McDonald's marketing strategy is the foundation of its organizational strategy and its success. Its marketing mix and strategy are key elements for the organization achieving its mission and goals, which involve improving on its strengths and addressing any weaknesses. Strengths must be used by the company in order to maintain their position in the fast-food market and build on competitive advantage; their weaknesses must be improved in order to connect to the changing market. McDonald's current strategy is to achieve a strong brand image and reputation, strong global presence, product development and innovation, strong real estate portfolio, and achieve a majority of the market share in the world's fast-food hamburger industry. Its strategies also address its declining share in the market, improving quality and taste of products, its reducing ability to increase revenue, and addressing changing values on healthier eating.
McDonald's has a combined mission and vision is which is to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile. To achieve our vision, we are focused on three worldwide strategies: be the best employer for our people in each community around the world, deliver operational excellence to our customers in each of our restaurants, and enduring profitable growth by expanding the brand and leveraging the strengths of the McDonald's system through innovation and technology (McDonald's Values, n.d.). Equally important, is maintaining their reputation for consistency of product offering, tasty food, reasonable prices, quickly served meals, and continue to be the preferred position with many children and families. A new direction of strategy comes in the form of adapting to the changing market with emphasis on chicken sandwiches and salads. McDonald's is focused on offering what the customers want, updating and improving the appearance of its restaurants, as well as, working hard to maintain a positive corporate image from Ronald McDonald House, Charity Christmas Parade, and other social responsibility projects (McDonald's Values, n.d.).
One of the greatest attributes of McDonald's is its "everyday affordability" message that drives customers to McDonald's restaurants. These days, American children know McDonald's by the time they are two years old. Propelled by excellent marketing campaigns centered around such initiatives as the Olympics, the Kung Fu Panda film and fresh "I'm Lovin' it" advertisements, McDonald's continues to keep their marketing and branding edge ahead of the pack (McDonald, 2008). They will continue to seek to be innovative and adapt to changing market trends to be successful. Much of McDonald's previous sales growth was fueled by the increase in the number of restaurants it opened, both domestically and globally, so it is no secret that their strategy will be to continue to grow and establish good locations. The company rebuilt and refurbished a number of its restaurants and added some healthier and more expensive items to its menu. It enhanced convenience by staying open longer, in some cases 24 hours a day. The corporation also began accepting debit and credit cards in many countries, and offered customers wireless internet access in more than 6,500 restaurants worldwide (Peter & Donnelly, 2009). It will also continue to offer new products and new promotional deals to attract new customers to its restaurants. This is demonstrated by the new McCafe coffee campaign.
McDonald's strategy is to increase its presence worldwide, and continue to enhance its revenue while expanding into different market segments. Changing cultural values and social forces are compelling McDonald's to be innovative and explore different markets. McDonald's how has a healthier menu, appealing to a whole new demographic. Most recently, McDonald's launched a McCafe campaign offering comparable flavors of specialty coffees to Starbuck's, but at a much lower price. McDonald's is a globally recognized brand and image all over the world and maintains the same strategic goals, positioning and marketing of its products in markets throughout the world. However, their marketing mix can vary in order to help the company capture a vital market share and product loyalty in all countries. For this reason, McDonald's is view by many one of the few adored and recognized brands worldwide. Thus, it is extremely important that they are marketing products that the customer wants. Its current strategy will be to market healthier products, and to market to new segments.
The marketing mix is the combination of price, product, promotion and place that successfully markets a product. The product must be what the customer wants and must reflect changing customers tastes. Therefore McDonald's places considerable emphasis on developing a menu which its customers want. Recent examples include healthy additions to the menu, and the organization's McCafe campaign. Most products will go through a life cycle which sees them eventually decline, so McDonald's seeks to be innovative and move with the market. Next, price must match the customers' idea of what the product is worth. S sale occurs only if the customer feels they are getting value for money. The customer's perception of value is an important determinant of the price charged. Since McDonald's values quality, their pricing strategy is to price its products at a low price but not to be indicative of compromised quality. Promotion includes advertising, like television commercials; as well as, promotions such as competitions, games, and collectibles. A skilful promotional campaign combines several elements to produce an effective package. The purpose of most marketing communications is to move the target audience to some type of action. Most of McDonald's promotions offer low prices, new games, prizes, and other promotions that are limited time offers. These promotions get the customer's attention and inspire the customer to act. Place refers to the actual place that the product is sold and to the way in which it reaches that place - distribution and the chain of supply. The company will continue to seek growth and establish new locations with a prime customer base (Marketing at McDonald's, 2008).