The Marketing Mix:
The 4 P’s or the so called ‘Marketing Mix’ are considered the key elements when talking about the marketing of a good or a service. The 4 P’s stand for: Price, Place, Promotion and Product; They are considered the tactics and strategies used by a company to approach it target market and to develop a strong and world widely known brand.
Product Marketing: McDonald’s product mix mainly markets the food and beverage sector. This brand is mainly known for it’s hamburger, chicken, fish, shakes and fries. On the other hand, its continuous efforts of trying to diversify its products has caused a big boom in the fast food market. This is mainly shown in the introduction of new concepts like all-day breakfast and bacon and sausage breakfast muffins (Mc Muffins). The reason why McDonald’s constantly tries to look for gaps in the market is to attract new customers and keep the current ones interested.
Place/Distribution in the Marketing Mix: The distribution method illustrates to what extent the product is available and visible to the customers; Hence the so called strategic location. Mc Donalds main distribution method is through its 37,000 outlets world wide over 100 different counties , but lately to be in pace with the digital age it has widely expanded its online presence. Mc Donalds provides the option to its customer to order directly on its web site or on a variety of market leading home delivery apps like: Smood, Glovo and Deliveroo.
Promotional Marketing :
This method of marketing consists of the ways the business tries to persuade the customer to purchase its product by using promotional methods such as : advertising, sales promotion and public relations. McDonald’s uses coupons and freebies that are distributed or directly inside the restaurant or are available as a weekly/daily offer on the app. Its main sources of advertising are : tv, radio, but mainly inside the shop. Bill boards and flyers are distributed constantly within every outlet.
McDonald’s attracts its customers also through the use ‘the good will tactic’. Ronald McDonald’s house of Charity and McDonald’s Global Best of Green are a method to support the community and boost the company’s brand image at the same time.
Price in the Marketing Mix:
Pricing strategies are greatly used within McDonald’s with the aim to maximize profit. The two main methods used are: Bundle Pricing Strategy and Psychological Pricing.
Bundle pricing consists in making a discounted, therefore cheaper price, on the purchase of a meal offer (burger, fries and drink) compared to price of each product individually. This is a way to convince the customers to purchase in greater quantity as they think that there is more value for money.
Psychological Pricing consists in using prices that seem more affordable. An example of this is rounding it off to the nearest franc, 0.99CHF. The human mind tends to look at the first digit and ignore the 99 cents, this way McDonald’s prices seem even lower.
The 4P’s model, however, takes little into account customers’ needs in order to succeed. Therefore, the 4A’s model can be used. The 4A’s stands for: Acceptability, Affordability, Accessibility, Awareness—created based on values customers are most interested in.
McDonald’s targets lower class customers of all ages. (Dudovskiy, 2016) With these knowledge, we can pinpoint whether McDonald’s decisions would appeal to its target market.
Acceptability refers to whether products exceeds customers’ expectations. McDonald’s have not disappointed when they promise value and quality (Carter, 2014). Not only maintaining customer loyalty with cult favourites like the Big Mac and McFlurry; they never stop adapting to countries they are stationed in (e.g McRaclette, Teriyaki McBurgers) and bringing back popular products seasonally to keep customers on edge (e.g McRibs), (Debczak, 2019) triggering more buying interest.
Regarding affordability, McDonald’s caters towards its target market with value menus ranging from $1 to the most expensive meals at $6 (Fast Food Menu Prices, n.a.). Low prices allows for higher willingness to pay; lower-income customers would not feel burdened to visit McDonald’s for a filling meal. Contrarily, McDonald’s quality image can be jeopardised.
McDonald’s accessibility is evident considering its Golden Arches are recognised worldwide. With 24/7 service and a large density of stores, customers can conveniently use McDonald’s service any time. The convenience to order is improved with self-order kiosks and home delivery service which significantly decreased wait time in recent years.
Awareness of McDonald’s products have been increasingly positive. Investing in multiple campaigns that focuses on promoting quality integrity, improving social corporate responsibility and responding to mainstream entertainment (Econsultancy, 2019) has helped improve its brand awareness. Once customers are comfortable and well informed about who and what McDonald’s stand for, it is easier to choose McDonald’s as their top choice when thinking about fast food.
Citations:
Carter, L. (2016, May 22). Brand Promises: Are You Consistently Delivering Yours? Retrieved from https://www.personadesign.ie/brand-promises-are-you-consistently-delivering-yours/.
Debczak, M. (2019, October 7). The Reason McDonald’s Doesn’t Sell McRib Sandwiches Year-Round. Retrieved from http://mentalfloss.com/article/602484/why-mcdonalds-doesnt-sell-mcribs-year-round.
Dudovskiy, J. (2016, February 9). McDonalds Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning – Research-Methodology. Retrieved from https://research-methodology.net/mcdonalds-segmentation-targeting-and-positioning/.
Econsultancy. (2019, January 23). 10 brilliant digital marketing campaigns from McDonald’s. Retrieved from https://econsultancy.com/10-brilliant-digital-marketing-campaigns-from-mcdonald-s/.
Marketing Mix of McDonalds | 4Ps of Marketing Mix of McDonalds. (2018, August 19). Retrieved from http://heartofcodes.com/marketing-mix-of-mcdonalds/.
Meyer, P. (2014, September 4). McDonald’s Marketing Mix (4Ps) Analysis. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/mcdonalds-marketing-mix-4ps-analysis.
Twin, A. (2019, September 5). The 4 Ps. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/four-ps.asp.
Fast Food Menu Prices. (n.a.) McDonalds Menu Prices. Retrieved from https://www.fastfoodmenuprices.com/mcdonalds-prices/
How Team 14.2 works:
Our roles:
Why?
All of our team members have different qualities. We have tried to give each member a role they first of all would be happy doing and that they are interested in. For example Kurt and Thanh are both very passionate in research and development side of Mc Donald’s. On the other hand, Kostantinos and Maya fit perfectly the role to write, produce, and publish good content while giving good insights on other peoples’ works. Martina has shown that she is fervent in the design and layout of the blog, making her the right person for the job. Finally, Denis has a very confident character therefore he is responsible for the speeches that are written for our presentations.
The Flow of events:
McDonald's 
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