DIY Media Relations For Your Food Truck Business

There’s a good chance your food truck doesn’t have a media relations person on staff. No matter how big your food truck empire is, your truck isn’t making the news often enough to justify a full-time media relations employee. Generally, when a truck is featured in the news, the press wants to talk to the chef or the owner.

But just because you don’t have a media professional on your food truck team doesn’t mean that you can’t handle the media professionally. Today we’ll discuss five tips for promoting your food truck to the press.

DIY Media Relations: Promoting Your Food Truck To The Press

Develop a media list. When it comes time to share news about your food truck, it helps to already know where to go. Don’t waste time trying to track down reporters. Create a list of media groups in your area. Which ones focus on small business, food or lifestyle pieces? Collect names and email addresses and phone numbers and keep them in a spreadsheet for quick reference when you’ve got news to share.
Make sure it’s real news. When your food truck is doing well, everything seems newsworthy to you. But stop to consider who else will find your news exciting. If you send news pitches about a new line cook hiring, or something similar, you’ll make a bad impression immediately. Wait until you have a major story to share.
Learn how to write a press release. If you are going to issue press releases, you need to know how you write press releases. There is a specific style, grammar, and punctuation usage that can certainly effect whether or not it is picked up for print. Make it easy for journalists and remove the need of rewriting your news.
Prepare for your big day. It’s a good idea to have standard statements and facts about your food truck ready to go. Another way to prepare yourself for an interview, is to ask for a list of questions up front. If they won;t give you specific questions, many will give you a basic idea of what questions will be asked. Some may even let you submit some questions.
Track your media interactions. Press is great when it happens, but it’s also a good thing to keep track of what’s been written about your truck. Sometimes a previous story can spark another journalist to write another. And it builds your clout when you can show where and how you’ve been featured. A great place to catalog your press, is on a dedicated press page on your food truck’s website.

The Bottom Line

Media relations is a great way to score free marketing, but it takes work and effort to develop an effective message that sells your food truck.

No matter what size your food truck business is, vendors can promote their own truck themselves. Doing media relations on your own is possible, but takes planning and knowledge. Use these simple steps to create a media relations plan the next time something big happens to your food truck.

Do you have any additional media relations tips your fellow food truck vendors? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section or on social media. Facebook | Twitter