What I learned about marketing from Taylor Swift

Unless you live in a box, you know who Taylor Swift is.  She is a modern pop icon with a prolific catalogue of classic pop albums, with the crown jewel being her 2014 album “1989.”  Her songs are catchy earworms that work their way into your subconscious and tap into your heart with a timeless, witty lyricism that tugs on your experiences in life. Oh, and she recently released a new record.  Did you know about that?

Of course you did.  Taylor Swift is also the most incredibly gifted modern marketer and businesswoman the world has possibly ever seen, at least since the golden age of Madonna in the 1980s.

Taylor Swift could lead a master class in modern marketing.  She has expertise that most brands would love to harness — and they can, if they simply pay attention to what she does and how she does it.  There are clear and simple things Taylor does that any marketer can learn from:

Maintain a brand steeped in authenticity

Through her entire career, T Swift has been nothing if not authentic.  She has evolved in the same way that any young person evolves, but she is open and honest about that evolution, wearing her heart on her sleeve and her feelings in her lyrics.

Brands evolve in a similar way, hopefully taking their audience along with them.  Big brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi and even Nike will evolve their logos and their products to match the needs of their customers.   Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don’t, but they take steps in a direction, listen and respond, and do so authentically.

Being authentic means you aren’t afraid to make a mistake and own it.  Taylor fans are maniacal and hang on her every word because they relate to her experiences.  Brands may not have the same level of passion in their fan base, but can inspire the same level of loyalty when they do it right.

Master your social media

This is where Taylor has succeeded more than any other artist.  She uses social media to connect and engage.  She hides Easter eggs that encourage deeper analysis from her fans.  She reaches out and shares what she feels, and even engages directly with fans when the moment presents itself.

Social media is best when it provides a one-to-one connection.  It doesn’t mean you need to run contests and surveys.  It doesn’t mean you self-promote your brand all the time.  It means you watch and listen to what your fans are saying and doing, you engage with them, and become part of the conversation.  You monitor the conversation so you can be part of it, not just the instigator.

Explore the art of the product rollout

Taylor has done it all.  She has executed rollouts with extended build-up.  She has surprise dropped records.  She has led with a single.  She has gone with no single.  She has dropped two albums within hours of one another.  She has tried it all, and it all keeps the market on its toes.

Brands need to do the same.  You should always have a product roadmap handy so you know what you will be releasing down the line, but you should vary how you bring those products to market.  Sometimes you need an extended rollout, with wait lists and sign-up forms.  Sometimes you do an exclusive with a journalist and drop it all at once.   Sometimes you don’t announce anything until the day of, and then push it to market.

Community empowerment and experiential engagement

This is more than social media. This is how you encourage your fans and loyalists to act on behalf of the brand and engage in community. For Taylor, it’s how she engages her fans at her concerts and empowers them to engage with each other. They dress up. They hold listening parties. They make her concerts into extended trips to experience cities they never visited before.

Brands can do this as well, and some great examples can be seen at tailgate parties for food and snack brands, with brands empowering their fans to have fun.

You see the same thing in wellness and fitness circles as well, with brands that engage these communities with sponsored races and such.

Data-driven insights

Taylor knows her audience inside and out.  She provides specific merch to them based on cities, and even what she reads in fan groups.

Brands can do the same, and with significantly more data at their fingertips.   The digital landscape provides so many signals about your fans, and is there if you know how to use it.

Taylor has many years to go in her career, and her longevity might be her most incredible legacy.  Any brand can only hope to have the length and depth of that career.  If you pay attention to how she does what she does, you just might, too!