Marketing for Lunch Wagons

Ahh the illustrious roach coach… The roach coach no longer.  Instead lunch wagons are starting to produce fabulous foods in a kitchen space at least half as big as a professional kitchen and with half the amenities.  Their low costs make them a perfect way to try out wonderful food without needing 90 minutes to sit down or an outsized monthly food budget.  Some lunch wagons have a loyal following where customers travel to the days location.  Given the following lunch wagons are starting to attract, it makes sense to talk about marketing and how lunch wagons can use some of these tools to build their following.

Your Lunch Wagon Website

Yes, having a website these days is essential, even more so if you have an ever changing location, menu or weekly, monthly or seasonal specials.  Not only are the yellow pages dying, but given the mobile nature of your business it wouldn’t do you much good anyway.  I always tell businesses that your website acts as your marketing hub.  Social Media sites come and go in popularity, but your website is the one thing that stays constant.  It also gives you the most control over the message to your buyers.  From there, you can expand your marketing to the platforms that work right for you and your customer base including:

• Email Marketing
• Social Media Sites
• TXT/SMS Marketing

The Right Website for Lunch Wagon Marketing

Because of the mobile nature of your business, as you can imagine, having a website that shows up well on mobile phones and tablets is key.  That means avoiding flash websites since they will not work on iPhones and iPads.  Given how competitive the lunch wagon industry is becoming, a platform that is SEO optimized is just as important.  Finally, you want it easy to use and update.

WordPress

WordPress is the perfect platform for lunch wagon marketing.  Outside of e-ecommerce it is the platform I put almost all my clients on.  Don’t be tempted by some of the other platforms out there, if you run a lunch wagon, then WordPress works best for your business.  Here is why:

• Plenty of templates to customize look and feel
• Easily connects with multiple email marketing platforms
• Easily connects with social media platforms to automate postings
• SEO optimized to ensure people are finding you when they are looking for food.
• Plenty of plugins to make it do what you want including mobile plugins that convert your site
• Lightweight and easy to update.  There is a good possibility you will be updating from a mobile internet connection.  Wordpress is easy for your iPad to handle and if you really know the system, you can do new posts just by emailing them to your site.

Email Marketing for Lunch Wagons

While many people say email is dead, in reality it works perfect for lunch wagon marketing.  There are multiple platforms that allow people to sign up for your list to be notified of specials, location or even events you will be working.  Can you imagine timing your email to land in your customers email at 10:55 or 11:30, right before lunch?  I suggest looking at Aweber since they have a $1 trial and they have great food templates.  You can find information below.

Social Media for Lunch Wagons

Yes, it still works, especially for lunch wagon marketing.   Whether it be for notification or promotion, each platform can be a very effective marketing platform.

• Twitter:  Works great to notify people of your location, specials, or link to the menu on your website.
• Facebook:  Run contests, provide coupons or encourage your customers to share your food.

Mobile and TXT Marketing for Lunch Wagons

One of the most inexpensive lunch wagon marketing platforms you can use is TXT and SMS marketing.  Imagine sending a TXT message right as lunch time approaches.  You can also do special promotions, coupons and contests to engage your customers.  Given that 98% off all text messages are read, you can be assured customers are getting your messages.

Don’t be fooled though.  Some marketing companies will try and persuade you that you can use Twitter for this.  You can, theoretically, but it is no where near effective.  A true TXT/SMS platform will guarantee that the TXT message lands on their phone exactly when you want it to.  Also, since many of your Twitter followers might follow several hundred or thousand accounts, getting through the noise can be difficult.

Start now Marketing your Lunch Wagon

Are you collecting emails and business cards?  Here in Hawaii they have Eat the Street once a month where all the food trucks come together in one parking lot.  This is the perfect area to start.  Confused about the options available to you?  Give us a call.  We are more then happy to provide you an initial consultation.