Marketing Report: Analyzing McDonald's Marketing Strategies and Plan

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of McDonald's marketing strategies and plan. It begins with an introduction to the concept of marketing, its key roles, responsibilities, and the marketing process, using McDonald's as a case study. Task 1 delves into the concept of marketing, emphasizing market research, standardization, and meeting customer expectations, including the application of the SOSTAC marketing model. Task 2 explores the interrelationships between the marketing department and other departments such as finance, research, sales, HR, and IT. Task 3 compares different ways of marketing mix elements to develop the marketing plan, and finally, Task 4 presents a detailed marketing plan specifically tailored for McDonald's. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for McDonald's marketing efforts.

Marketing Essentials

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P 1. Concept of marketing & its key roles and responsibilities and marketing process..............1
P 2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing which interrelates with other departments ............3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3. Compare the ways of marketing mix to develop the marketing plan....................................5
TASK 3.........................................................................................................................................10
P 4. Marketing Plan for McDonald's.........................................................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the essential function which plays an important role in the success of
organisation as it helps in creating awareness about companies’ products and services. It is an
activity which is performed by the corporation associated with buying & selling of goods and
services. This involves advertising, selling & delivering products and services to persons. To
understand this concept better McDonald's has been selected in this report which is an American
fast food organisation. This present report covers the following topics such as, key roles &
responsibilities of marketing function, interrelationships between marketing and other functions
and compare the ways in which company use elements of the marketing mix to achieve overall
business objectives. Apart from this, it also discusses about to marketing plan.
TASK 1
P 1. Concept of marketing & its key roles and responsibilities and marketing process
Marketing is a process by which corporation creates value for consumers and build
healthy relationships in order to grab more market share. Its emphasis to satisfy the needs of
persons so that they can attract towards the organisation. The marketing manager is responsible
to make plans and strategies on the basis of current and future trends so that desires of consumers
can be fulfilled. These trends can be developed on the basis of wants, taste, preference and food
habits of people. The external environment can impact the marketing of corporation if it is not
properly analysed so it is essential for McDonald's to consider it so that effective decisions can
be taken for the growth of company (Baker, 2016).
To take competitive advantage it is necessary to provide quality products and better
services so that expectations of persons can be fulfil. It is helpful to achieve sustainable growth
and success which leads to profit maximization. The roles & responsibilities of marketing
manager are as describe below:
Market research: With the help of marketing information the demand of products and
services can be analysed. In context to McDonald's, the manager is responsible to identify the
recent market demand which involves various information such as: preference, taste, food habit
and target consumers. It provides help to the organisation to produce those products which are
highly demanded and can satisfy the desires of consumers. The role of marketing manager is to
provide necessary information to the corporation so that it can make strategy on the basis of it.
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For managing effectiveness in this role marketing manager of firm is focused on implying with
current trend of social media marketing with the help of which company is able to gather valid
information with regard to changing taste and preferences.
Standardisation: For an organisation it is essential to set specific standards so that every
worker can work as per the particular requirement. It is based upon certain beliefs and values of
corporation. In context to McDonald's, manager is responsible to set a quality standard and
instruct the employees that organisation will not compromise with it as a result quality food can
be delivered to the consumers. The role of marketing manager is to ensure about the specific
standards which are needed to be follow so that a greater number of persons can attract towards
the company as a result its sales can be maximize (Biggemann, 2012).
Meeting customer expectation: It is another foremost responsibility of marketing
manager for which the manager Of McDonald’s focused on incorporating with current market
trends that is use of AI chat box. It is a platform where marketing team is able to communicate
with buyers regularly and is able to understand their requirement. This helps in managing
innovation with regard to shoppers’ preferences and meeting individual expectations.
PR sostac marketing model is used by the firm for market planning which is discussed below:
Situation: The current situation of McDonald's is good and it has a good brand image
and reputation but its market share does not much high. The first step of marketing process is to
identify the market opportunities so that organisation can know the likes and preferences of
persons. As an example, if consumers are demanding quality products and company is able to
provide as per the needs than desires of consumers can be satisfy and corporation will able to
grab the opportunities which are available in the market. So, it is beneficial for the organisation
to prepare effective marketing process.
Objectives: The main objective of organisation is to grab more market share by
launching a new product.
Strategy: With the help effective market strategy and plan McDonald's want to aware
consumers about its new products so that it can generate higher profits. It is using this strategy to
introduce a new product in the market. In this firm develop plan for marketing mix, which is a
set of controllable marketing variables that corporation blends to produce & satisfy the wants of
consumers in the targeted market. It basically focuses towards the following things which are:
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product, price, promotion and place. With the help of these four elements McDonald's can
accomplish its marketing objectives as a result demands of persons can be fulfilled.
