It was announced today that a Phoenix-area restaurant has added a burger to their menu made out of lion meat. Reportedly this meat comes from lions raised on a farm in Illinois, which is legal, but nevertheless the announcement of these new lion burgers has caused some controversy.
And a lot of online awareness.
The restaurant, Il Vinaio, is a popular restaurant in the Phoenix area and has received many positive reviews on online sites. The news of these burgers has thrust the restaurant into the spotlight - both positively and negatively.
But what does this have to do with small business? Everything.
The kind of reaction seen around the web because of these lion meat burgers is exactly the kind of reaction you want to see in any of your small business marketing campaigns. You want to be picked up by online news sites. You want to be linked to from hundreds of blog posts. You want to be mentioned constantly on Twitter and other social sites.
This is also a clue to you, showing you that controversy can draw a great deal of traffic to your site, as well as increase your inbound links and build awareness about your small business and product offering.
And while there are people angry about the use of lion meat in these burgers, there are many other people who are intrigued enough to travel to that restaurant and try one, as well as many other delicious items on the menu.
Take this as a hint for your small business marketing campaigns in Phoenix. To increase your traffic, links and awareness immediately, find something outrageous, unique and interesting to market. Find your lion meat burger.
Comments
You disgust me.
Please realize there is a world outside of what's trendy, lion meat burgers is not something you can provide ethically.
You are just another American sheeple. Insignificant and stupid.
I really hope this is sarcasm.
I remember when Minute Maid co-opted the song "You Are The Sunshine of My Life" for their commercials. To this day, I cannot listen to the song without hearing the words "Minute Maid" in my head when listening to this song. Good marketing? Absolutely not! I remain so ticked at them for ruining what was really a very nice song that some 20 years later, I refuse to buy any Minute Maid product. They have lost a customer for life just as this restaurant will. In my opinion, ticking off your customers, even potential ones, isn't the smartest move.
Libby, I'm not trying to argue the ethicality of a lion meat burger. What I'm explaining here is that is there is controversy around a news event, a story, an opinion or a blog post, the attention you can drive to your brand is big. These types of controversial content increases engagement, awareness, inbound links and traffic to the content in question. And by leaving your comment, you are actually helping to make my point, so thank you for your comment.
Amaroque - I appreciate your comment. It is true that sometimes marketing campaigns can change the meaning of great saying, quotes and songs for all of us. For me, it's the 5 dollar footlong song from Subway. I don't go there anymore mainly because the jingle bothers me. And I do think that this restaurant may experience some negative backlash from certain people, but I think others will be interested to at least check them out. Also, their release of this burger wasn't so much a marketing plan as it was just an addition to their menu that got a lot of attention.
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