plan so as to get a proper understanding about the needs of the consumers. A proper
marketing research would also help in assessing the opportunities as well as threats posed by
the competitors of the company which would help the assistant of the manager to extract
useful information which would be beneficial for the company.
Promotion via marketing strategies
It includes advertising via communicating with the customers about its products and services so
as to convince them effectively. In the UK, the assistant has the responsibility to device various
marketing strategies via a variety of advertisement procedures such as digital, paper and online
media so as toconvey the consumers about various schemes and coupons which would increase
their curiosity and persuade them to consume McDonald products (Goodman and Robison,
2013).
Risk Management
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It is done to develop an accurate plan so as to device those procedures which would help in
preventing as well as controlling the losses occurred by the company during its business. The
function of the assistant is to develop policies for the McDonald such as a plan to increase the
awareness among the consumers about negative impact prevailing for the products of
McDonald on the health of the individual (Mottram, 2011).
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M1: ANALYSING THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING IN
CONTEXT OF MARKETING ENVIRONMENT OF MCDONALD
The marketing plays an important role in the development of any organisation. It is the
marketing which allows an enterprise to take proactive measures by increasing innovation and
creativeness so as to sustain their growth in this competitive market. Therefore, there are
various roles and responsibilities of marketing especially for McDonald so that it stays relevant
in today’s scenario. Some of its roles and responsibilities are:
 Marketing has helped the McDonald to establish a relationship between its customers
by having direct interaction with them
 It allows the company to try new food products among its customers and make it
successful among them
 Marketing helps the company to increase the revenue of the company by using various
strategies which would be beneficial for the productivity of the company
 It helps the company to deal with its customers in an efficient way by helping its
management to make quick decision making related to the product and take the risk so
that when it would be successful, it would increase its base among its customers (Stark,
2015)
 It is also responsible for increasing the brand image of the company by organising a
campaign, promotion advertisements and collecting feedback from the customers to
seek improvements in its products ()
 The role of marketing is also to create customer loyalty and their retention
 Furthermore, it is also responsible for making the company a competitive enterprise in
order to protect its market share from its competitors (Sheth and Sisodia, 2015)
Thus, it could be said that marketing has helped McDonald to become a leading fast food
restaurant not only in the UK but across the world.
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P2: ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MARKETING RELATED TO WIDE
ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT FOR MCDONALD
Marketing is known for its strategic discipline and has various roles when related to wider
organisation concept. There are number of specialised departments where there is a
requirement of marketing to increase their efficiency (Armstrong et al., 2011).
Operational Management Department and Marketing
In the operational management department, marketing has various roles to play which
includes:
 Conducting adequate research and plan the development so as to satisfy current and
future needs of the customers
 Help in devising the product as required by customers (Armstrong et al., 2011)
Financial Management Department and Marketing
In case of Finance Department, marketing has a significant role to play:
 Help in preparation of the budget for promotion, distribution and extensive research
about a product
 To calculate the business operation within the financial capabilities
HR Department and Marketing
For HR Department, marketing provide help by:
 Creating an efficient sales team
 Meet the target of production
 Development of new product ideas (Sheth and Sisodia, 2015)
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M2: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARKETING
AND OTHER FUNCTIONAL UNITS FOR MCDONALD
The participation of various departments such as human resource, operation, production,
finance and customer service with the marketing department has been necessary for the
smooth functioning of the organisation (Stark, 2015).
It could be explained by an example such that when the marketing department of McDonald
organise a promotional campaign about the product, there is a collaboration of each and every
department with it so that the objective of the company is accomplished with great
effectiveness.
The function of HR department is to recruit those employees who have talent and potential to
perform the promotion campaign in an effective manner. It includes connecting with the
customers and persuading them to try the product for once thus helping the marketing team by
increasing the productivity of the campaign. Furthermore, they also help in devising HR policies
which would help in the campaign by creating the new market trends, sales and attracting the
consumers well (Stark, 2015).
The running of such a high promotion event requires funds for its smooth functioning and here
the financial department of McDonald comes to rescue. The former made available the funds in
the form of budget for the campaign and is responsible for managing all the operations of the
later. It also arranges resources which would be required for efficient management of the
promotional event by the marketing department (McDonald, 2015).
The Production department is responsible for providing the good quality products which could
be developed into food products so that they could be utilised by the consumers during the
promotional event. Beside this, it also communicates with the logistic department so that there
is no shortage of goods and services during the campaign.
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Thus there is a development of a substantial relationship of marketing department with that of
other departments which if managed and maintained properly, would help in smooth
functioning of the strategies and company would get desired outcomes (McDonald, 2015).
TASK 2
P3: MARKETING MIX APPLIED ON PLANNING PROCESS TO ACHIEVE
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES FOR MCDONALD
McDonald is a global fast food restaurant which is spread across the different countries around
the globe. In order to have a wide appeal about its food products for its consumers, it follows
the principle of the marketing mix. Furthermore, marketing mix of McDonald would be
compared with Subway.
Figure 2: Marketing Mix Strategy
Source: [Kotler, 2015]
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Product
According to this tool, McDonald tries to provide a diverse range of food products such as
hamburgers, drinks, fish, desserts, muffins and many more which satisfy the needs of the
customers and provide them various options to choose from among them. Furthermore, its
menu changes with a change in preference with the country. In case of Subway, it provides
limited products mostly in the form of Submarine sandwich which is available with vegetarian
and non-vegetarian options. Nevertheless, it provides healthy and low-calorie food products as
compared to McDonald (Dey, 2016).
Price
Low Pricing Strategy is used by McDonald so that its products are affordable to the majority of
people in the UK. It also uses bundle pricing strategy by offering more than one product at a
reduced price to the customers. For example in the UK, the prices of simple burger would be
low as it is consumed by most of the people there. Moreover, it also provides a discount facility
for students as well as people from lower income group by just displaying their identity card at
the outlet. On the other hand, Subway utilises Premium or High Price Strategy due to the
utilisation of high-quality material for the production of the food product as it produces those
food products which are healthy and with low calorific value when compared to the McDonald
(Stark, 2015).
Promotion
This tool focuses on the promotion of the products through various means such as
advertisements via digital, online or paper media so as to have broad outreach towards its
customers. For example, the promotion in the company is done through its brand mascot, a
clown named Ronald McDonald. Free toys are provided to children to promote its product and
also uses slogan- “I’m lovin it” for having wide appeal among its customers. Furthermore, it also
utilises services of famous celebrities for the successful promotion of the product. It also uses
emotional and cinematic advertisement for promotion of the product. The Subway in contrast
to the McDonald promotes its product via athletes as it serves healthy products. In past, it used
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