Tactics: The marketing manager of McDonald's emphasis to accomplish the objectives
of organisation so that it can achieve sustainable growth and success. Management functions
mainly emphasis on four things which are as: planning, analysing, implementation and control. It
focuses to accomplish the objectives and targets by customer satisfaction. As a result,
corporation can fulfil its predetermined goals. McDonald's use marketing mix so that right
product can be place to the right consumers as a result it expands the share in the market.
Action: To get success it is essential to select the appropriate target market which is
important for the organisation to make effective marketing process. It is helpful for the company
to identify new consumers in the new market. McDonald's can select the target market on the
basis of various things such as: demand, likes, food habits and living standards of persons who
live in a particular area. To analysing current and future trends of marketing corporation can
make plans and policies which support it and which is helpful to produce the product by
considering these trends. It is helpful to maximize the sales of company.
Control: It is helpful to know that organisation get which it wants to achieve by
launching a new product. With the help of consumer satisfaction survey McDonald's can know
the feedback of persons and if people think that there are chances of improvement is needed than
it should be done.
P 2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing which interrelates with other departments
Marketing plays a vital role in any organisation. It establishes relationship between
enterprises and customers by offering to the marketplace. Marketing function of any organisation
depends on participating in public activities, brand of company, advertisement and interaction
with customer through feedback. It is the key responsibility of managers or their department that
to extend the market place, and share value which helps to generate more revenues. Its aims to
serve good food in reasonable prices at marketplace. In this company managers who makes
marketing department they should include marketing managers, brand and product managers,
research managers, sales representatives, pricing specialist, promotion adviser, and customer
service personnel. This procedure helps to meet with number of sale as well as increase in
turnover. This organisation focuses on consumer satisfaction that can be possible through only
fulfilling consumer need and wants in market. Roles and responsibilities are performed by the
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marketing managers of McDonald's to meet the company's goals. The functioning of
McDonald's a fast food restaurant founded in 1955 like every other restaurant is handled by five
different departments Marketing department, sales, finance department, Research department,
HR department and IT department. These are the core functions of every organisation. Roles and
responsibilities are given as below-
Marketing department with finance department: Finance is first priority for any
organisation which decides the nature and size of business. It includes planning, organising,
accounting, auditing, and controlling company's finance. This helps to increase in annually turn
over and grab the more market share. For example, McDonald is planning to bring a new product
for consumers. Then it needs to market research for this product cost and selling price. So,
finance department will provide funds for conducting marketing activities so that marketing plan
can be success and profits can be maximizing. As Marketing helps in persuading customers to
buy products this activity requires money for that finance department is required. Finance is
blood of every organisation. Money is circulated, managed and generated through this
department. These two departments share conflicting relationship as they have different
individual goals. Finance department wants usage of funds in a proper manner on the other hand
marketing wants to increase customer satisfaction and creation of brand loyalty which sometimes
cause wastage of funds. They need to find stability and understanding with each other and must
work together to increase profits and share of market to achieve company's goals.
Marketing department with research department: Marketing is the place of doing
any business and make it profitable. This is a dynamical evolution which depends on high quality
research and creating new ideas. For instance, McDonald is trying to bring new product for great
value in a friendly. For launching new product there is need to market research for people taste
and availability of product. For knowing the demand of new product managers can take help of
internet and people feedback to reach at global level. Marketing department is linked with
research which helps to know the food habits and purchasing power of consumers (Finch and
O’Reilly, 2013). Marketing and research departments both works to satisfy customers needs.
Data collected by marketers is given to researchers, based on this data they found ways to
develop new product as per the preferences of customers. Both should be given credit for their
contribution for the product's success also both should take responsibility for the failure of the
product as well, as they often blame each other.
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Marketing department with sales department: Sales department is directly connected
with marketing department because it helps to increase in number of consumers as well as
product and services. It builds a relationship with marketing managers and sales managers. For
example, McDonald is planning to bring a new product for consumers, and its main aim to
increase in number of sale and to be sustain in market. In this company sales department can take
help of marketing department to develop a new product or improving existing product.
Marketing research helps to know people demands and their expectations, and sales department
helps to meet with their expectations. This is very important for every organisation that achieve
organisation's goals by fulfilling customer needs and increase in sales.
