What Taylor Swift's 'The Eras' Tour Reminds Us About Marketing a Business (Especially Ahead of a Possible Recession)

For nearly a year now, there has been a lot of talk about a potential recession. After 2020’s brutal but albeit brief economic downturn, and lessons from The Great Recession still nagging from not that long ago, it’s no wonder that businesses are on edge. While there still hasn’t been any agreement on whether we are or aren’t in or heading towards a recession, one thing is for sure – nobody knows if or when anything will actually happen.

In an effort to try to somehow control or prepare for the worst, it’s easy to knee-jerk our actions into hibernation mode: don’t do anything crazy, cut spending, try to survive. Truly, it is beneficial to look at our expenses with a critical eye. But it’s also important to pay close attention to budgets that are actually in place to help bring in more revenue – which is otherwise known as investment – such as marketing.

Even though marketing is an investment, it’s arguably not essential to the operations of a business. It doesn’t build products. It doesn’t provide the service (unless you’re a marketing service provider, like us!). And as such, it can seem like the logical thing to do – temporarily cut your marketing team or budget. But without people to buy your products or services, business will suffer. According to the Harvard Business Review’s essay, “Don’t Cut Your Marketing During a Recession,” brands that scaled back their marketing in a recession took more of a financial hit than businesses that kept it going. And that’s because marketing ultimately expands and encourages your audience base to buy from you. (Now, that is essential to business!)

“What [Taylor Swift’s] ticket sales this past week told us is that her audience is more than willing – possibly desperate, even – to spend their dollars right now on tickets to her shows for next year and will go to great lengths to do so. ”

Let’s talk about Taylor Swift. Just this week, tickets went on sale for her highly anticipated “The Eras” Tour, and the demand literally broke the internet (or at least Ticketmaster and the hopes of many diehard fans to see her). Whether or not her agents had anticipated that, it’s hard to assume what behind-the-scenes circumstances were considered in the planning of Taylor Swift’s tour (though I can assume that Ticketmaster’s PR team is likely very busy right now.) After all, Covid is still a thing. The economy is being the economy. Gas prices are still high. But what we didn’t see is Taylor Swift postponing her tour because of a possible recession. What her ticket sales this past week told us is that her audience is more than willing – possibly desperate, even – to spend their dollars right now on tickets to her shows for next year and will go to great lengths to do so. In fact, re-sales of her tickets have been listed as high as $22,000. Infuriating and ridiculous, yes. Yet what this reminds us as business owners is that consumer demand is still there – if you foster it.

Success like hers did not come over night – Taylor’s been a recording artist for half of her lifetime (or: 16 years). She has built and continues to build and nurture an audience of extremely loyal fans. And certainly, I’m sure, her bottom line has continued to compound as a result of her time in the market and consistently showing up for her audience.

If you’re running or operating a business, you’re thinking “OK what is the point, we’re not Taylor Swift nor even in the music business, what does this have to do with me?” I got you. So let me expand.

Here are five reminders that I am taking away from Taylor Swift about my own business that I want to share with you.

People are still spending money.
We’ll all be very curious to see what happens after the holiday season, and while spending might be slowing in some areas, it hasn’t stopped. And we’re not just talking about concert tickets either. For example, The NPD Group recently reported, as one segment, that the beauty industry is booming – not just surviving, growing. Which brings me to the next point.
Everyone’s non-essentials look different.
Yes, we all need shelter, air, water, food, safety. Without a doubt. Aside from that, everyone’s spending looks different. You could go without your favorite moisturizer to save money in the short-term, but for some, it’s an “essential” to their lifestyles, to illustrate in a micro-way. In other words, it’s not your place or my place to assume that people just won’t want to buy a product anymore because there is economic uncertainty, unless you know that for sure by directly surveying them. Taylor Swift did not put her tour on hold because of the economy. She’s made her non-essential commodity – her music – an essential for her audiences. Ask yourself how you can make your products or services “essential” and communicate that value.
Now, more than ever, it’s time to get very specific about who is your target audience.
If your target demo sounds like this…. “Women between the ages of 18-49, mid-high income, cares about wellness, has 1-2.2 kids, is married and college-educated, etc…” This is not a target demographic. This is like 10 million people in the United States alone. What’s her name? What’s her living situation like? Where does she shop? What other brand affinities does she have? What is she worried about? Why does she need YOU? Remember, if you’re speaking to everyone, you’re speaking to no one. Think about conversion – it takes less resources to convert 10% of your focused, smaller target audience versus 1% of a larger, general audience. We need to get hyper-specific on who our target customer or client really is because…
We need to connect with – not just reach – our target audiences.
The word “reach” essentially means to lean over or stretch out to touch something. But tapping someone on the shoulder is not the same as tugging on someone’s heart strings. Bring out the human element in your business and truly strive for a relationship with your target audiences. “I saw your ad” lights up different parts of your brain than “I read your story.” Public relations and social media are superb strategies for this (if you use them right!).
Especially in times of economic uncertainty, we need to lean more into outreach, not retreat from it.
Think about your top three competitors – what do they have that you don’t? Possibly sales. Possibly large budgets. Possibly more market share. And what a lot of that comes down to visibility and demand. If your competitors bow out of their marketing budgets or put their PR initiatives on hold, the time is ripe for you to stake your claim and get noticed. Launching a new product or service during a recession can actually be a smart time to bring your idea to market due to less competition and new consumer demands. But it has to be done strategically. You need to be truly listening to your audience and what they need or want right now. Furthermore, your messaging and creative need to be more on point that ever with the goal of connection and relevancy. Your team or your agency needs to be fully on board and aligned, understanding your goals and your audience’s own goals and struggles.

Business is never easy, and at the end of the day, everyone’s unique situation is different so you have to do what is right for you, your team, and your customers. But I hope this post gives you a dose of optimism and motivation that I think we all could use right now. Whether or not an economic downturn is happening (and it will – whether in the next month or decade, because that’s how markets work!), these are tips not just for the times, but for anytime. And if anyone is selling their Taylor Swift tickets, let us know!

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