1

Marketing and Communication Strategy

Student Name

Instructor

Institution Affiliation

Course Name

Due Date
 2

Introduction

Marketing and communication strategies are critical in every organization to ensure that

the products and services reach the target customers appropriately. Good marketing and

communication strategies can improve the company's profit margin, create a good reputation for

the company, and increase the company's market share. Thus in this paper, the marketing and

communication strategies used by Mcdonald's company will be explored.

McDonald's is among the world's biggest chains of fast-food restaurants. The first

McDonald's was established in the U. S. on May 15, 1940. It currently has over 31,000 locations

around the world. McDonald's first officially opened in Lahore in September 1998, and it now

has a spread of 20 locations in the seven largest towns. Ronald McDonald is a clown who serves

as the McDonald's principal mascot. McDonald's land is a fictitious world where the clown lives.

McDonald's land has gradually phased away in past years, and Ronald is rather seen connecting

with other youngsters in their ordinary activities. Most people make a living by dressing up as

Ronald McDonald and visiting sick children in health facilities. McDonald's has been the "Chief

Happiness Officer" of McDonald's since August 2003.

5.1 Marketing Strategy

A company's grand plan for building connections people and converting them into large

customers for its goods or services is referred to as a marketing strategy (Ceil, 2019). A

marketing strategy contains information such as the company's brand value, core brand

messages, data on possible consumer categories, and other high-level aspects. A complete

marketing strategy covers all of the "four Ps" of marketing: product, pricing, place, and

promotion. A marketing strategy's ultimate goal is to establish and communicate a sustainable

 3

competitive edge over competitors by understanding their needs and desires to the potential

customers. A marketing asset could be determined based on its effectiveness at communicating a

firm's value proposition, regardless of whether it is a print advertisement, mass customization, or

social media campaign (Ceil, 2019). Market research will assist in analyzing a campaign's

effectiveness and discovering underserved communities to accomplish bottom-line goals and

increase income. 

Why Is a Marketing Strategy Necessary for My Business?

A marketing plan assists a business in allocating its advertising money effectively.

According to different studes, businesses with a strongly outlined marketing plan are 313% more

likely to label a marketing effort a success (Yulianti, 2020). 

What Does Having a Marketing Strategy Mean? 

A marketing strategy details a business's advertising, communication, and public

relations activities and the metrics used to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts. They will

frequently adhere to the "four P's." Market analysis to inform pricing decisions or new market

entry, customized communication that target particular demographics and geographical regions,

platform choice for product and service advertising, radio, Website, trade publications, and the

combination of those channels for each campaign (Yulianti, 2020), as well as performance

measures that track the outcomes of marketing initiatives and their reporting timeframes all

operations and elements of a marketing strategy.

Since 2003, McDonald's has used two distinct strategies to adapt to quickly changing

consumer preferences and demographic and expenditure trends. In the U. S., they increase their

firm by introducing new products and renewing existing restaurants rather than by opening new
 4

ones. However, in Asia, they expand their market through market development. They promote

the host nation's values rather than establishing its own; this is the primary business approach

that has helped it be one of the most popular global fast-food franchises (Yulianti, 2020).. Their

business in Asia and Pakistan is booming. They are expanding their presence in Pakistan owing

to increased demand.

Products Levels

There are usually three products levels as established by Kotler. Kotler's definition for a

product goes even beyond providing a simple service or product and includes everything offered

to the market to capture attention, acquire customers, and satisfy the needs and wants. These

products levels include:

Core Benefit

The core benefit refers to the fundamental needs the clients satisfy for purchasing the

product. It's vital to think through the core benefit from a consumer perspective. The easiest

method to attain this is to ask oneself, "Why is the client buying the product principally?" The

core benefit of a cellular telephone, for instance, is that it allows one to make calls while one is

away from the house or office core (Albers et al., 2018). The core befits of Mcdonald's products

include the brand share selling and dining experience.

Augmented Product

It is the item's non-physical aspect. It commonly includes an extra value on which

customers can or cannot be prepared to pay a premium. If customers purchase a vehicle, the

warranties, the maker's customer support assistance, and any during service are all part of the

upgraded product (Kim et al.,2019). The augmented product is a good tool for customizing the
 5

core or actual products that meet the needs of a specific customer. Specific benefits could be

developed from the attributes of augmented items. While the actual product will have the most

ability for distinctiveness, the augmented product delivers more alternatives to differentiate (Kim

et al.,2019). It is frequently constructed around the fundamental value and the actual product. It

certainly gives more benefits and services to customers. Mcdonald's augmented products include

fast customer service and value-added products.