Marketing and Human resource department- These two departments have close
relationship. Marketing is not only required to attract customers but also to hire attractive talent
in the company. Marketing department has to keep up with the market as well as employees
expectations. Knowledge about salary and benefits which the competitors are providing also
training required to be given to employees to perform effective marketing. Large and fresh pool
of talents can be generated through effective marketing.
Marketing and IT department- Technology in every department helps to increase
overall efficiency of organisation. Digital Marketing is a technological advancement in the field
of marketing. IT department helps in creating websites, data management, customer relationship
management, advertising through digital mediums. Thus there is a positive relationship between
these two departments. Marketing department can gather information about public's preferences
through internet. Instagram, YouTube are part of digital marketing. Companies like McDonald's
are using these techniques to increase their profitability and market share.
TASK 2
P3. Compare the ways of marketing mix to develop the marketing plan
Marketing Mix: Marketing Mix refers to the set of groups, actions, market variables and
tactics that can be used to promote its brand and product at marketplace. This is the combination
of factors which is used to maintain and control by an organisation to influence consumers for
purchasing their products and services. It helps to introduce and make aware about new product
or services in market. Such as McDonald use it to reach at global level. This company states how
marketers and managers make important decision regarding how they should execute
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successfully their marketing plans. It associated with 7 Ps like as, price, product, promotion,
place, people, physical evidence and process. McDonald also helps to assist this in order to bring
advance sales and proceed to build their consumer base. The 7 Ps of the marketing mix are as
follows:
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(Source: 7 P's of Marketing Mix 2018)
Marketing Mix of McDonald and Burger King-
Basis McDonald Burger King
Price Price is the charged value or
consideration for buying any
product or services. It is the
essential element which helps
to run any business. McDonald
offers variety of fast food to
their consumers at reasonable
prices. This helps to use
pricing context and making
pricing strategies by
Burger king is also considering
market pricing strategy, tactics
and price context which helps
to decide prices of any product
and services. Burger king is
little bit costly than McDonald.
People give their preference to
reasonable prices products.
Burger king use combination
of competitive pricing and
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McDonald’s managers. It uses
psychological price in the
context of price.
psychological price in the
context of price (FISK, 2013).
Product Product is an article or
substance which is available
for consumer use. McDonald
emphasis on developing a new
menu or product which
customer wants. It provides
best quality of product and
services to their consumer.
That helps to create a product
brand and increase in number
of consumers. McDonald
offers vegetarian as well as
non-vegetarian food products
like as- snack wrap, happy
meal, Mc-nuggets, chicken etc.
Burger king also offers
vegetarian as well as non-
vegetarian food like as-
Whopper, BK chicken fries,
big king, burger king speciality
etc. This is very popular all
over the world that provides
best quality of products. It
should be develop by
customers demand and give
satisfaction to them. They are
planning to add mini muffins
and French toast sticks in
upcoming days.
Place Place is a particular location,
position, portion of space or an
area which is used by
someone. McDonald covers
the management process range
that includes bringing products
to the end consumer. It also
helps to provide products in
every city by making them
very convenient. It has outlets
at prime locations and
shopping malls in possible
Burger king has sales outlet
almost everywhere in the
global market. It divides its
global operations in three
section. Some franchises select
regional background and they
are dealing as master franchise.
It helps to make a big
investment for the company. It
has outlets at prime locations
and shopping malls but at
limited locations. (Huotari and
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residential areas. Hamari, 2012).
Promotion Promotion is the management
tool which helps to advertise
and marketing of a product.
McDonald is the well-known
brand that is famous for its
quality of product and
promotion. Its main purpose to
increase awareness, generate
sales and create brand loyalty
which is done by Television
social media platforms,
newspapers, etc.
Promotional strategy is the
planning for increasing in
number of sales and number of
consumers. Burger king has
own brand which is well
known. It maintains trust and
create brand loyalty. It uses
social media as a promotional
technique (Macarthy, 2018).
People The person who purchase and
consume the products and
services. McDonald's treat its
workers equal and so it made
standard outfit for all
employees (Pike, 2012).
Managers and leader of
organisation manage and
handle the outlets and ensure
to satisfy the desires of
consumers. To motivate its
employees company gives rank
as per the performance.
Physical Evidence It means influencing power to
people by offering discount,
good service, quality,
cleanliness, etc. McDonald
focuses on hygienic and
cleaning factors which helps to
attract consumers. Packaging
is another physical evidence of
firm.
Burger king has also equal
kind of influencing power that
help the company to give
satisfaction to their consumers
by providing best quality of
food. The presence of
organisation is more than
15000 locations with more
than 71 nations which makes
remarkable presence of it.
