Steal Taylor Swift’s Marketing Strategy

Are you a Taylor Swift fan? Whether you’re the one lining up to buy a concert ticket or wondering why so many people are going crazy for her new album, she has a brilliant marketing strategy nonetheless. And in this post, I’m going to give you all the tricks she uses so that you can use them in your own marketing strategy for your business. This is everything you need to know to steal Taylor Swift’s marketing strategy!

 

 

If you haven’t heard, Taylor Swift released her new album this past October and just recently started selling tickets for her upcoming tour. Her tickets have been selling like crazy, to the point where Ticket Master crashed as soon as they were released. And then there are even people lining up to pay more for her tickets than they ever have. How is she able to do that?

That’s what we’re going to unpack in this post. The truth is, whether or not you like Taylor Swift, you have to really respect the success she’s having. There are some things she’s doing in her marketing strategy that no other artist is doing. And you can implement these same secret strategies into your business. Ready?!

 

 

Steal Taylor Swift’s Marketing Strategy

Usually, when artists release a new single or album they go to big names to help spread the word and then go on a press tour. Not Taylor. Well, she does those things too, BUT she goes to her individual fans and gets them to spread the word. Almost everyone on the internet is talking about Taylor Swift. And this wasn’t by accident. It’s all part of her strategy.

She started hinting at a new album back in August on TikTok to all of her followers there. And she did a fun raffle type of game releasing the name of all 13 of her tracks on her TikTok videos as well. Another fun thing she did for her new album was if you bought a physical copy of the album, you could buy four different cover images to turn it into an actual clock. (A clock because her new album is called midnight.) 

This strategy brought the most amazing results. More people are talking and listening to Taylor Swift than ever before. She secured the top 10 most listened-to tracks on Billboard (like all 10 were her songs) and on Spotify, she was the most streamed artist in one day. 

So, it doesn’t matter how good of a singer you think Taylor Swift is because she is a brilliant marketer and there’s a ton we can learn from her. Let’s dive into the specifics. 

 

 

Marketing Strategy Tip #1: Build a community of raving fans. 

Taylor Swift has built a community of raving fans. The thing that drove her launch to be so successful is that her raving fans were all in. But how do you create raving fans? First, you give them identity and perks. 

Taylor’s raving fans are known as “Swifties” and they love it. Having a name for your community gives those who follow you an identity of who they are as your fan. This is super easy to do. Just come up with a name for your audience that resembles them being your besties. This strategy builds a community of people who have some inside jokes together. This is something that can be so powerful!

And, of course, your besties, or whatever you decide to call yours, can get perks for being there with you. This could look like giving them early access to new products, sending them special notes and deals on your email, and really just talking to them like they are your best friend. 

 

Marketing Strategy Tip #2: Pivot often.

With Taylor Swift, you’ll notice between the Evermore album and the Red album, and then the Midnight album, her music is very different. Taylor started as a country singer and has adapted and grown her audience as she has changed personally. My business, for instance, has made hundreds of pivots too. 

It’s necessary to pivot your business, and it’s a good thing that can bring you growth. If you look at where the world is at right now–post-pandemic and in recession–you may feel like your business needs a change. If you’ve been called to do something different in your business don’t be afraid of that. Lean into that feeling and go full force. 

Taylor Swift can be your testament that even if you pivot, your fans will follow. Because, seriously, she has those major differences in her style of music with each new album, but she still has that community of people who are diehards and are ready to follow her anywhere.

 

 

Marketing Strategy Tip #3: Use Easter eggs.

Easter eggs are little clues or inside jokes that are left in social media posts, and similar places, to give people hints about what is coming next. The cool thing about Easter eggs is that they really build a community because they encourage more engagement. When people see Easter eggs, they want to keep tuning in, so they can find all the clues and try and figure out what the next new release will be. 

Just before Taylor Swift released her Red album, she tweeted a red heart, which was an Easter egg (or a hint) that her album would be called Red. Doing little teasers like this brings so many benefits to your growth. It makes it so more people are talking about you because they want to figure out your hints and it reignites old content as people are looking back at it to try and figure out your clues.

So, how do you use Easter eggs in your own business? It starts with having fun! Just think outside the box when you are releasing new products, relaunching your website, etc., and come up with little things your audience can do that will unite them together and get you more activity on your website and products. 

For example, I just relaunched my website and when I did this I created a fun game to help increase some activity on my site and get more people talking about it. I had silly cutouts of myself spread across my site and if you were one of the first people to find the cutouts you’d win $500. This was just a fun way to make my new launch more exciting for me and my followers!

 

Marketing Strategy Tip #4: Build up the suspense. 

Usually, artists release 1-2 songs before releasing their whole album. Not Taylor. She released her entire album all at once. This really built up the suspense and made it so people were eager to listen to every single one of her songs as soon as possible. This strategy was a huge part of why she had her success with the top 10 and most streams on Spotify. 

So, how can you build up the suspense in your own business? I think a lot of us are really nervous about launching new products. If you’re like me, you don’t like suspense at all. I just want to announce my new launch and be done with it. That’s way easier to do. However, taking time to have that suspense build-up will help you bring your people along with you. Plus, it gives them an opportunity to be excited for what’s to come and they will be anxious to buy your products before they are even released! 

Building up the suspense could look like you mentioning what’s coming to your email list and asking for their feedback on it, showing up in your stories, and asking your followers’ opinions on design details. Doing little things like that helps your audience feel like they are a part of the creation and know that something amazing is on its way. 

 

Marketing Strategy Tip #5: Merchandising with experience. 

Taylor Swift sold products that gave her fans an experience. She sold her music, some exclusive music, and you had the option to buy the kit with the different album covers that I mentioned earlier, and then a couple of weeks later she launched her tour dates. 

So, she had the perfect strategy of what products she released, and in the timeline, she released them because it gave her Swifties an experience, not just a product. How can you do this same strategy with your products? Think about how your products can really improve the quality of life for your followers and show more of that in your marketing (on your stories, reels, etc). 

 

 

Steal Taylor Swift’s Marketing Strategy

Alright, friends, that is everything you need to know to steal Taylor Swift’s marketing strategy. Again, you can love or hate her music, but respect her marketing strategy because it is genius. If you have any questions about these 5 tips I shared, send me a dm over on Instagram! You can find me @iammichellegifford. I can’t wait to chat!