Actual Product

The actual product is the second step of the product hierarchy, and it is fairly simple to

comprehend. The actual product is comprised of the product's complete design and features. If

one were to describe a product, one would be discussing its product characteristics, and are the

product itself. Analyse food products once more When discussing the cereal, the size, shape,

color, aroma, crunchiness, brand, packaging, name, ingredients, size, color, aroma, crunchiness,

smoothness, ingredients, and images would all be highlighted. The Actual product for

Mcdonald's is the foods, desserts, drinks, franchise's share of value, and the Brand name:

McDonald's.

Positioning Statement

A company's products and services positioning statement is a concise description of the

target market and a good picture of how the company wants the potential market to perceive its

brands. It's clear, memorable, and suited to the intended audience. It creates a distinct and easy-

to-understand image of the company brand that sets it apart from the competition. It's

trustworthy, and the company can keep its word. The Mcdonald's is just "Quicker Service of

Hamburgers."
 6

5.2: Pricing

McDonald's generally sets the price based on the financial level of prospective customers

and how much those who are ready and able to pay for the goods. McDonald's pricing strategy

gives customers a good deal. McDonald's manages to sell a complete meal that includes a burger,

drinks, and fries for a lower price (Zhou & Gupta, 2019) than its biggest competitors, Burger

King, Wendy's, and Carls Jr. McDonald's employs a correlated positive strategy to sell their

products at a lower cost. For instance, McDonald's offers an affordable McValue dinner and a

happy meal that includes everything, allowing users to save money while increasing the number

of people who dine in. McDonald's uses a promotional strategy to current and potential

customers.

Food McDonald's Carl's Jr. Burger King

Big Mac 3.19 pounds 3.25pounds 3.89 pounds
Sausage and egg 2.19 pounds 2.195pounds 2.29pounds
Happy Meal 2.59 pounds 2.50pounds 3ponds
Regular Black Coffee 99p 100p 97p
Big Mac Medium 4.59 pounds 4.57 pounds 5.29 pounds
meal

5.3: Sales Forecasts

The sales forecast will show the company's future sales predictions for a specified period.

The number of customer traffic per day in all of its branches is about 60 million. According to

research, from a total of 36 000 customers and about $ 20B, a customer can make about 44 trips

annually and spend approximately $8 each trip (Zhou & Gupta, 2018). Moreover, the company

has about revenue of $20B which is equivalent to $1.7b monthly. The company's sales cycle

length is in B2B, about 7months. The above measures indicate that Mcdonald's firm has

continuously grown, and the company is projected to have positive growth in the future.
 7

5.4: Revenue and Sales Strategy

McDonald's income model is based on franchisees. The Franchising Model is established

on fast-food restaurant networks using money from shareholders for the main objective of rapid

and effective expansion (Jian et al., 2021). In this product line, the company finds and leases land

from landlords ready to build McDonald's Corporation units, which are subsequently leased back

to the organization on a 20-year modified lease deal with the property owner. The franchisee

then would sublease the restaurant from McDonald's Corporation that would also charge a 40%

surcharge for the real estate services. McDonald's Corporation keeps control of the franchise and

gets a stable and accurate minimal cash flow to meet its overhead expenses by making them

tenants. In addition, it sells foods to different customers throughout the world.

Sales Strategy

Direct selling-McDonald's sets a goal of achieving a 9 percent direct response from the

target audience. The goal enables to inform people who have never heard of the company and

show them how the products are superior to those of competitors. Direct Mail will be utilized to

encourage trial, establish brand loyalty, improve sales and market share, and ultimately lead to

recurrent purchases by consumers (Jian et al., 2021). The overall cost and customer reaction

would determine the timing of these mailings. They would, however, still be on a monthly and

be valid during particular hours of each day. It reaches the intended customers through e-

marketing, online ads, and mail drops. Costs would be as follows

 8

The advantage of direct marketing includes: enabling the company to build a good relationship

with new customers, increasing sales, and helping in knowing the marketing approaches that

reach the target market. Integrating direct marketing with other marketing strategies involves

using different channels and sharing the same message in direct marketing platforms (Jian et al.,

2021). Additionally, the company may issue QR codes to connect that marketing content with

the direct mails campaigns since they can link to various websites, blog posts, etc. to retain the

positioning and control, the company should set the price brackets for retailers and ensure that

the economic order quantity is upheld to avoid losses resulting from unavailability of goods.

Retailers: While selling through a retail outlet benefits from an extra sales force,

businesses don't have direct control over the client relationship. They depend on the retailer to

provide the necessary extent of service to customers to continue purchasing the products. The

benefits include; enhanced customer rapport, high sales potential, and reduced shipping costs for

consumers (Jian et al.,2021). Companies should sell the products at relatively lower prices to

incorporate the shipping cost, thus setting lower prices for the customers. It can be integrated

with the general marketing strategy by offering promotional products to customers.

