Global business marketing (Mcdonalds) - Essay Example

Marketing Marketing McDonald’s is one of the world’s largest fast food brands that are engaged in marketing their products in several countries. “Since it was founded in the USA in 1955, McDonald's has become one of the most famous companies in the world, running thousands of fast-food restaurants in dozens of countries and touching the lives of millions of people. This is the story behind McDonald's success” (Gilbert, Sara, 2011).  The company, with its exquisite variety of burgers, french-fries, ice creams and other fast food items, has been able to grasp the attention of youngsters and adults alike, forcing them to utilize their time and money to have a great and fun time at the company’s numerous outlets.

This giant of a company has shaken hands with corporations in 119 countries all across the globe and does good profitable business in all of them. These countries include countries in the Middle East like Pakistan, China and towards the West in countries like Sweden and USA. The marketing mix concept is a term used to refer to the 4 marketing tools called the 4P’s, namely; Product, price, promotion and place. All four of these elements have to be played with in order the form the perfect mix for the target audience.

For McDonald’s, the target customers include kids, adults, students and teenagers. McDonald’s continues to vary it’s menu of products to suit the changing demands of its customers, introducing new products over old ones to keep trending, but also taking care to notice old but popular products and not removing for the sake of the consumers that prefer that product. A low price for its products with the intention to sell more might just be dangerous and degrading for McDonald’s sales, since customers will interpret the low price as an indication of the low quality that the product might have.

Due to the fact that McDonald’s caters to a spread out audience, it has to pay heed to the value that the audience places on all of its products and thus over a period of time, set prices according to these tastes. The promotions aspect of the marketing mix caters to the different methods of communicating the products that a company is producing. In order to adopt the best promotional strategies, the company in question must have valid and complete information about the advertising preferences of the variety of customers they are catering to.

The better information McDonald’s has about its customers, the more effective communication strategies it can apply to promote its products. Evidently, McDonald’s uses almost every mode of advertising inclusive of radio, television, the internet and more. For the product to reach the end consumer, a company must not only hold a precise location in the form of a franchise, but it must also consider the several management processes involved in distributing the product to the consumer. McDonald’s has numerous branches in every city of every country it is established in, this helps to provide to a larger sample population of the type of customers that enjoy it’s services.

McDonald’s also has a well structured delivery and takeaway system that makes it easier for its customers to utilize its services. Essential research regarding the consumers and proper marketing tactics are required by a company to sell its products effectively and gain consumer loyalty so that sales remain steady and increase overtime. McDonald’s keeps in check if it’s target audience is reducing or increasing. An important element of marketing strategies is figuring out in depth what the competition is offering.

For McDonald’s competition might be coming in from KFC or Fat Burger, if this were the case, McDonald’s will have to find out what the competition might be offering that it is not in terms of product innovation. Certain factors are involved in keeping the product new and “hip”; Economic developments such as rising living standards, legal changes that introduce new ways of packaging, social changes that alter eating out patterns and also technological advances that encourage the use of better food producing techniques.

To beat the competition and receive more consumer loyalty and possibly more consumers, McDonald’s gives adequate significance to these factors, constantly changing them to meet the needs of the customers. Since McDonald’s is operating in different countries, it sometimes has to change its marketing mix strategies to suit the customers that it gets in the different regions. For countries towards the east, like Pakistan and India, McDonald’s might have to fiddle with what they produce so that people in the countries mentioned will visit the food chain often.

Indians do not like to consume much meat while the population in Pakistan might not prefer ham in their burgers, considering this, products shown on McDonald’s menu will have to be altered. Other than that, in some countries where television and radio may not be utilized so much, the promotions element of the marketing mix will have to reform to be able to promote McDonald’s products. References McDonald, D. (1900). The McDonalds. Plymouth, Ind: s.n. Gilbert, Sara. (2011). Mcdonalds. Creative Paperbacks Inc. Peck, W. H. (1867). The McDonalds.

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