Every 100 years or so, we in the United States witness an awesome spectacle, a Total Solar Eclipse. I’m a bit of an Astronomy geek and have always looked up at the sky in wonder. I was a bit surprised this year by the negative comments about the solar eclipse being a disappointment. Even my friend, fellow nerd, Tony Rubleski was not impressed by this true wonder of nature!
What is a Solar Eclipse?
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is larger than the Sun’s, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth’s surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometers wide. – Source, Wikipedia.org
The Eclipse Was a Disappointment (or was it)
I was puzzled by the all the negativity about the eclipse because I experienced the eclipse through special solar eclipse glasses and found the sight amazing! I even fashioned an old-school viewer out of two pieces of cardboard with a pin-hole to see the eclipse without damaging my eyes (I know, I’m a geek!)
I concluded the nay-sayers did not experience the same eclipse that I did because of three things; lack of information, location, and proper equipment. It then occurred to me that the solar eclipse is a lot like your marketing message, so here are …
Three Marketing Lessons in from the Solar Eclipse of 2017
-
- Your message is not for everyone. Not everyone is a solar eclipse nerd like I am, and neither are your potential prospects. Not everyone needs your product or service and are not interested in you. Get over it! The purpose of marketing is to clearly articulate the benefit of product or service to a specific prospect at the right time, place and in the proper sequence. Eclipse viewers may have been interested in witnessing the eclipse but it may not have been the right time, or location to view it optimally. In a similar way, your prospects may not be at the right point in the buying cycle to purchase your product, they may need more information to move them along in the buying cycle.
- Sometimes you need to educate your prospect. When I asked nay-sayers how they viewed the eclipse, some said they looked at it directly (bad idea,) many tried using their phone’s camera to view the blinding sun, to no avail. Other, more informed viewers, used the cardboard and pin-hole method like I did with ho-hum results. Your prospects may also be in-need of more information to decide to purchase or take the next step. This is where an informative blog, article, video or infographic can help educate your prospect.
- Too much information to consume and short attention spans. Even though there was a ton of good information available about viewing the solar eclipse, not everyone paid attention to the plethora of information available or could discern the good from the bad information and become well-informed. Too much information, combined with the distractions from thousands of marketing messages, self-talk and digital devices made it even more difficult. Your marketing messages are competing with the same problem, too much information, bad information and digital distractions make your job even tougher to get your prospect’s attention. Clearly laid out information, consistent and persistent follow-up, and multiple modes of communication rule the day to break through the attention barrier. In addition, referrals aid in getting attention. I could not find eclipse glasses, as they were all sold out, however, some co-workers shared their glasses and we were all able to experience the eclipse with much better results.
There you have it, three marketing lessons from the solar eclipse of 2017. I am interested in your experience; did you find the eclipse boring or did you view it with wonder and amazement like I did?