Taylor Swift. You probably know her, you may love her, you may not like her, but you can’t deny that she’s a marketing genius.
After all these years, she continues to dominate the charts, stay relevant, and lead a legion of loyal fans (me included). Some may think this is pure luck but working in the marketing industry myself, I see it for what it really is, masterful marketing.
I know what you’re thinking; her approach won’t work for B2B. Well, that’s simply not true! You can absolutely use the same strategies as she does.
Here are a few universally applicable content marketing lessons from Taylor herself.
Know your audience deeply
No matter what you’re marketing, being in touch with your audience is arguably one of the most critical factors to success. Because if you’re not talking to your audience in a way that resonates with them where they are, what’s the point?!
Taylor KNOWS her audience. She knows how they talk, where they talk, what they struggle with, and what excites them. She uses this deep understanding to form her content strategy.
For example, this past fall, she re-released her album, Red. One of her arguably most beloved songs by fans, All Too Well, is on the album (seriously, the song is massively popular amongst Swifties). Knowing this, she released a 10-minute version of the fan-favorite song with never heard before lyrics that she wrote more than ten years ago when she created it.
Typically, a 10-minute long song wouldn’t do so well on the charts because, let’s face it; our attention spans usually can’t handle that. But Taylor KNEW her fans would go absolutely crazy over it, and she was right. It was a massive success.
I get it, not everyone has this type of following. However, you don’t need huge numbers to create loyalty. Knowing your audience inside and out—how they talk, what they want, what they worry about, and where they are—will help when creating and executing a content strategy.
Tell a compelling story
Taylor’s known for her incredible storytelling skills. Her songs create compelling narratives, and it’s easy to relate to them. She writes lyrics that make you feel something, leaving listeners feeling connected—connected to the music, others who listen to the music, and to Taylor herself.
Regardless of your product or service, tie it into a compelling story or narrative. Creating a connection with your target audience will help to drive action and create brand awareness.
Repurpose, reuse, and reinvent content
Taylor is the queen of repurposing, reusing, and reinventing old content—a tactic all content marketers should practice.
For example, after troubles with attaining the masters from her previous recording label, she’s re-recording her first five albums. However, she’s not just re-releasing the same exact albums. She’s taking her old content and repurposing it, adding unreleased songs she previously wrote for each album and putting new spins on old songs. While her audience is already familiar with her old albums, little bits of refreshed content make it feel new and just as exciting.
She’s also released several of her live performances onto streaming services and transformed behind-the-scenes footage from music videos and concerts into content for her fans to watch.
As a content marketer, if you can find ways to take a successful piece of content and reimagine, repurpose, or reuse it somehow, you’ll milk it for all it’s worth. On the other hand, you can also take content that may not have performed well and change it. Perhaps it’ll work better on a different medium or in a different format. The results may surprise you!
Need content marketing help?
Knowing your target audience, telling a story, repurposing content, and all the other aspects of successful marketing can be hard! Luckily, as an experienced B2B healthcare marketing agency, our content marketing experts are well-versed and ready to help.
