Mastering Marketing and PR for your new food truck
You may have a unique and out of this world food truck, but you need people to know about it. Promotion is key to ensure you have customers lining up before you open your doors for the first time.
Creating your marketing message, making the most of PR and building your online presence will get people to your service window, from there it is up to you to keep them coming back for more!
Creating your marketing message
Your marketing message should clearly and concisely communicate what you want people to remember about your food truck. It is important to have a firm grasp on not only what you want to say, but who you want to say it to and how you will reach them.
Do your homework on your customers, and figure out exactly who you want to target. Using demographics (age, gender, location etc.) and psychographics (interests, lifestyle etc.) will help you narrow down your desired customers.
Now you can begin crafting your message by putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. Are your customers facing a problem only you are able to solve? Your unique selling proposition (USP) comes into play here. Are you the only mobile, fresh, Greek food truck in your area? Find what makes you unique, and sell it as a solution to your target market. Be concise, consistent and deliver on your promises.
Making the most of PR (public relations)
Once you have developed your marketing message, it is important to determine how that message is shared with the community. The food truck industry can be extremely competitive, so ensuring you have an edge to stand out from the crowd is key.
You can do your own PR if you are comfortable, or hire a professional to help. To ensure you get off on the right foot, make sure you understand what makes news, apply your marketing message and determine what newsworthy information you can share that would interest the audience on your chosen platform.
If you are writing your own press release, you need to think about which platform would work best for you. Local newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations are all great options to get your message out there. Make sure your press release includes a headline, date and place, introduction, body, boilerplate (about), contact information and ending. Keep it short and sweet.
Building your online presence
Social media and your online presence is one of the cheapest, most effective and easiest ways to create brand awareness. Facebook and Instagram are a great way to engage with customers and reach new ones. As social media is such an important channel in the mobile food industry, we will explore this in our next blog.
You may also want to consider creating a website for your new food truck if your budget allows. Your website is a great way to build awareness and credibility of your new food truck.
When creating your website, remember to keep in mind the following:
- Easy to remember domain
- Strong, clean visual design
- Easily accessible sought after information
- Up-to-date content
- A reflection of your brand
- Speedy, mobile friendly
Essential components to include on your site are an effective home page, contact details, your location and imagery. Building your SEO (search engine optimisation) will also allow customers to find you via search engines such as Google.
The more relevant content and information you can circulate, the better!
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