Assignment on Marketing Essentials

LO1: Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional units of an Organisation.

Defining the Marketing Concept

               There are various business activities which are important for an organisation, and one of such activities is marketing. It is a process that is used by organisations to grab the attention of their target or potential customers so that they are interested in buying the product. It is an activity that is used for the promotion of a product, and the message is reached to the target audience with different mediums. In a marketing process, there are various things are involved such as promotion of products, research about the target market, as well as the distribution of the product to the right market, etc. It is important to understand that overall the marketing concept may look to be a simple one, but in fact, it is a huge concept with so many elements to be covered. Every business organisation has to make sure that they have a great and well-planned marketing strategy as it is indispensable for their sustainable development and long term growth (Grönroos 2006). This report will analyze different elements of the marketing by keeping McDonald’s Company in context.

P1 - Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function.

               It is a fact that marketing function is critical for an organisation in so many ways as different important roles & responsibilities are handled by it. The changing landscape of business is also changing the trends in marketing function so that these functions can comply with modern business friends. The first major role of the marketing process is research in the market. It is actually referred to as marketing information management. It means that an organisation will have to gather data for its relevant market as well as potential customers so that they can derive a better marketing plan. The selling and distribution are two other critical functions, like products to be promoted for sale and then it is distributed to target customers so that they can get their relevant product. Promotion of the product is another key function as marketing strategy chooses different mediums to promote products so that the message can be reached to target customers. The whole marketing activity needs some financial support so that marketing strategy can be followed accordingly, so financing is another major function of the marketing process. The price of the product is another vital element to promote the product, as the price is always a major concern for the majority of customers. The organisation like McDonald’s has to make sure that they follow all of these functions in a proper manner (MADELEINE 2018).

P2 - Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.

               Earlier, some of the key roles & responsibilities linked with marketing have been discussed, and when each element is analyzed separately, it shows that marketing is not the only essential element in itself, but it is related to various other organisational contexts. The overall organisational structure can get considerable help from the marketing function, as it helps in so many different ways. For instance, if an organisation is looking to develop a new product, the role of marketing can be critical in this regard because a lot of market research is done by the marketing department, and their collected data can give great insights into the market. In addition, the data can be important to know the current trends in the market which are grabbing the attention of the customers. For instance, if McDonald's wants to know whether they should change the packaging of their products, then they can do it by looking at competitors and gathering data from the customers. Lice, they can use special packaging for meals, which are targeting the children. Marketing can have a great relationship with the production of a company. For instance, if McDonald's is looking to come up with an extensive marketing campaign for a new menu or meal in their list, then the production department will be asked to get ready for the demand so that supply is made sure. The supply and distribution of the product are crucial for long term success (THOMPSON 2019). The marketing department has to develop a considerable relationship with other departments so that they can handle things accordingly. For instance, if the marketing department is looking for a new marketing campaign to launch, then they will need financial resources for it. So, they will have to coordinate with the finance department to know how much budget is available and how much budget can be used for a single marketing campaign. This kind of relationship between other business units and marketing unit would always keep things on the right track (Mahea 2014)

LO2: Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve overall business objectives.

               It is vital for business organisations to realize that they might have developed a good marketing strategy, but they need to keep an eye on that particular strategy so that they can meet their business objectives. One good method to do so is the use of the marketing mix. There are 7Ps of marketing, which can be used by an organisation to evaluate its marketing strategy on a regular basis. It is a fact that market, customers and their requirements change on a regular basis so it is vital for organisations to revisit these 7Ps of marketing to stay in the right direction, otherwise, it can be hard to achieve business objectives (Tracy 2004)

P3 - Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the marketing planning process to achieve business objectives.

7Ps of Marketing for McDonald’s

·         Product: There are various leading and famous fast-food brands in the world and McDonald’s is one of them. There are various major fast-food products that are sold by McDonald’s such as burgers, breakfast, snacks, coffee, sandwiches, fries, and beverages etc. These product categories come up with a variety of food options like if you take burgers category, the company sells a variety of burgers to its customers such as chicken burger, beef burger, zinger burger etc. They also sell variety of sandwiches, drinks, and customers can have a breakfast menu as well, which is a differentiated product category as compared to its competitors (Rahman 2017). They develop a great variety of products by understanding the need for it through marketing research and looking at the products being offered by its competitors.

·         Place: The overall business objective of McDonald’s is to become a favorite company for its customers all around the globe. If they want to achieve these business objectives, then it is critical for them to integrate their marketing strategy accordingly (Jurevicius 2013). The place is an important element in the marketing strategy because it is actually related to the distribution of a product. It means that if a product is marketed and promoted to customers, but it is not distributed properly, which means that the product is not available in the market when customers go to purchase it, and then it is the failure of a company. They do extensive marketing to grab the attention of customers, so once customers are attracted to a certain product, it should be made all around the globe, where it has been marketed (Rahman 2017)

·         Price: Pricing is an important business strategy because customers are always conscious of this critical element. The mass customers want products at low and cheap prices with good enough quality, and when the competition is high in the market and customers have various options, then pricing becomes even more critical. If the company is looking to stay ahead in the competition, then marketing will have to play a role in setting a considerable price. The marketing research, as well as competitor analysis, can be helpful in this regard so that market competitive price is set for the products. For instance, a burger may be expensive at KFC as compared to McDonald’s, which means that the majority of customers may buy the burger from McDonald’s, because both brands are popular brands, and customers can be sure that quality would be good even with a lower price.

