Marketing Mix Analysis Paper Editing Services

Abstract

Marketing starts with the finding of the customer needs, evaluating information required to design and produce goods or services according to customer expectations. Maintaining a long-term relationship with customer and suppliers is also an important aspect of marketing (Homburg, Wieseke and Bornemann, 2009). In marketing, a business profit comes from the satisfaction of customer.

In this report, marketing mix of McDonald is evaluated which includes 4Ps – Product, Price, Place and Promotion (Ivy, 2008). The marketing mix is used in both function of a business i.e. Operative and Communication function. For successful evaluating the marketing mix, an organization can analyse cost per lead, cost per customer, market share, and competitive analysis.

For this research methodology, the secondary data is being used which includes various journals, publications, books and trusted online resources.

In addition, this report also outlines the marketing mix of McDonald, which gives a competitive advantage to the company. They have wide varieties of products and all at affordable prices. The company also sell their products via restaurant, online website, mobile app and kiosks. In terms of promotional mix element, the company use all integrated tools like advertising, sales promotion, publicity, etc. This shows the competencies of the McDonald as a market leader.

For longer sustainability, the company can established their corporate image with the help of menu localisation and product diversification.

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to analyse the effect of marketing mix on the business operations of McDonald. This assessment of the roles of each Ps of marketing mix can be a crucial part for the overall marketing approach of McDonald. This can also help the McDonald in determining the marketing strategy effective for the organization.

McDonald is a fast food chain, which was started in 1937 by the two brothers Richard and Maurice (Dunlap, 2017). Their revenue had reached $350,000 by the mid-1950s. Due to its high end competitive strategy, it is the most valuable brand in the fast-food industry.

In this report, the marketing strategy used by McDonald to be the leading restaurant chain is being analysed in the light of the marketing mix, which includes product, price, place and promotion.

Method

In this research of the marketing strategy used in McDonald, the data is being collected from the secondary sources. In secondary sources, the data is collected from various optional sources like magazines, books, reports, journals, the web and more (Vartanian, 2010). These sources belong to trusted one and also differs from the blog or open website where anyone can modify or change the content of the page.

Case Study

The marketing mix of McDonald consists of various core elements derived from the company marketing system that helps the company in achieving their overall objectives.

1. Product – McDonald always focuses on developing their menu according to the needs of customers. Their market research plays an important role in this. However, with the time, the customer requirements are also changes. McDonald has a diversified product range which includes – Hamburgers and sandwiches, Chicken and fish, Salads, Snacks and sides, Deserts, shakes and beverages. The company is primarily known for its hamburgers, which satisfy most of its market demand. McDonald product growth and diversification are due to their generic and intensive growth strategy (Gregory, 2017).

2. Price– McDonald charges the price from customers paralleling to the customer perceived value. For a customer, there are some psychological connotations attached to the price and product, which is successfully analysed by McDonald. The combination of pricing strategy used by McDonald includes Bundle pricing business strategy and Psychological pricing strategy (Arora, 2008). In the bundle pricing strategy, various meals and product are offered by McDonald which can be purchased separately by the customer considering the product value. For example, Happy Meal, Extra Value Meal, etc. In psychological pricing strategy, the company applies perceived prices that look from affordable from customer perspectives. For example, $5.99 (not rounding off to the nearest dollar).

3. Place– This marketing mix element illustrates the locations and venue where the customer can access the products of McDonald. The most prominent place in case of McDonald is the restaurants where the company products are distributed and most of the sales revenue generated. Other main places are – Restaurants, Kiosks, Mobile app made by McDonald (in ios and Android) and postmates websites and app (Kimes, 2011).

Kiosks sell a limited course of products like sundae and other desserts. With the help of company mobile applications, customer can find many products with every day deals and offers. They can also get the information about the nearby locations of restaurants and thus place an order easily. This aspect of marketing mix also helps the company in achieving its vision and mission, which is related to serving more numbers of customer around the world.

4. Promotion – McDonald uses various promotion mix to communicate with the customers such as Advertising, Sales promotions, public relation and direct marketing. However, advertisements are the most significant part of their promotional mix. McDonald uses print media, radio, online platform and television for the purpose of the advertisement (Karunanithy and Sivesan, 2013). In addition, sales promotion is made by the company to get their attention towards the restaurant. For attaining this objective, they give various offers like freebies and discount coupons to their certain product bundles. The public relation approach is used by the company to strength their goodwill in the industry. The company also used direct marketing for their corporate clients, local governments and other parties.

Conclusion

For a long period, McDonald has established themselves as a leader in the industry in respective with product line. They have effective control over all their fours Ps of the marketing mix elements that also gives them a competitive edge in the industry. The psychological pricing strategy of the company also helps them to gain the attention of the customers. In addition, they have made their presence at all levels i.e. restaurant, online and kiosks, which help the customer in easy access to their products.

Their integrated approach in the promotional activities also helps McDonald to gain the customer awareness towards the brand.

McDonald is capable of offering new products and services that can increase its market share in the industry.

Recommendations

McDonald’s is the powerful brand name and thus its strategies seem so good. However, I have several recommendations for the company, which can help in their growth and thus also increase the market share of the company. They should re-established their corporate images in the market so that they can slow down their company into reaching the maturity phased of the life cycle. Product diversification and innovation can help them in reaching out with strategy. The company should also focus on their menu items as per the locality of the nation they are serving.

This will help them to keep a strong competitive advantage over their competitors.

References

1. Arora, R. (2008) Price bundling and framing strategies for complementary products. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 17(7), pp.475-484.
2. Dunlap, T. (2017)11 Surprising Facts About the Real History of McDonald’s. Available from https://people.com/food/11-surprising-facts-about-the-history-of-mcdonalds/ Accessed on 27 September 2018.
3. Gregory, L. (2017)McDonald’s Generic Strategy & Intensive Growth Strategies. Available from http://panmore.com/mcdonalds-generic-strategy-intensive-growth-strategies Accessed on 27 September 2018.
4. Homburg, C., Wieseke, J. and Bornemann, T. (2009) Implementing the marketing concept at the employee–customer interface: the role of customer need knowledge. Journal of Marketing, 73(4), pp.64-81.
5. Ivy, J. (2008) A new higher education marketing mix: the 7Ps for MBA marketing. International Journal of educational management, 22(4), pp.288-299.
6. Karunanithy, M. and Sivesan, S. (2013) An empirical study on the promotional mix and brand equity: Mobile service providers. Industrial Engineering Letters, 3(3), pp.1-9.
7. Kimes, S.E. (2011) The current state of online food ordering in the US restaurant industry. Cornell Hospitality Report, 11(17), pp.6-18.
8. Vartanian, T.P. (2010)Secondary Data Analysis, New York: Oxford University Press.