Chapter

9

Creating Your Marketing Plan

In This Chapter

Just when you thought you were done getting your food truck business set up, you really were just getting started. The truck business is a marathon, not a sprint. Getting your truck on the road is only half the job, the other half is making people love it!

Today’s competitive environment makes it impossible to rely on luck. The if-you-build-it-they-will-come mentality doesn’t work anymore. Marketing is critical in establishing a successful truck. Food trucks are no longer novelties, and competition in the business is fierce. The trucks that succeed are the ones that have a clear brand identity that saturates every part of the customer’s experience. These brands also offer what I refer to as “experiential follow through.” They promise something great and then deliver something even better to get customers to keep coming back.

For an example of this type of marketing and experiential follow through, look no further than your local Apple store. Everything from its logo and advertising to store design, employee language, purchasing experience, and the end product speak to Apple’s customer-focused brand. Apple customers love their brand so much that they only buy Apple.

You need to take this same focus and apply it to your food truck business. You want to make your customers’ trip to lunch the most exciting part of the day, so much so that the thought of eating at another truck never even enters their minds.

Let’s start by establishing your identity through your logo.

Designing Your Brand Logo

When you think of the logos of companies like Coca Cola, Nike, and Google, do you have an emotional response? To me, Coca Cola says classic quality. The Nike Swoosh is hip and athletic. Google is playful, but not too playful. You may have different responses to these logos, but I bet they aren’t too far from mine.

Your logo is your chance to create instant public recognition of your brand. It needs to say who you are and what you’re like in the simplest and most direct way. So what are you trying to say about your truck with your logo?

Make a list of three to five core values of your brand. For instance, if you’re starting an artisanal ice cream truck, your core values could be high-quality ingredients, locally sourced, homemade, with the help of a master ice-cream maker. How would you say this with your logo? Artisanal reminds me of something more classic or from a small town. The same goes for homemade. If you use a master ice-cream maker, you may want to include his or her name in the brand.

Truck Tales

Korilla BBQ is a Korean taco truck created by Edward “3D” Song. When he asked himself the question “Who doesn’t love Korean BBQ?” he came up with three answers: vegans and vegetarians; people who don’t know what Korean BBQ is; and people who don’t want to spend $40 or more at a Korean restaurant. That made his decision to start a Korean BBQ truck easy. A Columbia University grad, Edward studied the business, went to cooking school, and teamed up with a great chef, but it was his decision to hire Box Creative digital marketing and design firm that brought everything together and created the ultimate Korean taco brand. The firm took Edward’s idea, extracted the core values, and made it a reality. The marriage of Edward’s dream and business savvy and the firm’s creative talent, is what you need to make your food truck the next Korilla BBQ. Any idea or concept is only as good as its execution, and branding is no exception.

I advocate telling the customer exactly who and what you are in your logo. Consumers are seeing so much information these days; you need to say everything in the few seconds you have their attention. It’s best to just spell things out; the words artisanal ice cream should actually be included in the logo.

Finding a Graphic Designer

If you don’t know any graphic designers, just type “graphic designer” into an Internet search engine. You’ll find designers who specialize in logos. I recommend using someone local with whom you can work closely and who can continue to serve your future design needs. To find someone affordable, contact a local university with a graphic design department. Many students will work for you for little or no money to gain samples for their portfolio.

When you have some designs, go to friends and business associates for feedback. Ask them which they like the best and why. Then combine that information with your own instincts to make your final choice. Nobody knows better than you which logo best represents your vision for your truck. So trust your instincts and get cracking!

Creating Your Online Presence

Once you’ve created your logo, it’s time to start building your online presence. Because you’re a mobile operation, your website and Twitter account can serve as your home base and the best method for communicating with your customers.

Website

You should think of your website as your storefront, where customers come to visit you. If you’re mentioned on a local food blog, for example, it will include a link to your website so readers can click through to find you. And when they do, that’s your chance to make a customer. So not only should your website be a source of information but, like your truck wrap (see Chapter 11), it needs to be an advertisement. It should be vibrant and lively but always user friendly. I think music on a site sets the mood for the type of experience the customer has at your truck, so I suggest using it.

Tip

Make sure your website works in all major browsers, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. If you hire a professional Web designer to create your site, she should do this as part of her service.

Here’s a list of everything a food truck website should include:

Menus. You should post your food and drink menus in text form. This makes them readable on standard and mobile platforms, as well as easily readable by search engines.

E-mail list sign-up. Customers should be able to submit their name and e-mail address to receive updates about your truck. Building an e-mail database is critical for launching new trucks and promotions.

