1.Do some brief research on McDonald’s. Discuss some changes it has done in the past few years to reposition its brand. Why do you think McDonald’s need to reposition its brand? ( 200 word )
2.Do you think companies that aim to build a sustainable brand are more competitive in today’s marketplace? Why or why not?
3.Compare and contrast price and non-price competition. Describe the conditions under which each form works best. (200 words)
4.What is the major task of promotion? Do companies ever use promotion to accomplish this task and fail? If so, give several examples.
5.In what ways are traditional specialty stores and off-price retailers similar? How do they differ?
6.Consumers freely post both positive and negative comments about their product or service experience via online review websites (e.g. Urbanspoon and TripAdvisor).
7.What benefits do marketing managers get from planning? Is planning necessary for long-term survival?
1.Mc Donald’s has brought in a lot of changes in the last years so that it can improve the public image of the company. The company has removed some items from the menu and brought in some new items on order to reposition the brand. The changes made have helped in driving the sales of the brand. The chain has decided to toast the buns longer and it has increased the size of quarter-pounder patties from 4 ounces to that of 4.25 ounces (Last, 2017). The patties of 4 ounce used to shrink to 2.8 ounce after the process of cooking. The company expanded the customizable-burger menu which was called Create Your Taste to many restaurants on nationwide basis. The menu allowed people in customizing the burgers by making use of premium toppings like that of guacamole, onions, bacon and grilled mushrooms.
Mc Donald’s should reposition the brand so that it can evolve to become a trusted company and the consumers can get a good restaurant experience. Mc Donald’s should reposition the brand so that it can help in creating better value for that of the customers (Hanaysha & Hilman, 2015). The repositioning of the brand will help in providing a better customer experience. It can make use of higher impact marketing and different kinds of sustainable operations that can help it to stay competitive in the market.
2.According to me, the companies that can build a sustainable brand can become more competitive within today’s market place. People in the present age expect the business to have a department pertaining to sustainability that can help them in solving environmental problems. It is considered to be inefficient in today’s world if the sustainability message and that of the brand is separate (Wang, Gurnani & Erkoc, 2016). The customers are always on the lookout for information regarding how the brand can make a difference. Aligning the brand along with that of the sustainability of the organization can help in strengthening of the brand. It can give the customers a reason why the particular brand should be chosen. The fusing of the brand with that of the sustainability mission can help in the creation of a leading brand story (Hatfield, Plott & Tanaka, 2016). It is everyone’s duty in the present age to make a world that is better and sustainability can help the organization in staying ahead of the competitors. Most of the business in the present age focus on saving energy and being more efficient. They focus on products, services along with experiences that are sustainable. This kind of a model helps the business in building brand reputation that is credible.
3.Price competition is found to exist when the marketers carry out competition based on price. In case of price competition, marketers can develop different kinds of pricing strategies that can help in beating the competition. The price pertaining to a product is generally kept low so that it can help them in gaining the market share. Non-price competition on the other hand focus on factors apart from that of the price of the product. In the case of non-price competition, the customers do not get attracted by that of low prices. Importance is generally laid on different kinds of factors like feature, service and quality. Marketers can lay emphasis on these factors so that sale of products is increased.
The price competition can work in the best manner when the quality along with specifications provided by a product or service is inferior as compared to the competitors. The non-price competition on the other hand can work in the best manner when the quality of the products along with services is superior as compared to the products of the competitors in the market. The company in such a case do not have to worry about the higher pricing pertaining to the product as they know that the product or service will be sold irrespective of the price.
4.The organizations should be able to understand the significance of promotion that can help in the process of getting best results pertaining to a business. Promotion can act as the voice of a company and it can help in sending out the brand message of the company to that of the audience. Promotions can be done with the help of television, radio, magazines along with that of social media (Armstrong et al., 2015). Advertising is an important element in relation to the promotional mix and it can help in the spreading of information. Information that is provided in an advertisement can help in benefitting the buyers and it can help in suggesting solutions to that of their problems.
The business owner cannot see the company in an objective manner that sometimes causes promotions to fail. Coca Cola launched a Magi Cans Promotion in which prizes were hid in the lid of the cans that was filled with that of chlorinated water. The cans however malfunctioned and many people accidentally drank the undrinkable liquid that was contained inside. A Mac Donald’s Promotion that was launched in Japan in the year 2006 stated that it would give away 10,000 USB MP3 player (Fill & Turnbull, 2016). It was later found out that the players consisted of computer virus and those who plugged the thing into the computer had the virus within their system that created a lot of trouble.
