Low Cost Marketing Solutions For Food Truck Vendors

Marketing is integral to a food truck’s growth. Yet to afford an effective marketing campaign, most food truck vendors they need to grow their businesses first. It’s easy to see how this counterproductive cycle develops. Your mobile food business growth and marketing must go hand-in-hand; to achieve one, you must have the other. How is a food truck supposed to do any marketing if there’s no budget? No worries, today we’ll share a few low cost marketing ideas you can use to grow your mobile food business without spending big money you don’t have.

7 Low Cost Marketing Solutions For Food Truck Vendors

Don’t have a lot of money to spend on your food truck marketing? There are plenty of marketing tactics you can make use of that won’t blow your marketing budget. Here are 7 low cost marketing ideas for food trucks working on a small budget.

Network Within The Community

Our first low cost marketing idea is to reach out to local businesses. In almost every city local business networking groups exist. The most common example of these groups would be the local chamber of commerce. Typical chambers of commerce will meet several times a month for various events such as new business openings, speaking engagements and small business workshops.

You should never overlook the power of networking within the communities you operate in. Attend networking meetings; if there aren’t any in your area, talk to other business owners and start one. Chances are there are other people who would like to share and discuss marketing techniques.

Add A Blog To Your Website

A website is something every food truck owner should have. If it’s not in the budget to have one designed for you, there are plenty of sites that offer free or low-cost templates that can be used for now. Be sure to add a blog to your website so you can regularly post about what’s new in your mobile food business, as well as on any other topics you feel would be relevant to what you have to offer.

Be a Guest Blogger

Many website owners *cough* mobile-cuisine.com *cough* welcome guest bloggers who can write content that’s relevant to the mobile food industry. This is an excellent way to market your business by discussing something related to your business and building a relationship with other like-minded businesses and in return driving traffic to your website.

Don’t forget that guest blogging can be a two way street. It’s tough to maintain your own blog content while guest posting on a lot of other blogs. So be sure to open an invitation for guest bloggers to write on your own food truck blog. This way, you can keep fresh content on your own blog.

Offer Incentives

Planning your incentive programs may take some time, but the work will certainly pay off. Consider offering a discount or small freebie to current customers who bring a new paying customer to your service window. Existing customers are often happy to help spread the word about a food truck they enjoy frequenting.

New Customers Exclusive Offers

Food truck owners are always searching for new and fresh marketing promotion ideas that will attract new customers. Guess what? New customers enjoy incentives too. Attract consumers with offers that are exclusively for first-time customers. This is a great way to convert a consumer into a frequent visitor.

Conduct Workshops/Classes

Today’s food truck customers are looking for value in many shapes and forms. Offering cooking workshops or classes that teach your customers how to prepare a dish from your menu or something similar can attract new customers and increase sales. They don’t have to be long; even 30 to 60 minutes are sufficient if what you’re offering during that time isn’t fluff.

Use Social Media Consistently

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become powerful marketing and communication tools. It is one of the best ways to market your food truck business for free. Choose three social media venues you or an employee feels comfortable with and post to them at least three times weekly. As you build followers, you’ll be able to lead them to your truck. If you do it right, you could end up in our Most Influential Food Truck list next year.

The Bottom Line

Every food truck vendor would love to see overnight growth. Unfortunately, things seldom work out that way, and that might be a good thing. Too much growth too soon can be hard to prepare for and could result in poor quality food and customer service.

By using the cost effective marketing tips above, you can slowly and steadily build your customer base and gain exposure for your food truck. Consistency is important, so use these cost effective marketing ideas regularly to keep the momentum going. Over time, you’ll learn which ones work best.

Do you have any low cost marketing ideas you’ve used with success? We’d love to share them with our readers. Share them in the comment section or social media. Facebook | Twitter.