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Process McDonald use transparent
method to produce or deliver
the fast food. They always
trying to use different
packaging method which helps
to attract the consumer.
Burger king is also use
transparent process to
manufacture or deliver the
goods or services. It helps to
maintain and control equal
quality of product.
From the 7 p's of marketing mix it has been analysed that prices of Burger King are more
as compare to McDonald's and it offers reasonable price to the consumers. To attract the persons
McDonald's is focusing to add more items in the menu and emphasis to quality improvement. It
provides training to the employees so that superior quality can be maintained and delivery of
services can be improved. The marketing mix helps the organisation to develop an effective
marketing plan so that products can be develop as per the requirements of consumer. As a result,
profits and market share can be enhanced (Laczniak and Murphy, 2012).
TASK 3
P 4. Marketing Plan for McDonald's
The marketing plan is a business document which outline the marketing strategy for new
products and services. It made for specific time duration and involves marketing details which
are action steps, objectives and cost. It helps to develops the insight that how a plan should be
implemented. It includes the essentials information which are related to the recent situations of
the business. For an organisation it is necessary the identify the market segmentation so that right
products can be producing as per the demands of persons. With the help of sales analysis
technique, a corporation can identify its current sales and, on the basis, of this it can take
decisions that how much incremental is needed for upcoming years. So that desired profits can
be generated as a result marketing objective can be fulfilled as per the strategies. Company wants
to launch a new product which is Mc-swirls so that more market share can be capture.
Internal analysis of McDonald's:
Strength of McDonald
 McDonald has global brand image and value because of its quality product and largest
serving network around the world.
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 Respective company can make the use of economies of scale and easily serve new
product. Additionally, they have the advantage of huge customer base in generating
revenue from new product.
 With huge market share and longest food network, the supplier are not in state to bargain
in short the bargaining power of supplier is low. Along with that McDonalds have formed
an agreement with Coco Cola, due to which they serve Coco Cola drink at cheapest rate.
 It has generated huge customer base because of its quality product at reasonable prices.
Thus, its restaurant serving mile radius is approx 3 miles. Hence, due to which maximum
people avail the services of respective company.
Weakness of McDonalds
 McDonald believe in providing standardises services, known for its consistency but in the
same way it reduces the flexibly within restaurant.
 With the change in trend people nowadays are more concern about their health, thus they
prefer healthy food rather than fast or junk food.
 McDonald is facing a decline in its growth rate or market share due to entry of various
new entrant as well as existing rivalries.
 The respective companies product development is weak. Therefore, they need to keep on
launching new product for its existing market.
External analysis : The external analysis includes opportunity, threat as well as PESTEL
analysis.
Opportunity for McDonald's:
 Add more food item in their menu
 Launch new products for all age group of persons.
 Expand its reach in developing country
 Product diversification
Threat to McDonald's
 Adoption of healthy eating habits
 Aggressive neck to neck competition for instance burger king
 Economic fluctuation in the nation.
PESTEL
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PESTEL analysis is a model or a framework used to determine the affects of external
environment on the organization. PESTEL originally known as PEST stands for political
economical social technological environmental and legal. It is a technique through which the
impacts of these factors can be discovered. Francis Aguilar founded this tool in 1965. Legal and
Environmental factors were later introduced by the analysts. As business environment constantly
changes, it helps in monitoring the factors affecting the environment.
Political
 The level of government interfere in the economy comes under this factor. It deals with
the affects of policies made and actions taken by the government in business.
 In case of McDonald's there is increment in the international commercialism, health
programs and health policies.
Economical
 Profitability of the organization is affected by economical factors, changes in these
factors has direct as well as indirect impact on business.
 Economic growth of developed countries is helping the McDonald's business to grow
while downshift of Chinese economy turning out to be a threat to it's business.
Social
 Factors which affects an individual personality traits his perception,belief and lifestyle
are known as social factors. These factors affects the purchasing/ buying behaviour of
consumers.
 The thrust to buy a product by the customer is mainly influence by these factors. Due to
busy lifestyle in urban areas led to consumers buying fast food which is favourable for
McDonald's business. Also health consciousness stopping the consumers to buy fast food
from it's outlets.
Technological
 The cost and quality of products is mainly influenced by technological advancement. It is
used production of products distribution and communication channel.
 McDonald's increased investment in research and development and adaptation of new
technology ensures growth in sales.
Environmental
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 Natural factors can affect the business like the change in climate and other natural
elements.
 Due to McDonald's wide geographical reach has to deal with different environment for
example in india due to cultural and religious belief decided to remove beef and pork
from it's menu and introduced 100% veg burgurs.
