Is Taylor Swift a Marketing Genius?

Taylor Swift, who on Sunday wrapped up her record-breaking Eras Tour in Vancouver, has established herself as the biggest star in pop music and a “cultural phenomenon” over the tour’s two-year run. Many are hailing her marketing savvy as much as her musical talent.

“Swift has long been a superstar thanks to her ability to personally connect through her songwriting and the close, sometimes-parasocial relationships she has fostered with fans,” wrote Kevin Evers, author of “There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift,” in a column for the Harvard Business Review. “It’s her own very specific take on being ‘customer obsessed.’ But it’s her mastery of the streaming era — adapting her approach to meet the relentless demand for fresh content and fan engagement — that has elevated her popularity to unprecedented heights.”

This popularity helped Target sell nearly 1 million copies of its exclusive “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book,” in the first week alone, making it the fastest-selling new release book in the last four years and giving it the title of  2024’s top-selling Week 1 New Release print book so far, according to the retailer’s press release.

Raji Srinivasan, a marketing professor at McCombs School of Business, called out Swift’s ability to continually reinvent herself, including transitioning from a country singer to embrace other genres and creating the Eras Tour spectacle. She told the Daily Texan, “She’s constantly rebranding. [Swift is] satisfying consumer’s needs for variety. More recently, she’s doing something else cool, which is I think she’s personifying the brand and moving away from listening to music to experiencing a concert.”

David Lopez-Lopez, a senior lecturer in marketing at Esade Business & Law School in Barcelona, credited Swift’s ability to cater to her “Swifties” fan base. He wrote in a Forbes column, “She studies their preferences, habits, and desires in depth, cultivating a unique emotional connection that goes beyond the typical artist-fan relationship. An example is her active presence on social media platforms such as TikTok, where she interacts directly with her followers under the hashtag #SwiftTok, generating a continuous, proactive, two-way feedback loop and leveraging user-generated content.”

Taylor Swift’s talent for continually surprising her fans shines through in her unexpected album releases, interactive social moments, and concert song choices, as well as in her “easter eggs” — hidden messages or clues she intentionally embeds in her music, videos, and other media for her devoted fans to uncover.

Jeffrey Derevensky, a professor at Montreal’s McGill University, said it’s similar to the concept of “intermittent reinforcement,” which encourages people to keep gambling in hopes of the occasional win. Derevensky told Casino.org. “The unpredictability keeps fans constantly hooked, always hoping that another surprise might come, such as at the VMAs, where fans eagerly anticipate a new release, even if it doesn’t happen for years. Importantly, Taylor does eventually deliver, so it’s not just empty hope.”

In a separate Forbes column, Melissa Houston, a business strategist for small business owners, listed five lessons brands could learn from Taylor Swift’s success in driving engagement:

• Share your brand’s journey and values through stories.
• Use social media for genuine interaction, not just promotion.
• Keep your audience excited and guessing.
• Bring your customers together over shared interests and events.
• Make your customers feel uniquely seen and appreciated.

She wrote, “Swift’s approach, centered around authenticity, storytelling, and personalized engagement, taps into the emotional connection that can transform casual customers into devoted fans.”