By Matt Plapp
This article marks the 26th I’ve written for PMQ, so I figured it’s time to circle back to where it all started: helping pizzerias build the ultimate restaurant marketing plan. Except that I want to make one significant change: We’re now calling it your pizzeria’s Monthly Attention Plan.
In 2025 and beyond, we live in an attention society. Having amazing food and service is no longer all it takes to thrive; you must live rent-free in your customers’ minds, which requires constantly gaining their attention.
What’s a Monthly Attention Plan?
It’s simple: A Monthly Attention Plan is a one-page document you use every month to guide your marketing efforts. Most restaurant marketing is a guessing game. But when you implement the ABR Monthly Attention Plan, you will stop hoping and praying—and start aiming and expecting.
Related: How One Operator Turned $500,000 in Annual Sales Into $5 Million at His Family’s Shop
The ABR Attention Plan is built around the three commandments of ABR: Attract, Build, Retain. The goals are:
- Attract Attention
- Build A Database
- Retain Your Customers
It starts here if you want predictable sales, a stronger brand, and a loyal army of raving fans—that’s when you must implement the three commandments of ABR. Click here to download the document and get started.
The 3 Commandments of ABR
1. Attract = Attract Attention From Customers Who Should Be Dining at Your Restaurant Every Week!
The goal of all marketing is to gain the attention of people who can spend money in your business. Whether it’s in-store or online, you have to dominate your customers’ attention. One major issue, though, is that many of you are renting your customers’ attention.
What I mean by renting is that you don’t own the opportunity to get their attention. If you’re posting on Facebook, that could go away at any point. If you’re buying radio, direct mail or TV, then you’re renting that company’s list of customers. My goal is to teach you to use all of the attention you gain to build a database—a database you own.
Whether it’s the sign in your restaurant, a Facebook post or a direct mail piece, the goal should be to build.
2. Build = Build a Database From the Attention You Gain
If you owned a pizzeria in 1995, then 99% of your attention came from paid marketing; that was your only choice. Thirty years later, it’s the opposite. In 2025, the best place to gain attention is the 2½” billboard we are all glued to: our phones. And, for the most part, reaching customers there is free or cheap.
The issue arises when you don’t own your customers’ data. You must have a robust email, text, Messenger and retargeting audience. When customers interact with your marketing in-store, online and through social media, the No. 1 goal should be to get them to engage so that you can gain their contact information.
Your goal is to convert casual visitors into loyal insiders by collecting:
- Name
- Phone
- Birthday
- Visit Frequency
Gaining the info above is 100 times easier than you realize, and it’s what you must have to advance to the next commandment, Retain.
3. Retain Your Customers by Retaining Their Attention
Research has proven that it’s much easier and cheaper to retain costumes than to constantly find new ones. But retaining your customers’ attention depends on knowing who they are—which means having a solid database to use to reach out to them, on your terms.
Use that database to drive repeat visits and increase check averages. There are four ways to increase your sales:
- Find new customers.
- Bring back lost customers.
- Get your customers to spend more when they visit.
- Get your customers to visit more often.
The last three are 100% a product of retaining their attention. This is where the money is made. The old saying “the fortune is in the follow-up” applies to retaining your customers’ business, which only happens when you have a way to easily reach out to them on demand.
In Commandment 2, Build, I mentioned “retargeting audience” as part of building a database. When customers engage with your content and website, you can create a custom audience with that data on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Google. This is a great way to reach back out to a warm audience with the goal of retaining their hard-earned dollars.
Your Next Move: Download the Monthly Attention Plan
Step 1: Fill out the top of the Attention Plan with your current attention metrics.
Step 2: Plan your weekly promos.
Step 3: Create your weekly content plan.
Step 4: Review your tech stack to see what’s missing to help you do everything above.
The Final Word
This isn’t theory. It’s what we do for 2,500-plus restaurants nationwide at America’s Best Restaurants. In summary:
Attract the right people.
Build a database that grows daily.
Retain them with professional marketing.
Run this playbook, and watch your restaurant get dangerous—in the best way possible.
My name is Matt Plapp. I’m the CEO (chief energy officer) of America’s Best Restaurants. I’ve worked with thousands of restaurants since 2008 when I started this company, and over the next 12 months, we will help 2,500-plus restaurants with their marketing. This is the latest article in a new weekly column for PMQ to help restaurant owners understand the gold mine we have to market in 2025—and beyond.
