Food truck marketing plan examples

Posted by Damian Roberti on April 19, 2022

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

Food truck marketing plan examples So in this podcast of food truck freaks, we're actually going to dive into this question. We received some training on marketing food online, which is our other YouTube channel, where we had a food truck entrepreneur who had just started, but they were not very, very familiar with the process, if you will, for food truck marketing. And we're looking for some examples of how to do that. So welcome to food, shark freaks. I am Damien Roberti, founder and CEO of marketing food online. We are a division of multiple YouTube channels. We have about five, four or five. We just got this up and running here on YouTube for food entrepreneurs. And we also have, of course, the food podcasts. Definitely check out the links down below. We are on 11 platforms. You can listen to us on the go, but in this particular video, I wanted to give you some tips on marketing your brand new food truck business.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

I'm actually going to give you eight specifics, and we're going to dive into them. I've got my laptop open. I've got some fantastic notes I wanted to cover specifically in this podcast. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you as well, make sure you give us a big thumbs up and do subscribe. This is a brand new channel for us. We have quite a few videos so far, but we have hundreds of videos that we're going to be uploading to give you tips and pointers about food, truck business, the food truck industry, getting started, what you need to know for licenses and permits, and so on. So let's dive right into this podcast, if you will. So number one, one of the best ways to market a food truck business right off the bat is through your food truck. Now this may be like, well, Damian, that's a no-brainer, obviously. It's like a big billboard on wheels.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

You're exactly right. One of the first, right out of the gate, ways to market a food truck successfully is to have a fantastic wrap on your food truck. Now, what does that mean specifically? What he does is fantastic. That's pretty vague. You want to make sure that your food truck number one has your brand and your logo on it. in a very large way. Most of the rap should be encircled by your logo or brand because it's eye-catching and it's going to be memorable for customers. If they see you at local events and they go there and see you, they're going to be familiar with it. And it is here that you will build your local clientele and customer base.But your food truck wrap needs to also have color. Very bright colors are always better than dark browns, blacks, or those types of earth. Tone colors are not as visible or eye-catching as colors.

I don't care if you're doing barbecue, you can have bright, vibrant colors on it. When you're doing barbecue business, if you've got tacos, same thing. If you're doing pizzas or hot dogs, or if you're doing snacks, it doesn't matter, make the color vibrant because you want to be eye-catching. It is the easiest way, right out of the gate, to market your food truck. And as you drive around the town or city that you're in, it's even more memorable, because people are going to see it. The other thing you want to do with the wrap is make sure that the fonts, the actual texts, the fonts themselves are legible. They can be red. I have seen a lot. I've been to a lot of food truck rallies. I've been to a lot of food, truck events, or just events in general.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

And there have been food trucks there. And a lot of them don't focus on that. They make the text and the font very small. They also make it very hard to read. They try to get really artsy and create with it. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you want to use your truck as a marketing tool, you need to have the text and the font large enough for people to read it from a distance. It should also be easy to read and easy to remember. And also, don't get too wordy with your rap on your food truck. You don't want to put your entire menu, for instance, over the side of the truck, where you've got the name of your truck, really small, your logo and your branding. very tiny. Nobody's going to understand what's going on because they're going to see strictly your menu. Some people actually put their menu directly on their truck, which I highly wouldn't recommend over time.

As your menu changes, the recipe changes. You're going to have a menu in your truck. Don't make it permanently embedded on the wrap because you want to have a menu board outside of the truck that can be interchangeable. That can be mixed. Over time, you're going to evolve and maybe offer different foods. Don't put your menu directly on your wrap. The wrap is a permanent thing. When it goes on the truck, it normally lasts about seven to eight years. You want to make sure that that wrap conveys your brand and the name of your truck easily and is legible so that people are able to read it. Okay, next up. Number two, of course, is a no-brainer, but attend festivals and events in your area as often as possible. With certain menu items of certain food trucks that serve certain foods, some events and festivals are going to be more successful for you than others.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

For instance, if you're doing barbecue and you're doing Southern barbecue with a lot of different fries and sides, and Cole Law, and these types of products and these types of items, and you go to an event that might be a jazz festival, There may be, you know, certain events that have a music festival like that, or even wine. A lot of times, that doesn't really pair very well with the clientele that is there. So going to events frequently and finding which ones every year goes around As many as you can find the ones that work best for you, work out in the communities and cities that you're in. What's going to really be most profitable? If you don't have that many events in your area, try to look outside your city or county within your state, but within another city or county. Keep in mind, though, that as you transition from one city or county to another doing business, you cross those lines.

