KFC's Marketing Strategy: Recipe for Quality and Creativity
🔍Insights
KFC, the popular brand of the parent firm YUM! Brands, is among the biggest fast-food chains in the world. After being around for more than 75 years, KFC's original fried chicken recipe continues to gratify consumers' taste buds because it is so delectably delicious.
KFC employs more than 800,000 people and has approximately 27,000 outlets serving fresh, delectable fried chicken to customers in more than 145 countries and territories around the world. The core goals of KFC are tenacity, friendliness, and kindness. KFC focuses on utilizing premium ingredients and preparing the chicken by hand each day in order to make it perfect. They humbly invite everyone to have a seat and savor the fried chicken's distinctive flavor.
Apart from its delicious recipe, another thing that contributes to the success of KFC is its creative marketing. So, to understand how KFC used the power of marketing, let us look at KFC's marketing strategy.
The Origins and Growth of KFC
KFC Target Market
KFC Marketing Mix
KFC Marketing Strategies
KFC Marketing Campaigns
The Origins and Growth of KFC
Colonel Harland Sanders, a 40-year-old who operated a service station in Corbin, Kentucky, began cooking for clients and was the man behind the founding of KFC. People started flocking to the station for his food rather than his automobile services as he became well-known and news spread about his delectable meals. In order to build a restaurant that could accommodate more than a hundred people, Sanders closed his service station. The secret ingredients that produce Kentucky Fried Chicken, which are still used in KFC today, were also developed by Sanders during this period. Then, in 1952, in South Salt Lake, Utah, the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise launched with phenomenal success. Since then, KFC has grown to become a global fast-food icon with over 27,000 restaurants in over 145 countries.
Since its establishment, KFC has been known for its secret recipe of fried chicken with a blend of eleven herbs and spices. KFC has a wide range of alternatives on its menu, and it also includes vegetarian food products as well. This has helped KFC grow both its clientele and sales volume.
The company's presence in developed and emerging countries aids in the planning of its future expansion goals by providing exposure and expertise, two factors crucial to the success of the fast food sector.
KFC Target Market
In order to cater to the target market's vegetarian and non-vegetarian client categories, KFC employs demographic segmentation. Its products are suitable for people of all ages, including children and young adults. Four groups may be used to categorize KFC's target market as children, teenagers and young adults, families, and budget customers.
Teenagers and families make up the majority of its clientele since most teens are impulsive and enjoy eating out with friends or ordering food online for the whole family. Adults are part of the secondary consumer profile, while people on a tighter budget make up the tertiary customer profile.
KFC initially used a non-differentiated targeting technique because its menu was the same all over the world. Yet recently, it has begun localizing its menu in order to get more market acceptance. The KFC marketing plan makes use of both personal and non-personal marketing channels.
Personal channels entail speaking with the audience face-to-face or over the phone, like when a KFC salesman introduces a consumer to a product. The use of physical and online media, such as publications, billboards, television, posters, emails, websites, events, and social media, are examples of non-personal marketing channels.
KFC Marketing Mix
The company's powerful marketing mix has yet to be matched by those of its rivals. The four Ps of the marketing mix are used in KFC's marketing strategy to analyze the brand (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). The methods and techniques a business uses to connect with and market to its target market are referred to as its marketing mix. The KFC marketing plan helps the brand develop a strong market position and accomplish its objectives.
Product
A product strategy is a list of the goods that a business must offer to its customers. The staple of the American fast-food restaurant chain KFC is fried chicken. According to Sanders' recipe, KFC's original offering is pressure-fried chicken pieces that have been spiced with eleven distinct combinations. With over 300 menu options, KFC adapts its menus to suit local tastes all around the world. The fact that KFC keeps expanding its menu helps with the creation of a strong product strategy, which supports marketing.
Place
This strategy focuses on figuring out where the business may find potential customers for its goods. The marketing team at KFC adheres to a rigid set of rules when setting out the grounds of its restaurants around the nation. KFC's audience-winning tactics are what have made it the global powerhouse it is today. More than 27,000 KFC outlets can be found in more than 145 countries and territories.
Many KFC stores are purposefully situated next to a school, university, office, or other educational facilities. This is because younger generations consume a lot more fast food than older generations do.
Price
KFC has a greater track record of profitability globally. It offers its products with different pricing and ratings. The products offered are affordable to the people because they can select an option that fits their budget. It also offers combos, which are more affordable than purchasing each item separately. In regions where prices are sensitive, like Asia and Africa, it is especially advantageous.
Promotion
A company's promotion plan describes how its products can be advertised in the marketplace. KFC promotes itself vigorously because it is one of the biggest food businesses. The majority of advertising is done in newspapers, magazines, billboards, and television ads. In addition to other cricket games, KFC has sponsored the Australian Big Bash League (BBL).
KFC advertises using the slogan "Its Finger-Lickin' Delicious" to persuade customers of the quality of its delectable food offerings. KFC is able to connect with its customers and communicate with them while educating them about its products and services thanks to its strong social media presence. KFC uses its restaurants extensively to promote new products.