Tip

Don’t forget to include areas for customers to include both their work and home locations when creating an e-mail sign-up on your website. You can organize locations by zip code or neighborhood; either way, the information is invaluable because it enables you to segment your list into areas so that you can target your communications with customers. There’s no reason to reach out to people uptown when you’re parked downtown.

Twitter link. The site has to have a prominent link so customers can follow you. The more followers you have, the more people will know where you’re parked.

Facebook link. Your site needs a link so customers can become fans of your truck on Facebook, and you’ll need to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts so all information simultaneously goes to each outlet.

Foursquare link. You want users to “check in” to your Foursquare page.

About us. This is your chance to tell your story. Use this opportunity to create an emotional attachment between you and your customers. Tell them how you got to where you are and why.

Weekly locations. If you have any permanent locations, list them in this section, with times and days. Your locations will likely change often, so you must make sure to keep your customers informed.

Catering. This section should include a lead generator form for catering inquiries, along with catering menus.

Definition

A lead generator is a form to post on your website that customers can fill out to request specific information about your truck. It’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to turn Internet marketing into actual customer connections.

Press. This section should have links to all the latest mentions of your truck in the media, including the Blogosphere. To increase the number of hits you get on search engines like Google and Bing, you should take the time to actually key in the press items as well as include direct links.

Contact us. Provide your e-mail, phone number, and office address, if you have one.

Other cool features include online ordering, a map with a truck locator, and images of your menu items.

You’ll want to work with a web design company or an individual to build your site. I suggest spending no more than $5,000 to build your website, though it should be possible to get a quality job done for less than half that amount.

Twitter

Your Twitter account will be the lifeblood of driving customers to your truck. The social networking and micro-blogging site is the main way your customers/followers will locate your truck.

Definition

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables users to send and read text-based posts, known as tweets, of up to 140 characters.

To get started, you need to create a Twitter account for your truck. The account name should be as short as possible while making it clear exactly who you are. For example, the Kogi truck’s Twitter is @kogibbq; Wafels & Dinges’s is @waffletruck.

Building followers takes time, but you can start by inviting your friends and family to sign up for your tweets. Do everything you can to make every customer a follower; you should include a link to your Twitter account on your website, truck, and materials such as napkins and menus.

Tip

The language you use when communicating with customers on Twitter is key. If you’re trying to be a hip downtown brand, you need to speak a hip downtown language, slang and all. Instead of saying “the meatball truck will be on Houston St. at 5 p.m.” you might say “The meatball truck is rolling into SOHO round 5ish, corner of Houston & West Broadway. Get hungry.” Be yourself, speaking the way you would to your friends, and your customers will become both followers and friends.

Your tweets shouldn’t only be about your location. Be sure to tweet about funny things that happen on the truck, new menu items, family news—all of these things will help to create interest in the day-to-day happenings of your business. You want to start a dialogue with your customers. If everything goes right, you’ll begin to notice tweets from your customers, like “craving a taco from @kogibbq” or “going to get a Belgian waffle with whipped cream from @waffletruck.” Not only is it great to hear; it will create action and drive other customers to you because all their followers can see it and click through to check out your truck.

Once you’re operating, you should post on Twitter a minimum of three or four times a day. More than that is good, as long as you’re saying things that mean something. Customers will tire of your tweets if they’re repetitive, so keep them brief and pertinent to your truck. The last thing you want to do is bombard your followers with boring tweets so they end up ignoring you.

Some trucks, such as the Fojol Bros. of Merlindia, create games using their Twitter account to attract customers. Trucks in Washington, D.C., aren’t allowed to park unless there’s already a line of people waiting for them, so they entice people to line up and do crazy dances before they’ll park and start serving. Establishing games, customer rewards, or discounts through Twitter is a great way to further involve your customers in the experience of your truck.

Facebook and Foursquare

Facebook and Foursquare are also important marketing tools for your truck, though not as pertinent as Twitter.

Because you’re a business, you need to establish a Facebook fan page. You gain Facebook fans through the same techniques that you use to attract Twitter followers. If you link your fan page to your Twitter account, your tweets will automatically repost there.

Definition

A fan page is a page on Facebook dedicated to promoting a commercial interest such as a business or celebrity.

Foursquare is a location-based social networking site. People “check in” at different locations using their mobile device, earning points when they do. You should link your Foursquare account to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

You can use Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare to create a powerful virtual conversation about your truck, so much so that when people talk it spreads like wildfire. The key to success is making sure everyone’s saying good things. If you handle things right, going to your truck will become as much about eating there as it is about creating a social happening to share with your friends, an important step in making your truck a success.

Planning a Launch Event

Now that you’ve established your virtual storefront and built the most awesome truck ever, it’s time to begin planning a launch event. That sounds like fun, doesn’t it? This is what you’ve always dreamed about—you and your staff getting saluted by all your friends and hanging with celebrities, all while chowing down on Grandma’s famous meatballs.

