Next Monday is April 8 – Eclipse Day. If you live in the total eclipse zone, you will have a few minutes of total darkness as the moon passes in front of the sun. Where I live, that is supposed to last 3 minutes and 27 seconds. I am told to expect a large crowd of people to arrive to witness those few minutes of darkness. Special viewing areas (the rest of the year we call them parking lots) are open to view the event for a price. Viewing glasses are being sold by the dozens. So are T-shirts, jewelry, drinkware, coasters, belt buckles and anything you can attach an image of the moon covering the sun. I went into a restaurant this past weekend to find they were selling eclipse sundaes (an Oreo cookie sitting next to a scoop of ice cream).

There are several marketing lessons you can learn from this total solar eclipse and the way people are responding to it. Why is the eclipse such a big deal? It gets dark for several hours every night. Why is this 3.5 minutes of darkness so important? For one, it doesn’t happen often. It is a rarity. Anytime you have an extraordinary event, you will create intrigue and that curiosity is a very important part of marketing. Here is the first lesson you can learn about marketing from the total solar eclipse: anytime you can tie your brand to a captivating event, you should do so. The uncommon event will attract people to itself and you can ride its coattails to draw attention to your brand.

The solar eclipse also illustrates another aspect of human behavior: the fear of being left out. It plays up an old marketing device called the bandwagon technique. It states that everyone is taking part in this event and you will feel left out if you don’t get onboard. It is human nature to want to be included. There is something in our psyche that causes us to feel good when we are included and very bad when we are left out. The bandwagon technique entices people to join in with the crowd or be left behind. This is particularly effective when you have a single event with a hard deadline. On April 8 I will pay a premium price to get a total eclipse T-shirt. On April 9, they will be on sale for 80 percent off because the day after the event will be too late. Good marketing is about great timing.

Some think that the moon influences mood and that a full moon, in particular, brings out a little crazy in people. Lunar is the root of the word "lunacy.” Some believe that an eclipse is the ultimate mood-altering celestial event. There is no scientific evidence this is true, but count on such philosophical heavyweights as Aristotle to believe it. In any case, marketing works best when it makes people feel better by buying your brand. People buy things to make them happy and happy people buy more things. Effective marketing reads the mood of the marketplace. It either solves a problem for the consumer (making them happy) or pleases them (making them happier). Your marketing is most effective when it reads the mood of the market.

Eclipse Day is right around the corner. Learn a marketing lesson from the aligning of the sun and the moon.