5 Essential Pieces Of A Food Truck Marketing Plan

Over the past few months, we’ve discusses a lot about various ways to market your food truck and if done right the result will be getting more customer. But if you’re a new food truck that’s just getting started with marketing, it’s useful to think about how all of the various pieces fit together. This will help you to create a food truck marketing plan that will effectively let people know about your restaurant on wheels.

5 essential pieces of a food truck marketing plan:

Build a website

The first step of your food truck marketing plan MUST include a website. These days, creating a website on your own is fairly straightforward, and can be done without any programming skills. Services like Squarespace (paid) and WordPress (free) offer complete restaurant and food truck website templates that you can very easily update and customize to fit your needs.

Both services will help to ensure that you’ve got all of the vital information that people need to make their dining plans. However, be sure to double-check that your website includes your food truck details:

Address and phone number
Online restaurant reservation widget/link
Menu
Hours of operation

Set up your social media accounts

Social media needs to be part of your food truck marketing plan especially if you don’t have a lot of money to invest in other marketing tools. Even if you aren’t open yet, go ahead and set up business pages for your food truck on Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, and Twitter.

Facebook is a great place to share progress on your food truck’s construction, menu design, and more. It’s also an effective channel for building excitement among potential diners before your grand opening. Having a Facebook Page is particularly important after your truck’s wrap is completed, since people walking by will be looking for more information on what type of cuisine and dishes you’ll be serving.

Use your menu as a marketing tool

In one of our previous blog posts, we shared some tips on how to design a compelling food truck menu. Now it’s time to use that menu to drive diners to your food truck’s service window.

In the days leading up to your mobile food business opening, share your menu, along with photos of your food, on your website and social media profiles.

An effective way to further increase your marketing reach is to share these posts with local food blogs. Additionally, depending on the size of your city, offering an exclusive, sneak peak of your menu to a prominent blog or newspaper can go a long way in generating even more buzz.

Develop a press plan

There are two options when it comes to managing your food truck’s publicity in your food truck marketing plan. You can either manage the press on your own, or you can hire a public relations agency that focuses on the food service industry. Each of these options has its pros and cons. For example, managing the press on your own is less costly, but requires more of your time.

Regardless of whether or not you choose to manage your food truck’s publicity on your own, there are a few key press channels that you should make sure to cover.

Food blogs
Personal food bloggers
Newspaper announcements

Find a cause to support

As you think about your food truck marketing plan, consider adding cause related marketing if you haven’t already. One of the most common complaints about food trucks is that they swoop in and take business from restaurants that by location alone are part of these communities.

The best way to help mitigate these charges is to become part of the community as well. Not only will joining local causes help you grow your mobile food business but it will develop a stronger tie to the communities you serve in for years to come.

The Bottom Line

A well developed food truck marketing plan will serve both your business and your customers. By getting the word out about your truck to your community, you will build your brand and assist your truck to grow.

Now that you know how the different pieces of a food truck marketing plan fit together, it’s time to get started. Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Facebook | Twitter