Born into relative obscurity, she’s now a worldwide superstar.
Her albums are among the top sellers, and many of her songs are among the most spun tracks on music streaming services.
She’s got a legion of fans (hint: they’re called Swifties) and they are incredibly loyal.
That’s right – Taylor Swift is in a league of her own when it comes to modern musical star power. It’s hard to think of another name, especially in her genre, that can inspire this kind of response.
So how did she get there? How did she do it?
Although that’s a complex question, there are some strategies and ideas that have contributed to Taylor’s mammoth fame, and some of them could be useful for business, actually.
Check out this list of four things your business can learn from the iconic singer-songwriter’s journey!
Working on the Brand
In the music business or anywhere else, working on your company’s brand (and/or your individual brand) is important.
In Taylor Swift’s case, much of it has to do with rewarding the fans. When she interacts with her fan base in unique ways, like helping out with bills or talking one-on-one, Taylor is building those long-term relationships that have always been at the heart of the business and are now valuable in show business as well.
In a business sense, that means being visible, available, around, and demonstrating the will to interact with customers. (These are all, by the way, things a good website can help you with.)
Collaborations and Partnerships
To “make it big,” you must tie your wagon to the right stars, whether people, processes, technologies, or business strategy.
Taylor Swift has worked with Kendrick Lamar, Haim, other acts, and brands like Apple and Cover Girl. That’s not to mention a whole roster of managers, promoters, sound engineers, and others across the landscape of the music world! Those are some of the collaborations that made her own work important and familiar to so many of us.
Take that lesson to the board room, and you’ll be more likely to wind up with a blue-chip company that wins at whatever it’s doing.
The Power of Storytelling
People like Taylor Swift’s songs because each one tells a story – sometimes in quirky and enigmatic ways. She weaves narratives into the song and shows us something about the human spirit.
That same thing is at the heart of all kinds of marketing, from the ‘Mad Men’ of yesterday to the wunderkinds of today’s digital marketing world.
In other words, don’t neglect the storytelling and let it get lost in a world of metrics and data-driven procedures!
Otherwise, you might find that you’ve created an empty castle or lost the substance and only retained the form of a thought leader in your field.
Embracing New Technology
For Taylor Swift, social media, recommendation engines, and apps offer new ways to interact with fans.
For your business, it’s anything from the cloud to web 3.0 – using AI, or virtual reality, or the Internet of Things.
But you also want to be able to evolve your website into something powerful that will help you to boost conversion and profits!
You want that long-term strategy that leads to those long-term relationships, and your website will help you get there.
Let WebSubstance help with the nuts and bolts of building a suitable web footprint for your business.
Want inspiration? Check out this article: “What Wendy’s global CMO learned from Taylor Swift.” In it, CMO Carl Loredo talks about how the pop star’s latest efforts speak to how Wendy’s seeks to turn its customers into brand fans too.
