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At McDonald’s this Is represented by Its familiar logo – the Golden Arches. Marketing Involves Identifying customer needs and requirements, and meeting these needs in a better way than competitors. In this way a company creates loyal customers. The starting point is to find out who potential customers are – not everyone will want what McDonald’s has to offer. The people McDonald’s identifies as likely customers are known as key audiences. The marketing mix and market research Having identified its key audiences a company has to ensure a marketing mix is reared that appeals specifically to those people.
The marketing mix is a term used to describe the four main marketing tools (ups): product price promotion and the place through which products are sold to customers. Using detailed Information about Its customers, McDonald’s marketing department can determine: 1. What products are well received? 2. What prices consumers are willing to pay? 3. What TV programs, newspapers and advertising consumers read or view? 4. What restaurants are visited? Market research Market research is the format which enables McDonald’s to identify this key information. Accurate research is essential in creating the right mix to win customer loyalty.
In all its markets McDonald’s faces competition from other businesses. Additionally, economic, legal and technological changes, social factors, the retail environmental many other elements affect McDonald’s success In the market. Market research Identifies these factors and anticipates how they will affect people’s willingness to buy. As the economy and social attitudes change, so do buying patterns. McDonald’s needs to identify whether the number of target customers is rowing or shrinking and whether their buying habits will change in the future.
Market research considers everything that affects buying decisions. These buying decisions can often be affected by wider factors than Just the product Itself. Consumer feels when purchasing it. These additional psychological factors are significantly important to the customer. They can be even more important than the products’ physical benefits. Through marketing, McDonald’s establishes a prominent position in the minds of customers. This is known as branding. Meeting the needs of key audiences There are a limited number of customers in the market.
To build long-term business it is essential to retain people once they have become customers. Customers are not all the same. Market research identifies different types of customers. These examples represent Just a few of McDonald’s possible customer profiles. Each has different reasons for coming to McDonald’s. Using this type of information McDonald’s can tailor communication to the needs of specific groups. It is their needs that determine the type of products and serviceberry, prices charged, promotions created and where restaurants are coated.
To meet the needs of the key market it is important to analyses the internal nearsightedness of the organization. Strengths and weaknesses must be identified, so that a marketing strategically is right for the business can be decided upon. The analysis will include the: company’s products and how appropriate they are for the future quality of employees and how well trained they are to offer the best service to customers systems and how well they function in providing customer satisfaction e. G. Racketing databases and restaurant systems financial resources available for marketing. SOOT Once the strengths and weaknesses are determined, they are combined with the opportunities and threats in the market place. This is known as SOOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). The business can then determine what it needs to do in order to increase its chances of marketing successfully. Marketing objectives A marketing plan must be created to meet clear objectives. Objectives guide marketing actions and are used to measure how well a plan is working.
These can be related to market share, sales, goals, reaching the target audience and creating awareness in the marketplace. The objectives communicate what marketers want to achieve. Long-term objectives are broken down into shorter-term measurable targets, which McDonald’s uses as milestones along the way. Results can be analyses regularly to see whether objectives are being met. This type of feedback allows the company to change plans. It gives flexibility. Once marketing objectives are set the next stage is to define how they will be achieved.
The marketing strategy is the statement of how objectives will be delivered. It explains what marketing actions and resources will be used and how they will work together. The ups At this point the marketing mix is put together: Product The important thing to remember when offering menu items to customers is that places to spend it. Therefore, McDonald’s places considerable emphasis on developing a menu which customers want. Market research establishes exactly what this is. However, customers’ requirements change over time.
What is fashionable and attractive today may be discarded tomorrow. Marketing continuously monitors customers’ preferences. In order to meet these changes, McDonald’s has introduced new products and phased out old ones, and will continue to do so. Care is taken not to adversely affect the sales of one choice by introducing a new choice, which will cannibalism sales from the existing one (trade of. McDonald’s knows that items on its menu will vary in popularity. Their ability to generate profits will vary at different points in their life cycle.
Products go through a life cycle, which is illustrated below: The type of marketing undertaken and the amount invested will be different, depending on the stage a product has reached. For example, the launch of a new product will typically involve television and other advertising support. At any time a many will have a portfolio of products each in a different stage of its lifestyle. Some of McDonald’s options are growing in popularity while arguably the Big Mac is at the ‘maturity’ stage. Price The customer’s perception of value is an important determinant of the price charged.
Customers draw their own mental picture of what a product is worth. A product is more than a physical item, it also has psychological connotations for the customer. The danger of using low price as a marketing tool is that the customer may feel that quality is being compromised. It is important when deciding on price to be fully ware of the brand and its integrity. A further consequence of price reduction is that competitors match prices resulting in no extra demand. This means the profit margin has been reduced without increasing sales.
Promotions The promotions aspect of the marketing mix covers all types of marketing communications. The methods include advertising, sometimes known as ‘above the line’ activity. Advertising is conducted on TV, radio, cinema, online, poster sites and in the press (newspapers, magazines). What distinguishes advertising from other marketing communications is that media owners are paid before the advertiser can aka space in the medium. Other promotional methods include sales promotions, point of sale display, merchandising, direct mail, telemarketing, exhibitions, seminars, loyalty schemes, door drops, demonstrations, etc.
The skill in marketing communications is to develop a campaign which uses several of these methods in a way that provides the most effective results. For example, TV advertising makes people aware of a food item and press advertising provides more detail. This may be supported by in store promotions to get people to try the product and a collectible promotional device to encourage them to keep buying the item. It is imperative that the messages communicated support each other and do not confuse customers.
A thorough understanding of what the brand represents is the key to a consistent message. The purpose of most marketing communications is to move the target audience to some type of action. This may be to: buy the product, visit a restaurant, recommend advertising are to make people aware of an item, feel positive about it and remember it. The more McDonald’s knows about the people it is serving the more it is able to communicate messages which appeal to them. Messages should gain customers’ attention and keep their interest. The next stage is to get them to want what is offered.
Showing the benefits which they will obtain by taking action, is usually sufficient. The right messages must be targeted at the right audience, using the right media. For example, to reach a single professional woman with income above a certain level, it may be better to take an advertisement in Cosmopolitan than Woman’s Own. To advertise to mothers with children, it may be more effective to take advertising space in cinemas during Disney films. The right media depends on who the viewers, readers or listeners are and how closely they resemble the target audience.