EPISODE 106 OF THE MARKETING SOLUTIONS PODCAST: 13 REASONS WHY TAYLOR SWIFT IS A MARKETING GENIUS

Sonya:

If you followed me for a while, you know that I'm a bit of a swifty. In fact, over half my team are fans of Miss Swift, and while observing the launch of her latest album, I realized that her pre-launch efforts were an absolute masterclass in marketing. Don't believe me? I'm about to give you 13 reasons why Taylor Swift is a marketing genius. You're welcome. Welcome to the Boom Your Biz Podcast, a podcast for the movers, the shakers, and even bigger action takers in business. I'm your host, Sonya McIntyre-Reid, and each week I'll be exploring the question of what really makes businesses and organizations thrive. I'm on a mission to educate, empower, and inspire business owners and myself along the way.

When you think marketing, you may not automatically think of pop stars, but maybe you should. The music industry is a multi billion dollar industry. And while record labels are the driving force behind the majority of sales, every now and then you come across a really special artist who does things differently. Enter Taylor Swift. In honor of the release of her new album, I'm going to share why I think Taylor Swift is a marketing genius and how you can apply these lessons to your business. And because it's Taylor Swift, I'm giving you 13 examples to consider. If you know, you know. Let's. Get stuck in.

Number one, Taylor Swift knows her brand. Like her or loathe her, Taylor Swift knows exactly who she is and she doesn't try to be anybody else. If you've watched her Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, you know that there are times where she laments not fitting in to unrealistic music industry standards, but that's exactly what makes her stand out. She loves cats. She's a bit goofy and silly. She loves her fans and her fans love her for being unapologetically herself. If you're a service based business, you'll know that the standout businesses in your industry are the ones where you know the people behind them and those people are human.

Number two, Taylor Swift knows her audience. Taylor Swift fans are diehard fans and Taylor knows this. How? Well to put it plainly, she's a lurker. She watches her fans, she interacts with them and she listens. Just a day or two before this podcast was recorded, Taylor Swift won an MTV Award for best video, for a short film, for the 10 minute version of All Too Well. Now the song wasn't a single, it wasn't even considered as a single, but her fans absolutely loved the song and it took on a life of its own. They wanted a video for the song and told her as much, and boy, did she deliver. Is there a product or service that your clients have been asking for? Even if you're not active on TikTok, it's worth having an account on the platform to keep an eye on the leaders in your industry, just know what people are talking about. And most importantly, listen to the clients that you already have. If they want something you're not prepared to offer, they may go elsewhere.

Number three, Taylor Swift creates anticipation. If you're paying attention in the lead up to the release of Midnights, you'll know that swifties were on the edge of their seats waiting for a single from the new album to be released. And while it didn't happen this time, what did happen was that Taylor treated her fans to a snake peek of the album through the release of the track list, one track at a time at midnight on seemingly random days. Nobody knew if or when a single was going to drop. Nobody knew which nights were going to have track announcements. Nobody knew what she was alluding to when she held her phone upside down on some track announcement and not others. The anticipation was palpable and it was very, very clever. If you're releasing a new product, announcing a name change, moving to a new premises, why not create a bit of buzz around it? People love having something to talk about and they love feeling like they're ahead of the pack with the inside goss.

Number four, Taylor Swift has a sense of humor. Now that humor may be self-deprecating at times, but still, in a world where artists can be focused on projecting a certain image out into the world, it's refreshing to see someone being unapologetically themselves. Her song, I Bet You Think About Me, has the lyrics, "When you say, oh my God, she's insane, she wrote a song about me. I bet you think about me." This is a direct reference to how she's been made fun of for writing songs about her ex's. But I mean, if you're making millions with every new release, wouldn't you draw from your own personal experiences too? In marketing, we often see clients not prepared to appear silly, especially when it comes to video. I'm going to let you in a little secret though, if you're having a good time, then you're in on the joke. Nobody's laughing at you if they're laughing with you. Unless you work in an incredibly serious or sensitive industry, why not see what happens if you lighten up a bit?

Number five, Taylor Swift surprises and delights. Just three hours after the release of Midnights, a second album version was released, the 3:00 AM version. This album contained 10 additional tracks that fit seamlessly with the original album. And don't get me started on the mid pandemic release of her Phone Call album, she recorded it secretly, announced it in the morning that she had an album coming out, and by that evening, it was released. Talk about surprise and delight. There are plenty of opportunities to surprise and delight your clients in business, freebies and samples, a special birthday gift or a discount, a referral bonus. The options are only limited to your imagination.

