Developing and Managing Products

No one wants to to have the same thing constantly over and over again. So a company cannot last that long without innovation. Over the years from when they were first established back in 1940 McDonald's has come a long way. McDonald’s  menu is more than just (delicious) burgers and (outstanding) fries. From Snack Wraps to McCafé to Premium Salads, they proudly offer variety, quality and fun-filled value in all of our restaurants. This is definitely a step up from when they used to just sell burgers and fries. Their innovation goes beyond just products. They just recently started changing the look of most McDonald's within the United States and I have to say the new look is absolutely appealing. 

But with products, they just recently started using new more sophisticated soda machines. 
These machines allows the company to put many different drinks in one machine and they all come out of one place. It saves a lot of money and satisfies the customers greatly.

Also McDonald's just recently released a new burger. It is called the Cheddar bacon onion burger. Now while I haven't tried it yet I heard that it has been selling well and McDonald's profits have increased. Definitely sounds like something that I have to try very soon. 

Since I've started this blog I must have said this more than a million times but McDonald's is number in it's industry and there are many reasons to why that is. But I know one reason for sure is that it continues to change every year. It bombards customers with new products all the time that we can't help but try. McDonald's is truly and innovative company.

Intergrated Marketing Communications

Promotion is a an attempt of marketers trying to inform persuade and remind potential buyers of their product to influence an opinion or elicit a response. No company can really survive in the market without promotion. That is why they all work on promotional strategies. A promotional strategy is finding optimal uses for the elements of promotion which are: advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion. Also these are known as the promotional mix.  

Advertising is impersonal, one-way mass communication about a product or organization that is paid for by a marketer. McDonald's advertising is one of the best in it's industry. I don't really have to prove this because it speaks for itself. There are not much places in the America you can go without seeing A McDonald's. They have many billboards all over the country and their commercials are expected for daily television. 

Public Relations is the marketing function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies areas within the organization the public may be interested in, and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. Recently this year, McDonald's paid to get it's name on the trending list for twitter. Which lead to people watching their commercials about farmers who supply them. That made McDonald's image increasingly better. 
 
Sales promotion is marketing communication activities other than advertising, personal selling and public relations that motivates consumers to go buy a product. McDonald's uses this several ways. One way is through coupons which are certificates that allows you to buy a product for a cheaper price. Another way is through sweepstakes and and contests. One more is through premiums. A premium is getting another item offered after proof of buying the original item that was being promoted or sometimes it's the same product you get free.

Promotional strategy is close to the process of communication. Communication is the process by which meanings are exchanged or shared through a common set of symbols. A company cannot survive as well without selling it's message through communication to potential buyers. Which now takes us to Integrated Marketing Communications. This is the careful coordination of all promotional messages for a product or service to assure the consistency of messages at every contact point where a company meets the customer. This is a concept many companies have adopted to try to keep it's message the same.

Product Concept

                                             


                                            Product

Everything favorable and unfavorable, that a person receives in an exchange.

  McDonald's sells many different products to it's customers and ingredients that come in that product whether they want it or not.


                                  Types of Consumer Products

There are four different types of consumer products convenience products, shopping products, specialty products, and unsought products.

convenience products- its inexpensive and has little shopping efforts.

shopping products- more expensive and in few stores.

specialty products- a buyer spends a lot of time looking for a certain item and wont except any thing other product to replace it.

unsought products- a product that no ones much about or a product buyers don't look for as much.

The consumer product McDonald's sells is a convenience product because the products they sell are not expensive and are very easy to get because there is a McDonald's on almost every corner.

                                        Product Mix

All the products that an organization sells.

When McDonald's first started it sold only about 6 items. Its main focus was on burgers. As they grew and expanded nationally and globally in the 1960s they had to expand their menu. Now they have about  90 different items on their menu.