Not so quick.

Your launch event is a marketing tool, not a vanity fest. And keep in mind that first impressions are usually the most important.

The goal of the launch of your truck is to make a splash in the local food press and start the buzz among your core clientele. My recommendation is to do two openings: one for press/core clients and the second for the public.

The press event should take place in a scenic location where you can park without a problem. Plan on two hours, providing free food and drinks. Try to hire a local public relations agency for as little money as possible. Their job is to write a press release and invite the most important members of the local press to the opening. Then invite 50 of your closest friends, the ones who love and support you the most; you’ll need their encouragement now more than ever. People with complimentary things to say to the press always help at these events.

Your food and service must be absolutely perfect for this event. If you have to bring on extra staff to make sure you have no problems, delays, or excuses, do it. You won’t be cooking or serving at this event; you’ll be speaking to the press and your guests, telling them all the reasons why your truck is special. You should prepare two or three stories you think would interest the press beforehand—how you source your one-of-a-kind meat from a butcher you’ve known since you were a kid, or that your truck is the first to ever have a special pizza oven on board. Get creative and be sure to make the most of this opportunity. You’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Your public event should be focused on driving sales. After your press event is complete, you want to announce when you will be open to the public. In conjunction with the announcement, you should create a call to action—something that inspires customers to take action when they hear you’re going to be opening. Maybe this is live entertainment or complimentary food to your first 100 customers. Whatever it is, it should attract crowds to your truck from day one. Launch this promotion with an event during a time period you know is going to be busy, and cast your new product in the best possible light. This should get your business rolling, generate some cash, and pique people’s interest right from the beginning. One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received is to “throw everything you have at an opening.” You never want to hold back when introducing your product, so use everything in your arsenal to drive interest and get the buzz going.

Tip

Don’t forget to have business cards on hand. From your opening party through the first six months of operations, no one should leave your truck without your business card in hand. In exchange, you should get their e-mail address or phone number. Within 24 hours of their visit to your truck they should receive a thank-you e-mail from you. This type of personal touch will go a long way toward creating goodwill for you and your business.

Reaching Out to Bloggers

Food trucks are different than restaurants, and food bloggers aren’t the same as traditional restaurant reviewers. Why? Food bloggers can say anything they want—and they will. Anyone from the most popular food writer to your neighbor can have their very own food blog.

In a way, food blogs are to writing what food trucks are to restaurants. Culturally, they go hand-in-hand. Someone who loves to write and loves food can start a food blog; someone who loves to cook and loves food can start a food truck. Technology and ingenuity have lowered the barrier to entry more than ever before. If the food bloggers love you, it’s a blessing for your truck, but if they don’t, you’d better watch out. You need to put the percentages in your favor and play nice with them from the beginning.

The first thing you should do is reach out to local bloggers personally. They’re anti-establishment, so as much as a PR firm can help, you personally reaching out to local bloggers to represent your truck is always a plus with them. You should be able to find the writer or editor’s e-mail address on the main page of most blogs. Next, I would do everything in my power to have them sample your food prior to your launch. Ask for their feedback on the product. If they love it, that’s great. If they think it can be improved, then improve it. The key here is that you’re getting them vested in your success.

Now invite those bloggers to your private opening event. Even better, get them to invite their readers to it. And if you can, offer their readers a benefit when dining at your truck, like a free cookie or a soda with their order. Anything you can do to get the readers to be part of your army of supporters is great. The people who write and read about food do so because they’re passionate about it. It’s in your best interest to get them on your team, because they’ll tell everyone they know how much they love your product. And it definitely doesn’t hurt to shout them out on Twitter. A little love goes a long way.

Beep! Beep!

If a blogger writes negative things about you, ignore them. Engaging them in a fight adds attention and validity to their claims. Blogs are trying to gain readership; the less you do to help that cause, the less important you are to them. And never forget, you’d have much bigger problems if people weren’t writing about you at all.

Working with the Mainstream Press

You aren’t in this business to have just any truck; you want to have the truck. The next Kogi! If you’ve played your cards right, you have a great website, had an awesome opening, and the blogosphere is buzzing almost as much as your Twitter feed. But how do you get the attention of your local news? Magazines? Newspapers?

After you reach out to the bloggers, your next step is to go after the mainstream press. For food trucks, bloggers are the necessity, while mainstream press is a luxury. PR firms can help, but PR firms are only as good as what you give them to work with. You need to come up with the great ideas that will attract attention and make your truck special. The way to get to the mainstream press is to do everything in your power to establish great relationships with writers. Once you have these relationships, focus all your efforts on pitching them one great idea.