Muskaan Kapoor
KFC Marketing Strategies
In the world of food enthusiasts, KFC started a revolution. They are continually looking for new methods to provide their consumer's high-quality food at reasonable prices. It is the main focus of KFC's worldwide marketing approach. KFC is concentrating on maintaining its brand and its consumers' loyalty in the modern day. KFC, the second-largest restaurant chain in the world that specializes in chicken meals, has had great success controlling the market. The popularity, acclaim, and accolades it has won make this quite clear. Let’s have a look at some of its remarkable marketing strategies that have contributed to its current success:
Online and Offline presence
There is no doubt that KFC has established itself both online and offline. discussing their offline presence KFC has more than 27,000 outlets in more than 145 countries and territories. They have traveled to almost every country and territory. That is seen from the fact that KFC has expanded outside of urban areas as well.
In terms of its internet presence, KFC offers a website where customers may buy products. Their revenues have significantly improved since the launch of the website. Furthermore, it provides incredibly quick delivery on its own. In addition, it may be found on food delivery apps as well.
Email Marketing
In order to send emails in mass, KFC employs AMP technology. As they differ somewhat from conventional emails, these emails are difficult for customers to overlook in their inboxes. Ok, but how? They include complementary features like order buttons, product carousels, sliders, animations, subscription forms, interactive meal previews, etc. Using this technique, they split the audience. They adjust the email campaigns to meet their needs after learning who the target audience is. By generating conversions through increased awareness, they raise the brand's profit margin.
Content Marketing
KFC uses two methods for content marketing. The first is to create unique chicken dishes and attract media attention. Second, create authentic and interesting material for free websites like Youtube. They target them both. To capture the audience's attention on their different social media channels, they provide concise, enlightening material. It is commendable that they dubbed the same video in several languages for the purpose of viewership. They publish tales, videos, and even images as their material.
Social Media Marketing
To spread brand awareness and provide the most recent updates, they are active on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
They consistently upload interesting information to their Facebook page to keep it current. If you read the blogs, you will see how they organize contests and provide prizes to the winners in order to engage the audience. To keep up with trends, they even share memes about their products. Also, they continuously upload images and videos with concise, crisp, and attention-grabbing captions that work as a hook to tempt people to place an order, as well as the most recent information regarding specials.
Similar to Facebook, they continue to offer entertaining content on Instagram. The images of fried chicken effectively entice clients. Even availability details for particular dishes are shared. Their Instagram demonstrates how much they lean towards using memes to appeal to young folks. They host a number of competitions and give free meals to winners.
They publish engaging tweets and make an effort to maintain the dialogue on their Twitter account. They continue to address Genz. Well, who enjoys chicken? Their witty and snarky tweets prompt their followers to repost them or respond in the comments section. The manner in which they respond to some of the remarks is noteworthy.
Celebrity Endorsement
The greatest approach to selling the brand is definitely through celebrity endorsement. When the performer has just attained enormous popularity among the public, it works miracles. More fame equals greater impact!
KFC collaborated with rapper Jack Harlow to showcase his personal favorites from the menu. This attracted the young fans of Jack Harlow to purchase the same.
Incentives
Customers may be acquired and retained by offering incentives. For instance, when a specific amount has been spent on KFC items, they provide complimentary meals to their devoted consumers. The consumer receives a voucher that may be used to receive free meals. Also, they offer coupons for free meals, which you may collect up to a specific point before visiting their location to receive a meal. They do, however, occasionally provide discounts in conjunction with holidays or other noteworthy occasions.
Yash Taneja
KFC Marketing Campaigns
KFC participated in a number of initiatives to promote its products, and to do so, it used social media and other forms of communication. KFC is a well-known international business that needs to spend money on advertising campaigns to get its products in front of customers.
Some remarkable campaigns are:
- “KFC delivery” campaign promotes delivery service by pointing out all of the things you can’t do at the restaurant like eating without pants, eating with feet on the table, eating in the bathtub, and such socially inappropriate acts.
- “We will take it from here”: A humorous advertisement from KFC celebrating the reopening of its UK locations features customers' own attempts at fried chicken.
- “It makes sense”: Walker's frontman Gary Lineker appears as Colonel Sanders in a commercial for the food company's KFC-flavored products.
- “Finger Lickin good”: The most famous one and also now their tagline.
KFC uses an advertisement featuring individuals from all walks of life to remind customers of the culinary joys of finger-lickin'.
KFC has run other successful ads like this all over the world. They have taken the initiative to analyze the market and develop campaigns that are appropriate for the circumstance.
Conclusion
These are the marketing strategies that have contributed to KFC's success. It is important to note that KFC makes changes to its marketing plans as needed, which ultimately helps the brand maintain its position at the top of its game.
FAQs
What is KFC's marketing strategy?
The marketing strategy of KFC includes a strong online and offline presence, email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, incentives, and celebrity endorsements.
What is KFC's target market?
KFC's products are suitable for people of all ages, including children and young adults. Four groups may be used to categorize KFC's target market as children, teenagers and young adults, families, and budget customers.
Who started KFC?
Colonel Harland Sanders, a 40-year-old who operated a service station in Corbin, Kentucky, began cooking for clients and was the man behind the founding of KFC.
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