Legal
 Every government has it's own set of rules and regulation in a country which affects the
functioning of business
 McDonald's has to comply with the legal factors such as minimum wages to it's workers
and animal protection rules in various country.
Marketing objective: The marketing objective of McDonald is to increase consumer
base by 4% within 6 months with launch of new flavoured Mc-swirls.
STP analysis: In the launching of new product STP is very helpful as organisation has
targeted the persons of age group between 12 to 40 years & In United Kingdom it wants to
launch the new product.
 Segmentation: It is defined as one of an impressive process for dividing client or
business as per the demand of product and services. The member of this group is more
similar and having certain characteristic. Mainly management of McDonald's divide the
customer in Demographic, Behavioural segmentation so that product can be easily sold in
the competitive environment.
 Target: It is important to select important factors while selecting a target market such as
to attractiveness of the segment and fit among the segment. Manager of McDonald's is
being preferred by all age group. It will be easy for the marketing manager to select their
target market. McDonald's is targeting the persons of age group between 12 to 40 years.
 Positioning: This is the last stage at which company use various marketing tools to
position their product into customer mind set. This help McDonald's to increase sales
volume and grow their profit and lead in the food and beverage industry. The firm will
use its old positioning strategy that is value-based positioning.
Marketing mix for Mc- Swirls: With the help of marketing mix its plans can be
executed and it involves:
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 Product: This is the thing which is launch by organisation so that it can enter target
market and the product of company is Mc-swirls .
 Price: It should be affordable so that a normal person can buy the products & the price of
Mc-Swirls is 3.5 GBP.
 Place: It is the place where McDonald's will sale its products and it select UK to launch
its product.
 Promotion: To aware the consumers it is needed and it can use promotional tools such
as: newspaper, TV, hoarding etc.
Marketing budget: It helps the company to make an effective marketing plan so that
organisation can analyse its expenditures. Marketing budget of Corporation is around 25000
GBP which is helpful to perform marketing activities (Möller, 2013).
Particulars Amount Percentage
Digital marketing 8000 32.00%
Direct marketing 11000 44.00%
Event & public relation 6000 24.00%
Total 25000 100.00%
To conduct the marketing programme McDonald's need 25000 GBP which is helpful in
marketing plan.
Tactics: It is defined as a conceptual action that help to aim at the achievement of
predefined goals. It is a marketing tool must be used by McDonald's that help them to promote
qualities of product and services offered in cafes.
Executive summary
In new product launch marketing plan plays an important role so that organisation can
grab higher market share by producing the product as per the need of consumers. The
McDonald's is coming up with a new product which is Mc-swirls and it focuses to target
youngsters and the age group of 12 – 40 years. The product is in strawberry flower. Organisation
wants to launch new product which is Mc-swirls so that it can attract young consumers of United
Kingdom as a result it can grab higher market share.
Vision & Mission: “To be our customers' favourite place and way to eat and drink.”
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Objective: To increase consumer base by 4% within 6 months with launch of new
flavoured Mc-swirls
Marketing programme: A marketing programme is a coordinated and well-designed
set of activities to achieve marketing objectives. To make it successful McDonald's can use
various promotional tool such as: digital marketing, direct marketing, event and public relation
etc. To promote the products and aware the persons social media is very useful and it is cost
effective and time saving promotional tool. McDonald's can use Facebook, Instagram, twitter etc.
As a result, maximum consumers can attract towards the organisation.
Marketing channel Strategy Time duration
Digital marketing The organisation can use
Facebook, Instagram, twitter
for digital marketing.
Approx. 5 months
Direct marketing E-mail, phones, face to face
contact etc.
Approx. 7 months
Event & public relation Get feedback from consumers
so that improvements can be
done in products which is
helpful to maintain effective
public relation.
Approx. 6 months
Marketing evaluation and control
In order to determine whether a marketing plan is worth full or not there is a need for proper
market evaluation by manager of McDonald's.
 The marketing manager will compare actual plan with standard plan to determine
response of consumers.
 Customer feedback and queries will be another monitoring measure for marketing
manger which will denote effectiveness of plan.
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CONCLUSION
As from the above report, it has been concluded that for an organisation it is essential to
make an effective marketing plan so that it can grab more market share and maximize its profits.
Marketing manager owns various roles and responsibility to make an appropriate plan so that
targets can be accomplish. Marketing mix help the company to achieve its targets and to generate
more profits and capture higher market share marketing plan is very important so that
corporation can sustain for a long time in the market.
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