You need to make sure that you have business licenses in those cities and counties. By the way, most other cities will not allow you to function and operate a business. Unless you have an additional permit to allow you to do that, Once you cross city lines, state lines, or not set county lines, So attend festivals, different events, try to gauge it, check it out. See what really, truly works based upon the type of food in the cuisine you're making. Okay, So next up, social media. You need to be on social media. This is another no-brainer, but all social media platforms don't work very well for food trucks. The two that I'd recommend the most, honestly, are Twitter and Instagram. Why do you recommend those two? Twitter and Instagram are great visual social media platforms. They rely on fantastic images that are updated. Twitter for

For instance, it is even the best of the best, up to-the-minute events and functions. People who come to your food truck can download images, instantly share them with their friends, and invite their friends to come over. It's an instantaneous marketing idea that worked very well for food trucks. Now, with Facebook, LinkedIn, and such, I mean, it could potentially work for you. It could be a good one. Pinterest is obviously not very good for a food truck brand. You can do a lot of images on Pinterest, but the idea that you want to do is convey that you're going to be at a certain place at a certain time with a food truck. So those places, those platforms like Instagram and Twitter, are made for that. So encourage your customers. If they're going to an event and they start eating your product, hey, you mind popping up? You guys put up a picture of Instagram, let us know what you think.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

Follow us on Instagram, post your images there, comment on some stuff. As you get them engaged on those platforms, as you begin to frequent those events every year, every spring, every fall, you're going to get a local community who loves your food, loves the engagement. And, in any case, you can use it to obtain merchandise and other products.You can begin to sell and leverage those platforms to make multiple streams of income, not just get marketing and exposure for your food truck, but you can begin to turn that into an additional stream of income for you. Okay? Next up local, you would have location-based food trucks or advertising. So if you're getting on Yelp, if you're getting on a food review site, make sure that you tap into that ability to be in a location at a certain period. And let people know who have either left comments or feedback on Yelp.

People who follow you on Yelp Look at the content you put on Yelp. These are different platforms that allow you to engage more. So even with Twitter and Instagram, in a way where you can leave feedback on these types of sites, which even BOS more validity and value to what you're doing, people will see that, and then your customers will follow, or friends will say, Hey, you gotta check out their review. Oh my gosh, this guy's got five-star reviews. He's going to be at that local concert this weekend outside. I definitely have to check 'em out. So you can leverage these types of location advertising, in a sense, websites to be a benefit for you. And there are very similar platforms in Instagram and Twitter, but it's not very difficult to set up a Yelp account and start getting some feedback from your customers. Next, make sure that you have a unique look for your brand.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

Again, if you are very creative as a chef and you own a food truck, but you're not a graphic designer, you're not a marketing person. You could go online and you can find it either on Upwork or Fiber. You can freelance out a brand or a concept, or work with a designer to create that logo for your food truck. And then incorporate that. Of course, when you get a wrap, and by the way, really quickly, you can actually get a food truck wrap design on five.com. And by the way, you could check out the link down below this video. I'll have a whole bunch of links to help you guys out with that too, so check that out. It's actually really cool. You can get a designer to create that. You can work with them and get a design set, and then send that over to the actual rap company that will do the rap and physically put the rap on you.

So designing it is one aspect. Applying it and putting it on the truck is a whole other thing. But keep in mind that you want to create a very unique brand. Don't try to emulate if you're doing tacos or if you're doing burgers and hot dogs and you see a truck and you're like, "Wow, that's really cool." I would love to have a look like that. Don't try to make yourself stand out. Because once again, as we mentioned back in the first step, your brand is going to be on your truck and it's going to be a moving billboard. Okay, People will remember it. Make it eye-catching, make it colorful, make it vibrant, make it something that's truly unique to your food product. And if there are a hundred trucks in your state that sell tacos, So what makes your taco logo go? Don't copy the images. Don't copy the images.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

Then again, you can't when under branding and trademark issues, but you don't want to duplicate the colors and emulate that perfectly unique creation next to delivery and catering. You can now have a food truck in almost every state. You may have to have a certain license or business like base to support the city and the county that you're operating in. But catering is huge. If you have, let's say, a three or four-month window where you don't really do a lot of local events, Ferris festivals, whatever it may be that you're going to, concerts or whatever, it may be a good idea to tap into the catering concept because you can, at one event, if you've got two or 300 people, you can turn that into a five, six, $7,000 event. And you're guaranteed that because you're catering an event. And you've obviously got somebody signed up for a certain amount of food to serve a certain number of people.

