Podcast: Embed

Listen in as I interview Matt Plapp of Restaurant Marketing That Works and discover how he eclipsed the illustrious seven-figure barrier! Aside from rocking his niche, he has also helped hundreds of restaurants bolster their revenue in the process. What strategies is he using? How did he land clients? How has he scaled his business? Get a behind-the-scenes look at his marketing success story and start your own.

Outline of This Episode

  • [0:43] How Matt got into the agency world
  • [9:29] How Matt landed in the restaurant world
  • [13:58] What pushed Matt’s business over seven figures?
  • [24:00] How Matt markets for his restaurant clients
  • [29:39] Matt’s new strategy to generate leads with restaurants
  • [43:49] Align with the people that sell to your industry
  • [52:05] How Matt works to retain his clients
  • [57:50] How to connect with Matt Plapp
  • [1:01:22] Invest your time and energy for the long-haul

How Matt markets for his restaurant clients

Matt charges $1,250 a month plus a $500 startup fee (plus ad spend and software). He is in the process of rolling out his own software so clients can own their own data. They’ve got people seeing their concept online (on Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc.) so they work to acquire people’s information (name, phone number, email address, and birthday).

Before COVID hit, they were focused on digital marketing, software, and tools for clients. The goal was always to get people to opt-in to an email/text birthday program. But Matt realized that no one was using the data they were giving them. One of the restaurants had 18,000+ emails/phone numbers and they never emailed or texted that list a single time.

So how did they switch gears? He asked his team to help their clients whenever they could with anything they could—with Facebook, Instagram, text marketing, etc. A client called him crying, sharing that he was up 18% because of their team. Now his customers are sending emails and texts consistently. When people started reopening, they shifted to content. He has 40 people on his team and most are creating content.

They do a combination of running Facebook ads, database management, and engagement for $1,200 a month. They help with social media, their in-store presence, and their website.

How Matt works to retain his clients

When COVID hit, the restaurant business was rocked. Matt told his clients he’d work for free until they could pay him—so he kept his clients. He assured his company that their paychecks were secure for at least a year.

Up until 6/1, they only lost 1.98% in revenue. Based on 2020, he should’ve been closer to 30–40% of lost revenue. What does he do differently? Other than the unprecedented working for free, he emphasizes that he has a great team of account managers, offers a great database to clients, and consistently over-delivers.

Matt’s new strategy to generate leads with restaurants

Matt had to think: What’s different? What is no one else doing? He wanted to stand out. So he bought a Mercedes van and wrapped it in his company colors. He goes to a city and has pre-scheduled appointments with different restaurants to feature them on their platform, “America’s Best Restaurants.” Their goal is to hit 15 restaurants a week. By the end of the year, they’ll have four vans running.

They pre-qualify the restaurants before they go to them. In that call, they share what America’s Best Restaurants does. Their goal is to help restaurants to find frequent customers. They also offer their restaurant digital marketing services. He lets them know what the agenda looks like if they agree to go to the restaurant.

Once on-site, they have a five-minute pre-shoot meeting and a 15-minute meeting covering what they’ll film. Then they film the restaurant for 30 minutes and they show the restaurant owner how they can help them with marketing. What is Matt thinking of doing that could remove any possible objection to his services? Listen to find out!

How Matt finds opportunities to align with people in the industry

Matt learned from Russell Brunson’s book “Expert Secrets” that he shouldn’t target the top 100 restaurants. He should go after the top 100 people that work with the restaurants—like Sysco, Performance Food Groups, Presto, US Foods, etc. His then intern, Gabriel, was brought on to come up with a list of anyone who had a podcast or a book in the restaurant space. Matt bought all of the books. His goal is to interview authors and podcasters in the restaurant space. He never sells to them but waits for them to realize what he does—and then they come to him.

What are they launching that’s completely different and unexpected? Listen to find out!

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect with Matt Plapp

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