5 Advantages Taylor Swift Has - That CAN’T Be Applied to YOUR Business

Don't even try to play in the pop superstar's sandbox in these areas!

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but you can’t copy your way to business success. You simply can’t recreate the services or products of any globally recognized, industry leaders like Nike, Coke, or the WWE for reasons more involved than the battalions of corporate flesh-eating lawyers ready to sue you into oblivion over violating enforceable trademark laws. There are other reasons why one can’t just slickly rip off the ideas of leading competitors and plug them into their business model to replicate their successes, even if such tactics are not illegal or immoral to do so.

In the first article of this 2-part series on applying celebrity successes to one’s business, “Can You Apply Taylor Swift’s Midas Touch to Your Business?”, I honed in on 5 tactics that Taylor Swift employs to forge a powerful connection with her massive fanbase and various marketing strategies she implements that would behoove aspiring business moguls to reproduce. 5 Advantages Taylor Swift Has - That CAN’T Be Applied to Your Business Swift’s overwhelming financial resources, fame, network of shot callers, and professional support staff are vital forces that keep her white-hot in pop culture. Sadly, most of these resources are certainly out of reach for the ordinary entrepreneur. In my case study, I have determined 5 areas of Taylor Swift’s UVP - Unique Value Proposition - which ONLY she can offer the marketplace and are distinct hallmarks of her brand.

Don’t bother trying to duplicate Swift in the following areas:

1. Music Fandom

It has often been said, “Music is the soundtrack of our lives.” Music can bring us to our feet, make us cry, enhance a mundane experience, or simply delight us. As such, the power of music establishes a rare connection between the artist and the fan. Song lyrics can harken you back to bygone eras of your life like few other things. The foundation of Taylor Swift’s connection with her Swifties is through her relatable songwriting, catchy melodies, and memorable hooks.

If you go to any Taylor Swift subreddit fan page, you will read heartfelt and moving testimonials from fans of all ages on why Swift’s music catalog occupies such an esteemed place in their lives. Swifties cite T-Swizzle’s music as a primary reason they got through the most painful events in their lives, everything from divorce to death. In other cases, Taylor’s tunes augmented Swifties’ most memorable milestones, such as wedding days, proms, and summer BBQs, where blissful times crystallized into personal nostalgic folklore. Reality Check #1: Universally, music touches people to their core in a way few other things do. You can’t sing your way into the hearts of your customers like Taylor Swift, so look for other ways in your skills and abilities to build a bond.

2. Endless Resources

You don’t get to be the biggest pop star in the world by yourself, living in “grind mode”, or through merely utilizing free productivity apps online. Make no mistake, Taylor Swift is a living, breathing, and singing global enterprise. Not only does she have multiple doting personal assistants but likely has an entourage consisting of a manager, agent, accountant, financial advisor, chef, masseuse, fitness trainer, legal team, glam squad, nutritionist, voice coach, shoppers, and a fleet of housekeepers - but she can afford the “best-of-the-best” from EVERY field at a moments notice. This is just for her PERSONAL life!

On top of that, Swift has state-of-the-art EVERYTHING to support her business ventures. Swift has dedicated teams of the best professionals who work around the clock in music, marketing, advertising, and social media to penetrate whatever market she wants - keeping her at the top of the celebrity influencer food chain. You don’t! At the beginning of an entrepreneurial endeavor, many times it’s just you by yourself with a threadbare budget and a gleam in your eye - and that’s it. In fact, the lion’s share of new businesses, projects, gigs, or side hustles never generate any money, especially within the first few years of operation - if ever! Remember that possessing very limited capital resources to invest in a passion project is a real hurdle for aspiring small business owners looking to achieve sustained business growth; something that Taylor Swift can’t relate to or write a ballad about. Reality Check #2: The next time you encounter an inevitable setback or hurdle in one of your side hustles and get down on yourself, understand that repeated failure - is simply part of the game for the 99% of us who start business ventures. Unqualified business success rarely rockets out of the gate for most. Often, many Powerball winners blow through their fortunes and return to their trailer parks or projects of inglorious repute - and are back to replicating “spaghetti and ketchup” recipes from Honey Boo Boo - to save a buck!

3. Power of Celebrity

The power of superstardom can cause normal people to take leave of their senses and propel mass hysteria. Pomp and circumstance can make a performer appear larger than life, even akin to a demigod with obsessed fanatics. Remember the hullabaloo Michael Jackson would cause, particularly abroad, just by making a random pop-up, public appearance? Pandemonium would erupt, injuries would result, and sometimes fans would crushed in the chaos.