5.The traditional specialty stores used to focus on that of particular product category. The discount stores that have specialization in a particular category of the product can be termed as traditional specialty stores. The variety that is offered is narrow and they offer an assortment of merchandise in that of the category. Buying power can be made sue of by the category specialists that can help in the negotiation of the lower prices (Nojavan, Mohammadi-Ivatloo & Zare, 2015). The similarity between traditional specialty stores and that of off-price retailer is pertaining to the fact that the consumers can get the fashionable merchandise within department stores at same kind of discounted prices that is offered by off-price retailer.
The difference between traditional specialty stores and off-price retailer arises because of the fact that the off-price retailer provides discounts whereas the traditional specialty stores can offer low prices of the products because they specialize in a particular kind of product. The traditional specialty stores sell only one particular category whereas the retailers sell different categories of products (Ratten, 2016). The specialty stores keep only such kind of products in the shop that can provide them with profits.
6.The digital world in today’s world makes the online presence of an organization a priority. The online customer reviews helps in highlighting the positive and negative aspects in relation to a business. The reviews can be of products, services or that relating to customer support engagement. The online customer reviews can be found in different places like that of Google, Yahoo, Face Book and Yelp (Salehan & Kim, 2016). These sites can help in providing direct reviews along with that of star ratings. The online reviews can also be found in that of third party blog post along with that of articles. The comments on different social media post like Twitter and Instagram can help the customers to know about the positive or the negative sides of a product or service. The positive and negative reviews are used by the users of the internet for making decisions. Recent statistics has highlighted that almost 90 % of the customers read the online reviews (Sparks, So & Bradley, 2016).
It has been ascertained by around 72 % of the consumers that the positive reviews can help them in trusting that of a local business. Customers are ready to spend around 31 % more on the business that possess excellent reviews. Negative review that has been posted online will compel around 86 % of the consumers against the buying of a product.
7.Marketing planning helps the managers in the formulation of marketing strategies. It is a disciplined exercise that is related to the entire organisation. Marketing planning is indicative of a forward looking exercise that can help in the determination of the future strategies pertaining to an organization. The particular strategies in relation to product development, channel design along with profitability can be measured by the managers by taking recourse to marketing planning (Ferreira, Lee & Simchi-Levi, 2015). It can help in avoiding the future uncertainty. It can pave the path for the achieving of objectives along with that of communication among the different departments in an organization. The resources can be balanced in a better manner pertaining to that of the marketing opportunity with the help of the process of marketing planning.
Marketing planning is of crucial importance for the long-term survival of a company. The marketing planning can help in promoting comprehensive view pertaining to the business firm that can be of great merit for them in the long run. It can help in communicating and co-ordinating between that of the marketing department along with that of the other departments. Planning is primarily a process in relation to decision making (Wrenn & Mansfield, 2014). Marketing planning comprises of marketing-based actions that can be of great relevance for the future. It can help in minimizing the risk along with uncertainty. It can help in the production of interrelated decisions that can be of great significance for the company in the long run.
References:
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.
Ferreira, K. J., Lee, B. H. A., & Simchi-Levi, D. (2015). Analytics for an online retailer: Demand forecasting and price optimization. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 18(1), 69-88.
Fill, C., & Turnbull, S. L. (2016). Marketing communications: brands, experiences and participation. Pearson.
Hanaysha, J., & Hilman, H. (2015). Advertising and country of origin as key success factors for creating sustainable brand equity. Journal of Asian Business Strategy, 5(7), 141.
Hatfield, J. W., Plott, C. R., & Tanaka, T. (2016). Price controls, non-price quality competition, and the nonexistence of competitive equilibrium. Games and Economic Behavior, 99, 134-163.
Last, A. (2017). Business on a Mission: How to Build a Sustainable Brand. Routledge.
Nojavan, S., Mohammadi-Ivatloo, B., & Zare, K. (2015). Robust optimization based price-taker retailer bidding strategy under pool market price uncertainty. International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, 73, 955-963.
Ratten, V. (2016). The dynamics of sport marketing: Suggestions for marketing intelligence and planning. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 34(2), 162-168.
Salehan, M., & Kim, D. J. (2016). Predicting the performance of online consumer reviews: A sentiment mining approach to big data analytics. Decision Support Systems, 81, 30-40.
Sparks, B. A., So, K. K. F., & Bradley, G. L. (2016). Responding to negative online reviews: The effects of hotel responses on customer inferences of trust and concern. Tourism Management, 53, 74-85.
Wang, H., Gurnani, H., & Erkoc, M. (2016). Entry Deterrence of Capacitated Competition Using Price and Non?Price Strategies. Production and Operations Management, 25(4), 719-735.
Wrenn, B., & Mansfield, P. M. (2014). Marketing planning guide. Routledge.
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