Management 5: McDonald's SWOT Analysis and Communication Plan

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of McDonald's communication strategies. It begins with a SWOT analysis of the company's current communication approaches, examining strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The analysis then identifies gaps in these strategies, such as issues with the "two meals at one price" promotion and the impact of the healthy food initiatives. Following the gap identification, the report develops a detailed communication plan. This plan includes various strategies, such as workshops, traditional methods like television and radio, and digital media strategies leveraging social media. The report also outlines protocols for non-digital media strategies, emphasizing the importance of addressing communication habits, clarifying expectations, and building positive customer relationships. The report concludes with a focus on addressing customer complaints and communication gaps to foster a positive brand image.

SWOT analysis and communication plan

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Contents
SWOT analysis of the current communication strategies..........................................................2
Identification of the gaps in the current communication strategies...........................................3
Development of a communication plan.....................................................................................3
Non-digital media strategies and its protocols...........................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

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SWOT analysis of the current communication strategies
Strength
McDonald has attained strong brand name along withits reputation. The company has gained
popularity due to its communication strategy of “two meals at one price”. This strategy has a
lot of advantages made possible through the buzz marketing.
The brand has a robust and wide communication channel in the market due to its
communication strategy. The campaign of McDonald focuses on advertising on TV, radio or
magazines.
The sales of the company have also increased by 7.4% due to communication strategy in
2008 which has raised market toward McDonald.
Weaknesses
McDonald is more associated with junk foods. The company has more focus on junk food
when it comes to having good taste. The company has gained popularity mainly for the
burgers.
The company is even having a narrow product line in the case of healthy food which is the
biggest threat of the company (Lewis, 2019).
Opportunity
The company has the opportunity of launching a healthy meal package to see the growing
concern of the people towards healthy food. The healthy meal can include salads at cheaper
prices. The cheap price will have the objective of attracting existing customers to change
their eating patterns.
Free Sports coupon strategy has been adopted by McDonald for its existing customers who
like to have healthy food. After the 5th time, the customers are given a swim free coupon.
Such coupon gives a chance to exercise and change their attitude towards exercise
(Phadermrod, Crowder & Wills, 2019).
Threat

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The donations as a part of the communication strategy generate money for the individuals
who need it. The customers who buy healthy food get 1% of the total amount of the
transaction. The focus of the company is growing over healthy food. In such a scenario, the
company can reduce its margins.
Changing the taste of the consumers creates a threat to the company. Although the company
has made options available as per the choice of the different customers. The company has to
make continuous efforts in order to persuade others (Bull, et al. 2016).
Identification of the gaps in the current communication strategies
The gaps have been realized by the company in its current communication strategies.
McDonald faces a problem in its strategy of “two meals at one price”. The gap is realized in
this strategy as sometimes customers are not in the condition of having two products. They
need just one product to satisfy them but they get another in addition which is sometimes of
no use (Grant, 2016). It creates a communication gap between the company and customers.
The company also offers two meals at one price as per the decided combo only. The
additional product offered is sometimes not liked by the customers to have.
The customers purchasing healthy food are entitled to get a 1% donation on the total amount
of the transaction. It is anticipated to create a good buzz about the company but the people
purchasing junk food remain from such donation. So the communication gap creates between
the company and the customers purchasing junk food.
The free sports coupon as a communication strategy is used to encourage consumers who
consume less healthy food. They are entitled to swim free coupon after the five times visit at
the restaurant. It promotes the interest of the customers towards healthy food but what if they
want to have junk food. This free coupon will not apply and lead to the communication gap
(Quirke, 2017).
Development of a communication plan
The communication plan is addressed in order to identify the gaps. These strategies are:

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Workshop and campaigns: McDonald can arrange workshops and campaigns in order to
address the communication gaps. The company can comprehend to its customers the strategy
of “two meals at one price”. In the workshops and campaigns, the customers can more
precisely ask the company and its associates. It can be really helpful in reducing
communication gaps.
Traditional strategies: The Company can even make use of traditional methods like
Television, radio, banners, and pamphlets. It can clearly define the advantages of the free
sports coupon. The company can even represent the example in the advertisement to remove
the communication gap (Binder, J. (2016).
Digital media strategies: digital media strategies are suggested to the company. The social
media platforms can be used in digital media strategies. Mc Donald has attained mainly
young customers and such customers are active enough on the social media platform. The
company can better promote its products over social media. The donation program can be
better promoted over the social media platform. It can easily remove the communication gap
even with the stakeholders along with the clients.
Non-digital media strategies and its protocols
McDonald can make use of traditional strategies like Television, radio, banners, and
pamphlets in order to address the identified communication gap. The protocols for traditional
marketing strategies are:
The company is required to identify the bad communication habits and admit them. The ad
communication habits are replaced with effective habits (Lewis, 2019).
Check interpretation and confront assumptions. It happens that the company thinks it is
productive but in reality it's not. The longer meetings and immediate response to the e-mails
are not necessarily the best response.
Do not expect others to understand the advertisements but make expectations clear. It is
required to communicate properly with the customers through the advertisements, pamphlets,
and radio.

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It is required to create positive relationships with customers. It assists in building them up.
The complaint of the customers regarding the product or if there is any communication gap
should be properly handled.

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References
Binder, J. (2016). Global project management: communication, collaboration and
management across borders. Routledge.
Bull, J. W., Jobstvogt, N., Böhnke-Henrichs, A., Mascarenhas, A., Sitas, N., Baulcomb, C., ...
& Carter-Silk, E. (2016). Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats: A
SWOT analysis of the ecosystem services framework. Ecosystem services, 17, 99-
111.
Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley &
Sons.
Lewis, L. (2019). Organizational change: Creating change through strategic communication.
Wiley-Blackwell.
Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R. M., & Wills, G. B. (2019). Importance-performance analysis
based SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management, 44, 194-
203.
Quirke, B. (2017). Making the connections: using internal communication to turn strategy
into action. Routledge.

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