3 Online Marketing Lesson Learned From Today’s Solar Eclipse

Being the geek that I am, I was out in my driveway today configuring my GoPro to catch the "Great American Solar Eclipse."  The resulting video is here below.  My time lapse video is there for the world see.  (Note:  It's not very good.)

When it was over, I had a few "Ah-hahs" that I wanted to share with you.  They enforced onlne marketing lessons I know to be true that stand in the way from us succeeding.   It reinforces what I know to be true in my e-learning membership website and online marketing business.

Here they are.

Lesson 1: When You Get Someone's Attention, Make Sure to Deliver

They called it the "Great American Solar Eclipse."   It's been covered for weeks on the news.  It's been the topic of conversation.  Viewing glasses have flown off the shelves.  It's been quite the "big deal."

I was out in my yard today setting up my camera making sure not to look up.  (Is it really that dangerous?) I carefully took some pics with phone and GoPro-ed a time lapse video of it.

The event definitely caught my attention, but now that I review my video and look over my pictures, I'm kind of bummed.  In neither my video or pictures can you really tell there was a solar eclipse.  Miami is outside the area experiencing a full eclipse, but I expected a least little darkness and...and...and...something?

If I hadn't heard it on the news, today would have been another day when I wouldn't have looked up at the sun.  I did get some fresh air and plenty of heat (August in Miami), but other than that it was non-event.

Getting anyone's attention is so difficult.  Getting people to break away from all the noise can be next to impossible.   There is so much fighting for our attention.

When you do get that attention, you cannot fall short.  You must be ready to cash in on it.  Be prepared.  If you think it was tough getting their attention the first time, wait until you try a second after having failed the first time.

Lesson 2: The Right Message is Caught by the Most Interested

I was somewhat interested in the eclipse, but I grew up wanting to be an astronaut. Reading books on space exploration, the planets and the solar system was my thing.

I saw on Facebook that a past co-worker traveled to northern Georgia to take in the experience. He was VERY interested and dedicated plenty of time and money to this.

My wife and daughter's response was, "Is that today?"

For a marketer like me, this is a good thing.  People selectively listen to messages that fit their interests.  My daughter will miss the eclipse but won't miss a message on the Miami food scene.  That's her thing.

My wife and fashion are tight.  I wouldn't catch a conflicting plaid shirt and pant combination. She's well in tune with messages in that space.

Your interests are like your radio dial.  It's set to a specific station at a specific frequency.  So if you the marketer know the frequency to your interested audience listens to, you make the connection.

Just as importantly, your message should intentionally push away listeners that aren't interested.  The right message will do just that.

Lesson 3: Sometime You Learn Things Unexpectedly

I searched online and found suggestions for filming the eclipse.  It suggested time lapse so here was my chance to try a feature I had never used before.

As you can see in the video below, I took a pretty nice time lapse video.  You can see the sun moving across the sky with the palm trees flapping in the wind.  The palms gave some nice perspective which wouldn't have been the case had I just aimed it at the sky.

The sun is bright and we didn't get the full eclipse here in Miami so you can't make out the moon as it covers the sun.  Some upgraded equipment may be what I needed.

My loss here was nothing major.  I'm not a videographer with expensive equipment that was planning to sell my work.  I did learn how to use this new camera and video editing features I didn't have before.  This could be a lesson that comes in useful for a future project I take on.

So I've learned that as I take on new challenges, I should make sure an minimize the downside of any mistakes I may encounter and I keep myself open to the learning all the time.  The point is that in doing there is learning that's going to happen whether you hit your original target or not.