Number six, Taylor Swift rewards loyalty. During the 1989 era, the woman held listening parties with her fans at her house, with cookies she baked herself. And the fans invited to those parties, they were those diehard fans I mentioned earlier. Taylor Swift watches her fans for years. She knows which fans go to multiple shows and buy every version available of her albums. She knows about their lives and she cares. This from the highest selling female artist in history, Beyonce would never. In business, loyalty cards are still a great way to encourage repeat business, as are memberships where subscribers get perks, make it as low or high tech as you like.

Number seven, Taylor Swift has a strong visual identity. From the ball gowns and ringlets she sported in her early years, to her bleachella platinum blonde hair during her Reputation era, do an image search of Taylor Swift and you'll know exactly which album she was recording when each picture was taken. Each album has a visual identity of its own, and she uses imagery cleverly when it comes to teasing which album she'll be re-recording next. And while most businesses can't get away with chopping and changing their look as regularly as Miss Swift, she puts forward a good case for having a strong visual identity for your brand or product.

Number eight, she uses clever copy. Taylor Swift lyrics are quite simply pure poetry. There's no doubt that her storytelling abilities are second to none, but her use of language is just chef's kiss, two very enthusiastic thumbs up over here. She draws on common sayings and images, combines them in ways that are really unexpected, playing with rhythm and tempo as she goes. The lyrics to Antihero, for example, play on the concept of the graveyard shift, meaning late at night, then refers to ghosting of past lovers, something that many of us can relate to, I'm sure. So she's just clever. And as we've seen with plenty of ads that go viral, clever use of language is something that can make you stand out in a crowded industry. If you're not a wordsmith, I would recommend enlisting the help of someone who is, to help bring your brand, your ads, and your copy to life. Just as you should have a visual identity document, it can be helpful to have a tone of voice document, to ensure your brand is consistently communicated through words.

Number nine, Taylor Swift collaborates. Now while her collaboration with Lana del Rey on the new album, left most of us scratching our heads, a member of my team suggested that she hummed on the track because you certainly don't hear her singing. Nine times out of the 10, she gets it really, really right. Collaborations with Ed Sheeran, the lead singers of Snow Patrol and Panic at the Disco and Bon Iver, have introduced her to new audiences and in a way that legitimize the Taylor Swift brand universally. In terms of marketing, we defer all things collaboration to Jess at Collabosaurus, who runs a platform dedicated to the art of collaboration. To listen to my interview with Jess, go back to September, 2020, the basics still ring true today in a post pandemic world.

Number 10, Taylor Swift jumps on trends. Already known for her catchy hooks, she took the, It's Me, Hi, I'm the Problem, It's Me audio grab from her song Antihero and turned it into a TikTok trend. While you might not be a singer, songwriter, you may have audio grabs you can use from interviews, PR videos, and the like, that you can use to create your own TikTok trend. And if you do, make sure you tag me in it, I'd love to see it.

Number 11, Taylor Swift sees opportunities and takes them. If thousands of people were leaving snake emojis on your social media accounts, would you disappear forever, or do you take some time to pull yourself together and write an absolute banger of an album? If you're Taylor Swift, let your work do the talking. You're going to make mistakes, it's up to you whether you play the victim or you own your mistakes and turn them into sales. Resilience is the key to longevity in business.

Number 12, Taylor Swift is not a one trick pony. I honestly believe that one of the secrets to Taylor Swift's success is that she continually evolves her look, her sound, even dipping her toe into acting and directing. She stays within the entertainment industry while simultaneously not staying in her lane, if that makes sense. Where can you expand your operations in a complimentary service or skill set? Do you need to diversify your offering? Are you leaving money on the table by doing the things the same way everyone else does? It's worth thinking about.

Number 13, Taylor Swift shakes it off. When her masters were sold to a third party, she could have retreated to a corner to lick her wounds. Nobody would've blamed her. Instead, Taylor Swift reasoned that if I recorded the songs once, I could record them again. And she did. And not only did she rerecord the songs, she gave her fans bonus tracks from the vault, songs that were left off the album for whatever reason, but included as bonuses with the rerelease. Talk about turning straw into gold.

So there you have it, 13 Reasons why Taylor Swift is a genius when it comes to marketing. I'd love to hear which one's resonated with you and which ones you're going to try and implement in your business. As always, the conversation will continue over in the Boom Your Biz Facebook group. Simply search, Boom Your Biz, and send me a request to join. And if you enjoy this episode, I would be so grateful if you could leave me a five star review. And if this episode finds you in a challenging time in your business, I highly recommend popping on some Taylor Swift and shaking it off. You've got this.