So utilize that as well. You should definitely check into catering events because that could be a steady stream of income because you never know who is at an event. When I used to have our Italian bakery, we catered events locally every year. And the word of mouth was fantastic because you could go to an event with your food truck. It's a great experience. Everybody loves the truck, the atmosphere, the ambiance, and the food. And then they're going to tell a friend, and they're going to say, "Hey, wait, you know what? Next week I have another event. Are you available in the next couple of weeks? I have another event. Are you free for the and so on and so forth?So catering and doing that, I believe, is a marketing aspect. It's a marketing method that costs you nothing, because you're going to an event where you're being paid to be there, as opposed to going to an event like a fair, or a festival, or something where you have to pay to be there.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

Someone is paying you when it comes to catering. So you get the business, then you get the exposure. And while you're there, hey, let everybody know your hand. Now, hand out business cards and a brochure.The old-fashioned paper thing is fine. Or you can say, "Hey, follow us on Instagram." Let us know if you need any event catering and we'll be happy to do it. One example is catering.Delivering is unique, though. A lot of cities and counties actually limit food trucks from actually doing delivery. But a lot of food trucks lately. I have heard some stories, and this was actually on the west coast, where food trucks are parked at certain events. They tap into either Uber or they tap into a delivery service. It comes over and actually delivers the food on their behalf to their customers because they have a local following.

Now I vaguely understand how that works. And of course, there are a handful of liability issues and other business permits that really are required to do that. But some places are starting to do that where they're having food trucks deliver their food while they're at a certain location. Following that, you should definitely look in your own neighborhood and collaborate with local civic events, community outreach programs, universities or colleges, and sporting events.They could be anything but professional. They could be from a college, they could be local. They could even be a kid's week on the weekend. My son used to play soccer, and we would go down to the soccer field. That's near us here. There was a food truck that was parked there. One time, during an event, there were literally thousands of families with moms, dads, and kids. And this food truck was rolling in orders because they tapped into just something like a little league, a little league baseball, a little league soccer, whatever it may be.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

It could be a local event. That's a sporting event that doesn't have to be a professional one, or you can tap into local community centers that are doing annual things or a local hospital that's benefiting for their employees. You want to connect with and network in your community that you're in because they are a great resource because you are localized and you're there. So if it's not a food truck event or a food truck rally, it's no big deal. You can go ahead and do an event for a local community center. And then from there, you may find someone that says, Hey, do you do cater? And then it's, it's a snowball effect. So partner with local neighborhood organizations and business and civic organizations as well. Lastly, when you're at an event, whatever it is that you could afford to do on your menu board, give something away for free.

Now what are you probably thinking? Dami and I have gotten my margins so low that it is with a food truck to begin with.You know, I mean, we just, you know, we're making good money, but I can't afford to give a yes, you can do something. If it's a beverage, because the word "free" has a psychological impact on consumers. This I learned in marketing. I have a degree in marketing. This is something I learned by taking one of the courses, and I read it. And then I started implementing it on what, on my e-commerce websites, the word "free" triggers this happy feeling in people that they think they're getting something for free. If it's like, you know, a beverage, but you, you buy two or three of our lunches or dinners. Hey, we're going to give each of you guys a free beverage.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

When you come down, if it's a fountain drink, even if it's just a can of soda or a bottle of water, you can go to Costco. And as a food truck owner, you go and you buy things in bulk. You go to BJ's and buy a big container of water. It costs you like 50 cents or 30 cents a bottle. And, if you want, you can include it in the price.you make your menu board, you can add an extra 30 cents to the meal, but you're giving them something free. It doesn't matter. Even if it's for kids, hey, if you have kids and you come to the event, you get a buy, a lunch, we'll give 'em an ice cream cone or something. It doesn't matter. The word "free" actually triggers a really happy feeling in people. And they think as if they're getting something for free, even if you wanted to increase the price by 30 cents or 20 cents to cover the cost of it.

Food Truck Marketing Plan Examples

So on your menu board, give something away, find something that would go with your meal. If it's hot dogs, hamburgers, or pizza that you're serving, then give them a soda. Give 'em a Coca-Cola! Give 'em a bottle of water, give 'em a bottle of water. I don't know what you have got that you can do. Give them a beverage for free. Put that on the board though. Write the word down, and in big letters that entice more people to come to your truck. For example, we once attended an event.We were at one food truck behind us. Somebody was actually doing this. They were giving something away. And I was with my son and my wife. And we were debating between the two. And I'm like, it was something to the effect of like a free beverage or free drink.

So instead of buying a or drink for each of us at this one food truck, we actually went over there and bought lunch, and we got free. It was actually bottled water and some soda for my son, absolutely free. Why not a no-brainer? I made that decision because I got a couple of free drinks, you know, and I paid for lunch. So those are some great marketing tips. If you're looking to just start, or if you're beginning your, your, your path to starting a food truck from scratch, keep these marketing tips in line. It'll definitely help you out along the way. So if you guys have any more questions about this, let us know and check out our podcast as always. We appreciate your comments and questions because they help us build more content to answer your questions and help you out. And I'll see you guys in our next video.