·         Promotion: A fast-food company like McDonald’s would love to increase its customer base on a global scale so that it can stay ahead in the competition from competitors likes KFC and Burger King, etc. If they want to achieve this business objective, then the marketing function of promotion is extremely important for them. They will have to promote products with the right message through the right medium targeting the right set of customers. For instance, they can’t promote a hamburger in a Muslim country, so the right promotion strategy is essential. One good example of a great promotion of McDonald’s is its Happy Meals for children, which comes with toys with the meal box. This is how companies have to promote their product so that they can increase sales and market revenue (Roderick 2016)

·         People: This element of the marketing mix is important, not only for customers but for employees as well. The customers should be satisfied as much as possible with great quality of food and customer services, otherwise, customers can easily switch to any other fast-food brand. The other important thing is to keep employees happy & satisfied because they are the ones, who carry out different functions of an organization, which would have been derived during the development of the business strategy. McDonald’s have been known for its good customer services and they also have a friendly and facilitative work environment for its employees, which is essential to achieve overall business goals (Cantor 2016)

·         Process: The companies have to come up with transparent and quality processes so that everything is done with efficiency and it delivers, what is required by the customers. McDonald’s has made things clear for its customers like they have allowed their customers to check the quality of their food, and even they can have a tour of the kitchen to see how products are being made. Such transparent and quality processes are key for overall long term success of a business (SARMIENTO 2017)

·         Physical Evidence: It is also an important part of the marketing strategy and a company should always show great interior, customer service experience, attractive food packaging, etc. These elements are important to add more things to a great experience of the customers.

LO3: Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan.

P4 - Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation.

               It is essential to set some of the strategic objectives for the marketing strategy of the McDonald’s. So, here are some important objectives of the newly developed marketing plan:

·         The first objective is to increase revenue and profits

·         Developing a new range of products with new promotional strategies

·         Increasing the popularity of brand amongst all customer segments

·         To stay ahead in the competition in the global fast-food market

               So, the company will have to develop a comprehensive marketing plan which gets situational awareness with the help of certain elements so that the objectives of this marketing plan can be achieved. The first thing in this regard is to do extensive market research to study the competitors and their strategy, as well as analyzing different market segments. Both would allow analyzing the strategy of competitors, which can be helpful in deriving the future strategy of the company. To stay ahead in the competition, the company will have to do great advertising and reach those regions and locations, where competitors have not been able to reach customers. It will give them a great competitive edge. The distribution channels would be made capable to cater to the demands from different market segments. Moreover, the company will have to increase the popularity of the brand with an aggressive marketing strategy, where the brand is promoted through all conventional and digital marketing channels. The next thing is to keep an eye on this overall plan by evaluating it on a regular basis so that any loopholes can be identified and the process can be improved. This simple marketing plan can help McDonald’s to get more revenue, profits, sales as well as brand recognition from the fast-food market.

References of Marketing Essentials

Cantor, Brian. 2016. McDonald's Improves Customer Experience By Improving Employee Experience. Accessed November 14, 2019. https://www.customercontactweekdigital.com/agent-engagement/articles/mcdonalds-improves-customer-experience-by.

Grönroos, Christian. 2006. "On defining marketing: Finding a new roadmap for marketing." Marketing Theory 6 (4): 395-417.

Jurevicius, Ovidijus. 2013. Mission statement of McDonald's. Accessed November 14, 2019. https://strategicmanagementinsight.com/mission-statements/mcdonalds-mission-statement.html.

MADELEINE. 2018. THE 7 FUNCTIONS OF MARKETING REVISITED IN 2018. Accessed November 14, 2019. https://www.contentrefined.com/7-functions-of-marketing/.

Mahea, Timothy. 2014. The Role of Marketing in Organizations – By Timothy Mahea. Accessed November 14, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140915080650-84228363-the-role-of-marketing-in-organizations-by-timothy-mahea/.

Rahman, M. 2017. Marketing mix of McDonald’s – McDonald’s marketing mix. Accessed November 14, 2019. https://www.howandwhat.net/marketing-mix-mcdonalds-mcdonalds-marketing-mix/.

Roderick, Leonie. 2016. McDonald’s claims it is showing a ‘brand evolution’ as it launches new Happy Meal ad. Accessed November 14, 2019. https://www.marketingweek.com/mcdonalds-claims-it-is-showing-a-brand-evolution-as-it-launches-new-happy-meal-ad/.

SARMIENTO, GERALD. 2017. BEYOND COUNTERS: THE MCDONALD’S OPEN DOOR EXPERIENCE. Accessed November 14, 2019. https://geraldsarmiento.com/mcdonalds-open-door-experience/.

THOMPSON, ANDREW. 2019. McDonald’s Organizational Structure & Its Characteristics – An Analysis. Accessed November 14, 2019. http://panmore.com/mcdonalds-organizational-structure-analysis.

Tracy, Brian. 2004. The 7 Ps of Marketing. Accessed November 14, 2019. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/70824.