Marketing Strategy-Product, Place, Price and Promotion Case Study

Marketing Strategy-Product, Place, Price and Promotion - Case Study Example Where appropriate, research material will be cited to clarify the discussion. With this in mind, let's begin our discussion of business marketing. In order to make this research relevant to a wide range of consumers, and to inject a bit of fun into the discussion, we will take a look at McDonald's, the fast food chain that people have grown up with for decades. In fact, the reason that people have grown up with McDonald's for decades is because of skillful marketing. Through precise blending of product, place, price and promotion, we have viewed McDonald's as a restaurant that has always been there, and can be found anywhere with consistent quality, price and selection. With these statements in mind, the first area we will consider within the scope of McDonald's is product. When Ray Kroc developed the ideas in the 1950s that eventually led to the birth of the McDonald's restaurant chain, one of the cornerstones of his fast food process was the ability to rapidly serve food to large numbers of people efficiently (Manila Bulletin, 2005). This was accomplished in large part by offering a very limited menu and turning out those products faster and better than anyone had up to that time. Within a narrow product line, the eventual McDonald's restaurants attracted a huge following of loyal customers, who knew that there would always be a certain product available at the restaurant and that it would be just as delicious on the tenth visit as it was on the first visit. Although over the years, McDonald's has introduced additional products, they still keep the products within the line somewhat closely related to each other. This allows for the formation of a uniform marketing strategy that stresses quality food, served in a fast, clean and courteous manner. The tactic incorporates all of the positive things that people want in dining, without a hefty price tag. The limitation of McDonald's product line is a stroke of genius. Place, in Relation to Marketing Marketing experts know that the best product in the world will never make an impact in the business world if no one can locate and obtain it (Delaney, 1994). Keeping this simple, yet vital brick in the house of marketing, McDonald's gives careful consideration to the placement of its restaurants. Within their marketing research, they take into consideration the population of a given area, major roadways in the vicinity of the proposed restaurant site, traffic that passes by the restaurant site, and the demographics of the area, as they know a great deal about their customers (more about this in the "People" section of this paper). The construction of a McDonald's restaurant costs millions of dollars, and in order for the operation to be profitable, placement must be in an area that maximizes the customer exposure, therefore increasing the chance of generating business. As mentioned previously, however, please keep in mind that McDonald's leaves nothing to chance. They do their marke ting homework, and it shows. The fact that McDonald's always seems to be "right around the corner" is due to a great deal of extensive marketing research, planning and execution. If you really give this idea a great deal of thought, take into conside