Many food truck vendors I talk to already understand that creating a brand strategy is essential to their business, but a surprisingly high number of them don’t really know why. By definition, a branding strategy is a long-term plan for the development of a successful brand in order to achieve specific goals.

First, let’s clear up the biggest misconception about brand strategy: Your brand is not your menu, your logo, your website, or your name. In fact, your brand is much more than that. It’s the intangible things. You need to recognize the link between successful food truck and strong branding and aspire to build a brand that emulates similar success for yourself.

Six Tips To Create A Food Truck Branding Strategy The Right Way

Identify and clarify your food truck’s purpose

It can be critical that every single member of your organization understands what greater purpose you hope to achieve. Your purpose must be bigger than simply selling food. That is the antithesis of brand building. Unless you have clarity of purpose, you probably won’t be able to build a coherent food truck brand.

RELATED: Define Your Food Truck Purpose in a Single Sentence

Get your employees involved

Your food truck brand is much more than words on paper. Your brand is about working toward your stated purpose. It must be adopted. This should include hiring employees who understand and share your passion for your cause. Consider making part of your interview process about identifying staff who will work toward your goal, who will support and build your food truck brand.

RELATED: Employee Motivation Ideas To Improve Your Food Truck

Create internal motivation

Make your team motivated to promote your food truck. It must be unique, concise and powerful. The motivation must unite every single person in your mobile food business and reminds them of your purpose. It’s basically the elevator pitch within your business.

RELATED: Using Internal Marketing To Build Your Food Truck Brand

Get your customers help

In addition to providing excellent food and service, you should try to explain your purpose to your customers. When you fold your cause into everything you do, you’re creating something bigger than just the food and services you’re selling. Consider how you can give your customers a way to participate in building and promoting your food truck.

RELATED: Repeat Customers: How To Gain Them In Four Easy Steps

Speak in your own voice

You can say the exact same thing in hundreds of different ways. What branding can do is convey your food truck’s purpose in an authentic and unique way that reflects who you are. Find your voice and use it.

RELATED: How To Develop Your Food Truck Social Media Voice

You won’t serve everyone

A strong food truck brand can speak to a niche of customers. If you build a strong brand you may not care about the people who aren’t in your customer base. If you own a food truck that prides itself on selling high quality meat products, you know precisely who your customers are. Don’t waste energy trying to appeal to, say, vegan customers. There are vegan food trucks that take care of vegans. Know your customers and find a bold and distinct way to speak to them.

The Bottom Line

There are huge benefits that a brand strategy can bring to your food truck. When customers connect emotionally to your food truck brand, it will lead to higher sales and better brand differentiation. It also leads to customer loyalty, advocacy and can even protect your prices in times when competitors rely on promotional discounts to drive their sales. It can also give you the ideal platform from which to extend your brand.

Do you have a branding strategy for your food truck? Share any additional tips in the comment section or on social media. Facebook | Twitter