Don’t Sleep on Nelly’s Dedicated Fans! I was at a concert for Nelly in Montreal where he had some travel issues entering Canada, delaying the start of our concert by a solid 7 hours! When Nelly finally took the stage and just started his set, some of the faithful who waited patiently for their rap hero hours on end in a sweaty and stuffy arena, fainted, sustained injuries, were carried out of the arena for medical attention, and missed Nelly’s performance.

Ironically, the unbridled devotion of some of Nelly’s most diehard fans was their undoing - causing them to miss a show they waited 7 hours for. How can you - an unknown entrepreneur - tap into that level of admiration? You can’t. Full stop. Don’t bother!

In the nascent stages of your business, only your momma and lover may care if you thrive, so don’t even try to be like or act like your favorite celebrity to “manifest” your success. Quit reading the articles announcing the buzz around the next celebrity product line, a red-carpet premiere, book signing, or advance ticket sales extravaganza - and inserting yourself in the dream sequence.

Focusing only on the glorious aspects of your favorite celebrity’s business success can cause you to overlook the coordinated, hard work that hundreds of professionals did unnoticed to make that celebrity venture a success. Relentless comparisons with celebrity businesses will only lead to unrealistic daydreaming or bitter disillusionment.

Reality Check #3: While you should try to create a buzz around your product or service, if you are unestablished, realize your promotional limitations in a big-budget, splashy launch. Don’t blow your budget on copying your favorite pop star’s publicity campaign in hopes of going viral. Let the big dogs roam exclusively in this terrain.

4. Earned Media Reach

Taylor Swift can do many things to get free media coverage that would earn her tens of millions of dollars in free advertising and promotion because millions of people care about her. Swift can give an exclusive interview to Good Morning America’s national audience; announce a surprise pop-up concert on her social media platforms at a major cosmopolitan locale; or generate massive media attention with a surprise midnight album and coordinated video drop. None of these things would cost Swift any money, save for jet fuel for her private plane; which is probably a tax write-off anyway.

While Swift would get free coverage for any of these publicity stunts, as networks are eager to capitalize on the magnitude of her fanbase, you don’t have the luxury.

Yes, you can literally spend hours on social media every day to post content updates, pricing specials, and promote customer testimonials to your online audience, but it won’t move the needle. Unless you have a serious pedigree in online marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), AND a social media background with years of tested expertise and experience, you are going to hit a growth glass ceiling from your limited network.

Reality Check #4: Invest in a targeted, geo-fenced, SEO or display advertising campaign to reach new customers in your target demographic - instead of spending time, effort, and sanity trying to chase the wind in establishing an organic viral campaign.

5. Personal Charisma and Branding Identity

Yes, we all know regular folk in our network who exude charisma from their pores and who know how to make it work to their advantage. They are magnetic souls, who through the force of their personality, notable appearance, or overall “Big Dick Energy”, also possess sophisticated communicability and persuasiveness to charm and influence people.

However, for the lion’s share of typical professions, competence, convenience, and competitive price points are more impactful than sheer charisma alone over the long haul.

As a pop icon, Swift can change her look, persona, and messaging for every album release. This keeps her new, fresh, cutting-edge, and relevant - a requirement for any pop star’s resume. However, Taylor can express her individuality and charisma in a way that benefits her career in a way that would likely not impact your business at all - or could even hurt your business - depending on your target demographic.

Perhaps, you can dye your hair a new color, get a different hairstyle, purchase flashy clothes, and change your website layout every so often - but would that matter if you are a plumber, food truck owner, or landscaping entrepreneur? I don’t think you would earn new customers because you finally copied Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” platinum dye job or Sam Smith’s latest crotch-less number for your new fall look.

If you showed up to a working-class neighborhood to do HVAC or routine plumbing work looking like a gender-bending contestant from RuPaul’s Drag Race, you would probably lose some judgmental - but still valuable, off-put customers in your target demographic - to your “bottom line”.

Reality Check #5: Bring the steak before the sizzle. Tailor the uniqueness of your personality, life experience, and skills that will resonate with your target demographic to develop your unique business niche within your industry. More importantly, discover what problem will your business solve in your customer’s lives.

Conclusion Don’t look to celebrity business models to cultivate deep, personal relationships with your customers. Taylor Swift and her ilk have tons of built-in advantages in expanding their business in ways that it would be futile for you to attempt to replicate. Worse, assiduously copying the way your favorite celebrity grows their empire can dishearten you and dissuade you from growing your business the “slow and steady” way; raising growth expectations to unrealistic proportions.

The trick is to figure out which Taylor Swift strategies and tactics you can apply to your business cheaply, yet effectively, without breaking your bank, stressing out supporters, or exhausting your online presence with omnipresent product plugs. It’s fun to dream big, but keep your feet on the ground and get your head - out of the clouds!

Please check out part 1 of this 2-part series, “5 Ways You SHOULD Emulate Taylor Swift’s Business Model” here!