Popmenu Content Marketing Case Study: 3x Organic Leads & 2x Traffic

Case Study Summary

Optimist worked with Popmenu after they raised their Series C to help define and jumpstart their content marketing strategy. We helped them build authority within the notoriously difficult and fragemented restaurant space and 3x their pipeline.

Engagement: Post–Series C
Industry: Restaurant technology
Outcome: 3x increase in sales pipeline
Outcome: 2x increase in organic traffic

Popmenu is a restaurant technology platform offering a broad suite of tools for restaurant operators and franchise owners. After raising its Series C, the company engaged Optimist to help accelerate growth and establish itself as a credible, authoritative voice in a competitive restaurant tech market.

The goal was not just more traffic but pipeline growth and category credibility.

Problem

Popmenu faced several challenges common to fast-scaling vertical SaaS companies:

A broad product offering that was difficult to communicate coherently
Limited organic visibility relative to more established players
Need to build trust with restaurant operators making high-stakes decisions
Increased competition and market noise in the post-COVID restaurant landscape

They needed a strategy that could simultaneously drive demand and establish legitimacy.

Solution

We built a multi-pronged content and authority strategy anchored in Popmenu’s product capabilities and the realities of modern restaurant operations.

Collage of content created for Popmenu by Optimist.

Feature-Led Content Architecture

Conducted a full teardown of Popmenu’s platform and feature set
Used each core feature as a pillar for topic clusters
Built targeted content for:
- Restaurant operators
- Multi-location and franchise owners
Aligned content tightly to real operational decisions and pain points

Authority & Credibility Building

Complemented SEO-driven content with PR and link-building efforts
Focused on increasing Popmenu’s visibility and trust within the industry
Positioned Popmenu as a source of insight on:
- Restaurant trends
- Operational changes post-COVID
- Strategic decisions required to scale successfully

Industry-Publication Mindset

Treated the Popmenu blog as more than a marketing channel
Built it as a destination for timely, high-value industry coverage
Balanced tactical guidance with broader thought leadership

Outcomes

3× increase in sales pipeline
2× growth in organic traffic
Improved keyword coverage across core restaurant technology topics
Increased credibility with operators and franchise decision-makers
A blog that functioned as an industry publication for restauranteurs

Tyler Hakes

Tyler is the strategy director and principal at Optimist. He's been helping startups, agencies, and corporate clients achieve growth through strategic content marketing and SEO for nearly 20 years.