Reaching out to writers is as easy as surfing the Internet. All writers have their information online, and most can be reached through the website of their publications. Despite your trepidations, the truth is that writers need things to write about to make a living. They’re always looking for good stories to fill the pages of their publications.

What you need to do is to become an insider. You need to invite writers to your truck to become friendly with them. Park outside their publication’s building every Wednesday and bring them lunch. Make them aware that you exist and are a quality vendor. It’s amazing what people will do for you when you’re genuinely nice to them.

Then you have to do your part. You need to come up with your big idea, the thing that makes you and your truck so interesting and special. What about the creation of a special menu item like a $100 ice-cream sundae with gold leaf and the rarest cocoa nibs in the world, or celebrating your 10,000th meatball sold by creating the biggest meatball ever? You could campaign to have your chicken wings declared the best in the state, or maybe you could take a page out of the Nathan’s book and hold an annual hot dog–eating contest. The key is to do something bold that accentuates you and your product. After all, there’s no point in having a hot dog–eating contest if you sell pizza.

Remain focused on one thing and scream only when people are listening. Whatever idea you choose, stick with it. Make it your signature and don’t give up until you’ve pitched it to every writer in the county. And don’t forget that timing is everything. It doesn’t make sense to try to get attention for your product during the Super Bowl. That’s when the big advertisers are spending every dollar they can to maximize the attention they’re getting. Look for opportunities when the news cycle is slow or complementary to your product. For instance, Cinco de Mayo would be a great time to launch a special taco for your taco truck. That’s when the press is looking to write about other things related to Mexican American culture.

Tip

Your job with mainstream press is to recognize opportunities and make the most of them.

Treating Every Day As an Event

I’m sure you’ve realized by now that there’s always going to be something to do; some aspect of your truck business to perfect. It’s going to take many days and nights of hard work for your truck to become a well-oiled machine. It would be very easy to start getting lazy, just doing the same thing over and over again. But that’s not an option.

Your energy and passion needs to be infectious to ignite the fire in your staff and customers. You need to make every day on your truck an event. Every day has to be special. You and your staff have to be motivated to become better than the day before every single day. Whose job is it to make that a reality? You and only you.

In order to make every day an event you need to add little things to the truck experience that change every time a customer visits. Maybe Tuesday is fried chicken day, the only day you serve your special recipe. Wednesday you offer free lunch to the first 20 people who reply on Twitter, and at the end of the week you have a DJ play outside your truck to celebrate the coming weekend.

To make this a reality, you need to apply yourself to create great programming. Take the time to sit with your staff and think of ways to make every day special. Get a calendar and don’t put it down until you schedule something different for each day. Create customized promotions that will set your truck apart from the competition, and dedicate yourself to executing them every week.

Making Social Media Your Friend

After you’ve decided on your programming and promotions, you need to utilize your website and social networking tools to promote these happenings to your customer base. If not, you’re the tree that falls in the woods: It made a noise, but no one heard it. You need to activate all your promotions through these tools. They’ll be the impetus for creating chatter and dialogue on your Twitter feed and Facebook page. And this chatter is what leads to customers eating at your truck.

Bloggers should receive news of your promotions in advance of their release on your Twitter. This is because press outlets will provide you more exposure for the promotion, but will only publish it if the info hasn’t been released elsewhere. If they choose to release it on their blog, I advocate making people sign up to follow you on Twitter in order to redeem specials and promotions. By doing this you will gain direct access to the blog’s readers and become less dependent on their coverage over time. Even if the blog passes on including the information, you’ve still established good will by offering it to them. The bottom line is that you must be strategic when utilizing your social networking tools, website, press, and e-mail database to disseminate information on your promotions, thereby maximizing your return on investment.

Beep! Beep!

Only speak when you have something to say. Social networking, e-mail lists, websites, and press contacts are great, but only if they’re used with respect. Be mindful of how often you’re sending out messages and what you’re saying when you do. If you don’t use them with care, people will tune you out. Then your assets aren’t worth anything.

Creating Strong Product and Personal Relationships

The world seems to get more impersonal every day. Products are mass produced and less artisanal. The revolution in the food truck business is a reaction to these factors. Your job as a food truck operator is to break through; make everything about your business personal. Know every customer’s personal preferences and ask about their lives. Get them invested in your success by sharing your passion. Your product needs to be as personal as your relationships. The way it’s prepared needs to mean something to you. The ingredients you use must be ones you personally choose. Most of all, your feed has to taste great, every single time.

Why am I saying this in a chapter on marketing? It’s because all the marketing in the world won’t get you anywhere if you aren’t giving your customers a great product and experience. Remember the importance of experiential follow through in creating a grand brand: promise your customers something great to get them to the truck and deliver something even better to keep them coming back.

The Least You Need to Know