McDonald's Marketing Strategy: 5 Secret Tactics That Brands Can Steal in 2024

McDonald's is one of the world's most well-known and easily recognizable brands. French fries - this is probably the first thing that comes to anyone’s mind when thinking about McDonald's. 

McDonald’s has grown to be one of the world's largest restaurant chains. Most individuals can agree that regardless of where the food is ordered, every McDonald's fast food chain looks, feels, and tastes the same.

In fact, it's difficult to find someone who hasn't heard of McDonald’s, and the majority of people have visited a franchise at least once. 

Through constant McDonald’s marketing strategy, branding strategy, and being willing to adapt to an ever-changing marketplace, they preserve their enviable reputation for excellent recognition and brand awareness.

5 Successful Tactics You Can Learn From McDonald's Marketing Strategy

1. Keep your branding consistent

Brands have a natural ability to inspire trust. Consistent visual cues are one of the finest McDonald’s marketing strategy to establish a powerful and memorable brand.

There are millions of different brands out there. With brand consistency, your customers can use them as a mental shortcut and a lighthouse among the distractions of modern life.

They always put their brand on their wrappers, for example. Consistency fosters trust, which encourages customers to buy from them with complete confidence. There's no such thing as whether or not you will receive what you expect.

McDonald's has franchisees all over the world, yet no matter where you go, you'll know you're at a McDonald's, and every part of your experience (language aside) will be consistent.

This category includes everything from your burger wrapper to the decoration to the coffee stirrer. Their brand values are never diluted or damaged thanks to such meticulous attention to detail on such a massive scale.

You may create style rules to make sure you're always “on brand,” such as:

• Make sure your business's colors, styles, and fonts are consistent. 
• Never alter the color, size, or design of your logo or strap line, and keep all content in the same format.
• The tone and mood of how you write your content should be the same across all platforms (e.g. formal, informal, inspirational etc).
• Dos and don'ts for your logo and any strap lines (e.g., don't change the color, don't split it in half, etc.).

This means you'll have the same appearance across all of your channels, regardless of who is working on them.

2. Really understand your customer

Another marketing lesson you can learn from McDonald’s is customer experience management. When it comes to consumers, McDonald's adjusts its menu on a regular basis based on regional preferences. 

Some parts of the world have different preferences than others, and while their brand is consistent throughout the board, their menu items vary. Why? Because they recognize the importance of personalization for their customers. 

For example, they provide the following menu options for a variety of locals:

• In Italy, they have salad bars.
• In Hong Kong restaurants, there are seafood selections.
• In Japan, a shrimp wrap is an option on the menu.
• They have a Nasi Lemak burger in India.

McDonald's knows that the more information they have about their clients, the simpler it will be to sell to them and deliver the best service possible. 

McDonald's has proved its understanding of its customer base via several advertisement, including the latest coffee commercial, which depicted individuals from various walks of life enjoying a cup of McDonald's coffee. As a result, they are dedicated to getting to know their clients and serving food that is appropriate for their location. Demand is driven by personalization.

3. Think outside of the box and be open to new things

McDonald's, despite its age and scale, consistently comes up with innovative marketing concepts. They are not scared to attempt new things and experiment with new technologies and ideas.

McDonald's works to not just keep its customers happy, but also to stay aligned with their interests. They are able to connect with consumers in a more customized manner. They've even concentrated on creating a Facebook presence for each place to give relevant, real-time content and region-specific deals. 

A good example is their annual Monopoly campaign, which has proven to be quite popular, as well as their McFlurry, which was the first of its type to hit the market.

They're also early users of new technologies like social networks, and they're always experimenting with new methods to order and pay at the register.

4. Know what your strengths are

Every company is different, and a good marketing strategy capitalizes on a company's distinct advantages. Let's be honest, McDonald's is well aware that their cuisine isn't particularly tasty or healthy for people 

McDonald's recognizes that its strengths lie in aspects such as familiarity, value, and convenience, rather than food quality. They're also well aware that they don't offer excellent meals worthy of a 5-star rating. 

This is why McDonald’s marketing strategy never competes on food quality. Instead, they concentrate their marketing efforts on their core competencies: familiarity, convenience, price, and enjoyment. 

It would be silly for McDonald's to sell its products based on their nutritional value or food quality. Despite the fact that they have healthy menu options, they do not market themselves as such. They couldn't possibly win a marketing battle. 

They've identified their advantages and are focusing their marketing efforts on those assets rather than attempting to be everything to everyone.

5. Bundling your products

One of the key marketing lessons we can take from McDonald's marketing strategy is the power of product bundling— and it's definitely one of the most effective strategies out there. McDonald’s has truly mastered this approach. Just think about the classic Happy Meal: a burger paired with fries and a soda. It’s an enticing offer that encourages customers to purchase more than just a single item.

Why settle for just a burger when you can enjoy a burger, fries, and a drink for just a bit more? This clever bundling not only enhances the value for the customer but also boosts sales for McDonald's. When you multiply that small additional cost across their 35,000 stores, it adds up to a substantial profit.

The takeaway here is to focus on cross-selling and upselling your products, encouraging customers to buy more while increasing your bottom line. However, it’s essential to strike the right balance. Overloading customers with too many options can be overwhelming, especially if it feels like a significant additional purchase.

McDonald's avoids this pitfall by letting customers take the lead in deciding what they want. They gather the necessary information and then seize the opportunity to suggest complementary items, ensuring that the offer feels valuable rather than intrusive.

Conclusion

Overall, there are a lot of you can learn from McDonald's marketing strategy. However, the above 5 points are more critical to seeing the big picture and guiding business on the right track.

Give us a call now if you'd like some assistance figuring out how to make your brand stand out from your competitors with our top-notch service in building websites and mobile apps for startups and businesses of all sizes. We'll be here to assist you when you're ready.