6 Marketing Strategies For Your Food Truck That Actually Work

Collapsing distances and transforming dining out into a far more casual and accessible event, the food truck is fast gaining popularity for a reason. However, as a food truck owner looking to expand your business, you have to be well-versed in the latest market trends and marketing strategies to market your food truck and take full advantage of this industry’s growing relevance.

Read on to discover 6 brand-new marketing strategies that will help take your food truck business to new heights.

1. Circulate flyers

Add a human touch to your marketing by physically circulating flyers advertising your business among potential customers.

This not only fosters a good relationship with the customer, but opening up a conversation with people helps you learn what people would like from a food truck business like yours.

You can design high quality flyers using easily customizable templates from PosterMyWall. These include small business flyers, whose templates you can utilize to design attractive flyers completely independently. Templates for food flyers are also readily available at the website. You can design and then circulate these and watch customers flock to your truck.

2. Take advantage of the marketing potential of festivals and events

If there’s one place teeming with people most of whom will bless food truck owners for satisfying their cravings for cheap delicious food, it’s festivals.

Recognise this. Make a list of all the festivals in your area year-round, and make sure you are present at most if not all of them.

Note that this is not limited to food festivals; people want food no matter what the purpose of an event is! Thus your list should include music festivals, film festivals, book events, and anything else where you think you can make your mark.

According to research by Statistica, people aged between 18 and 34 are the most likely to get a meal from a food truck. So to maximize your sales, make sure you know which festivals have a confirmed audience of this demographic.

3. Explore new locations

You’re a food truck; mobility is that one sought-after trait that basically comes built-in in the ‘truck’ aspect of your business. So get those wheels rolling!

While staying in one area is crucial for building brand identity (we will come to this presently), it is also important to scope out the area and stay mobile to reach a wider customer base instead of simply waiting for it to be the other way around. 

Apart from frequenting all the biggest festivals in your area, as suggested above, you should also identify a couple of prime locations which you can set up at on a rotating basis.

One way to do this and still be accessible to older customers is to have a predictable schedule. Say, Mondays through Wednesdays, you’ll be in Location A, Thursdays and Fridays in Location B, and weekends in yet another location. You can take the help of social media to distribute a rotating schedule to customers.

This will help customers keep track of your movements while letting you mine your valuable mobility to create an exciting experience for everyone involved.

4. Create a memorable brand identity for yourself

This is the most important aspect of marketing yourself as a food truck owner. Just as it is essential for humans to create identities for themselves, customers need to see your food truck, too, as a distinct identity that has a personality of its own.

First, recognize the necessity of consistency within branding. Think about the signs you put up, your social media presence, your logo, your menu, down to the very way you decorate your truck. Everything should fit together to bring forward one cohesive image of your brand.

Next, begin the work of figuring out each element of your brand.

Logos are very important. Invest time and care into a logo that succinctly captures what your food truck and your vision are really all about.

Think about which color combinations, fonts, and elements work to bring across your message. Last but certainly not the least, your brand name is of utmost importance. Think of something catchy or witty, memorable, and meaningful.

Working your way up from there, widen your reach to other areas which help show people your brand identity: signage, business cards, promo, and so on.

Soon you will see the elements coming together to play their part in building your brand.

A carefully thought out brand identity all but guarantees the success of your food truck.

5. Harness the power of social media

So you’ve built your brand identity, designed colorful and attractive promotional flyers, and figured out the perfect schedule. What’s next?

Having all this information reach the customer in a palatable way, of course. Luckily, social media is there for you. Accessible, effective, and with virtually unlimited reach, this tool is one you’re going to need in your marketing tool belt.

Although there’s a dizzyingly wide variety of platforms to choose from, sticking to the basics for now, i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, is more than satisfactory to successfully launch and sustain your food truck.

Apart from the usual social media promo tactics, such as posting regularly and using colorful designs and witty captions, there are some new strategies which you should be aware of.

‘Going live’, or doing a livestream on either Facebook or Instagram, is a fun, interactive, and effective way to let people know if you are in the area for a festival or event. 

Using question stickers on Instagram stories to interact with customers, get their feedback on minor decisions, or even play fun Q/A games is another innovative tactic small businesses are employing to increase engagement with their audience.

Similarly, putting up polls on Twitter or Instagram delegates some minor decision-making role to customers, such as which location they would prefer to see you in on a certain day, or what they think of a new recipe, et cetera.

The functions and versatility of social media are endless, and entirely yours to explore and benefit from.

6. Create a signature dish or drink

We have talked at length about creating a brand identity for your food truck. This is one difficult, but highly effective example of just that. 

Creating a trademark recipe is something that customers will immediately click with. Whether it be a dish, a secret sauce, or even something as simple as a slightly amped up drink with an enticing name, this will be that one aspect of your brand identity that is bound to create value for your business and register with everyone.

The success of having a well-known dish as a marketing strategy can be seen with how common it is for food trucks, from housemade charcuterie to signature cannoli.

You too can join the ranks of cult classics with just a little innovation and tact!

Conclusion

So there we have it. 6 of the most recent, trendy, and achievable strategies for marketing your food truck that are bound to work.

Now it’s up to you to take your food truck to the next level!