5.5: Communication Strategy

 9

A communication strategy is an approach that facilitates a company to turn its good or

service into such a brand by achieving communication goals to achieve business goals (Ceil,

2019). A business can employ digital and traditional methods to reach its target audiences and

increase its revenues (Amin & Priansah, 2019). The most important step for McDonald's

marketing team is to understand their target customer. People interpret things in a different ways.

Whatever they have to deal with has a lower value for the Corporation, and the effectiveness of

McDonald's marketing efforts has increased (Ceil, 2019). In the case of McDonald's, the

audience may be separated into archaic, present, and ingestion behaviors.

Traditional Promotional Methods:

Advertising: Effective communication should take the form of television commercials,

outdoor posters, and the internet (Ceil, 2019). Radio advertisements should target workers who

are on their way to work and need breakfast, so they should be broadcast during peak morning

hours to encourage customers to return to McDonald's for a quick breakfast.

Direct Marketing: It's available in the form of coupons and online customer service. The

firm, a global brand, does not have to be recognized as a product line but rather as a brand that

prioritizes its clients (Amin & Priansah, 2019). The component's primary objective is to

distribute 1,000 coupons at the very least anytime a new product is released. Another example is

a hundred percent response rate resulting from online feedback, recommendations, and

complaints.

Public Relations: An integrated marketing strategy is implemented via public

appearances, news/press releases, and event assistance, with the merchandise being presented in

a favorable light (Amin & Priansah, 2019). In practice, McDonald's corporate responsibility
 10

=values are as follows: McDonald's values: we tend to put expertise in the right place; the

firm tend to advocate for our employees; believes in the McDonald's system; conducts business

responsibly; tend to expand the business successfully, and we strive to improve regularly.

Digital and Social Media Marketing

In addition to the McDonald's mobile app, the company has a digital strategy that

comprises three platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and the McDonald's website. McDonald's

interacts with the general public in a casual manner through all of these channels, allowing the

business to connect directly with customers. McDonald's uses social media to project a cheerful,

approachable persona to its customers and employees. This is consistent with their approach of

harnessing social media to engage with current customers and cultivating brand champions in a

warm and welcoming manner, according to the company. People are aware that they will receive

funny, relatable tweets on Twitter as soon as they read their turn of phrase in their bio, which

includes the hashtag and Hash Browns (Dwivedi et al., 2021). The key objective to be achieved

by social media marketing includes: increasing brand awareness, growing the business's revenue,

ensuring effective social customer care services, and generating new leads.

The strategy used should always be evaluated through key performance indicators to

ensure it is on the course (Dwivedi et al., 2021). These include; increased revenue due to

adopting the strategy, increased profit margin, growing market share, good client retention,

increased customer satisfaction, and high-quality products.

Costs Year 1 Costs Year 2 Costs Year 3

Advertising 40, 000 55, 000 68,000
Public Relations
Direct marketing 45,000 60,000 75,000
 11

Exhibitions 75,000 100,000 150,000

Internet and Social 120, 000 160,000 190,000

Media Marketing

Total Marketing 280, 000 375,000 483,000

Costs

Conclusion

Following the development of the marketing strategy, particular responsibilities are assigned to

distinct individuals to implement out the strategy. Marketing feedback is gathered by systems

that monitor progress toward short-term objectives. McDonald's must accomplish this within the

confines of a tightly controlled and constrained marketing budget.

 12

References

Albers, A., Heimicke, J., Walter, B., Basedow, G. N., Reiß, N., Heitger, N., ... & Bursac, N.

(2018). Product Profiles: Modelling customer benefits as a foundation to bring inventions

to innovations. Procedia CIRP, 70, 253-258.

Amin, M., & Priansah, P. (2019). Marketing Communication Strategy To Improve Tourism

Potential. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal (BIRCI-

Journal), 2(4), 160-166.

Ceil, C. (2019). Advertising Objectives and Communication Strategies of McDonald and

Dove. Available at SSRN 3521066.

Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., ... & Wang,

Y. (2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives

and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59,

102168.

Jian, O. Z., Utama, A. G. S., Musa, W. N. A. B. W., Hasly, W. B., Al-Rifae, R. F. B., Hussa, N.

S. A. B. M., & Andriawan, N. (2021). Effective Marketing Strategies of McDonald’s in

Malaysia and Indonesia. International Journal of Applied Business and International

Management (IJABIM), 6(2), 33-46.

Kim, S. J., Kim, K. H., & Choi, J. (2019). The role of design innovation in understanding

purchase behavior of augmented products. Journal of Business Research, 99, 354-362.

 13

Yulianti, N. M. D. R. (2020). Pengaruh Brand Image, Green Marketing Strategy, Dan Emotional

Desire Terhadap Keputusan Pembelian Produk Mcdonald’s. Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen

dan Bisnis, 5(1), 70-80.

Zhou, L., & Gupta, S. M. (2019). Marketing research and life cycle pricing strategies for new

and remanufactured products. Journal of Remanufacturing, 9(1), 29-50.