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McDonald’s Marketing Plan

Executive Summary

                Marketing plan provides an insight into the marketing activities of the firm to boost its performance in the industry. This paper presents McDonald’s marketing plan. The first section of the plan provides an introduction into McDonalds including its area of operation and number of outlets. The current situation analysis of the firm is presented in the second part of the plan. The target market and positioning strategy is outlined in the fourth section of the plan. The objectives, branding and marketing mix strategy of the firm are also addressed in the plan to unveil the business’s market outlook. Also the plan provides an insight into the marketing channel and control contingencies to establish how the products of the firm move through its supply chain.

Introduction

McDonald’s is a food retail firm established in 1954. The firm has approximately 30,000 outlets and operations in more than 120 geographic destinations (Gerhardt, Hazen & Lewis, 2014). Having in mind its broad operations the business is regarded as one of the largest retailer across the globe. The vision and dedication of Ray Kroc, the company’s founder, contributed toward the great performance of the firm over the years within the retail sector. Notably, the firm’s vision is to provide a favorite place where for the consumer to eat and  obtain desirable service and quality. Since the establishment of McDonald’s it is evident that the firm strives to deliver a broad range of products to the consumers to meet the dietary demands of the consumers. Being a market leader in the fast foods industry, McDonald’s has also focused on market diversification  which has driven its brand to have a strong name and image in the market. Additionally, this has also promoted popularity among the users. McDonald’s spends approximately $1 billion on training and development of its workforce members. As a result, the firm’s employee turnover is desirable. Also, the brand has provided quality with a priority which it has implemented in its franchises across the globe to obtain a desirable customer base and profit margin over its businesses.

Current Situation Analysis

                The SWOT analysis framework is one of the desirable tools provides an insight into the current situation of an organization. Through this framework, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of McDonalds is established.

Strengths

                The company has one of the most recognized brands across the globe. With the strong global brand, McDonalds’ performance in the market has been desirable over the years since the firm manages to offer consistency to its consumers and still managed to be the largest food store across the globe by offering the consumers with a supplemental sales as well as observing cultural diversity while operating different stores across the globe. McDonalds also enjoys a diversified form of income. Having in mind that the company has several outlets across the globe, its earnings and total sales have a tendency of offsetting each other. Arguably, in cases when the domestic sales of the firms are slumping, the chances that business’s performance in different destinations such as Europe and South America are desirable are higher. This suggests that the company does not rely on a single income source, unlike most of its competitors such as Burger King.

Weaknesses

                Negative publicity is one of the fundamental weaknesses experienced by McDonalds. According to it is evident that the firm has derived a negative perception that it deals in unhealthy foods as a result of high carbs, sugar and fat. Most of the firm’s consumers have also complained of putting on a few extra pounds implying that the business should focus more on introducing healthy food options. The high employee turnover is also a concern at McDonalds since most of the members of the workforce fail to take their jobs seriously resulting to a poor firm performance. Moreover, the high performance means that the firm has to invest more in training to cater for the large employee base.

Opportunities

                Upgraded menu is an opportunity for the firm to perform better against the rivals in the market. Steve Easterbrook, the company CEO, announced that the business has plans to expand its menu even further by introducing new products such as the artisan chicken in the US (Puzakova, Kwak & Bell, 2015). Moreover, the firm now deals in the McCafe menu which offer healthier foods such as fruit smoothies for the consumers.

Threats

                Competition is one of the fundamental challenges currently facing McDonalds. The firm faces a strict form of competition from its rivals such as Yum!Brand, Subway, Burger King and Wendy’s (Puzakova, Kwak & Bell, 2015). The increase in the number of more health conscious consumers is considered as a threat for the firm since the business deals majorly in the provision of high calorie foods.

Target Market Selection and Positioning Strategy

                The firm’s product is established for a target market of both genders. The products are devised to meet the needs of consumers aged 4 to 45 years. Moreover, the firm’s target market include people from the low and middle socio-economic bracket. Looking at geographic segmentation, it is evident that the target market is composed of people from the local and international markets. The behavioral segmentation of the market provides an indication that the target consumers are hardcore loyals. They have an easy going personality and are mostly careless in that they do not pay much attention about healthy eating.

                Through the implementation of the 4 Ps of marketing the company’s positioning strategy can be easily derived. The 4 Ps explore the product, place, price, and promotion element of the firm in the market. Looking at the product element of the marketing mix, it is evident that the business deals in food product, mainly fast foods. The place element provides that the firm has operation both locally and internationally. The prices of the fast food products offered by the business is mainly cost friendly since they are mainly focused to meet the needs of the members of the low and middle socioeconomic bracket. Also, the company promotes its products through the use social media as well as through word of mouth which has widened the firm’s customer base. Through the analysis of the marketing mix, it is evident that the firm has positioned itself at the forefront on the fast-food market thus setting the standards of the rest of the rivals in the sector to follow.

Marketing Budget and Sales Forecast

                Marketing budget is designed in a way that it supports the marketing strategies of  business (Chhabra, 2015). Clearly, the marketing efforts of the firm are designed in a ways that they constitute huge expenses of the firm. In the case of the MacDonald’s marketing plan, the proposed marketing budget will include the following elements.

Product marketing                                                          $100

Branding                                                                              $50

Content marketing                                                          $90

Personnel                                                                           $90

Total                                                                                      $330

The proposed budget will promote the product among the target consumers thus increasing the level of sales of the company. Through the projection of the past sale of the plan, it is possible to predict the level of the future sales of the firm. McDonald (1996) indicates that the projection of the past sales which includes adding and deducting certain percentages from the past sales can provide a clear indication of the anticipated sales level of the firm after its marketing efforts. The projection of sales is the commonly used method in determining the firm’s performance in the industry. The projection of sales is also a safe method for sales projection.

Looking at McDonald’s sales profit, it is evident that the firm’s revenue decreased by 9% to 5.14 billion in the current 2018 financial year. During the 2017 financial year, the company’s sales revenue had recorded a drop of $5.67 billion. The drop in the sales revenue is accrued to the refranchising efforts of the firm (Puzakova, Kwak & Bell, 2015). Looking at the sales efforts of the firm, it is evident that McDonald’s earnings for the first quarter of 2018 were desirable than that of the previous financial year since it is featured by an increase in the sales averages of the firm. The sales level grew by 2.9 percent which matched the expectations of the analysts. With these sales values, it is evident that the projected sales value of the firm is likely to increase within the next five years especially after the implementation of the noted marketing efforts.